Day of the patriot

Barbara Diamond

The mournful notes of “Taps” sounded Sunday as folks at the annual

Patriots Day Parade brunch stood in silent tribute to the Columbia

astronauts, who perished Saturday.

“We start on a moment of sadness,” committee President Charles

Quilter II said.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who walked on the moon in 1969, served as

the parade grand marshal in 1987, when he lived in Emerald Bay. The

37th annual parade on March 1 will be dedicated to the memory of

Aldrin’s fellow astronauts who failed to return to earth.

Laguna’s Patriots Day Parade began in 1967, the dream come true of

the late Emily Ross. Ross wished for a parade that would “instill in

our youth a love of country and respect for the flag.”

She solicited the assistance of the members of Laguna’s Patience

Wright Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which

she was a member, and the Laguna Beach Exchange Club to make her

dream a reality.

Ross moved to Placerville in 1978, but returned to Laguna in 1979

to ride in one last parade, wearing the 129-year-old shawl her sea

captain grandfather had given her grandmother as a wedding present.

Ross died on Memorial Day 1989, at age 97. The parade lives on.

It has been said by more than one person that Laguna Beach needs

to hire another city to watch the parade because so many townspeople

participate. All the members of the parade committee volunteer their

services.

The theme of this year’s parade is Freedom’s Promise.

“It is the obligation of the present generation to honor the

reasons our forefathers came here,” Quilter said, “and sometimes to

fight for them.”

The Marine Corps Color Guard and Band normally in the forefront of

the parade will be absent this year, called to arms.

“Marine musicians and color guards also have combat duties,”

Quilter said. “Our thoughts and prayers will be with them.”

Every one of them a patriot

Each year, the parade committee honors a Laguna Beach Patriot of

the Year, one who has served the nation gallantly or meritoriously in

time of war or national emergency.

Quilter, a former U.S. Marine Corps pilot who has served as parade

committee president for four of the past five years, was honored as

Patriot of the Year in 1993 after his return from Desert Storm. At

the brunch Saturday, Quilter displayed the Distinguished Flying Cross

awarded his late father, also a Marine Corps pilot.

The 2003 Patriot of the Year, Don Black, was awarded three of the

crosses.

“In the annals of air transport flying, no operation was more

hazardous than the aerial lifeline from Assam, India to southwest

China, over the towering Himalaya mountains from 1943 to 1945.”

Quilter said. “About 1,000 died, and nearly 600 aircraft were lost.”

A standard tour of duty over what was called “the hump” was 650

flying hours, about 60 to 80 round trips, assuming one survived.

Black flew more than twice that number of hours, including 250

missions over “the hump,” search and rescue missions over Burma and a

daring raid in upper Burma in 1944.

Beside the three Distinguished Flying Crosses, Black was awarded

three Air Medals.

Almost 90 people attended the brunch, at which Black was honored

along with the 2003 grand marshal, Citizens of the Year, Junior

Citizens of the Year, the program cover artist and program essay

winner.

Eugene “Diz” D’Isabella has probably participated in more Patriot

Day parades than anyone else in town. He has driven the fire

department’s beloved 1931 Seagrave at the tail end of all 36 previous

parades.

This year, he will lead it as grand marshal.

A painting of a Seagrave was presented to him Sunday,

serendipitously found by parade committee members Sandi and Hal

Werthe at a fair in Northern California and framed by committee

member Grant McCombs.

In 1955, while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, D’Isabella was

tapped to portray one of the Marines in the Pageant of the Master’s

recreation of Felix De Weldon’s sculpture of the Flag Raising at Iwo

Jima. He was charmed by the town, more so by cast member Ann Margaret

Hill. They married that December.

Released from duty in January 1956, D’Isabella took a job with the

Laguna Beach Unified School District as a driver and mechanic, the

trade that had earned him sergeant’s stripes in the Marine Corps.

He was assigned to the most difficult route, up Temple Hills Drive

(pre-Park Avenue), because the district figured he would know how to

nurse the brakes on the steep hillside.

He volunteered with the fire department, which also took advantage

of his mechanical skills, assigning him to drive the department’s

first purpose-built equipment, the Seagrave Suburbanite pumper

engine.

D’Isabella became a full-time member of the department in 1964 and

for the next 20 years he was its only mechanic. He was promoted to

captain in 1968, named Fireman of the Year in 1978 and was awarded

Orange County’s prestigious Father Sammon Award in 2001.

D’Isabella retired in December 2002, after 46 years of service to

the city.

The Citizen of the Year Award is given to people who have made

significant efforts or contributions on behalf of the people of

Laguna Beach.

“The [parade committee] is pleased to honor Marilyn and Les

Thomas, who have given many thousands of hours to civic, humanitarian

and religious causes,” Quilter said.

They serve as board members and block captains of Neighborhood

Watch. Both are active in Music in the Park Inc., a nonprofit group

that works with the city to bring free concerts to Bluebird Park and

other venues, and active in South Shores Church.

Les Thomas is active in No Square Theatre and the Festival of Arts

and chairs the city’s Arts Commission and the Laguna Beach Alliance

for Arts.

Junior Citizens of the Year are selected by the staff and faculty

of Laguna Beach High School based on significant accomplishments in

scholarship, leadership, athletics and community service.

Liz Nelson is vice president of the 2003 class and was a peer

counselor. She is a member of Safe Rides Club and the Environmental

Academy, a cheer leader, an avid photographer and surfer.

Nelson is president of Rotary’s Interact Club, which does local

and international service projects. Last year, she worked at Casa

Hogar Orphanage in Mexico and with the La Playa Center here in Laguna

Beach, which assists Hispanic families.

Nathan Greene also is active in the Surfriders Club and serves as

its water treatment manager. He is co-president of the Drama Club and

recipient of a MACY -- the high school equivalent of an Oscar -- for

his performance in “How to Succeed in Business ... .”

He participated in “Splash” for seven years.

In 2001, Greene went to Argentina as a field service student. Last

summer, in attended the National Student Leadership Conference in

Washington, D.C.

Marissa Hoffman, 12, a sixth-grader at Thurston Middle School, won

the 2003 Essay Contest. Her entry will be printed in the program. She

is a student of Gay Pivaroff’s Laguna Arts Class.

Cory Westenhaver, 17, created the cover art for the program.

Westenhaver is a member of Laguna Beach High teacher Peter Tiner’s AP

Art Studio. Art by her mother, Michelle Herrick, was on the cover in

1979.

The parade is being filmed and narrated by Laguna Beach High

School students Scott Brown, Claire Vogel, Henry Plant and Hunter

Poler. It will be aired on Cox Cable.