ORANGE : Orangewood Cook Merits Decoration

Words don’t exactly gush out of John Poynter, a taciturn Navy veteran who is head cook at the Orangewood Children’s Home. But birthday cakes are another matter.

Poynter, 67, who plans to retire next month, guesses he has baked and decorated more than 2,500 birthday cakes since the county home for abused and neglected children opened 10 years ago.

“A lot of the kids never had a birthday cake made for them before,” said the Cypress resident whose nickname around the kitchen is the Chief. “They used to buy store-bought cakes, but I said I could make something better than that.”

And he has, report his co-workers. One day last week found Poynter putting the final touches on three birthday cakes. More accustomed to adorning cakes with cartoon characters, flowers or ninja turtles, Poynter said a request from an 8-year-old presented an unusual challenge for him.

On a special birthday form, the boy used just one word to describe what he wanted on his cake--spacemen. When completed, the 13-by-18-inch creation supported three plastic “spacemen” and a replica of Star Trek’s “Enterprise,” and had the bumpy and brownish surface of Mars--or “whatever planet,” said Poynter.

“We think he’s pretty special here at Orangewood,” said Rose Carey, a spokeswoman for the home, which houses about 240 children ranging in age from 2 days to 18 years old. “The impression a cake makes on a child lasts a lifetime.”

Perhaps because he could have been in a children’s home decades ago, Poynter feels an affinity for the kids at Orangewood. Nevertheless, Poynter, who began supporting himself at age 12, finds it can be painful to form attachments to the youngsters.

He recalled a 7-year-old boy he befriended years ago at another children’s home. The boy soon left the home, presumably for a better life, but returned with a skull injury suffered when his drunken father shoved him down a flight of stairs.

“It’s sad to think parents treat kids the way they do,” Poynter said. “It makes you wonder about society.”

Since then, Poynter said, he prepares the birthday cakes, but keeps his emotional distance from the kids.

“It’s hard to get attached to them,” Poynter said. “Other than trying to do these things for them, I just try to stay in the background.”

Poynter said he is leaving simply because it is time for a change. A gun enthusiast, Poynter said he will teach firearms safety classes in the fall.

“We’ll miss him,” said John Padilla, who has worked with Poynter in the kitchen for nine years. “I’ve been lucky. My whole life I’ve had good supervisors. He’s been fair and honest. When something is wrong, he tells you, but when something is good he tells you, too.”

Padilla, who will take over for Poynter in the kitchen, added that the birthday cake tradition will continue.