Carol H. Jordan (1928-2023)

Carol Jordan, circa 1996.

Another great longtime Orange County local historian, Carol Jordan, passed away on November 22, 2023 at the age of 95.  She was the author of several books, was a founder of the Tustin Museum and the Tustin Area Historical Society, was Tustin’s Woman of the Year in 1979, and wrote frequent historical articles for The Tustin News from the early 1980s through at least 2000. Major newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, still quoted her as an authority on Tustin history as recently as 2005. And her fellow historians were going to her for her expertise (and friendship) right up until the end.

Here’s an obituary from her family and the Tustin Area Historical Society Museum:  

Carol Emily Hough was born to Frederic and Emily (White) Hough on June 6, 1928, in Los Angeles, California. She grew up in Pasadena and attended South Pasadena-San Marino High School, graduating with the Class of 1946. She first became interested in history in high school while researching the memoirs of her grandfather, Alonzo Davis, as he described his experiences in the U.S. Army, mining and practicing law and later being elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

She graduated from Occidental College and married William C. Jordan on December 17, 1951. Her love of history and Tustin heightened after they moved here in 1955, when her husband opened his law practice in Santa Ana. Carol had a brief teaching career until retiring to raise their three children.

Carol’s interest in writing history started in 1972 when she was asked by Tustin Unified School District Superintendent to write about the demise of 101-year-old Tustin Elementary School District since it was changing into TUSD. She researched it to write her first piece, a play entitled “Ghosts of Tustin’s Past”.

In 1975, along with Vivian Owen and Mary Etzold, she founded the Tustin Area Museum as part of Tustin’s Bicentennial celebration. She served as the Museum Historian until 2006, was a consultant for the City of Tustin’s Historic Resources Survey, served for 25 years on the County of Orange Historical Commission and was Tustin’s 1979 Woman of the Year. She was the author of many books about Tustin, including Tustin Is My Hometown, Tustin: City of Trees, Tustin Heritage Walk, and Tustin: An Illustrated History.

Guy Ball, local historian and author of Images of America: Tustin, and The City Walk: All About Tustin in 1895, writes, 

Many local cities have people that jump to mind when you think about home-town historians.  For Tustin, Carol Jordan rings clear. Her definitive history of the city, Tustin: An Illustrated History, continues to be my go-to book and has bookmarks and highlighted sections throughout. 

In 1975, along with Vivian Owen and Mary Etzold, Carol founded the Tustin Area Museum (and resulting Tustin Area Historical Society) as part of the city's Bicentennial celebration. She was the Museum Historian until 2006, but was always available to help people searching for Tustin area information.

But my best memory was when I was working on my Tustin book and she helped with some background research on some photos I had. She was so gracious and generous with her knowledge and expertise.

Only a couple months before her passing, I gave Carol a ride to a small lunch gathering at Ruby’s with fellow local historians. Carol was in excellent spirits and happily engaged in talking shop with everyone. 

Afterward, I drove her back to her apartment, and along the way I mentioned a house I was researching in Tustin that week. Once home, she said, “Hold on a minute,” and then fetched a small box from which she extracted a document that included a history of that same house, which she’d written almost forty years earlier. 

Aside from being pleasantly surprised and very appreciative of the unexpected assist, I was also struck by this thought: “I only hope I’ll still be that sharp and helpful to others when I’m 95!” Of course, the odds of that -- for any of us -- are low.

Carol was extraordinary to the end . She is missed.

[Author's note: Mea culpa! I'd intended to post this back in December, when I learned of Carol's passing. But for a variety of reasons, this winter was extremely difficult for me. So this post -- already in rough draft form -- was put on the back burner. Its late arrival is in no way an indication of anything other than way too many distractions.]