September 2020
The History Corner
Once Upon A Hillside: 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago
September 1921
Business Meeting: Mr. Charles Keeler, life member of the Club, was presented by the
President and asked to tell the members something of the plans for the coming Music
Festival to be given under the direction of the Chamber of Commerce in the Greek
Theater, the funds to be applied towards the soldiers’ memorial. [Keeler was executive
director of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce from 1920 until 1927. The “soldiers’
memorial” refers to Memorial Stadium, built between 1921-23.]
Hillside Club Library: Library books were offered for the use of members of the
Cragmont Club for certain occasions. Such books must be drawn through a Hillside
member, who would be responsible for them. Prof. E. B. Babcock was appointed
librarian. [The 1923 Berkeley Fire destroyed the Club’s library—for good, it seems, as I
can find no post-fire references to a library. … I can find only a few references to the
Cragmont Club, which seems to have influenced development of the Cragmont
neighborhood, and may also have been connected with Cragmont School. It was probably
not the same group as the Cragmont Climbing Club, an avid group of Sierra Club
members in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s who practiced rock climbing on Berkeley’s rhyolite
outcrops in preparation for rock climbs in the Sierra Nevada mountains.]
September 1946
Fireside Meeting: We are happy to welcome home again those members who have been
absent in war service and with the armed forces of our country. Our thoughts go out also
to those who have not yet returned and we hope for them a safe and speedy return.
Friends will be glad to know of the recent return of Ronald Foster, who served as Major
in the United States Army. As many will remember, Ronald’s hobby was taking pictures.
While overseas, he found at least some time to indulge in this worthwhile hobby. He was
consented to share some of his varied experiences with us, and to illustrate his talk with
pictures.
Annual Dinner: Everyone looks forward to the first social evening of the Club year. This
year it will be an especially happy one, for the Committee have selected a very gay and
festive theme to celebrate our return to normal living. It is to be “Hillside Club
Moderne.”
International Relations Section: Dr. and Mrs. George H. Hoxie, Chairmen of this Section,
announce that the first meeting will be held at the Club House. With the peace of the
world at stake, to be largely determined by conditions of the Peace treaties now being
drawn, this Section will be of great interest to everyone.
September 1971
Civic Affairs Section: “Rabies: Need It Be Fatal?” The story of the Mexican-American
boy named Honofre Angel, who was afflicted by rabies and treated at Children’s Hospital
Medical Center, will be told by three persons immediately involved: Drs. Edward Duffie
and Robert Gerdsen and Nurse Connie Denke. For more than three weeks all people who
had heard of the case were rooting for his recovery. Had he lived, Honofre would have
been the first person in the history of medicine to survive rabies with out the benefit of
the vaccine. The story of the drama unfolding at Children’s Hospital and the impact it had
on the whole community should be a truly worthwhile evening for us all. [Honofre Angel
died on 23 April 1971 after 26 days in a coma.]
Hillside Club Safari: The Weekend Tour Committee announces the first 1971-72 tour to
the Benbow Inn on the Redwood Highway. We have reserved 38 rooms and two
Greyhound buses. Let’s have a full house for a weekend of fun, food, golf, and
sightseeing.
September 1996
The Club’s archive of printed monthly newsletters ended with the May 1994 issue. If you
know of a source for any newsletters between 1994 and the Club’s renaissance in the
early 2000s, your historian would love to hear about it!