In the past year and a half I became acquainted with someone who happened to have worked at Preston starting in the early 1950's, and who remained working there for over 40 years. I started working on this blog shortly after he helped with with another blog about a friend of his, the agricultural teacher who was murdered at Preston, Jim Wieden. Bruce and I had been going back and forth communicating for over a year. I had mentioned to him just recently that I planned on writing a third book on Preston's history and wanted to focus more on the staff who once worked there, and their lives and their stories.
I mentioned to him that I wanted to include him in my book, and I had so much planned to ask him in regards to other aspects at Preston. I had went down to bring him some of my books just before the holidays at the senior living facility where he was residing in Stockton, and then I hadn't heard back from him. I called him several times in December, but his phone didn't seem to be working properly.
Eventually my curiosity got the best of me so I looked into it and learned that he passed away in December, which is why I hadn't gotten a return phone call from him in a while. Needless to say I am sad over this news, especially since I just learned that another Preston legend, Bill Thiry, had just passed away last week. Two Preston legends both gone within a few months of each other.
Tonight, I have revised this original blog post about Bruce's memories at Preston and added his life story to it in greater detail in order to share with you what I know about my friend Bruce Warner, so that he will never be forgotten. I hope after learning about him, you will remember him, too.
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| Bruce Warner (Class of '48-San Juan High School) |
Bruce D. Warner was born on November 26, 1929, exactly nine months to the day from his parents wedding night of February 26, 1929, in Los Angeles to Bruce S. Warner and Josephine Tremain. The 1930 Census shows them living in Compton, California, with Bruce Sr., working at Samson Tire and Rubber Company. If you are familiar with Southern California as much as I am, it is the old Citadel Building (now an outlet shopping center) that looks like an old Assyrian Palace.
Anyhow, the family lived at 2051 Burlington Avenue in Compton, California, during the 1930's according to the Directory of that time period. It appears that he also had a younger sister, Marilyn who was born around 1932, but somewhere between the 1930 and 1940's Censuses, Josephine and Bruce's marriage fell apart. I found them married to other people by 1940. Josephine was remarried with the last name Baskins, and Marilyn was with her, while Bruce was with his father and his father's new wife, Hilda. They were all listed as still living in Los Angeles.
It appears that at some point during the early 1940's, Bruce's father, Bruce Sr., decided to move up to Northern California, settling down in the Sacramento area, and eventually ending up in Clarksburg along the Delta. During Bruce's school years though, it appears they were in the Fair Oaks area first.
A young Bruce attended San Juan Union High School in Fair Oaks, graduating in 1948. By 1950, he is listed as residing on the U.S.S. Curtis stationed in San Diego.
According to his obituary he served for four years in the Navy, on the U.S.S. Philipine Sea. This aircraft carrier "operated primarily out of San Diego and San Francisco, seeing several deployments to the Far East and being redesignated as an anti-submarine warfare carrier." It appears that Bruce must have joined the military just after graduating and served on both ships during his four year service in the Navy. While on both ships he was a baker, serving in upwards of 3,000 officers on the ship.
By 1952, he was hired to be a cook at The Preston School of Industry. Bruce first lived on the 2nd floor of the main Administration building, aka The Castle in an apartment. At the time, he paid $10 rent for the apartment, plus he got free meals. Later he moved to housing quarters on the property, until he got married, which was when he eventually moved off site to a house.
He married Ann Armstrong for the first time in June of 1954. When I say for the first time, it is because the two divorced in Amador County in 1966, only to remarry again on January 15, 1968, in Carson City. The two had two daughters, Dawn and Debbie.
Going back to his job at Preston, Bruce would arrive at 3 a.m. every day to the kitchen start the day's food preparations, and at least four boys would be assigned to his kitchen to help daily. He would cook for up to 1,000 wards a day. He also mentioned the butcher shop was also a sectioned off part of the main kitchen used to prepare meals for the wards. Later on, he would become a security guard there, and even late,r he was the bus driver for the Preston Band. According to his obituary he had also been a Group Supervisor there, although he never did mention any of that to me, just the other jobs. Perhaps he enjoyed those jobs more, and that was why he talked about it so much to me.
Going back to his memories at Preston, he told me that the Administration building, from what he remembered was basically the same -- Basement, 1st floor level remained offices, Superintendent's office, Asst. Superintendent's office, etc. The 2nd level was apartments for the employees and also their very own post office (Waterman, California), and the 3rd level he remembered being open and the boys playing sports such as basketball in a larger area on that level. He told me that he did not recall any infirmary or hospital areas in use in that building when he was there, so by that point in the 1950's, those areas had been moved to other buildings on campus.
He mentioned the Honor Cottages and how they had day rooms downstairs for the wards, and upstairs were the sleeping quarters. He mentioned that a building behind the castle also had a dining area for the wards, and living quarters upstairs for a company of boys. He also mentioned another apartment towards the end, one of which he later moved into which had a small bedroom and kitchen area (prior to getting married). He was still only required to pay $10 per month for rent.
