A look back

Jerry Person

A couple of weeks past we looked at the election of a town constable

in 1952 and the runoff between Charles Derigo and Clyde Benge.

In that column I related how a dark-horse-write-in candidate by the

name of Bill Jones received from his many friends in town 1061 votes.

This week we’ll look at the life of a man who was so popular to

receive so many write-in votes. It was on Dec. 3, 1886 that William H.

“Bill” Jones first saw the light of day in the small farming community

of Talbert. You might recall that Talbert was the name that Fountain

Valley was known as for many years. Bill spent his youth walking on

ground that one day would be known as Huntington Beach. Yes, there was a

time when there was no Huntington Beach, Pacific City or even one of

those places known as Gospel Swamp. Since the early days of his youth,

Bill enjoyed physical sports and he even took up being a heavyweight

amateur boxer and competed once in the Golden Gloves finals. But Bill

enjoyed being an amateur and would not want to make a career as a

professional boxer.

Bill was always willing to help others.

Bill married a beautiful Huntington Beach girl by the name of Pearl

Swift and from this union came two beautiful girls Margaret and Velma. He

took great pride in raising his two girls to become fine Huntington Beach

ladies. Bill loved horses and not only rode well but also raised many a

noble steed.

For many, many years, no Huntington Beach Fourth of July parade down

Main Street would be complete without seeing big Bill atop his mount

waving at the people. I think Bill loved those parades as much as he did

his horses. He and Pearl lived at 619 8th St. in our Downtown and all the

while extended a helping hand to those in need. Being raised in a farming

town like Talbert, farming was in his blood. You could find him out in

his garden when he had the time. As time went by and his girls grew

older, got married and had children of their own, Bill received five

wonderful grandchildren. Being a native Californian, it was only natural

for Bill to start a local chapter here of the Native Sons of the Golden

West and he even became one of its presidents. He went on to serve as an

Orange County deputy sheriff for many years and when Ben H. Dulaney

vacated the post of town constable Bill was appointed to fill out the

unexpired term. When the term expired in 1950 Bill did not initially run

for the job but waited until after the primaries were over to see who

won.

Although Bill’s name did not appear on the ballot, his friends went to

the polls and wrote his name in 1061 times. In the closing month of 1952

the rains came to Huntington Beach and flooded many of its streets, and

while giving aid to a friend whose car had stalled in the flood waters

Bill suffered a heart attack and left us.

But to the very end, as he had done most of his life, Bill was there

to lend a helping hand to a friend in their time of need.

* 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.