Pearl America Garland 1897-1996

B.   21 September 1897     Lebanon, Laclede Co., Missouri
M.  21 June 1916               Los Angeles, Calilfornia
D.   4 September 1996       Arcadia, California

Father: John Alexander Garland
Mother: Mary Catherine Barber (aka Molly)

Siblings:
     Mabel Claire Garland - 1889
     Amy Ethel Garland - 1891
     Nellie Jane Garland - 1893
     Augustus Hamlin Garland - 1895
     Gordon Hickman Garland - 1899
     Hazel Glenne Garland - 1902
     Faerie Belle Garland (aka Mickie) - 1905

Husband: Charles Clifford Adams

Children:
     Phyllis Jane Adams - 1916
     Patricia Glenne Adams - 1921
     Peggy Sharon Adams - 1933

Peggy and Cliff - Wedding Picture?

1920s ?

1930s?

 Sister Hazel, brother Gordon, Peggy and sister Nellie Garland - early 1980s?

Peggy with daughters Phyllis, Sharon, and Patti - 1990?

[At my request, in the 1980s, Peggy wrote up a very nice journal of her memories for me. Just before I started this blog, I spent days writing it all into a document on my computer. Now, when it's time to share it here, I cannot find the document. I know I saved it because it took days to write it up. I hope my computer guy will be able to find it for me as soon as he returns from his holiday visit to the US.]

[Although her political beliefs were different from his, Peggy was very proud of her brother Gordon. Below is an article from the 22 May 1986 Visalia Times-Delta that describes his political career.]

FORMER ASSEMBLY SPEAKER GARLAND DIES

Woodlake - Former speaker of the state assembly Gordon Hickman Garland, who one legislator said "brought us city slickers a lot of good advice," died of a heart attack Tuesday night in Exeter Memorial Hospital.

Garland, 88, was a long-time lobbyist, grower, and a Democratic member of the California Assembly from 1936 to 1940, holding the speaker's post in 1940-42.

Garland was a member of Governor Earl Warren's cabinet and state director of the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Motor Vehicles from 1942 to 1945.
He was a lobbyist for the California Water Association, the Golden Gate Bridge District, California Chiropractic Association and a dental group.

He ran unsuccessfully for the State Board of Equilization in the 1940s and once considered running for governor.

As an Assemblyman he was one of ten sponsors of the Central Valley Project, which brought irrigation water to the San Joaquin Valley, and assisted in the organization of the Stone Corral Irrigation District.

Senator Rosa Ann Vuich, D-Dinuba, said she has known Garland for many years, living near his Woodlake area ranch.

"He was well-respected as a lobbyist, especially on water issues," she said. "I looked to him for his advice concerning water issues."

News of his death came as "quite a blow," she said.

Most recently, Garland was active locally in the effort to thwart State Reclamation Board plans to impose restrictive building regulations in the Cottonwood Creek and St. John's River floodway.

Louise Hill, who lives near the Garlands' groves and is active in the campaign, said "I'm very sorry he passed away. We needed him now. We do need Gordon. We need him bad."

He was to speak to members of the board in Visalia Wednesday evening.

In the legislature, Garland was a conservative who clashed openly with Governor Colbert Olson. After he and nine other Democrats sided with Republicans to take over the majority of the Legislature in the "Economy Bloc," Garland's first act as speaker was to rip a phone out of the podium that had a direct line to the governor's office.

He saved the phone, had it bronzed with an inscription that read, "They do not answer any more."

Later, a legislative investigation revealed the governor's office paid for the bugging of his hotel room. Garland told a reporter in 1983, "The whole country was incensed, it was very much like Watergate."

State Senator Ralph C. Dills, D-Gardena, was first elected to the State Senate in 1939 and said when Garland was named Speaker, "he kicked me off as chairman of the education committee.

"He was an advocate and a friend. He was very strong-willed and an expert in the field of water conservation. He brought us city slickers a lot of good advice and help.

"He had one of the strongest handshakes and grips. You wouldn't want to wear a ring when he shook your hand with that powerful grip. He was kind of a Western man."

Dills said Garland had a "political wisdom that was very rare... He certainly will be missed in Sacramento. His death is a great loss. He lived a wonderful life and was a happy guy."

Tulare County Historian and former Exeter Sun publisher Joe Doctor has known Garland since his days in the legislature, and said, "he was quite a congenial and gregarious kind of man. We supported him in the election. We didn't like the other guy."

Garland was also a sportsman who hunted throughout the world. Doctor said it was Garland who tracked down the body of an Army pilot who crashed his plane in the forest near Oriole Lake in the 1920s.

"He had a lot of fun in the Legislature," Doctor said.

Garland also served as chairman of the State Highway Commission, chairman of the Toll Bridge Authority, and chairman of the commission on Inter-State Cooperation.

He was a charter member of the "Derby Club" where lobbyists and legislators meet for lunch at Posey's Cottage in Sacramento every Tuesday. His picture is on the wall of the restaurant.

Vuich was the first woman invited to join the club, of which Garland remained an active member. He had last attended a meeting of the club several weeks ago.

Judge James D. Garibaldi,  a lobbyist who served in the legislature with Garland and was also a member of the Derby Club said, "He was a fine gentleman whose word was as good as his honor."

One of Garland's neighbors, Bob VanHoy hunted with him for several years. "He was an excellent shot. He was loaded with good stories."

Vuich said that when Garland spent a lot of time in Sacramento, he would stop in her office  and say, "What's new in the neighborhood? Sometimes he would come in and talk about things in the Cutler-Orosi Woodlake area."

Dills said Garland had "plenty of moxie and strength."

Lobbiest Jack Cross said Garland was a "very courtly gentleman of the old school, a distinguished elder statesman."

Garland was born in Lebanon, Missouri, and moved to Tulare County is 1918.

He is survived by his wife, Chinina, a step-son, Frederick Ronstadt of Mexico City; and three daughters, Alice Wilson of Visalia, Letha Martin of Woodlake, and Barbara Ogilvie of Sacramento.

He is also survived by three sisters, 13 grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.

Services will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Hadley Funeral Chapel. His body will be cremated and interment will be at Belmont Memorial Park in Fresno.