He recalled the giant metal fire escape slide, and admitted he slid down it once or twice, just for fun! I just had to throw that story in there, because, after all, who doesn't want to slide down that fire escape slide for fun?! I know I do!
Bruce told me that there was a blacksmith shop, a cobbler shop, a print shop, a bakery, a slaughterhouse, a garden, a huge area where they kept over 3,000 laying hens which were fairly close to the cemetery. He also remembered fruit trees, which the staff had to keep a close eye on, because wards would take fruit and hide it in their clothes and bring back to their dormitories and make wine or "pruno" with it, by using a piece of bread to extract the yeast to make the fruit juice turn. He said that was a common problem.
The ranch and dairy had a herd of cattle, cows for milking, sheep, horses, and hogs.
"When I came to Preston, a lot of the older folks who had worked there for many years were now reaching retirement age, we're talking 60 to 70 years old, but these folks still had to work, so they were put on the night shift. They were put in the dormitories with the boys with no protection from them at all. This was a dangerous thing. They only had two steps and a platform between them and the boys, some who were very violent. Eventually the guards had to have cages, not for the boys, but for the guards to sit inside the cages at night for their own protection."
Bruce also mentioned another incident where a guard opened one of the cell doors for an inmate in lock up (something they were not supposed to do). He couldn't recall the exact reason for the guard opening the door but the ward tricked the guard and attacked him, knocking the guard very hard in the head and attempting to escape. The only reason the ward got caught was because another ward in the cell next to him started yelling for help, which alerted staff and more security guards came.
He mentioned that wards often tried to attack staff there, a perfect example of that was when his friend, Preston's agricultural teacher James Wieden died from his injuries after two wards attacked him in an attempt to escape. (You can read about that story here.)
When asked about the allegations of ongoing abuse at Preston, Bruce stated, "I don't know of any, there wasn't any type of abuse or punishments like that when I worked there."
Punishment in solitary confinement consisted of two days of a bread and water diet (all three meals). He said the boys would get two slices of bread and all the water they wanted for each meal, and on the third day they would get a full three meals. The fourth and fifth days were back to bread and water again. He said he had heard of the corporal punishment methods such as paddling and whipping that had taken place there in the past, and even spoke to the brother of the "Disciplinarian" who had been the person who did the "disciplining" when deemed necessary. Still, Bruce stated that he never witnessed any abuse to the wards while he worked there.
If they were assigned to the work squad for punishment, they would move piles of dirt with a shovel and wheelbarrow in the morning and the afternoon. No talking was allowed. He said he remembered one ward who worked so hard, and got so filthy in the dirt that when the end of the day came, the boy asked Bruce if he could skip the shower that evening. When asked why, the boy showed him his hands which the joints and knuckles were full of newly popped open blisters. Bruce told him just that one time he could skip the shower. He looked up and told him, "Thank you, you will never have another problem with me again."
Bruce mentioned to me that although he had heard of Preston's reputation of being hard on the boys, and the stories of abuse before he came to work there, that as the years went on and once the social workers and psychologists got involved with the school, then the administration was forced to go "too easy" on the wards, resulting in more rebellious behavior because the wards no longer feared consequences for their actions.
All in all, Bruce enjoyed his time at Preston. He stated that there were so many people who worked there who honestly were good people, just wanting to help the boys and make a living to survive. He enjoyed working with the boys in the kitchen and watching them parole and leave, hoping they made a better life for themselves elsewhere.
Bruce told me that he believed that the Preston School was a good thing, despite what other people may believe. He highly respected E.M. Preston for having the idea and the drive to fight to have this school built in order to help the younger boys get away from the bad element that they were doomed to experience, as they would have been sent to Folsom or San Quentin otherwise. Bruce also explained that the young boys would have been sexually assaulted had they been sent to the prison system, and no one would be able to protect them from the hardened criminals there.
Although the Preston School of Industry wasn't a perfect place -- and yes, there were tales of abuse and even some stories of alleged sexual abuse, but for the most part Preston was a safer place to be than San Quentin or Folsom, and we need to remember that, just like Bruce mentioned.
After over 40 years of working at Preston (his obituary says 32) he finally truly retired. City directories show that he lived in Ione for a number of years, and I found two addresses for him at 416 Foothill Blvd in Ione, and then later on, at the property next door at 520 Foothill Blvd in Ione.
When I first communicated with him he was living in Lodi, and later on he had moved to Stockton. His father, mother, sister and his wife, Ann, all predeceased him. He is survived by his two daughters and a grandson.
I hope that this little peek into the life of Bruce Warner, a man who lived to be 96 years old, has given you insight not only to the goings on and inner workings of Preston during the years he worked there, but I hope it also gave you a peek into the life and heart of this dear man.
May he rest in peace and never be forgotten.
(J'aime Rubio, Copyright 2025/2026* - www.jaimerubiowriter.com)
*originally posted August 31, 2025 with Bruce's memories at Preston; but republished with updated personal information on February 27, 2026)
