He lived a life of many stories which he would willingly and eloquently share with anyone who would care to listen or read his vignettes. He had a way with words, both spoken and written and a way with people, he had “the common touch”.
He is survived by two daughters, one adopted, two sons, six grandchildren, and at least two handfuls of great grandchildren; family relationships get occasionally complicated, such is life. He was twice widowed.
His family made it through the 1933 Long Beach (CA) earthquake; at age 8 he made it through a near death illness, he made it through WWII, on board the USS Gilmer, and USS Bunker Hill. He survived a kick to his ribs from his favorite horse Rojo. He and my mother miraculously survived a car collision with a drunken driver.
Of his many jobs, he picked oranges and milked goats on his father’s Garden Grove ranch. He drove a paint delivery truck. He was a machinist. He was cub reporter for the Los Angeles Times Sports department under Paul Zimmer. He was a boiler maker in the US Navy. He worked for the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Dept. He began as a foreman and was promoted to Superintendent for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP-W): working on the maintenance flow and capture of the snowpack and water shed from the eastern side of the Sierra Mountains (from Mono County and Inyo County, through Kern County to Los Angeles County) through the aqueduct, various reservoirs, pump stations, siphons pipes and down the cascades for water deliver to Southern California for their use and abuse.
He was a member of the SoCal Race Boat Association. He was a member of the Norwalk Civil Defense, President of the Lone Pine Stampede and Rodeo, Creator of the Lone Pine Whitney Wheelers horseback performing team, producer of the South Dakota Jamboree in Custer SD. He was a Lt Col in the Civil Air Patrol in South Dakota. He was a small plane pilot, amateur photographer, advocate for the disabled, an advocate for children and critic of current elder care. He lived a life of many stories.
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