Category Archives: Book Review

Winifred Mont-Eton 1911-2010

In the fall of 1953 I started 5th grade at Trona Elementary School. The room we had was in the original part of the school near the auditorium. The auditorium was shared by the elementary school and the high school. It was boundary that separated the high school campus from the elementary.

This was Mrs. Mont-Eton’s third year as a teacher but her first year of teaching in Trona. It was also her children’s, first year at Trona High School. They had already become used desert life during the two years their mother taught school in Twentynine Palms and from spending time during the summer in the Panamint Range and Valley while their father was prospecting.

I’m sure we weren’t the easiest class to deal with but for the most part I think were pretty good. One student with the initials of H. S. seemed to be the center of attention but after a while she managed to get that under control.

There were many new teachers that came to Trona, stayed in houses the district subsidized for the first year or two and then they moved on. Winifred Mont-Eton was one of the teachers that grew roots.

Winifred retired from teaching in 1975 after 25 years of teaching. She spent 22 years of those years teaching 5th grade in Trona. After retiring she remained near Trona in Ridgecrest and Inyokern until her death in 2010.

There is much more to her story but I don’t want to tell it all. Winifred dictated her story into a tape recorder and her daughter, Lorry Wagner, transcribed it and published it as a book.

Winifred Mont-Eton’s autobiography on is available on Amazon.

To learn about Winifred becoming one of the first Ham radio operators click on the link below:

https://www.sdarabians.com/mom.html

A Positive Message From Pat Dunne about a New Book

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I heard from one of my classmates Roy Dunn about a new little book on Trona. It is called Why would anyone go to Trona? I got a copy and really enjoyed it. I imagine you have seen it because the author is your nephew Bryce Steven Banks. He tells the story from a kids perspective on his trips to visit his grandparents in Trona. I enjoyed it and am sharing with my daughters and grandchildren. I got a copy ordered through our local Barnes and Noble store and I think it is on Amazon as well. It would be good to spread the word on your Trona websites. I order a copy for my older brother Tom, class of 1948, who lives in Portland, OR and I was going to e-mail George Sherman about it to spread the word on his network, which seems mostly to focus on death notices. It would be good to add something positive.

Trona, Bloody Trona A book review by Mike Rhodes

Trona Bloody Trona

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Trona Bloody Trona is a book that was recently published about the 1970 strike. Linda Monroe emailed me and told me about it. If you are from Trona you should read this book.

I will never think of Trona in the same way again. Kerr McGee changed Trona. The 1970 strike changed Trona. Time changed Trona. My memories of Trona are childhood memories of wonderful teachers, Austin Hall, the club house, the sables and the fish pond at the railway office. I really don’t want the images of Trona this book has put into my head.

In 1970 I was working in San Bernardino and apparently I was so busy living my own life that I was barley aware of the strike in Trona. I can remember visiting my parents in Trona a short while after the strike was over. We sat in my mothers kitchen on Argus Ave. and I listened to them and my brothers talk about the things that happened during the strike. Some of the stories they told were different versions of the stories Paul Abrams tells about in his book. They were different versions of the stories that were on the news during the strike.

One of the stories we talked about while sitting at my mother’s kitchen was the fire at Zimmerman’s Lumber. I had forgotten all about the fire until recently and was doing research for a story I wanted to write about the stables. Someone I asked about the stables mentioned a fire in the barn. I wrote to Mary Bermani to ask her what she knew about the fire. Well, that was the wrong thing for me to do. Her memories were about the fire I had forgotten. The fire that changed her father’s and her families lives.

There were many families that lost all they had before the strike was over in spite of what this book implies. The strikers were sold out by their union and all I can say is that if corporations were people Kerr-McGee would have died and gone to hell.

I know that most of those that were involved have forgiven and forgotten. That is the way Trona people are. I also know that there will be some with long memories that will never forget or forgive. I am a big believer that forgiveness is very important but I also know that it is something that I often find hard to do.

I see Paul Henry Abram as the hero he makes himself out to be in this book. He wrote a good book. I enjoyed reading it. My only regret is that it may tear a scab off a wound that that will never totally heal.

Trona to Austin: How Life Snuck Up on Me

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