JOLICOEUR DONATION TO MUSEUM LIBRARY

Leather bound copy of The San Fernando Valley by Dr. Jackson Mayers - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by James Jolicoeur December 2009.
In 1956, a new Hughes Market had just opened on the corner of Balboa and Devonshire in Granda Hills. Hughes #4 was considered one of the most efficient and beautiful grocery stores in the United States. A buddy of mine from the Naval Reserve in North Hollywood, Fred Balen (I may have misspelled his name), was not only a football star at Van Nuys High School, but the head-box boy at the market. Fred knew that I was working for work to pay off my Chevy, and helped me get a job there.
The manager was Fred Vodt (again I may have the spelling wrong) and he worked us hard, but fairly.
One of the box boys was a great young fellow by the name of Lee Jolicour. We used to joke about his name meaning Happy Hearted.
Years later, when I was teaching at Moorpark College, I encountered a student by the name of James Jolicoeur, who turned out to be the grandson of Fred Vodt and the son of Lee Jolicoeur. No one is better named than the happy-hearted James Jolicoeur.
One of my favorite memories of Europe is of James Jolicoeur looking down on a running track in the ancient Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece. He quickly organized his fellow students, boys and girls, to secure sticks and run a relay race at the sacred stadium.
Today, your Museum received a beautiful copy of Dr. Jackson Mayers, 1976 book called The San Fernando Valley. It is a gift of the happy hearted James Jolicoeur in Claremont, California. Thanks James from all of us working to bring about a great Museum of history and culture for the Valley.