Legacies

Roy Alvarado, Bob Henry, Gray Lunde, Jason Ferguson.

An activist, a policeman, a budding water polo star, a basketball

coach.

They were sons, a father, a husband, a mentor. And in each case they

were taken from us way too soon.

But despite that, members of the community have gone to great strides

to ensure that the spirit and names of these four individuals will live

on in Newport-Mesa.

Bob Henry -- Retired No. 104

When Newport Beach police Officer Bob Henry succumbed from a bullet

wound on April 13, 1995, the community was heartbroken.

Many had hoped that the 30-year-old officer would pull through from

the injuries he had sustained a month earlier as he tried to disarm a

suicidal gunman in the Newport Harbor Lutheran Church parking lot on 16th

Street.

But despite the prayers and hope, Henry’s life was lost, and the

close-knit Police Department felt it the hardest.

Now, Henry’s life is memorialized in several ways. The Robert Henry

Memorial Scholarship has been created to support local high school

athletics and there is a city park bearing his name at the Castaways

site, mere steps from where he was killed.

Those will ensure the spirit of the officer, a member of the Police

Department’s all-star football team, will go on in our hearts and minds

forever.

Gray Lunde -- Retired No. 105

It’s hard to imagine anything more painful than the loss of a child.

So when Bob and Peggy Lunde learned, as we did, that their 14-year-old

son, Gray, a budding water polo player at Newport Harbor High, had passed

away from a congenital heart defect in October of 1995, we tried to

imagine such a crushing blow.

And so did the community.

The residents here did their best to memorialize the young athlete

with the gray eyes who had, at a young age, already managed to deeply

touch not only his family, but his coaches, teammates and friends.

Since his death, the community and his parents have organized efforts

to keep his spirit alive. At Newport Harbor High, athletes practice in

the Gray Lunde weight room. A seaside tree has been planted by lifeguards

near the Balboa Pier in his name and each summer competitors participate

in the Gray Lunde Iron Man event that includes running and swimming races

-- an event similar to one Gray had participated in at the age of 9.

Roy Alvarado -- Retired No. 106

Alvarado, who died in April of 1996 on his 61st birthday, was a local

gang counselor and community leader who abandoned a life of crime,

struggled -- and won -- a battle against drug abuse.

He used his experiences to help others with similar problems.

He started a myriad of groups including Madres Costa Mesa, Latinos

Costa Mesa, and Todos Hermanos. He founded Costa Mesa’s first Latino

Alcoholics Anonymous group and he spent countless hours offering advice

to young children and teens involved in the city’s Save Our Youth

program.

Through the work of Alvarado’s son, Nick, and local attorney Bill

Turpit, his legacy lives on through the programs he created. It also

lives through the youth he has influenced and brought back from the brink

of tragedy to instead lead productive lives.

Jason Ferguson -- Retired No. 107

Costa Mesa’s High School students and athletes had heavy hearts in

January of 1996, when it was learned that their 24-year-old basketball

coach lost his battle against cancer.

When he died, Ferguson, a beloved leader, was joined by players and

other coaches who had kept a vigil at the hospital.

Though weakened by the cancer, Ferguson never gave up and he continued

to coach, even when he was relegated to a wheelchair.

After his death, a scholarship fund, a three-on-three memorial

basketball tournament and a trophy case at Costa Mesa High were all

dedicated with the name Jason Ferguson.

Indeed, Ferguson’s father, Marshall, even tried to get a television

movie of the week made to chronicle his son’s brave but short life.

Their lives were sources of inspiration for many and to lose them was

tragic. But thankfully, through the works of family, friends and the

community, they -- and their works -- will never be forgotten.