The Palisades-Malibu YMCA, in collaboration with PTA Northshore Surf Shop of Topanga, will be holding a Hawaiian-style surf camp from August 9 to August 12. The program is for beginners between the age of 9 and 15 who enjoy ocean swimming. ”Instructors will teach participants the basics of surfing and will show them the “Ohana” style of surfing. Participants will have individualized one-on-one surf instruction, and will learn fun sand games and lessons about Hawaii’s surf tradition. ”Bob Ellis, a native of Pacific Palisades and an expert in “Ohana”-style surfing, is director of the surf camp program. He owns the PTA Northshore Surf Shop in Topanga and in Haleiwa, Hawaii. Many of the surf instructors for the camp will be here from his shop in Hawaii. ”The Surf Camp program, at selected local beaches, will run from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. daily. The cost is $200, and includes professional instruction, surf-board use, surf camp t-shirt, and use of wet-suit if needed. Enrollment is limited, and financial aid is available to those who qualify. Contact: Ray Cruz at 454-5591.
Agassi Wins at UCLA
Andre Agassi, who had been sidelined by an inflamed sciatic nerve for two months, pounded his way to the Mercedes-Benz Cup title at UCLA on Sunday. Agassi, 35, gained the 60th title of his career by defeating Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, 6-4, 7-5 in 1 hour 28 minutes. Although the field was weakened by injury withdrawals, Agassi lost only two games on his serve all tournament and showed that if he remains healthy, he can contend once again for the U.S. Open championship in September.
Orangutan Odyssey
If anyone can be considered an expert in her chosen field, it is Dr. Birut’ Galdikas. One of the world’s most renowned primatologists, she has dedicated the last 34 years of her life to the research and protection of orangutans in Indonesia. And in June, Galdikas visited students at The Odyssey School in Malibu to present a slide show and talk about her lifelong work with one of man’s closest relatives. Galdikas earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and zoology and later her master’s degree in anthropology at UCLA. While still a graduate student, she attended a lecture by Dr. Louis Leakey, a Kenyan paleontologist, who, along with the National Geographic Society, assisted her in establishing a research lab to conduct field studies. Several years earlier, Leakey had provided similar opportunities to first Jane Goodall and then Dian Fossey, both of whom became famous for their work with great apes in Africa’Goodall with chimpanzees and Fossey with mountain gorillas. ‘Jane is a remarkable person,’ Galdikas said. ‘I’ve known her since before I went into the field. She really blazed the path for Dian and myself.’ Wild orangutans live only on the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Galdikas established a camp on Borneo and today the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine Facility she started in Central Kalimantan is still going strong. To date, it has returned over 300 orangutans to the wild. ‘I was only 25 when I arrived in Borneo in 1971 and feminism was a big issue,’ Galdikas recalled. ‘But I made up my mind that I was just going to focus on the orangutans and not deal with the feminist issues. I was able to play both sides of the street. And, fortunately, Indonesia is a very tolerant place.’ Galdikas began her work from a thatch-roofed hut in one of the world’s last wild places, Tanjung Puting Reserve. There were no telephones, no roads, there was no electricity, television or mail service. The land was being logged and laws protecting wildlife were not enforced. The rhinoceros had been hunted to extinction in the area and orangutans were commonly kept as pets, even by government officials. Before Galdikas began her research, very little was known about orangutans from a scientific standpoint. But through years of day-to-day observation, she gradually developed an understanding of the orangutans’ social behavior. For instance, it took 20 years of research to determine that females do not become sexually mature until the age of 15 and will typically reproduce only once every 8 to 10 years, the longest birth interval of any mammal. ‘Orangutan’ is Malay for ‘person of the forest.’ Their red hair and geographic location are not all that distinguish orangutans from the other great apes. For while gorillas and chimpanzees travel in groups, orangutans live the majority of their lives in isolation. One example Dr. Galdikas cited was an experiment she conducted in Borneo to determine the frequency of interaction among wild orangutans. ‘Males and females live separate lives,’ she told her attentive audience of fifth through eighth-graders. ‘After mating, a mother and her offspring probably won’t meet another orangutan for a long time. I once followed a mom for 31 days and she encountered only two subadult males.’ The largest arboreal animals in the world, orangutans spend 99 percent of their time in trees. Their diet consists primarily of fruit but they also eat leaves, flowers, bark and insects such as termites and larvae. In fact, seed dispersing activities are vital to maintaining the ecosystem in which they live. ‘They spread seeds through their feces and by spitting out the seeds of the fruits they eat, which will then germinate and maintain diversity in the rain forest,’ Galdikas said. ‘So concern for orangutans indicates concern for the planet.’ Though Indonesia and Malaysia have banned the export of orangutans and made it illegal to keep them as pets, animal dealers continue to smuggle babies off the islands and sell them to zoos or circuses. Tragically, for every baby orangutan that arrives at its destination in this way, five or six others die in the process of being captured or transported. So a population which once numbered in the millions and ranged as far north as China when Borneo and Sumatra were connected to the mainland of Southeast Asia, has been reduced to merely tens of thousands. An even bigger problem is that the tropical rain forests in which orangutans live are being destroyed by agriculture and mechanized logging. At the current rate, their entire habitat will be gone by 2081. ‘Unless tropical forests are saved, a third of the earth’s plant and animal life could vanish in our lifetime,’ Galdikas said. ‘Sadly, the orangutans have become refugees in their own land.’ Along with Dr. Gary Shapiro, the first person to successfully teach sign language to free-ranging, ex-captive orangutans, Dr. Galdikas established Orangutan Foundation International in 1986. OFI has five primary functions: stopping illegal logging, using sustainable economic alternatives for communities surrounding critical orangutan habitat, assuring sustained funding for long-term on-site research vital for effective conservation efforts, creating a national campaign to instill pride in orangutans and their environment, and releasing ex-captive orangutans into suitable, protected habitat. ‘I’m against zoos but I realize we are stuck with them,’ Galdikas said. ‘So I think they can serve a purpose as far as education goes. Actually, my love for orangutans started when I grew up watching them at the Toronto Zoo. Something about the curiosity in their eyes… I was drawn to them.’ In 1996, Galdikas published her autobiography, ‘Reflections of Eden,’ which she said she needed five years and ‘about 50 drafts’ to write. Another book, ‘Orangutan Odyssey,’ featuring the photographs of famous wildlife photographer Karl Ammann, was published three years later and became the genesis of her latest book, ‘Great Ape Odyssey,’ released in May. ‘We received such a positive response to the first one [‘Orangutan Odyssey’] and I knew Karl had lots of wonderful photos of all the great apes. I’m hoping we can produce a third volume that will include all of the primates in the near future.’ When she’s not in Indonesia, Galdikas teaches at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, checks in at OFI headquarters in Los Angeles (4201 Wilshire Boulevard), or visits her three children, one of whom, 20-year-old daughter, Jane, graduated from Palisades High and now attends Santa Monica College. But Birut’s true passion is saving the elusive primates that have provided a lifetime’s worth of fascination and wonder. As long as orangutans remain endangered, her job is far from done. ‘On the front lines of conservation there are no timeouts, no short cuts, and few final victories,’ she said. ‘The future of the orangutan lies with us.’ To make a donation to Orangutan Foundation International, visit the Web site: www.orangutan.org.
