Former mayor fondly recalls city's pastoral history
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

Daily's ancesters settled here in the 19th century.

Stan Daily's new book, "Camarillo and Other Remembrances," is a 500-page history of the city that reads as if were told sitting on the front porch of his home over a glass of lemonade.

Throughout the book, the 71-year-old Daily reaches back into his exceptionally deep memory to give a first-person account of the city's growth from a sleepy West County farming town to a city of nearly 70,000 residents.

Daily said he wrote the selfpublished book because he wanted to share with readers stories from his nearly 40 years of public service that included the city's incorporation in 1964.

The book chronicles the Daily family history that begins with the arrival of his ancestors to America from Ireland in the late 1700s. Daily tells of his family's involvement in the American Revolution and his greatgrandfather Emmer Bowen, who was awarded the Medal of Honor at the battle of Vicksburg in the Civil War.

Led by the oldest Daily son, Charles Wesley- Stan Daily's great-grandfather- the two younger brothers, Charles Jay and Erastus Wright, soon immigrated to California in the late 1800s. The brothers staked out three neighboring ranches along what is now Daily Drive.

At the age of 16, Daily's grandfather, Wendell Phillips, also made his way west and the family would come to control nearly 2,000 acres of farmland throughout Ventura County, becoming one of Pleasant Valley's founding families.

"When they first came out here, there was no Camarillo," Daily said. "My granddad bought his ranch in 1899 and there was no Camarillo, period."

Daily said it took him nearly nine years to write the book, which he began in 1998 following his last term on the Camarillo City Council.

"It was like a burden off my back that I knew that I had finally done it," Daily said.

A history teacher at Hueneme High School for 35 years, Daily said he enjoyed writing about his early childhood. He later worked on the Bingling Stock Farm, which produced a number of prizewinning racehorses including the famed Seabiscuit. The ranch attracted a number of Hollywood icons, including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Elizabeth Taylor.

Daily said, however, it was difficult to write about his father's death. "When I talk about my father dying very early- - he died at age 54- - that's obviously very traumatic for me," Daily said. "I was 22 when he died."

Named mayor emeritus in 2003, Daily said he shares in the book why he left the City Council in 1976. He said few people know he resigned to fight throat cancer that had left him voiceless for nearly a year.

Although he successfully ran again for council in 1990, while serving as a board member of the Oxnard Harbor District, Daily said he again withdrew from public service in the 1998 to be with Elizabeth, his wife of 50 years, who had cancer.

He said he spent the next six months at his wife's side as she successfully fought the disease with chemotherapy.

The book is written from Daily's point of view and includes a number of lighthearted stories, including the time when then U.S. Sen. Hubert Humphrey's office mistakenly set up a meeting with the Camarillo native expecting to find Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

Daily said he has ordered 500 copies for the book's first run and that more than 200 residents have already requested copies.

He has two book signings coming up. The first will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Thurs., March 22 in Old Town at the former mayor's office (now FastFrame), 2320 Ventura Blvd.

The second signing will be at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Camarillo Library, 4101 Las Posas Road, March 31 at 10:30 a.m.

For more information about the book or to purchase a copy, call (805) 482-1036.