“I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas gift,” Michael P. Stenson says about a message that his dad left above a ceiling in Cruess Hall — a message recently uncovered after 60 years.

Stenson’s father, Michael F. Stenson, died of cancer in 1981, at the age of 56. His son Michael P. Stenson would never have heard about the message, or seen a photo of it, if not for some good-hearted people in the UC Davis community, from a project manager to members of the Design Program faculty to an arboretum official who heard about the message from her husband, a design lecturer.

“He loved being a plumber, and took a lot of pride in his work,” said Michael P. Stenson, a Sacramento attorney. “He often would leave ‘notes’ like these on his various jobs.”

In late October, during a renovation project that still continues in Cruess Hall, a construction worker saw the message that Michael F. Stenson, a plumber’s apprentice at the time, had written on the concrete beam that holds up a portion of the second floor.

The message lay hidden for years, above the false ceiling. And, even if the ceiling had not been there, the message — written in pencil on gray concrete — would have been difficult to see from the floor, 13 feet down.

Sixty years later, it would be another plumber, Phillip Rachal of Calidad Plumbing, Folsom, who would discover Stenson’s message.

A plumber writes it, a plumber finds it

“No one would ever have seen it,” said Bob Ouzts, a project manager-supervisor with the university’s Design Construction and Management, “had another plumber not gone up there to take down what is probably one of the pipes that Mike Stenson put in 60 years ago.”

His message carries the date Oct. 24, 1950, and the notation “rain today.” He gave his name as Mike Stenson, and underneath that he wrote “plumber app. for M.R. Carpenter Co., 907 Front St., Sacto., Calif.”

He wrote $1.57 next to the initials “H.R.” — likely standing for “hourly rate.” He gave his age (25), height and weight, and the color of his hair and eyes.

Stenson also wrote “bldg. 1/3 done” and “1st day,” likely referring to it being his first day on the job — having gone to work on the plumbing after other workers had put up the structure of the building.

Word of the message’s discovery spread to Gary Mehling, the Cruess Hall project superintendent for HMH Builders of Sacramento, and he told Ouzts.

In early December, Ouzts pointed out the message while leading a hard-hat tour for faculty from the Design Program, which will occupy the renovated building. Bob Morgan, design lecturer and furniture studio manager, was part of that tour — and received a follow-up e-mail from another person who was on the tour: Tim McNeil, associate professor in the Design Program, and the program director.

McNeil’s e-mail included a photo of Stenson’s message, and Morgan shared the photo with his wife, Mary Burke, the director of planning and collections for the arboretum.

Google to the rescue

On her own, Burke decided to try to track down Mike Stenson. In an e-mail to Ouzts and others, she wrote: “I Googled the name, and ‘Mike Stenson, Sacramento,’ showed up.

“I did a quick search online but found no e-mail address, so I printed and sent the photo via U.S. mail to this local Mike Stenson. It was the right family, and now they have the photo.”

Michael P. Stenson replied by e-mail to Burke, Ouzts and McNeil:

“Thank you all so much for the photo of my father’s ‘note’ on the building. Yes, I am his son. I recognize his handwriting and the description.”

Stenson told Dateline that his father served as a paratrooper in World War II, then moved to Sacramento and became a plumber. He married Viola Wenzel on her birthday, July 4, 1952, and they had two children: Michael and Tom. Vi Stenson died in 2005, at the age of 86.

“Thank you all so very much for taking the time to locate me,” Stenson wrote in his e-mail to Burke, Ouzts and McNeil. “You are all very thoughtful.”

Burke e-mailed back with an electronic image of the message, and wrote the following: “My own mom passed away (when) I was 19 years old (1974), so I know how much these little mementoes can mean — a trace of the person, to be rediscovered and enjoyed, again. He seems like he was a terrific guy!”

Ouzts, who formerly worked as a pipefitter, was similarly moved, noting that he also had lost his dad.

In an e-mail to Michael Stenson, Ouzts wrote: “Interesting fact I apprenticed at the same local as your dad, Mike, Local 447. My son, like your father’s son, Mike, is also an attorney.”

Coincidence after coincidence

The plumber's message revealed one coincidence after another. “It was found by … can you believe it? … a plumber,” Ouzts said. And that other plumber, Rachal, spotted the message almost 60 years to the day after Stenson wrote it.

Ouzts, who has worked at UC Davis for 30 years and has been a project manager for the last 17, said he has never seen a hidden message like this one — others included workers’ names, but never anything so detailed as what Stenson wrote.

The false ceiling that hid Stenson’s message for so long is not coming back in the renovated building — so the beam will now be exposed. Ouzts said he hopes to preserve Stenson’s message and paint around it.

He suggested that he could frame an image of the message and post it lower on the wall, where people could see it.

Michael Stenson replied: “I get a little choked up just thinking about this. I am very happy that his words will be preserved.”

In his e-mail interview with Dateline, Stenson wrote: “My brother and I really appreciate the time that everyone has taken to let us know about our father’s ‘note,’ We have many fond and special memories of our dad, and this ‘note’ makes for a very special Christmas.”