Palisadians Resume Production of Grief Video After Emotional Setback
Susan Whitmore’s idea to create a video for grieving parents came to her like a crack of light illuminating a dark path. In the depths of her own grief, she would bring meaning to the tragedy of her daughter’s death and begin the healing process by helping others like her. Encouraged by friends and family, Susan and her husband, Wendell, gathered a group of grief specialists, spiritual advisors and parents who had lost a child, for a weekend of filming in their Pacific Palisades home in July 2003. The Palisadian-Post featured a story on the event. ‘We relived intimacy and pain,’ remembers one mother, Palisadian Anne Roberts, who, with her husband, Wayne Neiman, spoke about losing their 6-year-old son, Mitchell. ‘It took us a while to recover from that weekend.’ In the months that followed, the parents anxiously anticipated the final product, which was being edited by a volunteer who had helped direct the project and was also a friend of the departed Erika Whitmore Godwin, Susan’s 32-year-old daughter. The video never came to fruition. Instead, the Whitmores and many of the video participants had to jointly sue the volunteer in order to get the approximately 75 hours of footage returned. The plaintiffs argued that the volunteer ‘aspired to create a documentary’ instead of the proposed one-hour video and, according to the complaint, they were ‘threatened with having their personal grief exploited for personal, commercial gain.’ The plaintiffs included former L.A. mayor Richard Riordan, who lost two of his five children; Marc Klaas, whose daughter Polly was murdered more than a decade ago; Jack Canfield, ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ creator; and actress Naomi Watts, who met and developed a close relationship with Susan Whitmore while she was researching for her role as a grieving mother in ’21 Grams.’ All had appeared in the taping for the video. ‘It was like having something precious hijacked and held for ransom,’ said Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben of Kehillat Israel, a longtime friend of the Whitmores and another plaintiff in the case. Reuben was also one of the grief counselors interviewed for the video, part of which was shot at Kehillat. ‘Emotionally, it was a huge setback,’ Wendell Whitmore said. ‘Susan was not only dealing with the grief of losing Erika but the project that she was doing in Erika’s honor. It was salt in the wound.’ After almost a year in court, the footage was returned to the plaintiffs, who held a celebration July 9 to thank the devoted lawyers of Liner Yankelevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif for handling the case pro bono. Susan presented attorneys Steven Turnbull and Credence Sol with the Peace of Heart Award for their ‘generosity of spirit and unwavering support, giving hope to parents throughout the world.’ In an emotional speech, Turnbull told the parents, doctors and grief counselors (many of whom he’d never met), ‘I feel like I know a lot of you because I know something about your personal histories…You’re the real heroes.’ He added that ‘as lawyers, we so seldom get to do something that’s so meaningful.’ Turnbull told the Palisadian-Post that ‘it was the kind of case I would go to sleep thinking about and wake up thinking about.’ Ultimately, the plaintiffs did have to give the volunteer some money and video credit, but they regained control of the project, which is currently being edited. ‘I feel satisfied that the foundation can move on with the video,’ Turnbull said. Many of the parents present at the ‘thank you’ dinner expressed gratitude for the lawyers’ work and relief that the tapes had been returned. ‘I was very nervous that I was going to see myself on national television,’ said Jennifer Woolf, whose son, Zack, died of a rare liver and kidney disease at age 11 months. ‘I don’t want to make a Hollywood creation out of my grief.’ Woolf and her husband, Graham, said that being interviewed for the video was hard for them because it was so personal and close to the heart. ‘I never knew that it was going to set me back to square one,’ Jennifer said about the experience. ‘It had been three years [since Zack died] and it still felt like it was yesterday.’ They are confident that the video, ‘Portraits of Grief: Badges of Courage,’ will help people who don’t have access to or won’t go to a support group. This was Susan Whitmore’s original intention, that ‘in the comfort, safety and privacy of their own homes, parents could watch this timeless piece of hope.’ ‘Susan is so compassionate about her vision, that’s going to help a lot of people,’ said Dr. Roger Dafter, a psychologist who specializes in grief therapy. He explained that when people who have lost a child talk about it with other parents who have experienced the same loss, it resonates with those parents. Susan knows this from her own experience. She said when Erika died of a rare sinus cancer in May 2002, the pain made it almost unbearable to live. ‘It was all I could do to just breathe. I was longing for someone I could just talk to, someone who had gone down the path of grief ahead of me.’ Less than two weeks later, she was sitting in the Michel International beauty salon on Swarthmore when Anne Roberts walked by, saw the look on Susan’s face and went in to introduce herself. ‘I knew the look of grief,’ Roberts explained. ‘It’s like a club we belong to that no parent has ever wanted to join.’ Susan was disappointed in the lack of comprehensive, easy-to-access resources available to grieving parents and, in an effort to turn her own grief into healing, started The Erika Whitmore Godwin Foundation and its compassionate Web site, griefHaven, in the fall of 2002. The site (www.griefHaven.org) provides a place where parents can honor their children and access links to support groups and organizations, books, music and poetry. ‘You want your child to be kept alive in memory,’ said Roberts, whose son’s picture is on the Web site. ‘When I help other people, it’s a legacy to my son.’ Dr. Judith Ford, who was Erika’s palliative care doctor at UCLA, said she often guides grieving families to the Web site because she knows that Susan is a huge resource. ‘I’m just so truly proud of what she’s doing.’ Rev. James Putney, an oncology chaplain at UCLA who also worked intimately with the Whitmores, said that in spite of the emotional setback with the video footage, he believes it will be an even stronger, more challenging project now. Susan agrees. During a follow-up interview in her home, she said, ‘As I’ve grown in my grief process in the last two years, the vision is still there but it has taken on a different bent for me because I’m at a point where I’m actually having fun sometimes’I can see a glimmer of light.’ The people who talked about their own experiences losing a child and those experts who appear in the video gave her hope. She sees the goal of the video as threefold: (1) to give parents who have lost a child the knowledge that they’re not alone, that their feelings and thoughts have been felt by others and it will get better with time; (2) to educate the public at large on what parents who lose a child go through and what they can do to help these parents survive loss; and (3) to be used as an educational tool for medical staff in hospitals. ‘What goes with the loss of a child is your meaning and purpose in life,’ Susan said. ‘It’s really about hope. When your child dies, you’re hopeless. You never get over it, but you will go on.’ ‘Portraits of Grief: Badges of Courage’ is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. Contact The Erika Whitmore Godwin Foundation at 459-1789.
Methodists Welcome New Pastor
The Rev. Karin Ellis began her appointment as pastor of Community United Methodist Church on July 1. She succeeds Rev. Nancy Wilson, who served here for four years and left to pursue advanced studies in Christian Spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. ‘I look forward to becoming acquainted with the community and the church members,’ said Rev. Ellis, who was previously senior pastor at Toluca Lake United Methodist Church. She is eager to work with the people in order to reinforce the church’s historic role in this community, as well as make sure that ‘everyone who walks through the doors of the Methodist Church at 801 Via de la Paz experiences the welcoming love of God!’ Pastor Karin, as she prefers to be called, grew up in Mission Viejo, and was active in the local Methodist Church music and youth programs. After completing two years at Saddleback Community College, she transferred to Nebraska Wesleyan University and graduated with a degree in music in 1994. She then moved to Boston and received her master of divinity degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1997. Her first appointment was to Northridge United Methodist Church in the San Fernando Valley, where she served for four years as associate pastor in charge of children, family ministries and evangelism. In 2001, Pastor Karin accepted the Toluca Lake appointment. While there she met her husband, Steven Ellis, a video engineer for a television production company in Burbank. They were married in February 2003. When she is not at the church, you may find Pastor Karin at home reading, gardening, working on her crochet projects, walking with her husband and their dogs, Hershey and Sequoia, or even scuba diving off the coast. She and Steven are also happily anticipating the arrival of their first child, a little girl, in early September.
