Photo By Cpl. Jeslianne Torres | Mrs. Alice “Faye” Jonason, the History and Museum Director at the Mechanized...... read more read more
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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Rain fell steadily the morning the Mechanized Museum, the Marine Corps’ largest vehicle collection, opened in 2002 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. The rain darkened the concrete outside as visitors stepped in from the weather. Inside, the air smelled of oil and steel, and the patter of rain on the metal roof echoed throughout the building.
Faye Jonason, the Director of History for MCB Camp Pendleton, stood off to the side, watching with bright blue eyes as people moved between the rows of armored vehicles newly brought under cover.
For years, the vehicles had sat outside, exposed to the sun and salt air. That morning, they were finally inside, aligned and cataloged. Jonason looked at the vehicles as a pleased smile stretched across her face.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is how it’s supposed to be,’” she said later. “The history was finally inside.”
Although Jonason had been the historian for the base for seven years at that time, her career stretched much further back.
“I never set out to be a historian,” she said. “I just kept taking the next responsibility that was in front of me.”
Jonason was born in Sacramento, California, where she also attended college, studying art and psychology.
“I didn’t have a long-term plan,” she said. “I just knew I wanted to understand how people think.”
By the mid-1970s, she was working for the San Juan Unified School District in Sacramento County. For three years, she served as the head teacher for the district’s delinquent program, overseeing nearly 80 students spread across multiple sites. During this time, Jonason and her husband also ran a live-in group home for neglected and delinquent boys.
“You didn’t clock out,” she said. “You lived it.”
In 1978, California voters passed Proposition 13, slashing property taxes and, with them, federal funding for education programs. Jonason lost her position.
“Instability does not create the best organization, but you learn how to survive it,” Jonason said. “I wasn’t sure where I was headed next, but you never want to go someplace where you know everything. That’s not how learning happens.”
She then took a position as an assistant curator of collections at the California State Railroad Museum. By 1980, she was working at the Marine Institute in Dana Point, continuing historical and museum work throughout Southern California during the 1980s and early 1990s.
In October 1995, she joined MCB Camp Pendleton. Although she had no military background, she learned the Marine Corps’ history along the way. From her arrival to the present, Jonason oversaw vehicles, weapons, archives and oral histories.
Artifacts arrived steadily: vehicles on flatbeds, stained with oil and dust; boxes often unmarked or mislabeled; objects damaged, burned, bent, or incomplete.
“Nothing comes in perfect,” she said. “If it did, it probably wouldn’t be honest.”
Over time, people gathered around the work. Volunteers came and went; some stayed for years. Veterans returned, bringing others with them.
“I collected lots of wonderful people,” she said. “That’s what made it work.”
On Dec. 20, 2025, those same people gathered inside the Mechanized Museum during the museum’s “Night at the Museum” holiday event to celebrate Jonason’s retirement after more than 30 years of service as a historian at Camp Pendleton.
The vehicles stood precisely where Jonason had placed them years earlier.
“The main reason why we are here is to recognize one of our very own, and that's Mrs. Faye. We are going to recognize Mrs. Faye for serving over three decades as our historian here on Camp Pendleton. She put her heart into this place,” exclaimed Sgt. Maj. Sherri Cook, Marine Corps Installations West command senior enlisted leader.
Jonason accepted a Meritorious Civilian Service Award, a retirement certificate, and a flag that had been flown over Camp Pendleton.
Russell Woody, Deputy G-35 for Marine Corps Installations West, presented her with a ceremonial gladius sword.
“Like the gladiators, she held her ground,” said Woody.
Jonason shifted the sword in her weathered hands, then passed it back.
“The best part,” she paused, her voice catching and her eyes welling with tears, “is all of you.”
| Date Taken: | 12.19.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.23.2025 16:47 |
| Story ID: | 555258 |
| Location: | CAMP PENDLETON, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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