By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO—It was no accident that Louis Rose Point was dedicated at 10 a.m., Thursday, March 24, rather than at some other time on some other date. Nor was it happenstance that hamantaschen, rather than some other sweet, was served at a reception immediately following the event. In fact, little is left to chance in the construction of symbolic ceremonies.
March 24 was chosen because that was the date that Louis Rose was born in 1807. The time of 10 a.m. was selected because it would enable students from Cabrillo Elementary School to attend the ceremony. Cabrillo Elementary School was selected because in former times, it was known as Roseville Elementary School . Roseville was the community that Louis Rose had created on the Point Loma peninsula in 1869. The very first teacher at Roseville Elementary School was Henrietta Rose, who was the daughter of Louis Rose. When she died, so did Rose’s line. He has no living relatives.
As for hamantaschen, the day that Louis Rose was born fell on the Jewish holiday of Purim. In fact, Rose’s Hebrew name – the one used to call him to Torah—was Yomtov (Good Day), in recognition of his birth date on the holiday that is known to the Bible-reading world through the Book of Esther.
The story of Louis Rose Point, where Womble Road meets the Boat Channel, goes back to 2004, when the United States was celebrating the 350th anniversary of Jewish settlement in North America. Historic contributions by Jews were celebrated by numerous towns and cities all over the country. San Diego chose to dedicate a point of land in honor of Louis Rose, who not only was the first Jewish settler but who had been an active figure in San Diego’s civic history.
A member of the City Board of Trustees and the first County Board of Supervisors, Rose started the tradition of Jews being active in San Diego’s civic life—a tradition that we continue to see today with a variety of officeholders being members of the Jewish community. Just to name three current officeholders: Congressman Bob Filner, Congresswoman Susan Davis, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
The ceremony included comments by three officials who had been involved in the 2004 effort to recognize Rose. Former Mayor Dick Murphy, who had given the enterprise his blessing, was there. So was City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who back in 2004 was a member of the San Diego City Parks and Recreation Board. Emceeing the event was Norman Greene, who still serves on that board, and who currently is president of the Louis Rose Society for the Preservation of Jewish History.
Another speaker, standing in for County Supervisor Greg Cox, was his legislative assistant, Greg Murphy. The County Board of Supervisors had appropriated $1,500 to help pay for the bronze plaque and concrete plinth that now stands as a permanent monument to Rose at his Point.
Steven Morris, the President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, quite correctly pointed out that the Jewish community works in close cooperation with the general community to help improve the lives of all San Diegans. Two examples are Jewish Family Service, which reaches out to people in need whatever their background. The JFS-sponsored Hand Up Pantry, for example, makes food available to needy military families at Camp Pendleton. Similarly, programs and athletic facilities of the Lawrence Family JCC are available to citizens of all backgrounds. Another important representative of the Jewish community at the ceremony was Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, who offered the Shehekiyanu prayer, thanking God for allowing us to reach this occasion.
As Louis Rose’s biographer, I was privileged to point out that the ceremony not only unveiled a plaque, but that it also prepared the ground for the formal creation of a sister school relationship between Cabrillo Elementary School and the “Grundschule” in Rose’s hometown in Neuhaus-an-der-Oste, Germany. The principals of the two schools, Nestor Suarez of Cabrillo Elementary School and Doris Henningson of Neuhaus, have been corresponding about the possibility of creating pen-pal projects, and perhaps launching common study projects, including one that would deal with our global environment.
Suarez spoke at the ceremony, and Dr. Stephen Hollmann, honorary consul in San Diego of the Federal Republic of Germany, spoke in behalf of the German school. School Board member Scott Barnett was to also have delivered a few remarks, but he needed to take his elderly mother to the dentist because of a flare up. He sent his regards by email. Norman Greene read a letter written by Henningson for the occasion.
Ranya Salem and Tai’Von Jackson, students at Cabrillo Elementary School, led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, and at the end of the ceremony, they were joined in planting twin rose bushes by other Cabrillo Elementary School students, who were listed in the day’s program as Robin Brown, Gustavo De La Cruz, Abigale Fierro, Sarah Freitas, Joseph Rodela, Hannah Schaffner, Brandon Valverde, Sinai Vargas, and Hope Wolthius. Bill Tall, the owner of City Farmers Nursery, instructed the students in planting the bushes symbolizing the two schools.
Cabrillo staff members Anita Molina and Patrice Wilson were particularly helpful as arrangements for the ceremony were made, and Molina’s German houseguest, UCSD student Nadine Miller, was recognized by Greene for translating letters and interpreting during phone calls between representatives of the two schools.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World