CELESTINE DRIVE IN WHITTIER, CA

ACRES OF BOOKS, LONG BEACH

One morning I went with Dad and Marilyn down to Long Beach's Acres of Books.  It was a huge used book store with shelves to the ceiling, or so it seemed, and books stacked everywhere.  It was glorious.  Anyway, as the three or four of us were getting lost in the store, I remember ferreting through a stack of books on a table just down the aisle from my dad.  And I heard him utter as loud as he could in a quiet place, "Oh, my God I found it."  "It" was a reference to his grade school primer in which he had scrolled his name "Billy Walgenbach."  It was a book that had gotten away from him.  And here he was years later in a completely different town plucking a piece of his property and his history back from oblivion.  I remember being amazed at the serendipitous nature of it all.  How random and what luck he had. 

In 2007 I made several trips to that store to buy books for the kids at Garfield.  We were building a classroom library, but I wanted to provide them with books that I thought would be interesting.  I remember I gave a copy of Michael Jordan's autobiography to one kid and he was ecstatic, asking me "Sir, do I get to keep this?"  I said, "It is yours."

DAD'S OLD SCHOOL DESK

I remember how delighted Dad was when he brought home an old classroom desk chair that he used as a kid.  He loved things that reminded him of his childhood.  Maybe because he moved so much as a kid that his memory for things of his childhood was longing.

But as much as he loved this treasure, my mom was beside herself.  Why would he want old things?  What's he going to do with them?  Where are we going to store it?  It didn't last long.

HINSHAW'S: MOM'S FAVORITE PLACE TO SHOP

Hinshaw's was Mom's favorite place to shop even after the Santa Anita Fashion Plaza was built in 1974. But it was beloved by many in the neighborhood.

WRITER FOR THE MARINES

My dad was drafted into the Marines in 1943 and served 'til 1945.  He was stationed on one of the atolls in the Marshall Islands.  I wanted to post this fact.  The photographs below are a few of the things that he had on his desk when I was a kid.  While in the Marines on the Marshall Islands, my dad wrote articles and drew cartoons.

The cap above, a khaki tan garrison cap, was worn by WWII Marine servicemen.

ABOVE: U.S. Marine Corps. Eagle Globe Anchor pin, Black; 1 3/4”.

BELOW: U.S. Marine Corps. Eagle Globe & Anchor pin jewelry.

Men's lariat bolo tie.  My dad had a few of these, given to him by his father.  His dad used to wear them.  

Add to that the ritual of going to train yards in downtown at 5am to pick out a tree and get a hot dog from the catering truck. Nothing was more special. My dad would pick a tree that was still stacked in the train car with ice. He never failed to get some extra boughs for the nativity scene. It was a religious ceremony for me.

CONROY'S LA TIMES OBIT, AUGUST 2012

CONROY, William M. Age 87, retired Inspector, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, passed away on August 22, 2012. Bill joined the Sheriff's Department on July 1, 1952, and retired from the Sheriff's Information Bureau on October 3, 1973. A funeral Mass will be held at Calvary Cemetery, 4201 Whittier Blvd., Los Angeles, CA on Monday, August 27, 2012, at 12:45 p.m. Interment will immediately follow.

Here is Conroy's obituary in the LA Times:

Dad, Conroy, his wife Gerry, and Mom.  This looks like 1984.  Conroy was spokesman and writer for Sheriff Peter Pitchess.

Conroy is standing, hands folded, at the far right.  Bill Conroy is survived by his wife Gerry, his son Michael, and daughters Kathleen and Maureen.

Another friend of Dad's, Joe Sullivan, worked for the LA County Marshall's Offices, where he was mainly responsible to the courts perhaps as a bailiff.  My brother, Dan, explained that the County got rid of the Marshall's Office in the late 90s and merged the marshalls with the sheriffs.  He added that marshalls used to serve subpoenas. 

HOME IN SAN GABRIEL, 1943

Happy Birthday, Mom!  July 15, 1920.  Is there a more beautiful day!

I liked this sentence by Jon Morrow, Associate Editor at Copyblogger, "Because, let’s face it, your ideas are your children. Their future is as tender and delicate as that of any newborn."

This picture is taken on her door step of her Alhambra home, 1943.  She was 23 years old here and probably just had Charlen.