“I learned from the best,” said Magdalena “Maggie” Northcut, remembering her mentor, the late Kathy Leighton.

Ten years ago, Northcut started volunteering with Leighton at the East Contra Costa Historical Society in the museum’s resource center. During that time, she helped organize documents, papers and photos donated by area residents into cities and other categories. Leighton, who passed away March 4 at her Byron home after a long illness, had started storing boxes of information donated to the museum years before.

“There was still a lot that needed to be sorted and filed away,” Northcut said.

While exploring the different historical information that can be found in the Kathy Leighton Resource Center, Northcut said she began to notice that there was one area that needed more information.

“When the city began their veteran banner program, someone came in and asked for information on veterans,” she said. “I realized there wasn’t a lot of information to give out.”

Soon after, she volunteered for the museum’s booth at the Heart of Oakley Festival and met members of Oakley veterans organizations.

“They are a wonderful group of people and so helpful with information about the local veterans and who to speak with for researching more information,” she said.

Then she looked for veteran photos to add to the museum’s collection. She started working on a plan to file the information so that members of the community could donate military service photos and details about their or their loved ones’ service. Northcut continued to work with Oakley veterans and then started enlisting the help of Brentwood veteran organizations.

“The objective is not to get personal information, but more information that can be found in public records,” she said.

She then built a special form that veterans could use that would help museum volunteers add the data to the resource center’s collection of veteran files. Northcut said that several years ago, the resource center received a large number of photos from the family of Bethel Island’s Bob Gromm after he passed away. Gromm had spent years collecting pictures from residents in hopes of saving them for historical use, like a book or history articles he wrote for the local newspaper.

“One of the main problems with some of those photos is that not all the people in the photos are identified on the back of the photos,” she said.

Filing those photos in any kind of order that could be used for historical purposes is challenging, Northcut explained. Having more veteran photos and information would also give the East Contra Costa Historical Society a chance to add to the veteran display at Brentwood’s Byer/Nail House, where all of the society’s displays are. Currently, the organization houses a special veterans room with photos, uniforms and other wartime memorabilia.

The historical society and resource center host an array of historical items from Byron, Discovery Bay, Brentwood, Knightsen, Bethel Island and Oakley. Some of Antioch’s items are occasionally added to the donations, added Northcut, who said she’s delighted to continue the work Leighton started many years ago.

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“I really enjoy volunteering my time in the resource center, as well as all the other activities I do for the historical society,” she said.

Movies in the Plaza: The city of Oakley will start its Movie in the Plaza series for 2023 at sundown April 29 with its first movie, “Jumanji.” The organizers are trying something different this year by adding retro summer block parties on movie nights.

Enjoy a family night out at a movie paired with fun, games, music, crafts, glitter tattoos and more. Don’t forget to bring blankets, lawn chairs and what you need to feel comfortable on the lawn in front of the city’s amphitheater.

Roni Gehlke can be reached at [email protected].