Paso Robles resident Don Avery remembers plunging into the cool waters of Camp Roberts’ Olympic-sized swimming pool 65 years ago — memories that bobbed to the surface in recent weeks as the base continues to demolish its aged World War II-era facilities. It was the summer of 1950 when a 13-year-old Avery sunbathed by the pool while his father, the late Dutch Avery, took a dip with Don’s baby sister, Darlene. A black-and-white picture from Avery’s personal collection shows the family fun that day. Over the years, thousands of service members sunned on its pool deck, leapt off its diving boards and otherwise took respite there from the wilting North County heat during long summer training days.

For years, motorists on Highway 101 have seen the jarringly empty ghost town on the camp’s west side and wondered what the buildings were and why they’re still around. But this summer, hundreds of those old buildings will be torn down.

Brooke Mayo, 89, sat at a small kitchen table in her Paso Robles home on a recent afternoon as she carefully adjusted her eyeglasses and began telling a story of the daughter she gave up for adoption in the summer of 1942.

Gems of the past tucked neatly into the folds and pockets of a caramel leather bifold that has survived the passage of time by being hidden away until now contained enough clues to find the Camp Roberts soldier who lost it nearly 60 years ago during the Korean War.

Published: Feb. 29, 2012 When Jill Lewis learned on Sunday that her late husband’s worn leather wallet packed with mementos — and lost since 1953 — had been found earlier this month at Camp Roberts, she said she knew it was a […]

PUBLISHED: Jan. 31, 2015 The story is linked here, but is unfortunately behind McClatchy’s paywall. Kerry Drennan remembers being a young boy in the 1950s, peering over a wooden railing from the balcony seats at Paso Robles’ Fox Theatre and seeing […]