a short story of the last SunMaid girl...me

how it all happened

This is the short story of how it came about...that I am featured on the SunMaid Raisin Box since 1970.

When people learn about me and this image, they say, "wow you are famous!" and I say, no I'm not famous, the image is world renowned but I am not known as the first SunMaid raisin girl. It is just something that came into my path many years ago, but no matter what, I can proudly say, "yes, that is me" on the box now!

...Make sure to visit my OTHER LENSES...

New Table of Contents

The Story of me on the Sunmaid Raisin Box
sharing a short story...
image of the old box sent to me
from the past, paintings of the Sunmaid girl
a German ad for Sunmaid
Old Calendar of Violet Oliver
rare playingcards bought on ebay
Madame Alexander Sun-Maid Doll
Love to hear your Feedback
SunMaid Links
find and collect sunmaid memorabilia
SunMaid on Amazon

The Story of me on the Sunmaid Raisin Box

short and sweet!

Around 1960-61 I worked for Fiberboard Paper Products in San Francisco, there I was asked to go to the art department for a favor, to hold a tray and draw my hands. Thinking nothing of this, I volunteered and held the tray...the artist sketched the image and was telling me about the changes that where being made to the Sunmaid image on the package, "however it was to be kept with the same recognizable pose". When I went back to the art department I saw the painting, I was surprised to see it looked like me...being a freelance model I did't think too much about it. Some of my co-workers called me the raisin-gal, I thought it was funny.
After leaving Fiberboard to pursue my Modeling I never saw the image and years went by. One day my mother called me and said, I was at the store and saw the SunMaid package and your picture was on it! well of course I had to go buy a box, this was in 1970.

Over the years I had talked about it and always wondered if Sunmaid knew about me. When I got a computer I emailed the Company asking if they knew about me, but all I got was a reply saying "thank you for offering to pose for the box, we have an image that will be there for a while"

In 1999 the local newspaper did a story on the Sunmaid image and me, the reporter contacted the Company, but no one there ever heard of me. Feeling like I was making up a story I felt unsettled. I contacted Sun-Maid Growers of California and told them my story, they replied with a call and some mail information for my curiosity.

As time went by, we did phone tag and emails, then I was invited to Fresno to meet with the President of the company. My husband and I made the journey February 2006, we had a wonderful meeting and after much research they welcomed me as the image on the box.

It is a good feeling to know I have resolved something I thought and talked about for many years...it is a good thing.

Although the image has changed with the times, the Sun-Maid trademark design has always been based on the original pose by Lorraine Collett.

my husband (left) Al Pacheco, Gary Marshburn, myself, Company President Barry Kriebel...

left 1963 - right 1961

The image from above enlarged for those that wrote and asked....yes, I had dark hair..

sharing a short story...

what a nice thing to do...

Several years ago we went back to California for a vacation, we drove. Coming back we stopped in a small mining town in Colorado, just to go through some Antique shops...there I found an old Sunmaid raisin box, that for many years I have been looking for. This box had the image of Ms.Peterson from a long time ago... asking how much the small box was, I was informed it was not For Sale, just on display...I told him the story of how I looked for this image before mine was on the box. I said, if he ever finds another one, to let me know...about a year later I received a small package, in it was the box I had looked at, a note inside said, "this really belongs to you" I was so thrilled with this kind gesture and not even knowing this man, so I am very grateful to him for this gift.
What a nice thing to do!

image of the old box sent to me

from the past, paintings of the Sunmaid girl

a German ad for Sunmaid

Old Calendar of Violet Oliver

rare playingcards bought on ebay

Madame Alexander Sun-Maid Doll

MY OWN WEBSITES OF FAMILY and ART

Mom in the Circus, Hubbies Vietnam Site, more on my Artwork

Trapeze Micky II: My Mom in the RBBB Circus, also fun photos of her time in the Theater
Al Vietnam '66-'67: My Husband during his time in Vietnam and his Reunions with the 2nd 34th Armour Div.
art by Delia: A site with slideshow display of some of my artwork
ACEO Miniature Art by Delia -: ACEO MINIATURE Art, most of the cards that have been sold are made into prints, there are some originals or you can order one
animal art and hobbies by Delia: Animal and and hobbies of mine featured on this site.
This website might not show up on Mozilla/Foxfire, so go through another source like MSN, AOL etc.

Love to hear your Feedback

add this lens to your blogs and share...Hey don't forget to RATE this lens and join my FAN CLUB!

I have so thoroughly enjoyed hearing from people about this lens and my venture with SUNMAID...feel free to link this to your blogs ( would you believe I had one blog link that brought me 100 people to this lens?) or any lens, and yes, don't forget to rate the stars above...let me see your picture on the Fan Club area also. *********************************************************

JasonE

Thank you for sharing this very interesting personal story with us! How cool to find out that your image was in my lunchbox during my school-aged years!

Posted October 07, 2008

VicAtomic

Ah, such a cool lens - I enjoyed it very much as advertising art (particularly vintage) is very influential in my own work. Your artwork is incredible, as well! I can't believe that now I've 'met' the Sun Maid girl! And thanks for the kudos on my own lens, Mexico Atomico :-).

Cheers!

VictorH

Posted October 07, 2008

darlkay52

WOW! Really interesting - thanks for visiting my lens: Why Cowgirls Are Cool

Posted September 21, 2008

garywgoldstein

Lovely lens, I like it! :)

Posted September 18, 2008

AndyPo

Very enjoyable. Great lens.

Posted September 18, 2008

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shameless plug, the Sunmaid girl

SunMaid Links

interesting History of SunMaid Growers of California and other stories

some History: The Sun-Maid girl trademark was inspired by a real person - Lorraine Collett Petersen, who in 1915 lived in the Fresno, California, area where the company began its operations. Life then was simpler, less hectic - and red sunbonnets were the fashion.
Sun-Maid Girl: Our History
Sun-Maid Girl
Play Animation
News
News Archive
Press Kit
The Sun-Maid Girl
Many people want to know if a real person was the original "Sun-Maid girl." The answer is "Yes," and her name was Lorraine Collett Petersen. In May 1915, she was disco
Seth.com | The Sun-Maid Raisin Girl: This photograph shows Sun-Maid Raisin Girl Violet Geissinger and her husband, Detroit Tiger pitcher Earl Whitehill, at a Los Angeles ball yard in the late 1920s.