Fully restored — After almost two decades of work the Daniels School restoration is complete. From left to right, Richard and Bonnie Cussins-Pitkin and Sue Campbell, stand in front of their completed project.
Group who restored building recognized for their work by Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society
To say that the restoration of the 136-year old Daniels School on Mill Creek Road has been a labor of love for Bonnie Cussins-Pitkin would be an understatement.
Cussins-Pitkin, her husband Richard and their friend Sue Campbell have been part of the 27-year-long effort to restore the beloved school, which involved corralling volunteers to help during construction, organizing countless fundraisers to raise money for the project and searching high and low across two counties for finishing touches like light fixtures and old desks.
Their passion, sweat and work paid off on Jan. 16 when the trio were honored for their efforts and presented with a recognition for their work from the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society.
“It is especially wonderful that I went to school there myself. And it is just so amazing that it has happened,” Cussins-Pitkin said of the restoration.
Healdsburg Museum Executive Director and Curator Holly Hoods, and historical society members presented Cussins-Pitkin, her husband and Campbell with the award.
“This is a great building,” one of the members said. “It is interesting to me sometimes when you see these buildings you think, ‘Good lord, how do people have that vision to see how important it is,’ and it is important that they do and luckily people have the vision to see that.”
The first person to have that vision to restore the one-room school was Floramay Caletti, the founder of the Venado Historical Society.
“This is Floramay Caletti,” Cussins-Pitkin said, standing in the schoolhouse pointing to a black and white photo of Caletti as a child at the school. “And she is the one who actually started the restoration of the school and this is her with her very best friend,” she said showing off another photo of a smiling girl, Eloise Batchellor.
“They both went to the school, and as they got older, Floramay became a teacher. This school closed in 1951 and she and Eloise Batchellor started the restoration in the 1990s,” Cussins-Pitkin said.
When the two decided to start the project, they went from door to door on Mill Creek Road to get the word out and raise money. The duo worked together raising funds up until 2000 when Caletti became ill.
“It was around 2004 when Sue and I became involved,” Cussins-Pitkin said.
The two had been living and teaching in Sacramento, but since Cussins-Pitkin’s parents lived on Mill Creek Road they were able to visit the school often.
“We would come here a lot and over the years seeing the deterioration of the school was always disappointing,” she said.
The project was also close to her heart since she attended the school in the first grade. Several other folks who lived on Mill Creek also attended the school; she was one of six students.
“There was a neighbor, Gloria Egger, and she lived here for one year up on Mill Creek with her grandparents and she went to school for one year here … as a child. She was also thinking about ‘wouldn’t it be great to restore the school’ and she said she would be happy to help,” Cussins-Pitkin said.
In order to pick up where Caletti left off, Cussins-Pitkin and Egger first had to get the nonprofit and historical society reinstated.
“To begin with, it was mostly trying to figure out how to go forward. She (Gloria) was a major help because she said ;I’ll help try to get the reinstatement of the nonprofit,’” Cussins-Pitkin said. “Gloria was very instrumental in going to the county and finding out with the state and she worked with an attorney, everything to get that reinstated. Once we got that, we could have fundraisers and collect donations.”
One of the first fundraisers Cussins-Pitkin, her husband and Campbell held was at the Mill Creek Winery.
“The community at large has been very open and interested in seeing the restoration take place,” she said.
Once the group had raised sufficient funds, they set their sights on the restoration process — they had a lot of work cut out for them as the building was a bit the edges.
All of the windows were out, there was wood rot, critters had made their home in the ceiling and the building was standing on a redwood stump foundation.
Floramay’s son, Steve Caletti had to install a brand-new cement foundation.
Through a grant with the Sonoma County Landmarks Commission they had an engineer come out to see what elements of the building could be saved. Some of the original redwood vertical siding was saved along with nine studs.
They also kept the integrity of two windows on the east side of the building, however, the windows were raised to reduce the chance of a break in.
Later on, they organized a slew of volunteers to help with various projects such as installing new hardwood floors, conducting earthquake retrofits and building a new stairway to the school’s front porch. Wes Brubacher, a retired contractor from Cloverdale, even volunteered his time to install siding and wood.
“The first person to call (after they had solicited volunteer help) said, ‘I’m a retired contractor from Cloverdale, I would love to help with the project, but the only problem is I am 80. Is that too old?,’ and I said absolutely not and he worked several days a week,” Cussins-Pitkin said.
At the conclusion of the project Cussins-Pitkin said the process was rewarding.
Cussins-Pitkin’s friend Campbell said, “To see how it looks to today but that it still has the past (is great).”
