About

In 1985, six people who would later form the Round Table, attended the West Coast Conference of Civil War Round Tables held at Long Beach, California. Finding they were from San Diego, they decided to form the Round Table as soon as possible, probably on the prompting of Jerry Russell of Arkansas who kept the “flame alive” for many years.

In alphabetical order: William [Bill] Hanchett, Robert [Bob] Sigafoes, Robert [Bob] Smith, Thomas [Tom] Vetter, Alan Whisman and Robert [Bob] Whiting, formed the Round Table.

The first meeting was January 15th 1986 in Bob Sigafoes’ home. Civil War Times [Illustrated] Magazine was good enough to provide this start up crew with a complete set of mailing labels for everyone in the 921xx mailing area who were subscribers to the magazine. Post cards were sent out and the response was remarkable.

By March 1986, there were too many people to fit into Bob’s home, so a new meeting place was found : The Posada Inn Travelodge on Harbor Drive.

I will not try and list all the presentations that have been offered over the months and years. I believe there is a listing in the History Album[s] of the Round Table begun by Rosemary (and Bob) Lowe and now carried on by Ms. Mikey Lambirth.

Suffice to say that the meeting room(s) available at the POSADA were NOT adequate to handle all the interested Civil War enthusiasts.

In February 1987, Bob Sigafoes had the good sense to simply “ask” if the Boehm Lecture Hall at the Reuben H. Fleet Center in Balboa Park was available. What a shock he got, IT WAS. So, like a good marching army we moved our “headquarters” to that facility. It was a marvelous venue: lots of parking, sloped theater style COMFORTABLE seating – so comfortable in fact that one former member used to snore when we turned out the lights! Alas, all good things come to an end. The park remodeled the building, and wanted an exorbitant fee to meet there. We began looking for another home.

In November 1998 current treasurer Paul Champlin through the membership of his Dad, Curtis suggested we consider the John D Speckles Masonic Lodge in the Hillcrest area. Another great place, flat floor, stage, complete kitchen facilities but very limited parking. ” Alas, the energy problems of the past decade caught up with us all, and the fee to meet there became exorbitant and we moved once again.

Chaplain Jordan Detzer’s wife Jeanne made the suggestion that the church she belonged to had a facility. We checked it out and that is where we are now: Palisades Presbyterian Church in the Allied Gardens area. Hopefully this will be the last move.

If any of you have corrections to this thumbnail sketch, please pass them along to the Webmaster.