Named in 1946 on a tract co-owned by John Wilbur Seright (1885-1980), who went by his middle name, and his wife Daisy (1887-1972). Their two kids were Donna (1911-1991) and John Wilbur Jr. (1924-1991), who was married to a woman named Laura at the time, so “Wiladonda” was a portmanteau of WIlbur, LAura, DONna, and DAisy. (This isn’t just conjecture on my part: the Pasadena Star-News confirmed it in a 1954 article.) Wilbur and Daisy were newlyweds who left their native Ohio for La Cañada in April 1912 to grow citrus and raise chickens. (Donna’s birth year, taken from her own obituary, suggests that she was adopted; her obit also said she was born in Visalia, while census records had her born in Alabama!) The Serights initially lived on Commonwealth Avenue, right on the corner of what would become Wiladonda. They then lived on Wiladonda itself before decamping for the Escondido area.
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