Each year Heritage Walks in SLO County showcase some aspect of our cultural past by sponsoring walks through specific locales. This annual event is a fundraiser for Senior Nutrition programs. In 1997 the walks featured contributions made by women in the history of SLO County. During Women's History Moth, we are reproducing the biographies of eight of the women profiled in the Heritage Walks.

Nellie Hollister Jack: Nellie was married to the mayor of San Luis Obispo, Robert Jack, of Jack House fame. In fact, the grounds are covered with many trees initially planted by Nellie, who was particularly fond of trees and exotic plants. She dedicated her life to growing trees and giving them away. Many of the trees still growing in the county came from Nellie Jack's garden and nursery.

Dona Ramona Carrillo Pacheco De Wilson: Before she was 20 years old, Dona Carrillo Pacheco had been married and widowed. Her husband was killed in a rebel uprising. In 1837 she received a 48,000 acre land grant on the Santa Maria River where she raised their two children. One of them, Romauldo, was elected Governor of California in 1875. She later married Captain John Wilson and is praised for her courageous stand at the Mission to save the life of a cousin, the local justice of the peace.

Maria Solares: Born in the mid 1800s at Mission Santa Ynez, Maria Solares was always interested in her Chumash heritage and helped anthropologist John Harrington when he came to SLO County in 1912 to record Chumash mythology. She is one of the few Chumash to survive the terrible cholera epidemics that swept the area in the 19^th century.

Lelia Penwell Still: Ms. Still was a true pioneer. Educated at Berkeley in the 1880s, she took a position as teacher at the remote mining settlement of 200 people at La Panza. She traveled, alone, by steamship to Port San Luis and by wagon through the mountains to the mine. She taught in the one room schoolhouse and boarded with the town's doctor. She eventually married one of the doctor's sons.

Gon Ying Louis: Her name means "silver dove" in Chinese and she was the wife of Ah Louis, the businessman who contributed in many ways to SLO's growth and prosperity. It is said that Gon Ying exemplified the picturesque and fashionable Chinese lady of the 1890s in California. She had eight children whom she raised above the present Ah Louis store.

Elsie Price FitzPatrick Muzio: The daughter of one of the first members of the Board of Supervisors in the county and founder of Pismo Beach, Elsie grew up on Price Ranch riding horseback. After her marriage, she opened a beauty shop downtown where her clients said of her, "Elsie always made you go away feeling better about yourself." Later, she was enthusiastic in her efforts to restore the County Museum.

Clara Edward Paulding: Ms. Paulding was a lifelong educator. She taught two generations of children in Arroyo Grande elementary schools and also served as principal. She was instrumental in establishing the Arroyo Grande high school and served as the first trustee. She was later president of the Board of Trustees.

Nellie Brumley Latimer: As a child, Nellie lived on Painted Rock ranch on the Carissa Plains and never lost her attachment to the area. After she married and moved into town near the Mission, she and her sister spent hours copying the early Indian paintings and pictographs on the rocks, documenting for historians the artifacts now destroyed by weather and vandalism. In 1950 she presented the sketches to the University of California.