Your World for a Moment: The Recovered History of Carl Franco

By Lauren Coodley with Stephanie Grohs

The wildflowers in this album were collected in Napa Valley by Carl Franco in 1929, 1931 and 1932. We have no information about Mr. Franco, but he would probably be pleased to know his collection has held up over the years.  Enjoy and please handle with care.

I have been haunted by this quote, which I found in an album of pressed wildflowers at the Carolyn Parr Nature Center. Happily, the center is now reopened after being damaged by the West Napa earthquake of 2014. Napa Valley Naturalists was founded in 1978 by a group of local citizens. At the time of her death in 1980, member Carolyn Parr left her modest estate for the purpose of establishing a nature center.

I decided to find the history of Carl Franco. I invited crack researcher Stephanie Grohs to assist me. Her research revealed that Carl Franco was born in California in 1910. His father John was born in Argentina, mother Amelia Banchero was descended from a pioneer Napa family.  The 1930s census tells us that Carl Franco was the head of household’s son, twenty years old and identified as white and unmarried. Amelia’s family immigrated to Napa from Italy in 1875 and bought land on Soda Springs Road. Her father Louie worked at Sawyer Tannery; his photograph is included in my first book about Napa. John came to America as an indentured servant and worked grafting trees in the Napa orchards. The family home was on Eggleston Street.

 In 1945, Carl Franco was President of Local 137 of the Garment Workers Union. Also that year, Audubon Magazine listed him as part of a group that traveled to “Tulocay Cemetery, Henry Lane, Bush Creek from Waterworks to Little Trancas, along the road to Big Trancas and up Napa River 3/4 mile: upland pasture 50%, wooded creek bed 30%, lightly wooded upland 20%.” It was December 31st and the eight people traveled ten miles, noting birds that included the Western Bluebird, the Golden Crowed Kinglet, Cedar Wax Wing, Western Meadow Lark and the California Purple Finch.

Carl Franco died suddenly in 1946 at Parks Victory Hospital. He was 36 years old. “Local Union No. 137 mourns death of Carl Franco” was the headline story on April 5th, 1946 in The Garment Worker (Journal of the United Garment Workers of America). The obituary states that Franco attended the “Napa Public School. Upon graduation from Napa High, he attended Heald Business College in Oakland. He entered the employment of the Cameron Shirt factory upon completing his education and was in the cutting room at the time of his death.”

The Cameron Shirt Company, which opened in 1901, was the first union shop in town, its workforce turning out 1,200 work shirts in a day. W. H. Cameron, a salesman for Levi Strauss in San Francisco, founded the company, and brought a young cutter named Bert Gans to act as superintendent in 1901. Rita Bordwell, former secretary to the Napa Central Labor Council, wrote:

I don’t believe there ever was any superintendent that was as popular as Bert Gans. San Francisco requested his help to affiliate with the Shirtmakers Union. All joined, at the request of Messrs. Cameron and Gans.

The Garment Workers obituary reveals that Franco was a member of the Young Men’s Institute, Knights of Dunamis, Audubon Club, Saint John’s Church Choir and the Assistant Scout Leader of Troop No.10. More than one hundred Scouts formed a guard of honor at the church, and Cameron Shirt Company closed its doors during the funeral.

Nature Center docent Karen Swain compiled Carl Franco’s work into a scrap book. Opening its pages, we find that Carl Franco collected specimens of 96 flowers. Each page contains a Latin name, a common name and a location. He found flowers such as Blue Larkspur, Western Buttercup and Woodland Star on Soda Spring Road in April of 1929. He preserved a Wild Iris from Dry Creek Road in June of 1929. He found a yellow Tulip on Redwood Road in May 1929. His last entry is a Lupine, location unspecified, in1932.   

Most of these flowers were native to Napa. Naturalist Robin Grossinger writes that 19th century historical accounts describe numerous fields of wildflowers. He cites a Mr. Bartlett who in 1853 wrote that “wild flowers of varied hues were thickly scattered around” (American Canyon). Heading north from Oak Knoll, Bartlett noted “a luxuriant growth of grass, studded with brilliant wildflowers” and described the valley as “surrounded by a world of wildflowers of most gorgeous hues, which covered the plains on either side and loaded the air with rich perfume”. W.L. Jepson, who wrote extensively about California flowers between 1892-1936, remembers “a radiant springtime when for four glorious weeks I botanized the whole length of the valley…cream cups, poppies, clover, filled the meadows and fields”. Grossinger notes that the loss of this remarkable expression of local climate and ecology is a largely overlooked transformation of the landscape: “Native wildflower seed banks lie intact waiting for the right conditions to return.” The website of Pressed Flower Craft explains:

The idea of preserving plants by pressing originated with early botanists. Even in Greek and Roman times, flower pressing was a practical way for a botanist to bring lots of specimens back from the wild for later recording and analyzing. The botanist’s plant press was simply two large flat boards surrounding alternating stacks of paper. Plants were kept tight with adjustable belt like straps. During Victorian times flower pressing was one way to capture and preserve the beauty of the natural world. Nature’s beauty was brought inside where it could be appreciated forever.

 Nature’s beauty was brought inside where it could be appreciated forever …in this case, at the Carolyn Parr Nature Center.

(Originally Published by Napa Valley Marketplace. Also published on the Carolyn Parr Nature Center blog)