BUILDING A GREAT MUSEUM FOR THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY
Like nearly all of us who live in the San Fernando Valley, Cyndee Wilson, patient coordinator for Progressive Physical Therapy in Woodland Hills, cherishes a family history that comes from far away. Valley residents often have photographs, news articles and artifacts that have migrated their way into our region along with their owners.
San Fernando Valley history does not exist in a geographic vacuum. Our people's stories are almost always interwoven with other locations and circumstances. Ranging from sentimental memorabilia like the wooden rocking chair from Iowa to the only remaining photograph of a grandparent lost in Europe'stragic holocaust, memories from the past can shape our emotions and thinking.
These clippings owned by Cyndee Wilson provides graphic evidence of a time before UCLA's great athlete Jackie Robinson broke a 50 year color barrier that existed in American major league baseball.
One can only wonder what Earl Randolph Nelson would have achieved had he been able to compete in professional baseball.
Ray McIntyre Canadian middleweight Champion 'claimant' with his win over the noted Len Wadsworth. McIntyre also took Ernie Roderick the distance for the British walter-weight title.
In 1993 Raymond McIntyre was inducted into the Canadian boxing Hall of Fame. He was the middle weight champion of Canada in 1939. His hand was badly wounded during his service in World War II, preventing his return to professional sports.