8 october 2015 By Christina Surrano | PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIKE BAXTER, BAXTER IMAGING W hen Russell and Bonnie Greey bought their 1932 estate home in 2004, they imagined it had a charming history of a very different Arcadia. What they did not imagine is how they might come to know the actual stories of those who lived there. The Greeys were up in Pinetop, Arizona at a fundraiser, sharing a table with people they did not know, who were making polite conversation with them. It started with the general question of, “Where are you from?” The questions and answers narrowed from Phoenix, to Arcadia and eventually right down to the street and house number. According to Bonnie, one of their tablemates, Chuck Ensign, declared, “I think that’s my grandparents’ home!” Indeed, in 1929, Chuck’s grandfather, Herb Ensign bought what was then a 12-acre parcel and he and his fiancé, Jo Carmean, broke ground the following year on what would be their family home. Herb was born in 1900 and grew up in central Phoenix. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Arizona and earned his master’s degree at the California Institute of Technology. Jo was from Colorado and was educated at the Denver Arts Academy. Home’s history revealed Herb and Jo Ensign with daughter Jackie in 1932.

9 According to Herb’s daughter, Jackie Ensign McMillen, Herb’s grandfather’s company, New State Electric, was responsible for the first electric street lamps in Phoenix, and Herb, as a young man, got to help out with the project. After receiving his electrical engineering degree, Herb started his own company, Ensign Kempson Pumps, which specialized in large-scale, hydraulic turbine pumps. During that time, there were just a few homes in Arcadia and Herb and Jo were ready for country living. They started a family and made a run at growing table grapes. Then the market for grapes went soft, so the grapes gave way to citrus. Herb’s daughter, Jackie, paid the Greeys a personal visit and shared stories of her Arcadia childhood circa the 1930s. Dressed smartly and sporting perfectly coiffed hair and manicured nails, she affectionately told tales of herself and her sister Bobby, building dirt paths around the property, their stable, playing croquet, roller skating on the roof and messing around in the irrigation ditches. In fact, they learned to swim in the irrigation ditches. Of course, back then, there was no air conditioning, so making use of the rooftop sleeping porch was their preferred way to drowse through warm nights. Jackie recalled being awakened by her father many times, because of an approaching thunder or dust storm. They would toss the cots and sleeping mats off the roof, head inside and make their way back up after the storm had passed. According to Jackie, the interior of the home actually stayed fairly cool during the warm days. Herb had invested careful forethought into its Continued on page 12 “I think that’s my grandparents’ home!” Current homeowners Russell and Bonnie Greey with Jackie Ensign McMillen.