Work From Home

Moises Solis retired Dec. 31 from La Purisima Mission StateHistoric Park after 35 years, leaving his mark as a rich andpermanent part of history in the nearly 2,000-acre park.

While his official title was Maintenance Worker I, Solis wasdescribed as a vital employee who worked with the park’s manydocents to bring the story of the mission alive for thousands ofannual visitors, especially young students. in retirement he willcontinue that work officially as a docent.

Solis volunteered to maintain the park’s two-room blacksmithshop, where he performed the same duties as a docent andconstructed the hardware for a yoke and the traditional adobecooking fireplace, known in Spanish Colonial architecture as a“fogon.”

The blacksmith’s shop is among several buildings at La Purisimathat have been restored to reflect their origin in the 1700s,according to www.lapurisimamission.org. Others include the church,more shops and living quarters.

Misión la Purísima Concepción de María Santísima (Mission of theImmaculate Conception of most Holy Mary) was founded by FatherPresidente Fermin de Lasuén on Dec. 8, 1787.  it was the 11th of 21Franciscan Missions established in Alta California.

Today the blacksmith’s shop houses the anvil used by Solis’father in Mexico; the elder Solis was a practicing blacksmith, andhis son described how he learned the trade at his father’sside.

Some people might consider a family heirloom too precious todonate to the public, but for Solis, sharing history is simply whohe is.

Besides, he said, the anvil “doesn’t do any good sitting in acorner at home.” He takes it along on the docents’ outreachprojects, and demonstrates its use to participants in the StudentLearning History Days at the park.

These events are designed for fourth-grade students to interactwith costumed docents and mission staff, and observe how corn isground, tortillas made, and the art of candle-making and weaving.Just last Thursday, Solis participated in another such event forcrowds of attentive fourth-grade students, demonstrating his skillsas a blacksmith, using fire fueled by a bellows to hammer out anail.

Solis calls the blacksmith shop his favorite location at themission, for “it brings me memories of Mexico and my father.”

Born in Cadereytade QRO Mexico, Solis said he left his familyand home in 1955 at age 18 to work in the United States as animmigrant farm laborer. Across California and the Southwest, heharvested various crops, among them citrus, grapes and lettuce.

Before starting work at La Purisima in April 1976 as a parkaide, Solis worked at El Presidio de Santa Barbara State HistoricPark, where he replaced old latches and other hardware, hesaid.

At the mission, Solis worked his way up to park maintenanceassistant before becoming Maintenance Worker I, the title he helduntil his retirement.

During a typical work day, Solis would unlock buildings andrestrooms for visitors and help feed the many animals that are keptat the mission.

His special projects included cleaning the historical aqueductthat winds through the park, making nails at the blacksmith shopand restoring buildings, flooring and walls damaged by the elementsand time, Solis said.

Over the years, his specialty has been the hardware crucial tothe mission’s history.

“I know how to make anything out of metal that’s related to themission period,” he said, such as the hinges, locks and bellscrucial to the park’s facade. “This is part of my culture, ofMexico.”

Solis will be honored Sunday, Jan. 22, during a retirement partyto be held at the Lompoc Elks Lodge.

He has been made an “honorary docent” by the volunteers anddocents with whom he worked over the years.

Solis is father to three, including his daughter, Victoria, withwhom he lives, and has seven grandchildren and threegreat-grandchildren, he said, most of whom live locally.

Freelance writer Laurie Jervis can be reached atwinecountrywriter@gmail.com.

Moises Solis retires after career preserving history