Mark your calendars and plan on visiting the Tulare Historical Museum between March 17 and April 7, for a special exhibition created exclusively for THM.  In honor of ‘Music in Our Schools Month’ the museum presents, “Big Band Bash: Tulare School Band Retrospective” held in the Heritage Art Gallery at THM. The opening kick-off of the exhibition is on Saturday, March 17 at 2pm.

Personal band memorabilia, much of which has rarely been seen, will highlight Tulare high schools and middle schools throughout the years. Special recognition will be given to the 1957 Tulare High School Redskin Band, who had the honor of performing at Dwight Eisenhower’s Presidential Inaugural Parade.

The idea for the exhibit came through members of the museum’s board of directors. They coordinated with Tulare schools’ band directors.

In conjunction with the exhibition, special live musical performances will be held in the Heritage Art Gallery on select days throughout the exhibition’s run. Performances are as follows:

Sat. Mar. 17, @ 2pm:  Tulare Community Stage Band

Sun. Mar. 18, @ 2pm:  Tulare Western High School Stage Band

Thurs. Mar. 22, @ 2pm:  Live Oak & Cherry Avenue Jazz Bands

Fri. Mar. 23, @ 2pm:  Los Tules & Mulcahy Jazz Bands

Sat. Mar. 31, @ 11am:  Special Performance TBA

Thurs. Apr. 5, @ 2pm:  Alpine Vista Jazz Band

Fri. Apr. 6, @ 2pm:  Tulare Union High School Stage Band

The special exhibition and musical performances are open to the public and free of charge. Regular admission applies for touring the Museum’s historical galleries:  Adults -$6, Seniors/AAA Members -$4, Students -$3, Tulare City Historical Society Members and Children 5 and under – free. The museum is located at 444 W. Tulare Ave. in Tulare. For more information, visit www.tularehistoricalmuseum.org or call, (559) 686-2074.

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This year’s featured artist is Bob Bottoms of Porterville.

“We try to pick someone who has been a member of the Palette Club for some time,” said Gladys Tweedy, co-chairman. “We thought he’d be good.”

The exhibit is expected to draw upwards of 50 artists with 85 entries. Entries are to be “anything that will fit into a frame,” including oils, watercolor, pastels, mixed media and computer art.

The show will be judged with first through fourth place, and honorable mention awards given in each category. Best of Show will earn $100 in prize money; the Popular Vote will earn $50. Voting for the Popular Vote will take place through the life of the exhibit and will be awarded at the close of the show.

The Artists Reception will take place on Friday, April 21 from 5-7pm, and is open to the public and free of charge. The show will run through May 21. Admission to Heritage Art Gallery exhibitions is always free.

The Tulare Historical Museum is located at 444 W. Tulare Ave. in Tulare. For more information regarding the show, contact Spring Art Show chairpersons, Gladys Tweedy, (559) 688-7033, or Bethany Phillips, (559) 359-2837.

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Founded September 21, 1889, the Tulare Irrigation District is considered the fourth-oldest irrigation district in California, with a present size of approximately 70,000 acres. Zach, a registered civil engineer and former high school English teacher, has more than just a personal interest in the history of TID, but much rather a passion with it. Growing up as a fourth-generation Tularean, Zach spent his youthful summers traveling canal banks with his father David Zach, who was TID’s first engineer-manager and worked there for 40 years.

Zach was commissioned by the irrigation district to write the book, which took three years of fulltime work, he said. What makes this book different than other irrigation district histories up and down the state, is that “I knew the people, I was writing about,” he said. What also makes it different, is his work at making the content less dry and, well, a bit more humorous.

“One way or another, I knew I would have to write this book,” he said. “It is a book of destiny.”

For a couple of years, Zach returned to riding the canal banks with his father. And, while his dad had the satisfaction and knowledge that Zach was writing the book, he didn’t live to see the finished product.

Interesting highlights in the book and presentation are Tulare’s Bond Burning celebration in 1903, and the 20-year litigation between TID and the Lindsay-Strathmore Irrigation District, considered a textbook legal case to this day.

“Quest For Water” is packed with more than 490 photographs, maps, letters, and drawings, many of which have never before been seen outside private collections. Zach traveled as far as Washington State, just south of the Canadian border to locate photos and interview people for the book.

Join the museum for this presentation on the Valley’s precious resource, and the role which the Tulare Irrigation District has had with it for 127 years. The program will be held at 2pm in the Heritage Art Gallery at the Tulare Historical Museum. The program is open to the public and is free of charge. Admission to the museum is also free on this day during its hours of operation, 12:30-4pm.
Copies of the book will be for sale the day of the event. Copies are also available at the museum gift shop during regular hours, as well as through the Tulare Irrigation District.

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Brazil, who grew up in Glendale, got married young, she said, because that is what was expected in the late 1950’s. She had attended Glendale Community College after high school, but then she met her husband, a Tulare native, moved there with him and had two children.

While the marriage did not last, her love for the Tulare community did. She did not consider moving back down to Glendale following her divorce.

“When I got divorced, my parents had moved to Costa Mesa,” she said. “And, in Glendale my parents hadn’t known my friends or their parents [while she grew up], and here I could keep track. I felt I could be move involved in my children’s lives here. Tulare always felt so friendly.”

