Myron Possman

We want to take the time to remember Myron Possman, who passed away on December 30, 2020, at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, at the age of 93. He was born at home on November 6, 1927, at 444 Virginia Avenue in Indianapolis. He is survived by two children and their spouses, four grandchildren, and many family and friends. He was shy but loved talking to people, and he had a lifetime love of cars, boats and airplanes, and would talk for hours about them. He lived in his Palisades home for over 50 years, until he was taken to the hospital on December 20, 2020. We could not all meet at the time of his passing due to COVID, so we wanted to remember him today, one year later.

Myron had an amazing life. He did many things during his lifetime, from the Marines to engineering to owning his own motorcycle shop, from selling real estate to banking, but his greatest joy was his family. On June 30, 1961, he married the love of his life, Myra, and spent 50 wonderful years together until she passed in 2011. They had met one year before at the Aragon Ballroom in Venice, while she was visiting from Vancouver, after having moved there from Glasgow a few years before. Born 3,700 miles apart, and living in different countries when they met, two people named Myron and Myra found each other. They started life together in Santa Monica and then 51 years ago, on January 2, 1970, they moved into their home in the Huntington Palisades. They loved it, and raised a family here, made many good friends and took great pride in the community they had joined.

Myron was raised during the Great Depression, and while things were hard, they had a happy family, and very engaged extended family in Indianapolis and nearby Shelbyville County, where his parents were from. He went to Arsenal Tech High School, and as it was the middle of World War II, he worked after school in a parachute factory. On November 6, 1945, his 18th birthday, he was on a train heading to Marine Corps boot camp. He changed his name around this time from Maurice Myron Possman to Myron Maurice Possman. He thought about more dramatic changes, but in the end, he didn’t want to hurt his mother’s feelings, and that worked out alright as he would later meet his soulmate, Myra.

He went to radar school, became a corporal and a crew chief taking care of aircraft, and spent this period in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Quantico. After the Marines he headed back to Indianapolis, enrolled at Butler University and he joined the Air Force Reserve. He finished college, worked a bit in Indianapolis and Chicago for a few years, and then decided to set out for the sunshine.

He wanted to move to Florida, and tried, but somewhere along the way his car broke down. While he was waiting for them to fix it he fell ill and was hospitalized, and by the time he was better, he had to spend all of his savings to pay the hospital and the mechanic, and had just enough to get back to Indianapolis. He saved up some more and then headed to California. If not for the “bad” luck of his car breaking down and falling ill, he would not have made it to Los Angeles and his future life with Myra.

As a student he had interest in art and music, sketched and wrote poems and songs, and in his later years he returned to that. He wrote songs like “Thinking Away the Blues” and “Forget Me Not” when he was younger, but tucked them away and stored them for many years, along with his sketches. When he was about to turn 80 years old he wrote a poem expressing what it felt like to turn 80, “Eighty,” a rather sarcastic take on the occasion, but charming. He then wrote his own hymn three years ago, “I Want To Walk Like Jesus,” and would sing it for anybody who came over.

Myron had a sincere interest in every person he met. If anyone had a problem he would listen to them, and try to solve it, even when he had no practical way to do it. He was always trying to help those around him find new opportunities, even when he was mostly confined to his chair at home the last few years. He touched many lives, and changed them for the better, in small ways. He believed in the importance of kindness, and humility, and just being there for family and friends. He is truly missed.