Katherine Shea, Museum Trustee

Like each visitor to this Museum of California, I have a unique story.
Most Californians are not descendants of the indigenous peoples.  As we honor them, I urge each of you to share your own history.

My first European ancestor settled in Jamestown Virginia in 1610. His descendants came to Healdsburg, California in 1850.  My Great-Grandfather left the 42nd Highland Regiment in India for the New Mexico Territory in 1880 and settled in Oakland in 1890.  In the 1840s my German and Irish relatives fled war, indentured servitude, and starvation for a new life in America.

California continues to define and redefine millions of immigrants.  My early years in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Carmel-by-the-Sea gave me a lifelong definition as “thorny, individualistic, outspoken, artistic and engaged in community.” I have thrived through 60 years of public policy advocacy committed to the potential that is California.

Tell your stories to each other and listen to the beauty and richness that is California.

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