Cho has been an avid O.C. politician since 1988.

Mission Viejo resident Nancy B. Cho is showing kids, as well as adults, an important part of Mission Viejo: The Heritage House Museum.

So why is this museum so special? Ther Heritage House is a community art gallery and exhibition space with changing exhibits every six months in the heart of Mission Viejo and it’s open for all to visit.

The Heritage Committee offers free guided tours (on request) through the Heritage House, located in the Melinda Park, corner of Melinda Road and Santa Marguerite Parkway, in Mission Viejo. These 20 to 30 minute tours are open to any groups or individuals. To request a tour, please call the Mission Viejo City Hall, Parks and Recreation Department at 949.470.3061. Scouts can also benefit as there are crafts for them to work on at the Heritage House and they can then earn their badges.

“One of my favorite things to do is giving tours of the Heritage House in Melinda Park,” Cho says. “It’s fun to share the local history with the scout groups and kids.”

The 57-year-old Cho has been interested in the City’s history for as long as she can remember.

“I became interested in Mission Viejo’s history and politics when the City was first incorporated in 1988. I attended the first city council meetings when Norman P. Murray was the mayor,” she recalls.

Cho who is the event planning and fundraising volunteer for Saddleback College Foundation for the college’s Veterans Memorial, scholarships and educational programs has learned quite a bit over the years about Mission Viejo.

“Mission Viejo has a lot of community spirit and pride. It has a hometown feel like no other city around. This area was once a cattle ranch and later became a community started by the O’Neil family ranch and the Mission Viejo Company 40 + years ago. It was a well planned and award-winning planned community,” she says. “The ‘Mission Viejo, the Ageless Land’ history book written by Doris Walker covers everything from the very beginning through 2000.”

Mission Viejo has so much to offer, she continues.

“It has a community college, a fantastic hospital, ‘Shops of Mission Viejo’ shopping mall, beautiful library and recreation centers, auto dealerships, animal shelter, The Heritage House Museum and a wonderful community center. No other Orange County city has so much.”

Cho also keeps busy on the Mission Viejo Heritage Committee as chairperson and as a director on the South Orange Country Regional Chamber of Commerce. She is also the immediate past president of the Mission Viejo Chamber of Commerce.

The native New Yorker born in Ripley, a small farmland town near Lake Erie, says her relatives grow the grapes for Welch’s Grape Juice brand. When she was 10 years old, her family moved to Burbank and in 1979, she and husband, Sam of 33 years moved to Mission Viejo where they have lived ever since.

“Five years from now, I hope to still be in Mission Viejo, enjoying this beautiful town,” she says. “Some of my favorite places in Mission Viejo are the library and the Heritage House. They have so much information to offer.”