A Look Back

Jerry Person

As I was seated in my living room trying to think of what to write

about for my column, my eyes spotted an old photograph on the coffee

table that was taken sometime in the early 1930s. It shows our police

force standing at attention in their blue uniforms, and among those

officers was this one dapper gentleman in a three-piece suit,

wide-brimmed hat and sporting a watch chain, by the name of Owen Mosier.

On Jan. 14, 1890, in the rural town of Orford, N.H., our Look Back

subject Owen Arthur Mosier was born.

Mosier first set foot in Huntington Beach when he became a cashier at the

Home State Bank on Main Street in 1925.

He had previously lived in Fresno.

Mosier stayed at the bank for seven years and when the bank closed in

1932, he went to work as a desk sergeant for the Huntington Beach Police

Department, under Chief Vern Keller.

By March 1935, Mosier was being paid the large sum of $135 a month.

Although he was referred to as a “desk sergeant,” his rank on the force

was that of patrolman.

In 1946, under Chief Don Blossom, Mosier was now making a salary of $225

a month.

When Ben Dulaney was sworn in as chief on April 17, 1950, one of his first official acts was to promote Mosier to sergeant, along with fellow

officer Harold Mays.

During his years with the Police Department, Mosier was given the

nickname of “Two Gun” Mosier by his fellow officers.

The “two gun” part came from a tie tack he wore that was in the shape of

a small pistol, and in fact it was a real single-shot pistol that could

be fired.

Before he retired from the force, Mosier had worked under five police

chiefs: Vern Keller, George Gelzer, Les Grant, Don Blossom and Ben

Dulaney.

After retiring from the police force, Mosier became office manager for

the Walker Production Co.

Mosier and his wife, Anna May, lived at 926 11th St. and he was active in

our Masonic Lodge and in the First Methodist Church.

For 17 years, Mosier would serve as treasurer of the Huntington Beach

Lions Club, as well as being a charter member.

On Nov. 27, 1956, at the young age of 66, Owen Mosier passed peacefully

away at his home on 11th Street.

JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach resident.

If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box 7182,

Huntington Beach, CA 92615.