Sylvia Perna

Sylvia was born on January 12, 1926, in Washington D.C., a tiny two pound premature baby. She was the second child in the family and had a brother five years older. Her parents' marriage ended in divorce. Her mother married a second time to a representative at the American consulate located in Nogales, Arizona, and the family moved there when Sylvia was six years old. Because there was so much conflict in the home regarding visitation and custody rights, her mother was told that she could avoid that problem by moving to California. If they remained in Arizona the laws would make things more difficult. The family moved to Coronado where Sylvia went to junior high school. After Pearl Harbor was bombed families in San Diego were told to move inland so the children might be safer.

Her mother found a house to rent in Descanso where Sylvia had to ride her bicycle three miles each day to get to a bus stop so she could attend high school. She went to Mountain Empire Union High School for one year. The rest of her schooling she learned by taking correspondence classes.

Two major purchases, a $50 horse and a property of 120

unimproved acres came next. The land had no dwelling or utilities, but with help her mother built a 16 X 26 foot one room house during the war years when building materials were hard to get. Until it was finished they lived in two tents. The property did have a forty year old apple and pear orchard, which they cultivated and pruned. The first year they made $700 by selling the fruit to people who picked their own and paid two or three cents a pound for it.

Sylvia wanted to go to college and chose SDSU where an aptitude test showed that she would do well in the early education field, even though she had never spent much time with young children. She was offered a job beginning immediately in the La Mesa-Spring Valley district. It was a month before she would receive her teaching certificate and she had to tum it down. One day she was walking to class and she saw her mother drive up waving a paper out of the car window. It was a contract for her to teach kindergarten at Spring Valley Elementary School. Someone else would teach her class until she graduated from college. She especially wanted this district because it had single session kindergarten classes. She loved her job, won several teaching awards and people often said she was born to teach. Later she taught at La Presa because they had year round school which she preferred.

In the late 50's she met Louis Perna who was the owner of a local hardware and lumber business. Their friendship grew after the death of his wife leaving him with an eleven year old son. They had a long engagement and were married on May 29, 1969, when she was 43 years old.

It wasn't long before she got Louie into the saddle. At one time the number of horses she owned totaled 49. He loved being a part of the horse world as much as she did. Together they enjoyed many camping trips in the Sierras and the local mountains. One memorable trip was to the Snowy River area in Australia where they rode horses for a week in the Outback. One of Sylvia's all time favorite rides was a strenuous two day trip down the south rim of the Grand Canyon to the Phantom Ranch and returning up to the north rim in a pounding hail storm.

Louis later became a captain in the mounted patrol of the El Cajon Police Department. He was available as needed for rescue or patrolling for many years. ln 2002 his health began to fail due to cancer. Louis and Sylvia had made plans to move to La Vida Real as soon as it opened. About six months before they could move in they sold the last of their horses, trailers and equipment. He died a month before opening day. With a saddened heart she followed their plan and moved to La Vida Real with Scooter, her Welsh Corgi, the first week it opened.