2015 March PASO Magazine

PAS0 PEOPLE
Explore the Peckinpaugh Library
By Bob Chute
There is a unique gem in our midst.
If you haven’t visited the Estrella
Warbirds Museum and Woodland
Auto Display yet, you should plan to
take the time to tour them. Unique
is an overused word today but it truly
applies to this complex and, because
of its popularity and additional donations
of items to display, they are
currently expanding…with additions
to the Woodland Auto Display and
other buildings as well.
Plus…within this unique gem
you’ll find a most interesting resource,
the Peckinpaugh Library, named for
Charmaine and Don Peckinpaugh
who started the library in 2006 with
donated books. It was originally located
upstairs above Thomson Hall,
but with accessibility issues, closed in
2011. Librarian Tom Gorham, along
with his wife Mary Anne, Assistant
Librarian, volunteered in 2013 to take
on the task of moving and re-organizing
the collection.
In the spring of 2013, over three
months, with the assistance of Ron
Brooks and a fork lift, they moved
the boxes of books, bookshelves and
other memorabilia to the library’s
Volunteers needed
at the Library
New Years Resolutions? Watch less
TV? Work an evening shift. Need
more exercise? Be a shelver. Make
new friends? Work in the Friends
gift store. Help others? Work a public
desk. Learn something new? All of
the above.
Opportunities abound. Contact
Suzanne, 237-3870, or go to www.
prcity.com for the volunteer application
and more information.
Special Children’s Programs
During the month of March enjoy
a variety of special programs for
children:
• March 2, Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss,
Party, 2- 5 p.m.
new home in a much more accessible
ground floor facility, the former
Gift Shop location within the Hind
Pavillion. It then took Tom and Mary
Anne over three months to move
materials and begin to catalogue everything.
“Kudos to the Central Coast
Woodworkers who built many of the
bookcases for us,” added Tom.
“We have approximately 5500
items. Over 3400 hardback books and
140 paperbacks, 1700 magazines from
the 1940’s, VHS tapes and DVDs,
and models plus press clippings.”
The main focus is as a lending library
for the Warbirds 500+ members,
who may check out four items at a
time for a month at a time. The books
date from the early 20th Century and
WWI, with emphasis on military aviation,
weaponry, medals and insignias…plus
military and aviation related
biographies, space exploration, aviation
related encyclopedias, aviation
books about English, German, Italian,
Japanese and Spanish wartime equipment,
and much more.
They even have a number of children’s
books including one written by
American 5 Star General “Hap” Arnold
for his grandchildren.
“I’m most excited about the rarity
of our collection,” said Tom. “The
Peckinpaugh is also a reference library
- we provide incredible resource materials.”
The Gorhams have notified
all high schools throughout the county
plus Cal Poly and Cuesta Colleges
about the collection, “We’d love to
have more people utilizing this amazing
collection and doing their research
on site,” said Tom. “We have materials
you will never find in a conventional
public library. In a secure case we have
the entire bound collection of WWI
‘Stars and Stripes’ newspapers.
“When our members are restoring
an aircraft or piece of weaponry they
often comb our library to make sure
they have the correct parts to keep
everything authentic for the museum’s
collection,” said Tom.
The Library is open during the
monthly dinner meetings, the first
Wednesday of every month from 5:30
to 6:30 p.m., plus every Thursday and
Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with
the Gorhams on site, and currently,
other volunteers staff it on Friday
and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“We need more volunteers to be here
Friday and Sunday to help out.”
AT THE PASO ROBLES LIBRARY
• March 17, St. Patrick’s Day treat,
any time
• March 23, 2nd Annual Peeps
Diorama Contest begins,
runs through April 30
• March 26, PJ Storytime, 6:30 p.m.
• March 30, Easter Egg Scavenger
Hunt begins, runs through April 3
Visit www.prcity.com/library or
check the Library & Recreation Services
Activity Guide for more information
on each event.
Alice Ronke’s March Exhibit
March features the art of Alice
Ronke, whose style is representational,
impressionistic, predominately
ODYSSEY World Café
Week Night Special in February
$16 Includes a Salad and a Glass of House Wine
Enjoy Dining on the Patio!
landscapes
but also includes
still life
and floral topics.
Her goal is
to capture the
excitement,
rhythm, sense of peace, or sheer beauty
of a scene.
The Yellow Birds, Cuesta’s
Book of the Year 2015
In partnership with Cuesta College,
the Paso Robles City Library is
offering programs centering on The
Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers.
• Thursday, March 12, at 7 p.m. The
library will show a film based on the
Librarian Tom Gorham, right,
with his wife Mary Anne.
Donations are appreciated “We
have had people bring in a single
box with a few books, to one truck
that dropped off 21 boxes of books,
old aircraft paintings, firearms and
uniforms plus over 200 pieces of
telegraphic keys. They told us it was
only a portion of their late father’s
collection!”
For more information, stop by
the Peckinpaugh Library at Estrella
Warbirds Museum, 4251 Dry Creek
Road, in Paso Robles. The museum is
open Thursday to Sunday, 10 a.m-4
p.m. Open Mondays on Memorial
Day, Fourth of July and Veterans Day.
Closed New Years, Easter, Christmas,
and Thanksgiving. Phone 805 238-
9317. Group Tours (Minimum of 10
- $8/pp): Monday through Wednesday
by appointment, reserved 7 days
in advance, (805) 835-1882.
personal wartime experiences of journalist
Mark Boal, telling the story of
the Iraq war from the perspective of
the soldiers, specifically an elite Army
Explosive Ordnance Disposal team,
fearless bomb technicians whose job
is to dismantle roadside bombs while
avoiding sharp-shooting snipers. This
film is rated “R” no one under age 17
will be admitted without an accompanying
parent or guardian.
• Thursday, March 18 at 7 p.m. A
special presentation by United States
Air Force SMSgt Brian Fleming.
Currently stationed at Vandenberg
Air Force Base, Fleming served in
Iraq during Operation Enduring
Please see LIBRARY page 33
30 Paso Robles Magazine, March 2015