Board Members
Bob Warren, Cooper Museum President, has served as a board member of the Cooper for over five years. With a strong background in mechanical and aerospace engineering, he was invited by the late Dave Stevens, former Cooper President, to support the organization’s facilities management. Bob also brings leadership experience serving on the board of the Claremont American Legion and as a former business owner in Upland. Most of all, Bob is dedicated to serving the community through his work on the board.
Bob Warren
President
Steven Ipson has been a board member for the last since 2007 and a Life Member for the last 10 years. He has an avid interest in local history and has written several pamphlets on the subject, including “The Whitney Residence-1917”, The Stewart Family, From Pennsylvania to California, From Oil to Citrus”, and “What’s behind the Walls - Grand Tour of the Whitney Estate”.
Steve has work in the local area for 38 years before he retired in 2006. He worked in management for 17 years at Kaiser Steel Corporation in Fontana followed by 21 years with its successor company California Steel Industries. He is also a Vietnam veteran and served with the Marine Corps on active and reserve duty for 40 years, retiring in 2002 as a Colonel.
He takes great delight about learning and discussing local history especially the impact of the citrus industry on the Inland Empire.
Steve Ipson
Secretary
I have lived in the Inland Empire my entire life. My family was involved with founding the citrus industry in this valley starting in 1875. Great grandfather Donald McLeod, was in partnership with John Armstrong of Armstrong nurseries, and Jack Adamson. They developed citrus orchards, selling one orchard, and keeping the next for themselves, and so on. My great great uncle, Jack Adamson, was instrumental in developing wells and electric power all over the inland Empire, including notably in San Antonio Canyon. My grandmother, Leta McLeod, was a registered nurse at Pomona Valley Hospital. She guided me into my career as a Chiropractor, noting that Chiropractors are interested in keeping people healthy in the first place. My brother Roger took care of one of the last commercial lemon groves in Claremont. I enjoyed watching him irrigate, control weeds, and reduce gophers. I enjoyed hearing the lemon harvesters sing, and watching their speed and skill in picking lemons. If I happened to be there at noon, they would hand me one of their burritos! I especially enjoyed going to the packing houses, and buying whole cases of oranges from the local growers. We also bought cases of produce from all over the state of California, as the growers shipped produce on the railroads from one packing house to another. It was a truly wonderful way of life, and I still enjoy seeing the remnants of the citrus industry in the Inland Empire and the Orange Empire. This wonderful history ought to be preserved, so that our children can learn about this important history. This will afford them the opportunity to use their citrus heritage as a model for success, and add to this history of success, and make their own lives wonderful in the process. This is in perfect keeping with the mission statement of Ada Cooper and her Cooper Regional Museum. I am delighted to serve as a board member in the Ada Cooper Regional History Museum.