Brazil worked at Bank of America as a teller, which worked out well timewise, she said, as her 9-3 hours allowed her to be home when her kids got home from school. Later, she went to work in the law office of Joseph Soares, where she worked for many years.

Brazil met Dr. Lionel Brazil, a local veterinarian, and they married in 1973. Dr. Brazil had graduated from the second class of veterinary school at UC Davis, she said. Upon graduation he returned to establish the Tulare Veterinary Hospital. He also got into the dairy business.

When he retired from his practice, the couple sold the dairy and moved to Marina del Rey.

“We were boating, and it was fun – for two years,” she said.

But it was a tough time for the dairy business, and their buyers had not been able to make it work, so the couple returned to Tulare taking over that business once again, and moving to property very close to the dairy. While Dr. Brazil obtained a partner, he continued to manage the dairy until it once again sold. Dr. Brazil passed away in 2007.
In the meantime, Terry Brazil’s two children with first husband, had moved north – her son, Ray, to Washington and her daughter, Cindy, to Oregon.

A Museum Job

For several years, Brazil had worked many temp jobs. She learned of a part-time position as the assistant to the director of the museum. The woman who had formerly been in the position, had just been named as director. Brazil nabbed the assistant position.

“Ellen retired in 2008 and recommended me for the job [as director],” she said.
She got it, and, it is this position by which she is most recognized in the community.
“I kept things going for eight years,” she said.

While Brazil was working as director, Chris Harrell was named curator in 2013. In 2016, the museum underwent some reorganization of work positions creating a full-time position of executive director/curator for which Harrell was named. Brazil was not interested in that position, and was named museum director, retaining a part-time position.
“He always had an eye. I didn’t, I just kept things going,” she said. “He has a real deep-seeded love for this place.”

Brazil said she was relieved by his taking over a lot of the work load that she admitted feeling nervous about.
“It’s been just wonderful,” she said. “I didn’t want to be committed to full time work.
She now considers herself Harrell’s assistant.

“I didn’t want the responsibility of it [being executive director] – coordinating school tours, arranging for docents, making sure someone was in the give shop, organizing club meetings,” she said.

But, her new position has meant she has had to learn some new things – especially with regard to working on the computer and multiple programs.

“I have had to learn new things, but that’s getting me into this century,” she said.

For one thing, the museum schedule is now kept on the computer, and so she has to stay abreast of that via her computer, now.

“It makes things run more smoothly,” she said. “He has a lot of plans.”

“But, I love it when somebody tells me what to do,” she added. “I get to do things I like more now – interacting with the people who come in. I like organizing for meetings, opening and closing in the evenings, getting refreshments – it’s flunky work, in a way, but I like it.”

Another thing she doesn’t miss is speaking to service clubs on behalf of the museum. Public speaking just isn’t her thing, she said.

She would like to continue working in the museum for three to four more years.

“But, I want him to have somebody he can rely on, too, and that’s important,” she said. “They’ll need to be training someone.”

Providing Housing for UC Davis Extension Students

As if she hadn’t been busy enough, Brazil has made room in her home for visiting UC Davis extension students to stay, while studying in Tulare.

“Since 2010, I’ve had several students from UC Davis. Many of them are foreign – I’ve had students from Spain, Iran, Argentina and two from the US, and I currently have a young man from Stockton,” she said. “The first student I had was from Egypt.”

The shortest term was two months, and she has had students live with her for a little over a year.

“They pay rent,” she said. “They buy their own groceries and cook their own food, and clean up after themselves.”
It’s strictly an agreement between the homeowner and student, she said. The university has no involvement other than by ways of introduction. Since she started, she has recommended the “gig” to others.

She never was too worried about having a student live and have access to her home.

“I felt that if they are cleared to go to UC Davis, and they’re paying the money to go, then they are probably OK,” she said, “and I have never been disappointed with that assessment.”

The other option for these students is student housing in mobile homes at the Tulare extension center, where they can live with other students. But, living with a local family is cheaper, she has been told, and some of the professors urge their students to live with a local family to see how life is in Tulare.

“I have no regrets at all,” Brazil said of her student housing.

While some students, especially Sonya, a girl from Spain who had live with Brazil, stay much to themselves, she said, others, such as a Steven, a student from Northern California would watch television with her in the evenings. Some have shown an interest in her museum work, while others have obtained from paying a visit to the facility.

When they move on, Brazil generally knows what will be next in their lives, but she has not stayed in touch with all of them. She has, however, stayed in touch with Sonya, who had returned to Spain, but then moved to South Dakota, for further schooling. The student from Egypt who lived with her, now works for the USDA and lives in Fresno, she said.

Memberships and Clubs

Through the years, Brazil has been active in Sundale School, where her children and granddaughter had attended. She joined the Valley Oak Garden Club in the 1980’s and remains a member today. The club’s monthly meetings are held at the museum. She is a member of the Tulare Republican Women Federation and is a longtime member of the Tulare United Methodist Church.

“I find the history here of Tulare so fascinating – I didn’t really know the history of Glendale,” she said. “They’re just so understated about what accomplishments people have made here in Tulare. They act like, well, yes, we did this, but it’s nothing. And, they’ve kept things going here, even though farming is not always easy.”

She’s also found that people always seem to return to their home in Tulare.

“That’s the thing about Tulare,” she said. “There are so many natives – they always come back.”

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