Dreaming of the summer of ’51

JERRY PERSON

I just received a notice in the mail from Ann Minnie, a Huntington

Beach High School Alumni Assn. member, reminding me of the upcoming

annual alumni picnic at Lake Park on July 31.

I don’t believe how fast this year has gone by, and now it’s time

to begin planning for summer vacation.

I’ll bet the teachers over at Huntington Beach High have desks

full of travel brochures and are mentally planning their vacations.

Come next month, they’ll get to enjoy the time off, just like the

teachers of Huntington High did in 1951.

This week we’ll look back at some of those very teachers and what

plans they were making for that year’s summer break.

Our first vacationer for the summer, Orion Bebermeyer, was set to

attend a conference for economic education at Pomona College before

heading back to Kansas to visit his relatives.

For John Bestall, he was hoping to go to Soquel, near Santa Cruz,

to teach youngsters at Camp Kennolyn to ride horses.

Our next teacher, Bernice Boner, was going to care for her

grapevines in Indio, before taking time out to relax near Mt. San

Jacinto and by the sea at Alamitos Bay.

Robert Borns didn’t plan to leave Huntington Beach; instead he

became one of the city’s lifeguards protecting our summer visitors.

I wonder if Dale Braybrook spent class time dreaming of his

upcoming visit with his daughter Lois in Oregon and seeing all the

family.

It was time to travel through Europe for Geraldine Douglas, as she

made plans to visit many of the leading museums and to see the works

of the old masters first-hand. Evelyn Mahoney was also on the same

trip, seeing all that Europe had to offer.

Scott Flanagan’s vacation was scheduled to include a trip to

Yellowstone to see Old Faithful in action, and then on to Jasper

National Park in Canada. Perhaps he spotted Ruth Harlow, who also

went to Jasper, after visiting Alaska and Lake Louise.

William Fraser and his family were going from Huntington Beach to

Washington State for a visit with relatives.

The Tuolumne Meadows should be beautiful at this time of year, and

Esther Funk planned to be hiking and camping in this high Sierra

region. Helen Moore and Florence Boosey also had vacations planned

there and were going to meet.

Mina Harper and Dorothy Rosier were making plans this summer to

operate a concession in our municipal trailer park.

Lloyd Hamren planned to visit his grandchildren in Richmond. If he

had time before summer ran out, he hoped to spend the remaining days

of vacation playing golf at our municipal golf course.

Cora Henderson just wanted to work on her next semester’s school

activities.

Wilma Hughell was hoping her plans for summer would include

visiting friends in Idaho.

Canada beckoned Evelyn LaLanne and her husband for a vacation in

Vancouver, Victoria, the Canadian Rockies and, if they were lucky, at

a dude ranch in Montana.

Jerry Lance wasn’t vacationing. Instead, he was working to

complete his master’s degree at Claremont Graduate School.

Being a good son, Charles Mashburn was making plans to visit his

mother in Colorado, and to check out the local sights in this

mountain state.

For his summer vacation, Clarence Mason planned to travel the

byways with his family as they took to the road in their trailer,

hoping to camp out along the coast of Oregon and Washington.

After spending all his money for a new Chrysler, Lee Mossteller

was going to stay close to home during summer. Being president of the

Huntington Beach Lions Club, he would be needed to keep his

membership out of trouble.

Al Reboin’s idea of a fun vacation was to stay around the house to

paint and lay brickwork, something that doesn’t sound like fun to me.

Halsey Schumaker figured he didn’t need to go away on a vacation,

since he lived at the ocean in Sunset Beach. What more could a fellow

ask!

Harry “Cap” Sheue was planning to use his vacation time to work in

his flower garden at home on Florida Street.

The Sierras were calling to school Supt. Ray Elliott. That is, if

he could get away from all those board meetings, and we all know how

wonderful and fun board meetings can be.

Nadine Finch was planning to vacation in Tahoe, and maybe even

find time to see the wonders of Yellowstone and the geysers that the

park is so famous for.

I have to envy those teachers who took a vacation that year,

something I have never have done in my lifetime. Maybe someday, I

keep saying to myself.

But for our heroes of the chalkboard, I hope their plans for

vacations in 1951 turned out to be memorable.

* 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.