William Chrisman Aplin; Photographer
William Chrisman Aplin of Ventura, a photographer and member of a pioneer family that settled in the Ventura area in 1869, has died in a convalescent center. He was 80.
Aplin, who was born April 30, 1912, in Ventura, died Jan. 5.
Aplin specialized in photographs of desert plants and California native plants. He worked primarily for Sunset magazine in the 1950s and published photographs in numerous garden books produced by Sunset and others.
He attributed his interest in botany to spending time in the flower shop, La Florina, that his mother, Barbara Chrisman, owned in downtown Ventura’s El Jardin Building.
Aplin also photographed many of Ventura’s families.
He was a grandson of Gilpin Wallace Chrisman, an early Ventura resident who moved to the area in 1869.
He was active in the California Arboretum Foundation, the Southern California Garden Panel and the Ventura County Historical Society.
His family requests that memorial donations be made to the Ventura County Historical Society.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. today in the Vista Room of the Ventura Townehouse, 4900 Telegraph Road, Ventura. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Guardian Memorial of Ventura County.
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