BILL NUMBER: HR 28 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Nunez MARCH 28, 2008 Relative to the Arthur Ohnimus Collection. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST WHEREAS, The Assembly is in receipt of a generous donation made by the late Assembly Chief Clerk Arthur Ohnimus and his wife Bernice Wemple Ohnimus Crutcher that consists of historical items; and WHEREAS, The items in the collection offer an insight into the history of the Legislature, San Francisco politics, California political figures of the 20th century, and the Ohnimus and Wemple families; and WHEREAS, Arthur Allen Ohnimus was the son of Louis Juan Ohnimus and Grace D. Pierce, and was born on June 3, 1893, in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood. He was raised in the Western Addition, and attended Hearst Grammar School, Sacred Heart College, and Saint Ignatius College; and WHEREAS, Arthur Ohnimus's father was a San Francisco city official, and also was a wildlife expert, who built the Stowe Lake Boat House in Golden Gate Park in 1894. His father was also superintendent of the Woodward Gardens Amusement Park and the Monarch grizzly bear exhibit; and WHEREAS, Arthur Ohnimus's mother, Grace (Pierce) Ohnimus, was a famous actress and later managed the boat house in Golden Gate Park for over 30 years; and WHEREAS, Arthur Ohnimus was employed by the Assembly beginning in 1915 as Insurance Committee clerk and subsequently, in 1917, as a stenographer and later as a bookkeeper, and in 1919 and 1921, Arthur Ohnimus was employed as Assistant Minute Clerk and thereafter, later in 1921, he was elected Minute Clerk; and WHEREAS, In 1921, Arthur Ohnimus graduated with a law degree from Saint Ignatius College in San Francisco and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1922; and WHEREAS, Arthur Ohnimus was first elected Chief Clerk of the Assembly in 1923, and due to the part-time nature of legislative sessions at that time, he held simultaneous employment as a Deputy District Attorney in San Francisco from 1924 to 1944 and as a Deputy Attorney General from 1944 to 1957; and WHEREAS, As Chief Clerk of the Assembly, Arthur Ohnimus oversaw the modernization of the Legislature, including the installation of the electronic voting system, public address system, and increased legislative staffing levels in the postwar era; and WHEREAS, The expanding state population and increased volume and complexity of legislation prompted the Assembly Committee on Rules in 1957, to appoint Arthur Ohnimus as its first Chief Administrative Officer, the Assembly's first full-time staff position; and WHEREAS, As Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Clerk, Arthur Ohnimus created the Assembly's first job and salary classifications, supervised all Assembly employees and some of the first Assembly Fellows, argued for full-time legislative staff to cope with the growing population of the state; and oversaw the construction of the Capitol building annex; and WHEREAS, During his tenure as Chief Clerk of the Assembly, Arthur Ohnimus served in a nonpartisan capacity under four Democratic and eight Republican Speakers; and WHEREAS, Arthur Ohnimus retired at 70 years of age on October 4, 1963, after serving 45 years as an Assembly employee, with 37 cumulative years of service as Chief Clerk; and WHEREAS, Recognizing his expertise in parliamentary procedures, the Assembly Committee on Rules in February 1964, contracted with Arthur Ohnimus to consult with the committee in the revision of the Assembly Rules; and WHEREAS, Arthur Ohnimus, only two years into his retirement, died on March 13, 1965, at 71 years of age; and WHEREAS, The future wife of Arthur Ohnimus, Bernice Marguerite Wemple, was born in Milford, California on February 26, 1913, and graduated from Lassen Union High School on June 12, 1930; and WHEREAS, Under the crossfiling system, Bernice's father, N.V. Wemple, served as a Republican and as a Democratic Assembly Member representing Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, and Sierra Counties in the 46th Regular Session of the Legislature (1925-26) and the 47th Regular Session of the Legislature (1927-28); and WHEREAS, Bernice pursued a career as a secretary, graduating from the Armstrong College of Business Administration with a Private Secretarial Curriculum on April 8, 1932, and was soon hired as a secretary and bookkeeper by the Chrome Alloys Manufacturing Company in Oakland; and WHEREAS, In January 1933, Bernice was employed as a stenographer by the California State Senate, working for Senator Dan E. Williams, 26th Senate District, and Senator John L. Moran, 18th Senate District; and WHEREAS, On August 2, 1933, Bernice was hired by the State Board of Equalization, where she would be employed for the next 35 years; and WHEREAS, Bernice married Arthur Ohnimus on December 27, 1943, in Santa Monica, California; and WHEREAS, For decades, Bernice Ohnimus was affectionately referred to as "Cookie" by her family, friends, and Capitol denizens; and WHEREAS, Arthur Ohnimus was an avid collector of political memorabilia, beginning in his boyhood years in San Francisco at the turn of the century; and WHEREAS, During their 22 years of marriage, Arthur and Bernice Ohnimus collected many legislative documents, mementos, souvenirs, photographs, scrapbooks, and political memorabilia dating back to the 1890s; and WHEREAS, Bernice carefully organized and stored Arthur Ohnimus's historical items, safekeeping them for the next 42 years; and WHEREAS, Bernice married Anson H. Crutcher, Sr., on June 8, 1968, in Reno, Nevada; and WHEREAS, Anson H. Crutcher, Sr. was the former Chief of the State Police and the field representative for State Board of Equalization member Paul R. Leake; and WHEREAS, Bernice Ohnimus Crutcher retired from the State Board of Equalization on August 28, 1968, after having worked for many years for various divisions within the board, including service as secretary to board Member Paul R. Leake; and WHEREAS, Only two years into their marriage, Bernice's husband Anson H. Crutcher, Sr. died on October 10, 1970 in Elko, Nevada at 57 years of age; and WHEREAS, In 1973, the Legislature adopted Assembly Concurrent Resolution 93, directing the Department of General Services to plant a redwood tree in Capitol Park in honor of Arthur Ohnimus; and WHEREAS, In her later years, Bernice lived in Applegate, California and was a lover of horses and the foothills and was cared for by Italene Allen; and WHEREAS, Bernice Ohnimus Crutcher passed away on September 29, 2007, at 94 years of age; and WHEREAS, On November 2, 2007, the Bernice Ohnimus Crutcher Estate, under the guidance of Anson H. Crutcher, Jr., Lindsay Kayser Hendricks, Steven Kayser, Dana Wemple, and Nancy Wemple, donated the historical collection to the Assembly Office of the Chief Clerk so that it may be archived and used for research; and WHEREAS, This collection includes many important letters, news clippings, political and legislative memorabilia, campaign literature, historic photographs, and personal effects, including a dress made of the Assembly draperies, sewn by Nadene Kayser; now, therefore, be it Resolved that the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly commends the Bernice Ohnimus Crutcher Estate and appreciates the decades of public service that the Ohnimus, Wemple, and Crutcher families have dedicated to the people of California; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.