PROFILE OF A
MUSEUM VOLUNTEER Carlos
Lopez was born October 8th, 1928 in Phoenix, Arizona and moved to Fresno,
California in 1936 where he attended Thomas A. Edison High School. When Carlos enlisted in the Marines, five of
his friends were to join with him, but he was the only one to show up. His mother had to sign to get him in the
Marines, as he was only 17 years old.
Carlos was sent to the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot and Camp Pendelton for basic training and to learn to fire
weapons. Carlos was sent to Korea in
1950, stopping at Port Kobe, Japan.
When he arrived there, three large ships were unloading war material
on the crowded Port Kobe docks and men were working everywhere. Carlos was impressed with the stock,
equipment and manpower of the United States military. His impressions were soon erased when
monsoon rains hit the area and the docks were flooded over with water and all
the military equipment was lost to the sea. Carlos
received an AA degree in 1956 and went on to receive a Bachelor of Science
Degree in Criminology at Fresno State College in 1959. Sergeant Lopez worked for the Fresno City
Police Department for ten years. The
Department of State in 1961 recruited him into Federal Service, where he
worked with the National Police Forces in several countries in Central and
South America. While working in
Nicaragua, an earthquake struck on December 23, 1972 in Managua, and his
program priorities were altered. The
Host Government requested and received approval from the United States
Authorities to select two men from the program to remain behind and work in
the reconstruction of the destroyed Police buildings, setup training
programs, and specifically improve their Police services. The Host Government made arrangements and
paid the expenses for the two men. The
highest Civilian Medal was awarded to the two Americans (Carlos of course,
and his partner Call) for their outstanding work on behalf of the
Nicaraguans. Carlos
married his high school sweetheart Bonnie, on October 15, 1949. They had two girls, Diana, a Lieutenant
with the California State Department of Corrections, Carla, a Medical Records
Administrator and one son Conrad, who is serving with the California Highway
Patrol. Carlos took an early
retirement with the Federal Service in 1981.
He stays busy, to supplement his early retirement, with rental
properties and lives on a five acre ranch south of Fresno. Since 1996, Carlos has volunteered at the
Legion of Valor Museum as an Assistant Curator to Ray Lee and enjoys his
position very much. |