Beverley Sciranka

One evening in the early 1990's I received a telephone call from Brother Dennis asking me to join the Board of Directors of the Moraga Historical Society. I was hesitant, but finally agreed. At the time the Board met each month in the Brothers' Residence Hall at Saint Mary's College. Their small meeting room was most convenient for Brother Dennis and his wheelchair. He was an active participant in every meeting, reviewing with a close eye the secretary's minutes, for this is the job which awaited me on the board - both recording and corresponding secretary.

Brother Dennis over the years had accepted a marvelous collection of castoffs for the Society, and stored them in the college library building. But as the college grew in numbers, space that the Society could use was moved to accommodate offices or special book collections - until it reached the 3rd floor under the eaves. This became "home" to the MHS collection until we moved to our present location in the Moraga Public Library building.

And often, when Maggie Skinner and I worked at the MHS area at the building at Saint Mary's College, Bro. Dennis would use the elevator and we could hear his wheelchair on the "straightaway" over to the MHS area. He liked to move fast. He had to stand in the doorway, the only place for a tall person. The roof slant was such that to walk upright you needed to stay close to the inside wall aisle. Since Maggie and I were short, we "fit" the area requirements.

He had collected filing cabinets of wood, steel and cardboard. One typewriter was from the Preflight School days. And it was here that the slides, maps (flat and rolled), tapes, microfilm, framed pictures and artifacts of every size and shape with no I.D. as to date found, location, or possible ownership were located. (Many farm tools, implements and kitchenware were identified by using old Sears Roebuck catalogs.)

Brother Dennis gave a voice to the organizing of a Moraga Historical Society, and found a way through his church to locate birth, death, and marriage records for the very early Moraga settlers. His enthusiasm was contagious and we all knew, or know that somewhere in this vast collection we have any, all and most of the answers to questions about the Moraga family and their rancho. What a gift Brother Dennis was to those of us who call Moraga home.

When Bother Dennis was readying his belongings to move to Napa, ¡he gave the Society his collection of California history books. As I checked each volume before cataloging it, I saw he carefully noted his disagreement with dates and facts by writing, "Not So", in the margin and adding the proper date and the correction he recognized from his research. I loved seeing those special notes - so did Brother Dennis. He wanted the book to be exactly right in every detail.

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