Still heroes, even during vacation

JERRY PERSON

Tomorrow will begin the start of summer vacation, and the books will

be put away and the student lockers emptied.

I had not planned to write more about our wonderful teachers of

Huntington Beach High School.

But I received a nice letter from Huntington Beach resident Gail

Chancellor advising me of the retirement Wednesday of Lynn Aase from

the school.

Aase has spent the last 32 years teaching history at the high

school and will be remembered as the founder and advisor for the

school’s Model United Nations program.

Before coming to Huntington, Aase had signed on as a pitcher for

the Chicago White Sox in 1956, but an injury ended that career after

one year.

In 1984, Aase was nominated as Orange County Teacher of the Year.

So, let’s continue our look at past heroes of the chalkboard.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that we had a ranger on campus. Life

sciences teacher Earl Hubbs was not a Texas Ranger, but he was a

full-fledged California ranger nonetheless.

Hubbs devoted a good deal of his free time as a ranger at

Yosemite, Death Valley, Lassen Volcanic National Park and at several

of our state’s forests. He was raised in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he

received his high school diploma.

In 1941, Hubbs entered the University of Michigan, where he stayed

for the next two years. Hubbs left the university in 1943 to join the military, spent the next 16 months in the Army Air Corps and 20 more

months overseas in France, Belgium and in Germany serving in the

infantry.

Returning to America, Hubbs enrolled at UCLA, and he would later

attend UC Berkeley, where he received his master’s degree in 1950.

Hubbs taught for a while at Wasco High School before coming to

Huntington. When the school was on summer break, Hubbs could be found

working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a biologist.

Our next teacher received his education not that far away from

Surf City. Math teacher Jack Hedges finished up his high school years

at Banning High in Wilmington, and from there would go on to attend

and graduate from Whittier College.

During World War II, Jack was stationed in the Philippines. He

taught in the Little Rock schools here in California, and while at

Huntington he coached football andvarsity track. Jack and his wife,

Patricia, were the proud parents of three children: Stuart, Susan and

Julie. The family lived on Whorton Street here in Huntington Beach.

Another popular teacher in school was music teacher Margaret

Squires. She graduated from Orange High School before enrolling at

Pomona College. It was there that she received her degree and began

teaching music at Banning High and at the Zoeliner Conservatory in

Los Angeles. While at Huntington, Squires taught girls glee club,

orchestra and band and during the Christmas holiday serviced the

school’s annual “living pictures” program.

In collaboration with fellow faculty member Ruth Harlow, she wrote

and produced an operetta titled “Alpine Holiday” in 1945, and this

popular musical was repeated in 1950. In 1959, Squires retired from

Huntington after a long and successful career of teaching.

It was in 1958 that Joanne Kellogg joined the faculty as physical

education teacher for freshman, sophomore and senior girls. Kellogg

graduated from Anaheim High School. She attended UC Santa Barbara and

then Cal State Long Beach, where she received her master’s degree.

When she found time to relax, Kellogg could be found out on the

tennis court or listening to music.

Biology teacher Kenneth Tanksley was raised in Downey, where he

attended Downey High School. He continued his education at Cal State

Long Beach and earned a master’s degree.

Our last two teachers came a long way to teach here at Huntington.

It was in Hawaii that varsity coach Jack Rowan would be raised and

would receive his diploma from Maui High School. Rowan excelled in

athletics, especially pole vaulting. After coming to USC, he

continued his passion for pole vaulting, consistently competing with

14-foot-long jumps. In 1951, he became captain of the school’s track

team and taught track for years at Huntington.

Our last teacher came all the way from Australia. Neil Royce was

born, raised and schooled in Orbost, Victoria, Australia, where Royce

attended South Melbourne technician school before coming to America

as an overseas student in 1924. He lived in Flint, Mich., where he

worked in the Chevrolet factory.

While working there, he met Frances, and in short order they were

married.

The newlyweds moved to England, where Royce worked in several

automobile factories. When the two returned to Australia, Royce was

placed in charge of the service department for the Morris Oxford

motor car distributors in Sydney.

In 1929, Frances and Neil returned to California, and Neil

continued his education at UCLA. In 1942, their first child, John,

was born, followed in 1946 by a daughter, D’alice Ann.

During World War II, Royce spent those years of the war in Egypt,

France and England, serving in the Australian Flying Corps. While at

Huntington Royce, he taught machine shop.

Now that Huntington High is on vacation, we’ll say a fond goodbye

to these past and present heroes of teaching.

* 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.