PUC Alum Brings Grainger Hall Plaque Back to Campus 50 Years Later

Dennis L. Plubell is a lifelong Adventist born and raised in California and Hawaii. Like other family members, Plubell attended Pacific Union College—his “home” school for higher education. He graduated from Pacific Union College in 1976 with a B.A. in Biology and received his M.A. in Biology in 1982.

While his family was living in San Jose, CA, Plubell worked most summers during his college years for his grandfather and uncles in the apple and pear orchards around Camino, CA. In 1973, he spent time on the Miller Place, a ranch acquired by the family, where Plubell discovered the Grainger Hall plaque in the grime and dust of the barn equipment.

The Grainger Hall plaque is an old bronze college artifact. According to Plubell, it identified the men’s residence hall and was mounted on the building or stone pillars.

Plubell was only met with conjecture when trying to find how the plaque ended at the barn. He and others had their theories but didn’t trouble themselves with exploring how the plaque made its way from campus to Camino, CA. Instead, he returned it to its home on campus—50 years later.

The plaque was displayed on Plubell’s desk in the dorm. Upon graduation, his roommate and cousin Raymond W. Larsen (1976) asked if he could take it to dental school at Loma Linda University. Plubell admits that “out of sight” truly can be “out of mind.” He forgot about the plaque as his career launched in teaching and leading Adventist schools. When Larsen completed his DDS degree, opened a dental office in Placerville, and acquired an apple orchard in Camino, the plaque again was left in the dust and forgotten for over 40 years.

Plubell moved to the northwest after 17 years in Northern California and then served in Maryland at the Office of Education at the North American Division. There, he met PUC President Ralph Trecartin, a lay delegate from the New York Conference to the annual NAD year-end meetings, for the first time. “While I knew of him because our mothers are cousins, I hadn’t met him until about 2010,” shared Plubell. He concluded his career as vice president for education in the North Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists from 2014-2022.

“When Dr. Trecartin accepted the invitation to lead PUC as president, I invited him to explore some of the shared family roots that he had never before visited in the Sierra Nevada foothills around Camino, CA,” said Plubell. “Thus, when we finally connected for a Sabbath together with relatives, it was decided by my cousin, Dr. Ray Larsen, that it was time (maybe past time!) for the Grainger Hall plaque to be returned to PUC!”

When Trecartin first heard this story and received the plaque, he felt responsible for honoring past stories and memories of the college. “We are certainly grateful to Dennis and Ray for advertising PUC in this unique way in their dorm rooms all those years ago,” said Trecartin. “We welcome our alumni to share their treasures, whether tangible like this bronze plaque or intangible from the storehouse of treasured memories.”

The plaque is now located in PUC’s alumni office until further notice. There are plans for facilities to reinstall it.

“Old artifacts are valuable for the memories they evoke,” said Plubell. “The human-interest stories they bring to mind are of shared experiences and special events meaningful primarily to those present and participating in life.”