Will Rogers Jubilee Offers Ropin, Ridin’ and Music Saturday
In honor of Will Rogers and his legacy, a modern-day Jubilee will be held this Saturday, July 30 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Will Rogers State Historic Park. Admission is free. Hosted by California State Parks,, the festival will feature a variety of performances, horse rentals, wagon rides, pony rides for the children, live music by the Drew Davis Band (1:45 and 3 p.m.), a blacksmith demo, quick-draw booths and a family barbecue with beverages. The spirit of Will Rogers will come alive with performances by the Valley View Vaulters (11:15 a.m.), Patty Mayer Dressage (11:45), trick rider and roper Ramon Becerra (12:30), a horse reining show (1 p.m.), trick roper Felix Lopez (1:30), the Cattle Cutting All-Stars (2 p.m.), trick ropers Pat Puckett (2:30) and Dave Thornbury (3:15). Opening ceremonies at 11 a.m. will feature ‘Howdy’ by Robert Basgall, a Will Rogers impersonator; welcoming remarks by actress June Lockhart, a State Parks ambassador; and an appearance by the Santa Monica Mounted Police. The wit of Will Rogers is still relevant today, whether about politics (‘I don’t make jokes, I just watch the government and report the facts’) or health care (‘Personally, I have always felt the best doctor in the world is the veterinarian. He can’t ask his patients what’s the matter. He’s just got to know.’). As a young man in Oklahoma, Rogers became famous for his roping tricks, like twirling three lassos at once’one rope caught the running horse’s neck, the other would hoop around the rider and the third swooped up under the horse to loop all four legs. He starred in numerous films, and in 1922 began writing a syndicated daily column, ‘Will Rogers Says.’ In 1926, he was hired by The New York Times to write weekly columns. His common- sense take on government and current events has stood the test of time. ‘Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do nothing, that don’t hurt anybody. When they do something is when they become dangerous.’ Rogers moved his family to his ranch in Pacific Palisades in 1927. Three years later he began weekly radio addresses. His simple approach to goodness and life won millions of listeners. ‘They may call me a rube and a hick, but I’d rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it.’ In 1934, Rogers was voted the most popular male actor in Hollywood, and he was one of the most beloved Americans when he died in a plane crash in Alaska in 1935. The public is invited to come celebrate this Saturday while remembering Will’s words: ‘When I die, my epitaph, or whatever you call those signs on gravestones, is going to read: ‘I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn’t like.” A complimentary parking shuttle service will run between the Paul Revere Middle School parking lot on Sunset (at Mandeville Canyon) and Will Rogers State Historic Park. There is very limited on-site event parking for $7 at the park. The Web site is www.parks.ca.gov/willrogers Event sponsors include the Will Rogers Cooperative Association, Country 93.9 KZLA, and the Palisadian-Post.
Firefighters
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
A specially designed torch has been traveling throughout the City of Los Angeles since June 14. Carried by men and women representing the LAFD’s 103 fire stations and other fire facilities, the torch honors firefighters who have died protecting homes and businesses. It will arrive in Pacific Palisades on Friday, August 5. The Memorial Torch Relay is designed to raise community awareness of the need to develop a fitting memorial for fallen L.A. firefighters. The torch will travel through every community served by the LAFD en route to lighting the eternal flame at the Firefighter Festival of Hollywood on October 1. The relay will begin in the Palisades at 9 a.m. at Fire Station 69 (corner of Sunset and Carey), and will include a procession of fire apparatus and LAFD Fire Hogs motor escort in addition to the runners. LAFD members are seeking pledge donations for each one-mile segment of the relay course. By making a pledge to a local firefighter who carries the torch, Pacific Palisades residents, businesses and organizations can say a personal ‘thank you’ and pay tribute to these men and women who make our communities a safer place to live and work. All proceeds will be deposited into the LAFD Fallen Firefighters Memorial Fund. The completion of a memorial will provide an appropriate and dignified setting for reflection and remembrance, as well as a fitting site for life-size bronzes. Donations are tax-deductible. A pledge form, available at Fire Station 69, must accompany all pledges. Checks must be made payable to LAFDHS, and mailed to: LAFD Historical Society, 1355 N. Cahuenga Ave., Hollywood, CA 90028. Online donations can be made at www.lafd.org. Contact: (213) 978-3810.
