We headed out recently for a fun family day of shooting. We visited Preston Castle in Ione – what a cool place!! After that we headed into Jackson for their Heritage Days, and to visit our photographer friend, Elena of Studio 18 in Jackson. We will post up her picture in the next collage.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Former Wards
Former Preston wards include:
- Eddie Anderson (comedian), best known for his role as “Rochester” in Jack Benny‘s radio and television programs.
- Ernest Booth, discovered by H. L. Mencken, who published his stories in The American Mercury; he wrote a successful autobiography, Stealing Through Life; a novel, With Sirens Screaming; and a number of scenarios and screenplays, including Ladies of the Mob (1928) and Ladies of the Big House (1931).
- Rory Calhoun, who was known as Francis McCown when he was a Preston ward in the late 1930s.
- Don Jordan, joined a boxing program at Preston and went on to become world welterweight champion by defeating Virgil Akins.
- Heavyweight boxer Eddie Machen graduated from Preston’s boxing program and went on to fight such boxers as Ingemar Johansson, Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, and Joe Frazier.
- Merle Haggard marked his time at Preston with a “PSoI” tattoo; his school file noted that he “likes to sing and play the guitar.”
- Tennis great Pancho Gonzales honed his skills on the Preston School’s tennis court shortly before turning professional and has been rated by some experts as the greatest player of all time.
- Neal Cassady discovered literature in the Preston School library and later was at the very center of the Beat Movement. He was the “N.C.” of Allen Ginsberg‘s “Howl” and the model for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac‘s On the Road. Cassady drove Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters on the bus named “Further” and later drove bus for the Grateful Dead.
- Bill Sands wrote a best-selling autobiography, My Shadow Ran Fast, and founded the Seventh Step prisoner rehabilitation program.
- Phil Thatcher became active in prison ministry, penned an autobiography, Under Arrest, and was granted a full pardon by Governor Earl Warren.
- Tony Cornero made his fortune as a rumrunner during Prohibition and later built the Stardust Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Caryl Chessman became a celebrity author while on Death Row in the 1950s.
- Ray D. Johnson escaped from Preston twice and later became the first maximum security prisoner to escape from Folsom State Prison. He wrote an autobioraphy, Too Dangerous to be at Large.
- Joseph Paul Cretzer led the bloodiest and most notorious attempted escape from Alcatraz Island. The “Battle of Alcatraz” resulted in the deaths of two guards and three inmates, including Cretzer.
- Eddie Bunker became a successful author and actor, writing books like “Animal Factory” and “No Beast So Fierce,” as well as appearing in films like “Reservoir Dogs,” “The Running Man,” and “Tango & Cash.”
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