The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 41

1 But Remembers the Past Mrs. Lula Herrera Keeps Her Eyes on the Future SAN BERNARDINO SUN-TELEGRAM- pUajUmyWH wpiUM HHWimiH IJ 1 HL III. lllpWWWIIIIIWWIWll IIMUUlUWIIIIWWIIIIIIUlltlllllllllMIMIW nett took her only child and headed west. Mrs. Garnett, 81, also lives in San Bernardino, at 303 E.

29th St. Mrs. Garnett and her young daughter operated boarding houses in the rugged mining camps of Arizona, before moving to California. Lula graduated from high school in Globe, and attended Arizona State College for two years before joining her mother in San Bernardino. She also worked as a waitress in a gold mine at Oatman, an experience she remembers fondly.

"The men are so much more gallant there than in cities," she believes. "They really put a woman on a pedestal." In San Bernardino, she attended Longmire's Business College (today Skadrons) and worked in a feed store. She bought five acres of land on Cardiff Avenue just east of Waterman, and started raising race and saddle horses. "It got so they ate one week and I ate the next," she recalls, remembering the thin depression years. World War II came, and she applied as a civilian worker at the San Bernardino Air Depot, which later became Norton AFB.

She worked "four By RON PLOTKIN Sun-Telegram Staff Writer Mrs. Lula Herrera is San Bernardino's only practicing female general contractor. In a business community dominated by men, she is vivid proof that a lady can make it. Worth several hundred thousand dollars, she is a self-made woman. Mrs.

Herrera, 62, operates her firm, Herrera Builders, from an office in her ranch-style home at 840 E. Mockingbird Lane. She also runs a large Polynesian restaurant, Trader Island, located at 868 E. Highland Ave. In her spare time, she is an avid equestrienne who has raised race horses as a hobby since her arrival in San Bernardino 42 years ago.

She is the only Protestant director of the Catholic Guadalupe Day Nursery. She keeps her eyes on the future, and tempers her businessmanlike attitude with a memory of a past that was not so rosy. Mrs. Herrera's father died before she was born on a small farm in north-central Texas. Her mother, Mrs.

Ida Gar- years to the day" as a personnel specialist in the intelligence unit. The war ended "and in 1947 my life changed." Mrs. Herrera attributes much of her success to a book she read that year. It is called "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill. "I was having trouble sleeping one night," she remembers, "so I picked it up.

I read all night. I couldn't put it down." She says she has followed the tenets in Hill's book ever since. First she subdivided her five acres, borrowed books on building, and sketched plans for seven small homes. Then she bought lumber on shoestring credit, put on a pair of coveralls, hired a couple of helpers, and went to work, like a man. The homes had two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and dining area, a hallway, and attached single garage.

"I tried to sell them for each," she recalls. "They wouldn't sell. So I upped it to $6,000. Still nothing. Then I upper the price to $8,500 (Continued on D-4, Column 1) THE WOMEN IN THE MAYOR'S LIFE Cheryl, Emma and Ann WSSIS I i lAr.

Action-Packed Days Way of Life For San Bernardino's First Lady sons in art but does enjoy watercoloring, particularly landscapes. Like everything else, though, she hasn't had much time for it lately. A lover of fine art, Mrs. Ballard admitted that she finds a clutter of pictures distasteful, prefering one big picture or a mural. A quick glance around the room upheld her remark the walls are unadorned except for her mural and two mounted newspapers of the election returns that some supporters had given them.

Her skill with a paint brush has been inherited by her oldest daughter, Ann, 17, who'll be a senior next fall at St. Bernardine High School. "She's so good with charcoal sketches, she can draw anything faces, landscapes," praised her mother. Other children in the family are James, 20, a junior at Seattle University and Cheryl, 12, a student at Holy Rosary Academy. Although she has membership in St.

Bernardine Parents Club and Holy Rosary Mothers Club Mrs. Ballard isn't an active member of any social club. "I just don't have the time to devote to a club and I believe in supporting an organization to the fullest if I'm going to be a member," said the friendly woman who was recently given a life membership in the San Bernardino Fire Dept. Ladies Auxiliary. "As a fireman Al worked (Continued on 2, Column 5) MRS LULA HERRERA shs's a contractor Are Your Manners Modern? See Series Starting Monday answers your problems Like most everything else, manners can get out of date.

