Jess D

Jess Dominguez

Update: Jess passed away March 29, 2023. The following was put together in 2014:

No, Jess didn’t die. Unfortunately that is how most of my fellow alumni make it to these pages. Maybe this will be a new trend for me, creating posts about living people.

I’ve been wanting to write something about Jess for a long time, ever since he sent me the short book he put together about living on Mojave Street. I put it off and then almost forgot but then yesterday Linda Monroe reminded me about what a great story Jess would make. I guess that is the problem. I’m not sure I can do his story justice. I’m going to do my best and come back and revise it when the mood strikes me.

Jess graduated from Trona High School in 1959. His accomplishments make me feel very humble about my own life.

The information attached to the video above and the video say it better than I ever could:

An instructor of life modeling and 3-D design at SDSU for more than 25 years, Jess Dominguez’s work can be seen all over campus.

The War Memorial at Aztec Green, the statue of President Black near the Old Quad and a relief at the Lipinsky Tower are all his creations. He is volunteering his time and talent for the Coryell bust project.

“I want to keep doing things for the university as long as I can contribute,” he said, “and this one is very special.”

Last year, Dominguez sculpted a bust of football coach Don Coryell. (http://universe.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscen…)

Dominguez said sculpture is intended to be more representational than literal. It should capture a subject’s essence more than a literal likeness that, for example, a figure in a wax museum might represent.

“It’s not supposed to look like a death mask, it’s supposed to look like a sculpture with tool marks and imperfections,” he said.

Before Dominguez casts a final version of a sculpture he tries to have family members or someone close to the subject approve the work.

Jess Dominguez  Jess has come a long way from that house that was on the other side of the tracks on Mojave Street where his family once lived. When I talked to Jess he reminded me of the salted jelly candy that my dad would bring home from work. I didn’t know it but Jess told me that AP&CC would give the candy to the workers. He said that some of the men in the plant would throw their candy over the fence to the kids that were playing on Mojave Street. If I had known that I might have gotten to know Jess much sooner. I loved that salty candy.

Actually I was forbidden by my mother to visit Mojave Street. At that time racism still had a strong hold on the minds of many Americans, including my mother. It wasn’t so much racism as a lack of understanding.

Jess’s book about Trona tells about how his father would find remnants of grain in boxcars that they would sweep up and use as feed for their chickens and how his mother would pass food through a hole in the plant fence so her husband could have a warm lunch at work. Or maybe that was from when we talked?

He also gives credit to his art teacher Lois Pratt for encouraging him to continue with his art. Jess is making a bronze plaque now for the Centennial which will incorporate high points in Trona, like Austin Hall and Valley Wells.

I didn’t know Jess very well. The Dominguez that I knew and that I looked up to at the time was Jess’s older brother, Ernesto. Ernesto was one of my brother’s best friends and since I always looked up to my older brother he and and all his friends were heros in my eyes.

I reserve the right to come back and revise this as I feel the need and I can truly say I’m sorry for postponing writing this for so long.

For more about Jess read:

Professor Emeritus Creates Bronze Bust of Legendary Coach

This entry was posted in Alumni, Trona History and tagged , on by .

About David L Stevens

David has been the creator and maintainer of Trona on the Web since 1996. He has been creating websites since the beginning of the World Wide Web. He is not the best person to be the webmaster for a Trona Website but someone needs to do it and Doug Polly isn't with us any longer. David worked in maintenance for the San Bernardino City Schools, retired from Honeywell, worked in IT for a while, as school bus driver until COVID-19 made it too dangerous. David is now retired and spends his time gardening, collecting stamps and learning to cook.

5 thoughts on “Jess Dominguez

  1. Pingback: Jess Ygnacio Dominguez — Class of 1959 | Trona on the Web

  2. Pat Dunne

    I’m very glad to see the posting on Jess Dominguez. He is one of the most accomplished alums of THS. One of his works is at the end of the New York Marathon and several others are at public places in San Diego outside of SDSU. I graduated form THS one year after Jess and followed him as the center on the football team. It is always great seeing him at the Trona reunions I have been able to make from my home in Massachusetts.
    Pat Dunne, THS Cl ’60

    Reply
  3. Hazel Anderson

    Hi, I was born at the Trona Hospital on june 5th 1955. I was born 3 months early and wondered if anyone remembers the event. Was in a incubator for a month at least. Just wondered if there was anyone who remembered. Thank you . Hazel Anderson

    Reply
    1. David Stevens

      Jay Bell was born premature in 1948. I would have been 5 then. The Bells were friends of my parents so I remember going to the hospital and seeing him in the incubator and I remember seeing him when he was finally able to come home. That’s the best I can do.

      Reply
  4. Pingback: If You Lived in Trona You Have a Story to Tell | Trona on the Web

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