She Sifts City’s Past for Own Identity

Genie John O’Dowd, 37, went to Brea to find herself.

O’Dowd, who is helping to organize Brea’s historical artifacts, believes she can “find out who I am by . . . uncovering history and finding out about people.”

She sees the organization of Brea’s documents and data from yesteryear as a learning process that tells her how she grew up, even though it was not in Brea.

“I find out who I am by finding out about people of other generations, what they used, how they dressed and how they lived,” she said. “I am the next generation of those people. That has a lot to do with why I am here.”

The University of Arizona anthropology major has a degree in museum studies and was assistant director of the university’s museum of art. She also fulfilled a Rockefeller Fellowship at the DeYoung Memorial Museum in San Francisco.

Her working clothes these days are often jeans and a T-shirt for her task at the old Brea City Hall, where the city’s historical papers, documents and pictures are stored. She also wears white cotton gloves to handle the delicate old papers while she serves as a “collection consultant” to the Brea Historical Society, a job that came about on happenstance.

“I was passing by and noticed the Historical Society sign and walked in,” said the Yorba Linda resident, who discovered the society was looking for someone to set up a documentation system for the papers.

“That was my training,” she said, “and I was looking for a job.”

Six years ago O’Dowd left Tucson and a close relationship with her pioneer family to change her lifestyle. She had run a consulting business in interior design.

“I have no family here (except husband Charles and son Kristofer) and it was a traumatic change,” she said, “but we wanted other things.”

“I surround myself with history and objects that have to do with people’s lifestyle,” she said, explaining that she was hired to put together everything that was once early Brea.

O’Dowd said there are many documents to be catalogued, but she would like help in locating household items from oil workers who were some of the earliest residents.

Much of what she organizes follows consultation with Inez Fanning, president of the society.

“You have to love her,” O’Dowd said. “She is a unique person.”

Fanning’s husband, Karl Fanning, can recall details by looking at old photographs.

“People who don’t see these things don’t know what they are missing by not finding out about the early days and what went on,” O’Dowd said.

Putting all the old photographs, documents, clothes and other artifacts into museum-quality containers for longevity is a part-time job for O’Dowd, who plans someday to be a museum director for some historical group.

O’Dowd figures it will take up to nine months to get everything in Brea together but even that depends on money.

“We need to raise money to continue,” she said. “We’re hoping we can continue long enough for people to learn about what we are doing.”

At night, Minnie, 30, and Allen Jiang, 34, discuss their workdays, he as waiter and she as a waitress at Mandarin Place in El Toro.

“We talk about how to improve our service,” said Minnie, who might have more to say than her husband.

Last week she received $10,000 in traveler’s checks from American Express, which sponsored a nationwide Server of the Year contest that attracted 100,000 replies from cardholders.

“We found that cardholders felt service was the key point, not the food,” said Marcos Wada, American Express spokesman in New York City. “People remember the service more then the food.”

Wada said Minnie tallied the most votes, but he did not know the number.

Minnie’s advice? “The customer comes first,” she said, adding, “My husband said I deserved the award.”