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History
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History |
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By Jim Wasserman
Like the seedling that becomes across time a thick trunk with many branches, the Fresno Bonsai Society's genesis begins in 1952. Far to the west in Honolulu, Hawaii, Melvin Durao, then just past 30 years old, moved across the Pacific Ocean to inland California. The city where he landed, Fresno, then held about 100,000 people and it wasn't long before Durao started making rounds of local nurseries.
He still recalls today, how an "old Japanese fellow" told him a major secret of bonsai: which is to go to a nursery and ask to see the junk pile, the twisted, gnarled specimens off somewhere in a forgotten corner. Eventually, Durao, who became the owner of The Trophy Shop just north of downtown Fresno, made acquaintances with a loose-knit group of plant lovers, gardeners and people who were learning bonsai.
A handful of them met informally, in small gatherings during the middle to late 1950s. Among the others, as he recalls today, were Lil Richter and Lelani Jackson. These gatherings led to something more like a "club," which became then the Bonsai Club of Fresno. By 1958, when it received its first mention in The Fresno Bee, Durao had a collection of 55 trees.
On April 6 that year, The Bee published a story about Durao, titled "Art of Bonsai is Antidote for Strain." In the story he was labeled the "moving force and mentor" of The Bonsai Club of Fresno. Soon after, Durao left the club seeing an influx of nursery owners and continuing to prefer to quieter, less formal gatherings that preceded the club's founding. Durao continued to give demonstrations in Valley towns, exhibit parts of his collection every year at the Fresno County Fair and eventually judge the fair's bonsai exhibits.
But as The Bee's account in 1958 revealed that the club was on a sound footing and well established: "The officers and chairmen of the Bonsai Club of Fresno are Ted Green, president; W. Duane Munger, vice president; Mrs. Helen Smith, secretary; Mrs. Harold Streit, treasurer; and Mrs. Walter D. Littlewood, historian and membership chairman."
Mrs. Littlewood said the club had 30 members and met in the Marion Nine Hospitality Room.
W. Duane Munger, a commercial nurseryman, led the new group for several years. On March 3, 1965, he, too, was featured in The Fresno Bee, describing the art of growing small trees. He told the newspaper he was inspired to "try it himself for the first time when about 25 years ago he found some old shrubs, which had been discarded by a nursery. Thrown down by canal, lying on their sides, the plants had grown sideways forming interesting gnarled and curving trunks. He rescued some and made his first bonsai, some of which he still has."
Some of the society's current members recall today that Munger sold a lot of pots and plants at his Olive Avenue nursery in the city's Tower District. He carried small twisted black pines, seedling Japanese maples and Chinese Elms. He also liked to do little "scenes" with small houses, bridges and deer.
Early in the 1960s, the Bonsai Club of Fresno took the new name of Fresno Bonsai Society. It was one of two bonsai organizations in Fresno, the other being Akatsuki, which consisted primarily of Japanese-Americans.
In March 1968, the Fresno Bonsai society held its first public display of trees in a joint show with the Fresno Chapter of Ikebana International. That show was held at the Fresno Art Center, 3033 E. Yale Ave. Co-chairs of the event were Mrs. Arthur C. Wahlberg of Ikebana and John Roehl of the bonsai society. The event raised funds to landscape the arts center courtyard and begin a Japanese Garden then being planned at Woodward Park.
Bonsai society officers that year were: William Welzenbach, president; Mrs. Harry Naquin, vice president; Neil Lundell, secretary, and Mrs. Michele Prestigard, treasurer. In the spring of that year, member Irwin Hall of Selma showed slides of bonsai gardens he took while in Japan.
Members today recall the early 1960s as a time when the society catered to a lot of so-called "plant people" who grew everything from bonsai to desert cactus to African violets. The rapidly growing club was divided almost equally among men and women and was very social. Meetings featured desserts and refreshments, cakes and cookies. People signed and sent cards when members were sick and every year brought a pair of potluck dinners.
In 1969, David Delano became president. And in 1970 came a new slate: John Roehl, president; Dr. Howard Latimer, vice president; David Weber, secretary; Mrs. R.W. Richter, historian and publicity chair; and Delano, parliamentarian. Among the club's characters throughout the 1960s were people such as Lil Richter. She was a "real gardener," members recall growing various plants like cactus and succulents to show in the annual county fair. She was competitive and often bought plants that might offer her competition at the fair.
Max Sorenson, a local camera store owner, it is said, had unquestionably the best plants in the club. One of the club's first speakers was Roy Oto of Fresno, who entered a "spectacular" Japanese garden display at the fair. Others recall Dick Bates, who made the first concrete pots, which were less expensive than Japanese imports. He also started a tradition in the club that would become immensely colorful in years to come: collecting trees in the local mountains.
Veteran members today tell wild and adventurous stories from those days, of weekend four-wheel drive collecting trips into the Sierra Nevada foothills and high country, of Tehachapi pass and Mammoth Pool, the Minarets, Mojave Desert and the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Many of those plants remain part of the society's overall collection. Among avid collectors during those trips were John Pittenger, a local builder. Ray Thieme provided many rides in his Chevy Blazer and is still a member today. He's also known statewide as a board member and exhibitor at the Northern Collection.
