A deep admiration for the sand and sky

Deepa Bharath

Jack Mullan celebrated his 80th birthday a week before he died.

His wife, Beverly, had rented the Tiki boat for the evening. His

whole family was there. Friends he hadn’t seen in a long, long time

came to the party. The boat sailed into the sunset to the lilting

melodies of a Hawaiian band and the soft rustle of paper leis.

Jack talked about the party all week. He watched a video of it

many times that week. He watched it three times the morning of the

day he died.

One of Jack’s biggest interests in life was a flying machine

called the P-38, an airplane he flew as a teenager in World War II as

a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He went to war right after he

finished high school in 1942. Jack was a photo reconnaissance pilot.

He flew the airplane to dangerous territories on missions and came

back with pictures of coves or harbors, which were strategic

locations for the enemy.

The P-38 was a twin-engine single-seater aircraft, which meant the

pilot was also the navigator. Fortunately, Jack was good at doing

both and multi-tasking. That’s probably why he made it back from

missions while many other pilots didn’t.

Jack got out of the Air Force Reserve in 1946 and went on to

graduate from the University of Southern California. He met Beverly

Fortner in an economic history class. Beverly found the class boring.

She found Jack very interesting.

They shared each other’s love for the beach. Their first date was

in Dana Point at salt creek. Beverly found that Jack was fun to be

around. They fell in love and got married in Las Vegas between

semesters on Feb. 8, 1951. They didn’t elope, but simply informed

their families that they were going to get married because they

couldn’t wait to be together all the time.

After graduating, the couple moved to Menlo Park, where Jack got a

job with United Airlines. One evening, he came home from work and

asked his wife if she wanted to go to Europe. Beverly nodded with

excitement. They sold their cars and left their rented house and

moved to Germany, just on a whim.

Jack started graduate school and also worked part-time as a pilot

who took wealthy people on vacations. He had fun on the job,

traveling to Africa, Greece, Jerusalem and many European countries.

Jack and Beverly traveled every weekend to Holland, Austria and

Paris, taking the train all over Europe.

They spent two of the best years of their lives in Europe, but

returned to the United States after Jack’s brother-in-law died

suddenly. But it wasn’t the only reason they came back. They were

ready to return home.

After coming home, Jack thought about what he wanted to do. Then,

it occurred to him: Why not go into real estate in the place you love

the best? Newport Beach was his answer.

They bought a fixer-upper in Balboa Peninsula. The couple enjoyed

the beach. Jack loved bodysurfing at the Wedge. Jack enjoyed diving

for abalone. He would go deep down into the caves, where a lot of

people wouldn’t go.

Jack was hard-working, but he also knew how to have a good time.

He took his family to vacations in the Florida Keys, the High

Sierras. He loved to go fishing in the mountains.

Although he left the Air Force reserve, Jack loved to talk about

his P-38 days. He was proud of his service and felt a sense of

achievement when he completed the tough, often dangerous, missions he

set out to accomplish.

He had some funny stories too. Jack talked about his unit’s days

in the Philippines when they camped out in a bamboo house on stilts.

A crowing rooster would wake them up too early in the morning. One

morning, the men got way too annoyed and poured cold water on the

bird to shoo it away. But as it turned out, the bird died. And it

also happened to be their unit commander’s prized fighting cock.

He also talked about an unlucky bed in their camp, whose occupants

ended up dying on missions one after another. Jack and his friends

ended up burning that bed.

Jack always said his missions were long. But he never mentioned

fear. He didn’t like the word “scared.” But as photo reconnaissance

pilot he knew that he had to maintain radio silence when he was on

enemy territory. Jack knew that if something went wrong, he couldn’t

even radio his friends and tell them: “Tell my family I love them.”

Jack was an active member of the P-38 National Assn. He was one of

its founding directors in 1987. Participating in those meetings and

P-38 conventions was his favorite hobby toward the end of his life.

He also collected a lot of aviation art. Close to 70 paintings hang

in Jack and Beverly’s Palm Springs home.

But Jack enjoyed his days by the beach. He loved life.

In his own words: “The cost of living is high, but it’s worth it.”