Name/Title
Oral History of Dave EllsworthEntry/Object ID
2002.013.001TScope and Content
Oral History Interview of Dave Ellsworth, a long time resident of Los Altos.
Born in Hawaii, Dave Ellsworth came to Los Altos at the age of nine with his family to come and live with his father, who had come to Los Altos the year prior in 1920. After attending the San Antonio School for elementary school and Mountain View High School, Dave went on to attend San Mateo Junior College and the University of California Extension School. After doing traveling work as an engineer for PG&E, he and his wife, Bobbie, settled back down in Los Altos to raise their three sons. Dave watched Los Altos grow from a small town with a population of 300 to a lively city.
Describing Los Altos during his childhood, Dave paints a portrait of a very rural Los Altos, one where cars still hadn’t become widespread and people got around on bikes or horses. He goes into details about his experience being a part of Boy Scout Troop 1, the first Boy Scout Troop in Los Altos, playing basketball at the Scout Hall, and the sadness amongst local kids watching the Scout Hall get torn down in 1930. His participation in the Scouts continued into his adulthood, serving as Scoutmaster and chairman on the Stanford Area Council for Boy Scouts. At age 15, he discovered his love for flying, secretly earning his flying license to the dismay of his mother. Upon returning to Los Altos as an adult, Ellsworth begins two contracting businesses, describing the effect World War II had on them. Throughout the interview, he describes Los Altos from the 1920s and beyond.
Ellsworth mentions his interactions with Paul Shoup, who had been extremely active in the Scouts during his childhood. He describes meeting Shoup to go to Scout Hall every Wednesday for their meetings, learning of his position at Southern Pacific through their conversations. Ellsworth later worked on Shoup’s property one summer raking leaves and opened his first passbook account with the First National Bank at the insistence of Shoup.Collection
Oral History CollectionOral History Details
Interviewee
Dave EllsworthInterviewer
Marion GrimmInterview Date
Jan 4, 1989