For a quick check on yours, see the "Manners for Moderns" series starting tomorrow in the Women's Section of The Sun-Telegram. Writing the column is Virginia Weldon Kelly, a prominent Washington hostess and newspaper woman. Her approach to the problem is by no means stuffy. "Essentially," she says, "the rules for courteous living are common sense." Her own eminently sensible articles are fun to read because of the way she writes them and because of all the famous people she has met and entertained. A native of Tennessee, Mrs.

Kelly attended the Ward-Belmont Junior College in Nashville, the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and the Pittsburgh Musical Institute. She is a member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and the Club of Colonial Dames. Other organizations in which she is a member include Daughters of the American Revolution, 1925 Street Club, the Washington Club, the Women's National Press Club, the American Newspaper Women's Club, Red Cross Gray Ladies and the Salvation Army Auxiliary. By AGNES MARSH Sun-Telegram Staff Writer In the near three months since her husband has been in office, action-packed days have become a way of life for Mrs. Al C.

Ballard, wife of San Bernardino's mayor. The trim, attractive First Lady of the City feels that their lives actually first faced a changeover with the onset of the campaign and that life now is merely an extension of those days. I "Of course we receive a lot more invitations. There always seems to be an installation or retirement dinner to attend. We do try to fulfill as many social engagements as possible," added Mrs.

Ballard, who has on many occasions accompanied her husband to five events in one evening. "I've discovered you just have to keep going and never let up," she admitted. Her days begin like most other mothers and housewives: breakfast, seeing her husband to work and the children to school. But from there on, she really moves, she's got to. she's a working woman too.

From nine to one o'clock each day she's managing a service station (owned by her husband) with efficiency and enthusiasm. Her dual role as housewife and career woman has kept her so busy that leisure is something enjoyed by others often by her. Only the day before the interview did she attend her first City Council meeting. "I took the whole day off. to the meeting and got home just in time to dress for a dinner at El Rancho Verde Country Club." It hasn't been necessary to increase her wardrobe much, now that she's San Bernardino's First Lady that all took place eight months ago.

"I've just never had the time to be a clothes horse. I'm really pretty basic in my dress and accessories," said Mrs. Ballard, attired in a pastel print two-piece dress. As she spoke, Emma Ballard relaxed in her contemporary-styled living room, decorated in shades of warm Drown with sunshine colors for accent. Dominating the room is a massive wall mural of a desert scene, painted by Mrs.

Ballard herself. She's never taken any formal les of him and we would be pleased to have him for a son-in-law. I was shocked recently to learn that our daughter has been sneaking around with a married man who has a family. According to the person who told me (a reliable source) this affair has been going on for over two years. I promised faithfully not to i -v nf I- if VjL 1 j-r- it I ''J lev VA- Behold, the Unexpected Guest! I -Sip Dear Ann Landers: Since I have retired and have no association with the dance schools bearing my name I feel free to write without fear of being called a publicity seeker.

Your advice to "Out Of It," the 15-year-old girl who could lead other girls but "got all tensed up" when she tried to follow a boy, may seem logical but it is incorrect. About 20 years ago I noticed among my dancing students that girls who could lead were invariably the best followers. Since that time I have taught girls to lead before I taught them to follow. Your advice that the girl "hang loose, like a rag doll" is no help to a girl who doesn't know how to dance. It merely makes her heavy and lifeless.

Change your advice, Ann. ARTHUR MURRAY Dear Arthur: Where were you thirty years ago when I needed you? I was taught to be a loose-hanger which is probably why I never won any silver cups. I give up. You are right and I am wrong. I'm not about to take on Arthur Murray in an argument about dancing.

That dumb I'm not. Dear Ann Landers: Our 19-year-old daughter has a steady boy friend who treats her like a queen. She seems very fond tell my daughter that I know. But now I find that sitting silently and pretending to be unaware is driving me crazy. Please tell me what to do.

-APPROACHING DOOM Dear Approaching: It is unlikely that a girl of 19 who has been slipping around with a married man for two years will quit just because her mother tells her to. Get permission from your "source" to tell your daughter what you know promising, of course, to protect the identity of that person. When you talk to your daughter, don't moralize, scold or preach. Simply point out that her involvement has all the elements of a 6-car collision and the results are bound to be devastating. Dear Ann Landers: I don't agree with your theory that the guy who sent his girl ahead to buy the movie tick- (Continued on 2, Column 5) MRS.

AL C. BALLARD Bernardino's First Lady If "i IT ii" iii dir ri if tk i0 uny ifT. iri irft.