Two friends remembered

JERRY PERSON

It is said that death comes in threes.

This Memorial Day, two fine people and good friends passed away.

Both were longtime residents of our city and saw it flourish.

Out at the end of Huntington Street, Linda Espitia was well-known

to her neighbors and friends and especially to the neighborhood

children at Halloween. All the kids knew Halloween was fast

approaching when the pumpkins in Linda’s garden were ready to be

turned into jack-o-lanterns. She was known to grow huge pumpkins in

her garden, some of them bigger and heavier than the kids themselves.

At Halloween, one could find Linda in her front yard, decorating

it with homemade figures of witches and goblins.

Last year, she created life-sized figures from the “Wizard of Oz.”

She created Dorothy and her dog Toto, along with the scarecrow, tin

man and lion. From the side of her neatly flowered beds would be the

wicked witch herself.

Linda was born into Huntington Beach’s large Alvarez clan, which

included Andy and Tim, on March 20, 1937. She grew up here when our

city was still relatively small-town America.

As she grew older, her brothers looked out for her, especially

when it came to dating boys. Linda would eventually marry Robert S.

Espitia, and the two would raise their family here with the same high

morals she learned from her family.

Linda passed on May 31, leaving her husband and son, Robert A.

“Bobby” Espitia, to carry on the Halloween tradition she had begun at

their old homestead.

The second friend I lost this Memorial Day was a councilman, as

well as part of Main Street history.

It would be a lucky Friday the 13th on which Huntington Beach

Optometrist Henry Sol Kaufman was born: May 13, 1916 in Worcester, Mass.

Henry entered grammar school there. In 1928, the Kaufman family

left Worcester to settle in New York City, where Henry continued his

education.

The Big Apple must have awed this 12-year-old boy.

His family sent Henry to parochial school with the idea their son

would study for the Rabbinate. But this was not to be. After four

years, Henry changed his mind and began studying optometry at City

College.

After two and a half years, Henry and his family moved to

Pittsburgh, where Henry entered the University of Pittsburgh to

further his studies. To help pay for his education, Henry got a job

as a cloth cutter in a mattress factory.

At this time in American history, the unions were gaining

momentum. Henry helped organize the mattress workers into a union.

Henry was so successful that he was elected its secretary and later

would become its vice president -- positions he would hold for the

next three years.

When he was able to save enough money, Henry came to California to

further his education at optometry school in Los Angeles.

In 1941, Henry graduated and opened his own practice in Long

Beach. He would remain there for the next two years before coming to

Huntington Beach in 1943 to open his long-running and historic

practice.

This was also the year he met his future wife, Muriel Bender, and

they were married not long after that.

In 1944, Henry was president of the Orange County Assn. of

Optometrists. By this time, he had become a popular speaker at civic

luncheons. He put together a program of optical tricks he called

“optical illusions.” He presented this program to members of our

local Lions Club and Rotarians.

By 1945, Henry and Muriel’s son Daniel had been born. In the

coming years, two daughters would join the Kaufman family, Diane and

Deborah.

Muriel once told me that when Henry came into town and opened his

office, Tom Talbert came in one day and asked Henry if he could read

and write. Henry said yes and Tom said, “You’re on the Planning

Commission.”

How times have changed.

Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, Dr. Kaufman’s office at

326 Main St. was a fixture.

Henry threw his hat into the political ring and ran for councilman

in the April 1966 election.

After the ballots were counted, Henry came in second after Alvin

Coen and before Jack Green and Ted Bartlett with 3,264 votes.

While on the council he forced the Huntington Beach Company to pay

its share of oil revenue per barrel.

For many mornings I would see Henry having breakfast at Terry’s

Coffee Shop on Main Street. When Henry found time to relax, it would

be out on the golf course, “digging holes with his irons” or playing

a game of tennis.

Henry passed away on May 28, but he will continue to leave his

mark on our town’s rich history.

At the beginning of this column, I mentioned that death seems to

come in threes. The third death is our town, for Huntington Beach has

died just a little with the passing of two of its finest people.

* 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.