Wylie Aitken and his wife, Bette, have always been fascinated by storytelling — the way it motivates us, the way it humanizes us.

Now, a space on Cal State Fullerton’s campus that bears their name will be instrumental in making sure that stories of historical significance in Orange County and beyond can be preserved, celebrated and shared across generations.

The Bette and Wylie A. Aitken Community Room is part of the recently opened Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History, a component of CSUF’s Department of History and College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Established in 1968, the public service archive, located at CSUF’s Pollak Library, is a place for teaching, training, research and publication, and houses more than 6,000 oral histories documenting the stories of people and topics from across Southern California. It is the largest oral history archive in the state.

The decision by the Aitkens to support the Lawrence de Graaf COPH was tied in part to their own academic journeys, as both attended Cal State Fullerton when it opened in 1959 as Orange County State College.

As a first-generation college student and history major, Wylie Aitken left the school in 1963 to study at Marquette University on scholarship and pursue his dream of becoming a lawyer.

Upon his return, Aitken set up shop in Santa Ana, and as the founding partner of Aitken*Aitken*Cohn, he went on to have a career as a nationally recognized trial attorney, with victories in a number of significant tort cases to his name.

But it was his decision to dip his toe into the Orange County political scene that led Aitken to cross paths with the COPH. Considered by many to be the mastermind behind the historic campaign victory by Loretta Sanchez over longtime Republican congressman Bob Dornan to win the 46th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, Aitken was asked by the COPH to share some of his stories that came out of that experience.

“Being a history major, I thought it was so fascinating,” Aitken said. “There are so many untold stories out there that I thought, what a fascinating project and what a fascinating opportunity for individuals to record what are truly great stories.”

As the Aitkens considered how many stories are lost each day, specifically from the World War II time frame, and how important it is to have a way of preserving those stories to pass on to their children and grandchildren, the couple donated $500,000 in October toward the COPH. Additionally, the gift received $250,000 in matching funds from the $40 million gift provided by MacKenzie Scott and her husband Dan Jewett to CSUF in July.

“There are so many stories that don’t get told … and all of it gets lost,” Aitken said. “So, this is an opportunity, particularly for Orange County, to record the history. There are all these great stories out there.”

Aitken was on hand on Dec. 3 when the COPH celebrated its opening to the public, an event that had specific significance for him, as Lawrence de Graaf was one of his history professors when he attended the school.

“To see it actually come to fruition and to see that they now have the facilities, they have the resources and they now have the program … to see it actually in action was very moving and very impressive,” Aitken said.

Aitken anticipates that the Bette and Wylie A. Aitken Community Room will be used for a number of purposes that will advance the work of the COPH, including teaching and training students and hosting meetings and planning sessions.

But most of all, it will be a place where people can gather, share and record their unique life experiences for others to enjoy for generations to come.

“Each day we lose a story, so it’s great to see a program we think will inspire people and train students in techniques to record those stories,” Aitken said. “I think it will make a major difference in what we learn. There are so many untold stories in Orange County about so many different aspects of Orange County.

“We always learn from history,” Aitken continued. “You can’t change it, but we can certainly learn from it.”

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