Between the two of them, Jim and Gayle Sleznick have lived in
more national parks than most people have even visited.
San Juan Bautista – Between the two of them, Jim and Gayle Sleznick have lived in more national parks than most people have even visited.
The daughter of a National Parks Services employee, Gayle was born in Death Valley. As her father moved from park to park, so did the family, planting Gayle everywhere from the Grand Canyon to Vicksburg, Mo.
Halfway across the country, Jim was growing up in Chicago, hanging out in a friend’s family pizzeria and enjoying the city life.
But in the summer of 1958, Jim headed west to become a seasonal park ranger at Oregon’s Crater Lake – where Gayle’s father was the Assistant Superintendent. Needless to say, Jim returned to Crater Lake for the summer of ’59.
In 1961, the Sleznicks were married in Chicago at a small Russian Orthodox church. After the ceremony, the newlyweds drove straight to Yosemite for ranger training. Then it was on to Lake Mead in Nevada, where Gayle was a summer lifeguard and Jim worked in the area around the Hoover Dam. After that, it was the Gila cliff dwellings in New Mexico for 18 months, and eventually back to Yosemite.
“We literally have moved all over the United States, including the Virgin Islands,” Gayle said, adding their son Tony was born on St. Croix. “But finally we sat down and said ‘Where are we going to settle down?'”
Their choice became clear after Jim became superintendent of the Pinnacles National Monument in 1986. The Sleznicks fell in love with San Benito County, and shortly before Jim retired in 1995, they moved from the Pinnacles to San Juan Bautista, where they’ve been ever since.
“I grew up with the National Parks, so it’s nice to be somewhere so close to them and so beautiful,” said Gayle. A watercolorist for the past 37 years, the local landscapes and the Mission San Juan Bautista provide her with plenty of inspiration, she said.
Last year for the National Parks Service’s 75th anniversary, Gayle did a retrospective of watercolors from all the National Parks she has lived in – 20 in all.
But today, the Sleznicks are enjoying staying in one place.
“It’s wonderful being in a non-rental,” Gayle laughed.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
