Nicasio Parlor 183, NSGW - Historic Preservation

The dedication of Wilson School on the western edge of Petaluma proved to be a well-attended reunion of sorts for many members of the community who have ties to the school.

As Mayor Pamela Torlaitt said, Petaluma “is an incredible community. Everybody is so interlinked.” Indeed, the mayor’s grandmother, Althea Larsen Torlaitt, was a student at Wilson School in 1926, then taught there from 1967 to 1979. The mayor’s family has lived in the area since the late 1800s.

There has been a Wilson School at the site since 1863. A picturesque building with a broad portico and bell cupola was a distinctive feature of the Bodega Avenue landscape from 1908 until it was replaced in the mid-1950s by the buildings that form the principal part of the current campus.

In a prelude to the Native Sons dedication ceremony, the school’s principal/superintendent Eric Hoppes said his research failed to pin down exactly the school’s namesake, but that the probability is high that its first teacher was named Wilson, and hence the name.

Hoppes said the school continues to be a vibrant focal point of community life, as demonstrated by the enthusiasm of its PTA, which in recent years has provided it with a “field of dreams” ball field, track, and garden greenhouse. He noted with price that the school has a band that participates in local parades. Fourth-grade students take field trips to the Mother Lode, raising money for their adventures through car washes, bake sales and the like.

In 2002, Wilson received a state Distinguished School Award. It’s academic attainments continue to be impressive. Its current standing in the Academic Performance Index is 868. (For those who need a translation of educational jargon, that means its test scores are really good.)

School Board President Abe Evenich, recalling that Wilson is one of California’s oldest continuously operating schools, said, “What a wonderful opportunity this is to be a part of history.” As a measure of the strong support the school receives from its rural constituency, he said that two parcel tax measures have been on the ballot during his school board tenure; the first received 87 percent approval, the second 90 percent. (He’s been on the board seven years, four as president.)

Speaking of board members, 97-year-old Pete Matzen, who served on the school board in his younger days, was in the audience.

And supportive gestures also were made by former Wilson student – and current Wilson parent Bill Bertolucci of Sonoma Marin Landscaping, who donated the rock upon which the Native Sons plaque was mounted and the landscaping rockwork. Don Holcomb of Western Landscaping, a Wilson parent and grandparent, provided the flowers for the flowerbed.

Grand Trustee Bob French stepped into the junior past president’s role, while the “regulars” – GP Gene Perry, and Vice Presidents Jim Shadle, Dave Allen and Allan Baird -- took their customary dedicatory roles. Grand Trustees Tony Starelli and Warren Katen Supervising District Deputies Ed Shelley and George Kolbert, and PGP Richard Kimball cheered things on, while Grand Historian snapped away mightily with his camera.

CLICK HERE for Argus-Courier article

Nicasio Parlor #183 is currently working with the Sturgeon and Henningson families to arrange a historic dedication of the old steam-powered Sturgeon Mill in Sebastopol. CLICK HERE to go to the Sturgeon Mill Website