Corn Grows Tall On Lachman Lane
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Corn as a tall as an elephant’s eye? In Pacific Palisades? Ralph Nahigian, who has lived in the Marquez Knolls area for 45 years, will soon be harvesting 55 ears of corn from the 11-foot high stalks on his hillside yard. With all the hot weather lately, Ralph thinks his bumper crop will be ready to pick by this weekend. This is the first year he’s grown corn. This past spring, he went in the nursery and happened to spot Silver Queen corn seedlings. When the salesperson said that corn was easy to grow (‘just plant and water them’), Ralph bought a flat. And indeed, they thrived. ‘It’s saving our marriage and our lives,’ says Norma, his wife of 54 years, laughing. ‘It’s like he spends time watching them grow.’ A row of bell peppers grow in front of Ralph’s two rows of corn. He also grows hot peppers, cucumbers, and red cherry tomatoes in clay pots that line their deck on Lachman Lane. ‘This is a pot farm,’ he jokingly says. The Palisades Farm, as Ralph calls his garden, may have trouble expanding. The household’s one tiny plot of grass in the backyard is jealously guarded by Norma. Undeterred, Ralph plans to expand his corn crop next year’ ‘hopefully on the big plot of grass,’ he says teasingly. ‘Of course, then I’ll have to buy a tractor.’
Josephine K. McAllister, 78
Josephine Keller McAllister, a woman who broke records in real estate sales and was in the Who’s Who of American Women for her accomplishments, died on July 11 in Santa Maria as a result of a stroke. She was 78. Born in Tennessee, McAllister met her husband Howard at the Pentagon during World War II. They spent their early years together in several states as he worked as an engineer for RCA. They moved to Pacific Palisades in 1961, and McAllister went into real estate sales with Huntington Realty, which later became Red Carpet Realty. McAllister and her husband loved Big Band dancing, partying and water skiing. In her later years, she busied herself with various crafts and spent every minute she could with her grandchildren. She was widowed in 1988 when Howard passed away after 38 years of marriage. McAllister eventually moved to Santa Barbara County to spend her last years living with her son and daughter. She is remembered as fun-loving and creative, a wonderful parent and grandparent and a person with a very strong, loving spirit. McAllister is survived by her daughter, Donna Jennings of Santa Maria; son Jon McAllister of Long Island; granddaughters Erica Jensen and Lindsay McAllister; grandson Sean Jennings; and sisters Helen Worley and Bessie Eagle of Tennessee. Funeral services will be held in the chapel of the Los Angeles National Cemetery, a VA cemetery, on Wednesday, August 3 at 2 p.m. with a reception to follow. All are welcome.
Richard P. Beckendorf, 85; Journeyed to Every Continent
Richard Peter Beckendorf, a man who during his lifetime visited all seven continents and over 150 countries, died on July 10 in Pacific Palisades, where he had resided since 1975. He was 85. Born on September 9, 1919 in Manila, Philippines, Beckendorf traveled to the U.S. with his parents, who were Methodist missionaries, in 1931 but was unable to return to the Philippines because of the worldwide Depression. The family lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Beckendorf graduated from Hamline University at the age of 19. Beckendorf settled in Los Angeles in 1941 and married Helene Leckman the next year. He received a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on July 6, 1942 and was sent to Harvard Business School for six months. He then served on the USS Dubuque and at the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station before being becoming a supply officer on the USS Broadwater, an attack troop transport in the South Pacific. After being honorably discharged as a Lieutenant SG in 1948, Beckendorf decided to devote his career to insurance. He joined Liberty Mutual but left shortly afterward to become a partner at a Los Angeles firm. He established his own brokerage in Brentwood in 1966, and never retired. Beckendorf was widowed after 41 years of marriage in 1983. Two years later he married Margaret (Peggy) Smith Wilton. He was fond of saying how lucky he had been to have met, married and loved two beautiful and wonderful women. He gained his love of people and places from growing up in a missionary family, and he encouraged his sons in their extensive travels. A memorial service was held on July 19 at the Bel-Air Bay Club in Pacific Palisades, where Beckendorf was a long-time member. Donations in his memory may be made to the L.A. Times Summer Camp Fund or the American Cancer Society. In addition to his wife Peggy, Beckendorf is survived by his sons, John Peter Beckendorf of Cheviot Hills and Richard Lee Beckendorf of Santa Monica, from his first marriage; three stepsons from his second marriage; 15 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
