SESCAL 2021

TBA

The 77th Annual Stamp Exhibition of Southern California

The SESCAL show committee is currently making plans to hold SESCAL 2021 as scheduled, contingent upon COVID-related health and safety restrictions. We will hold the show only if it is safe and appropriate to do so. Please visit this page for updates.

The SESCAL Literature Exhibit of Articles will continue in 2021 as an online virtual competition. The 2020 Literature Exhibit was a great success. Details at https://sescal.org/literature-exhibit/

Note: Until we know more...All other information (except that for the 2021 Literature Exhibit) is from our last SESCAL in 2019 before COVID-19 shut down the physical show. Stay safe and well!

I n M e m o r y O f

Editor, John Weigle, wins the FPCSC Distinguished Service Award

6 October 2001

The plaque is inscribed with the words: “In Recognition and Appreciation, for Valuable Contributions to the Advancement and Enrichment of Philately.” And John was truly the embodiment of these words.

John had a lifelong commitment to stamp collecting and sharing of the hobby with others.

He has spent his life in Ventura County near Los Angeles County. He has served the Ventura County Philatelic Society in various capacities, including editing the stamp club newsletter, and functioning as the General Chairman the club’s annual exhibition VENPEX. He has served as an officer of the FPCSC.

He was a dedicated collector of Official Seals of the United States Postal Service, and of the postal history of Ventura County.
John has authored biweekly columns on philately for the Ventura County Star for many years.

He introduced young people to stamp collecting for almost 20 years by promoting the stamp club at the Anacapa Middle School. He helps sponsor and promote the Anacapa Middle School annual Youth Stamp Fair, which is held two weeks after SESCAL.

He was a long time member of the American Philatelic Society having joined in 1975. His membership number was 077864.

John was not at the banquet to receive this award. Instead, although John has in the past taken vacation from his job at the Ventura Star to attend SESCAL, the full measure of this man’s dedication to our hobby is that he decided this year to use his vacation time to put on the annual Youth Stamp Fair for the Anacapa Middle School.

Before receiving this award in 2001, he had been a Vice-President of the FPCSC. In more recent years he became President of the Federation and tackled the chairmanship of SESCAL at a critical time. He was a sincere, fair man who wanted the best for the show

He was a passionate philatelist.

Note: Much of this information comes from the speech made by Joe Clary at the 2001 SESCAL banquet.

John Sedgewick Weigle (1941-2020)

John Sedgewick Weigle was born on April 10, 1941, in Ventura, California. He died on August 3, 2020, in Oxnard, California at the age of 79. He had two brothers, but only one survives. His father was Ralph Sedgewick Weigle and mother Mary Elizabeth Craven. John was named for his Grandfather John Sedgewick Weigle, all of Ventura, California.

He graduated Ventura Senior High School (class of 1959), and continued his education at California State University, Northridge (class of 1964). On facebook, he says, “My interests include computers, stamps (esp. Ventura County postal history and post office seals of the world, UFOs,) and editing (former work and club newsletters).”

On Facebook his favorite quote is listed as “Live and let live”

John was a veteran having served in the 60’s in the U.S. Army.

When John retired from his work at the Ventura County Star (60’s-February 2011) , he continued writing and editing club newsletters for the Ventura County Philatelic Society (VCPS), the Federated Philatelic Clubs of Southern California (FPCSC), and Channel Islands PC Users Group (CIPCUG).

The CIPCUG newsletter is called The Outer Edge and all 252 published before his death are available on the web at http://www.cipcug.org/Toe/Toe.cfm

He was a prolific writer with maybe thousands of articles and newsletter listed on the web. Some of his favorite subjects were philately, youth philately, philatelic happenings in Southern California or Ventura County, UFOs, the postal history of Ventura County and computers.

Some philatelic articles can be found on the SESCAL website at https://sescal.org/literature-exhibit/ and all the newsletters (42) about SESCAL since January 2000 and the Federation are on the SESCAL website at https://sescal.org/history/

He was a member of the Sunrise Optimist Club of Ventura.

He was chairman of the annual Youth Stamp Fair. In John’s own words, “The event is sponsored by the Ventura County Philatelic Society and the Anacapa Middle School Stamp Club and, despite the name, is open to everyone who wants to learn more about stamp collecting, which has been called the king of hobbies and the hobby of kings”.

John never married but devoted his time to writing and support of the organizations he loved. He was a leader, writer and editor for all of these organizations. He will be missed.

He is survived by his brother James Ray Weigle of Tooele, Ut. and James’ children, John also had a half brother Dick Craven Hope (1929-2004).

John’s remains were cremated and the ashes thrown at sea.

2 Comments

Lois Evans on September 9, 2020 at 4:04 pm

Published in Ventura County Star from Sep. 8 to Sep. 9, 2020.

John Weigle

Oxnard – April 10, 1941-Aug. 3, 2020

John Weigle had a double life.

By late afternoons and into the night he edited reporters’ stories and proofread pages for the Ventura County Star.

Days off and morning hours were spent giving back to the community where he was raised.

For more than four decades, beginning with the Star Free-Press, Weigle was one of the paper’s cornerstones.

A wordsmith? Of course! Where he excelled most was that as a punctuation specialist. Ask the question: “To comma or not to comma?” and he might surprise you with an apostrophe instead.

On his desk and on shelves behind his desk were an assortment of books on various subjects including grammar and geography, long obtained before the world of Google. (There was a rumor that Weigle packed away extra books into his car)

Weigle always had the latest Associated Press stylebooks and up-to-the-minute changes ranging from new words to new capitalization. He passed all of his cutting edge knowledge of the English language to fellow copy editors and reporters.

As one reporter recalled, “He was always a delight to talk to and glean information from. You never left a conversation with him without learning something new every time.”

During his time with the Star, Weigle wrote columns about his longtime hobby of stamp collecting.

The columns continued after Weigle’s retirement from the paper in 2011. So did his editing as he pored over club newsletters for the Ventura County Philatelic Society, the Federated Philatelic Clubs of Southern California and Channel Islands PC Users Group.

Subjects of his frequent philatelic stories included the postal history of Ventura County.

He volunteered for the Youth Stamp Fair and the Anacapa Middle School Stamp Club.

And if that wasn’t enough to occupy his time, Weigle was a member of the Sunrise Optimist Club of Ventura.

He was born to Ralph Sedgewick Weigle and Mary Elizabeth Craven in Ventura. He died on Aug. 3 in Oxnard. Weigle is survived by his brother James Ray Weigle of Tooele, Utah, and James’ children. He had a half brother Dick Craven Hope, who died in 2004.

His ashes will be scattered at sea.”

Reply
- Lois Evans on September 9, 2020 at 4:11 pm
  
  Lois Evams on September 9, 2020 at 8:10 am (Edit)
  
  I think this picture is the same one I used in the SESCAL obit above, but notice that the “Star” had more of the original picture and his pocket full of notes, pencils and pens shows. Great picuture! To see the original notice in the Ventura County Star and comments from friends go to:
  
  Ventura County Star Obit
  Reply