Century city

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Ask Ed Hemphill how he made it to 100, and he’ll tell

you it was love.

“When I met this woman, we both liked each other very much,” Hemphill

said Tuesday, sitting at his birthday table at a Newport Beach retirement

home. He now lives there with his 96-year-old wife, Myrl, who suffers

from Alzheimer’s disease.

“We did everything together,” he said, as Myrl’s eyes lighted up. “We

danced together, we played cards together. We never said, ‘I will divorce

you, I don’t want you any more.’ We said nice things.”

Before his retirement in 1989, Hemphill sold shoes. First in Alhambra,

where he opened a store in 1933. Another shop in Costa Mesa, where

Triangle Square now stands, followed in 1958 until Hemphill relocated the

business to Fashion Island in 1968.

Why shoes?

“All my family were farmers, and I didn’t like the farm,” said

Hemphill, who grew up in Nebraska. By chance, he got a job in a

department store and stuck with retail for the rest of his life.

Going through a photo album that family members gave him at a

pre-birthday party Saturday, Hemphill remembers minute details about

financial matters regarding his stores. And he’s clearly proud of his

business philosophy.

“Nobody ever went out of my store that was misfitted or the price was

wrong,” he said.

Honesty and fairness are two characteristics he also passed on to his

65-year-old son, Bryan.

Hemphill also taught his son to “enjoy life while you can,” Bryan said

Tuesday, adding that his father was an avid golfer until just a few years

ago. “Like he’s done all of his life.”

Bryan Hemphill’s own sons, Brett and Gregg, also live in Newport

Beach. Brett’s the owner of Hemphill’s Rugs and Carpets Inc. in Costa

Mesa and a business leader on 17th Street. The grandson is also

well-known in Newport Beach and chaired last year’s Newport Harbor

Christmas Boat Parade.

Back at the retirement home, Ed Hemphill listened to Barbara Briscoe,

the home’s executive director, who read a congratulatory proclamation

from Mayor Gary Adams.

And then he blew out the candles on his birthday cake and said he

didn’t have any plans for next year so far.

“I wish I knew,” he said, smiling. “As soon as I get out of here, I’ll

find something to do.”