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Pioneer family member dies in St. Helena - Copyright 2011 The Napa Valley Register
Copyright 2011 The Napa Valley Register
Jeannine Yeomans | Posted: Thursday, June 23, 2011 12:00 am
Edna May “Babe” McCormick Learned, a member of a pioneer California family among the first to settle the Napa Valley, died June 14 at her home in St. Helena. She was 94.
She counted among her ancestors the McCormick, Hudson and York families, trailblazers who trekked from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast on foot, horseback and wagon train beginning in 1844 to settle in the Napa Valley, then part of the Mexican Territory.
In 1845, the McCormicks joined the Hudson family on the Grigsby Ide Wagon Party and built a cabin for the winter in Calistoga, along with their relatives the Yorks. In the spring of 1846, everyone not of Spanish-Mexican descent was told to leave the area, but the Hudsons and nearly everyone in the wagon party refused. Instead, the families stitched makeshift bear flags from old clothing and took part in the Bear Flag Revolt, demanding California’s independence from Mexico. Several months later, the United States declared war against Mexico and California became a state in 1850.
Babe’s grandmother Molly Hudson, born at the start of the revolt, became known as the “Bear Flag Baby” and for that distinction she received $100 a year from the San Francisco Society of California Pioneers. In 1866, Molly married one of the McCormick boys, Henry Mixer McCormick, and they settled on the ranch, which was a wedding present from her father William Hudson.
Babe, as she was known to all, was born to Ethel Roseberry and John McCormick, Henry and Molly’s son, on Oct. 26, 1916 at the Greer House in St. Helena. She and her late sister, Ina Hart, grew up on the McCormick Ranch, high atop Spring Mountain. Later, during the school year, they lived in the family home on Spring Street.
Babe recalled her days as a girl roller skating on the sidewalks of St. Helena, playing “kick the can” with her friends and walking from the Spring Street home up Sulphur Springs Road to the ranch, a steep hike of about 9 miles.
Babe attended Santa Rosa High School for two years while her older sister Ina was a student at Santa Rosa Junior College. Babe returned to St. Helena High School, where she was elected student body president, only the second young woman so honored. The first was her sister Ina. Babe recalled that she was proud and only slightly embarrassed to admit she passed out cigars during her election campaign to beat her opponent.
After high school Babe attended UC Berkeley, where she planned to major in physical education and later to teach. Her plans were thwarted by the advent of World War II, so she took jobs in San Francisco and Santa Clara before marrying the Marin County man who was love of her life, Ed Learned.
After the war, the Learneds had two children, Sandra and Gary, and cared for her elderly parents as they worked to make the ranch as self-sufficient as possible. They tended cows, sheep, chickens and horses. In 1975, Ed Learned died of cancer, and then their son was killed by a falling tree while at the ranch cutting firewood for the winter. The family credits Babe’s pioneer strength and the help and concern of the entire Napa Valley community for carrying her through that difficult year.
Babe was known for her loving nature, her world-class sense of humor and love of adventure. A girlhood friend, Stella Galli, recalled that Babe was proud of the fact that she first drove a car when she was 8 years old, without her parents’ permission. With Stella as her passenger, Babe ran the family’s Model T Ford into the back of the barn but the girls were not hurt. A family friend, Tom Blanchfield, who grew up near the ranch, remembers that Babe “kept up a good pace” with her driving and when she drove kids down the hill to school in
St. Helena, he says, “That’s when I learned how to be afraid.”
She was highly skilled at using a garden hoe, a shovel or a .22 rifle to kill numerous rattlesnakes that threatened people or animals. When Babe was in her mid-80s, Kathleen Heitz asked her to come over to get a rattlesnake on her front porch, and Babe asked: “Do you want me to hoe it or shoot it?”
Eventually part of the ranch was sold and Babe built a new home in St. Helena. She remained proud of her heritage. Her family’s historic photographs and artifacts have been shared with local community organizations, and 1,000 acres of the McCormick Ranch donated to California State Parks are now part of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.
Babe’s family says she was always ready for a party, and would contribute the champagne and the chocolate. In fact, she rarely went anywhere without chocolate. She was also known for her desserts, especially coffee crunch cake, which she shared with friends and family on her last birthday.
Babe is survived by her daughter, Sandra Learned Perry, and her son-in-law, Jim Perry, of St. Helena, and her grandsons, Scott Learned Perry and Cole McCormick Perry, who are the sixth generation of the family to live in the Napa Valley. She was buried at the St. Helena Public Cemetery, land that was donated to the city by her family.
An 11 a.m. memorial service will be held Saturday, Aug. 13, at Grace Episcopal Church, with First Presbyterian Church pastor Jonathan Eastman, officiating. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations in Babe’s memory to the St. Helena Historical Society or the charity of choice.
Copyright 2011 The Napa Valley Register
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