The society's first public bonsai-only show took place in May 1973, a two-day show held at the Las Palmas Masonic Temple, 2992 E. Clinton Ave. It was the first purely bonsai show in the city's history. Two years later Akatsuki would follow with its own annual shows at the city's Betsuin Buddhist Temple.
In May 1973 The Fresno Bee previewed the Fresno Bonsai Society show, stating: "The Fresno show will feature over two dozen varieties of trees, ranging from a three-foot Lodgepole Pine, a tree which normally reaches a height of 150 feet on California mountain slopes, to a tiny Corkbark Elm, whose finely proportioned five-inch height is the result of ten years of care." That first show also featured a Japanese Maple and Satsuki Azalea imported from Japan and said to be more than 300 years old.
Toshio Saburomaru, a nationally-recognized bonsai expert from San Francisco, did demonstrations both days.
The next year the society did its second show - the California Central Valley Bonsai Exhibit - at the Ahwahnee Junior High School cafeteria. From then on the shows continued year in and year out, an unbroken string of spring shows that continue to this day. Among the show's early publicity directors was Grey Anderson, who today owns the San Joaquin Valley's only bonsai shop and nursery: Nee-Hai Bonsai. Show locations across the years also include Sierra Junior High School, Fresno City College Cafeteria, Holland Elementary School and most recently, the Shin Zen Japanese Garden at Woodward Park.
In the mid-1970s, when the society was nearing its 20th anniversary, its members formally incorporated the group. A pair of insurance businessmen, Al Carvalho and Ralph Green, fretted about liability issues for the club and did the paperwork to incorporate. During this time the society learned much from visiting Sensei who came to Fresno to teach. They included John Naka - many times - Tosh Saburomaru, Warren Hill, Harry Hirao, Dennis Makishima - many times as well - Kathy Shaner, and Mas Imazumi.
In 1978, the Fresno Bonsai Society became one of the first local affiliates to join the Golden State Bonsai Federation. Ray Thieme was instrumental in leading that effort in Fresno while Bill Hashimoto of the Bay Area facilitated the society's entry at the statewide level.
Eventually in 1981, and after studying with John Naka, society member John Roehl began teaching bonsai classes in Fresno. Announcements in the newspaper ask those who are interested to call Roehl, John Pittenger, Dennis Thrasher or Ray and Evelyn Thieme. These classes attracted several new members who have been with the society ever since. Among them are Joe Kobe, Bob Wright and Dwayne Berrett. Nearly 20 years later, Kobe has joined Roehl in teaching the classes, which continue to bring new members to the society. Others with a long track record in the society include Hugh Clark, Don Martin and Ben Castellanos.
Several members of this early group have made bonsai-related trips to Japan. They include Bob Wright, Howard Latimer, Ray Thieme, John Roehl and Joe Kobe. Latimer, Wright and Roehl have also visited the Peoples Republic of China.
During the 1980s Kobe designed the society's current logo. It shows a potted thick-trunk California Juniper based on a John Naka tree from his book: Basic Bonsai Techniques 1. Japanese lettering at the bottom left of the logo tell the four seasons of the year. The new logo replaced a logo showing two upright trees designed earlier in the club's history. That was the work of Fresno architect Dennis Thrasher.
During this time the club moved around several times. For many years, thanks to society member and botany professor Dr. Howard Latimer of California State University, Fresno, the group met at the university's horticultural center. Then meetings moved to Guarantee Savings Bank and Ewing Elementary School. Now they are being held at the Fresno City College greenhouse.
The late 1980s and early 1990s drew in several new members who have become mainstays of the group: Homer Greene, Steve DaSilva, Al Keppler,Clint Cummins,. Bev Gudger, Elaine Smith. During much of this time Joe Kobe was the society's president, while John Roehl did the monthly newsletter.
The late 1990s drew in newcomers such as Bruce Young and Jim Wasserman.
In 1999, Steve DaSilva became president of the society and holds that title today. DaSilva, alongside members Homer Greene and Ray Thieme, gave many hours to help launch the Golden State Bonsai Federation's Northern Collection in Oakland. Among the society's exhibitors in that collection are Thieme and Roehl.
Today, the society is also affiliated with the Fresno City College Bonsai Club. Among the most recent visiting Sensei from northern California: Jim Gremel and Boon Manakitvipart. The society is in a growth mode, having attracted several more newcomers from the society's annual classes and by word of mouth. These newer faces include Gwendolyn Ogata, Marta Hinton, Harold Mitchell, Bill Case, Greg Rogers, Brian and Ken Dalby, Joe Irion, Brenda and Lonnie Richards, Ernie Navarro, Susan Mallek, Pete Biscay, John and Crystal Perkins, Rudy and Joanne Castillo and Roz and Pete Tampone.
The seedling that began with Melvin Durao's trip across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu in 1952 has borne many branches in Fresno. Today, Durao, at 80, still works in the family trophy business near downtown Fresno. Unfortunately, while on vacation many years ago, most of his trees were lost due to a watering accident with a can containing insecticides. But from his small informal gatherings of bonsai enthusiasts more than 45 years ago, grew a Fresno Bonsai Society with its own legends, traditions and lore. As members come, stay awhile and often settle in, the story continues to unfold.
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