Page 2 - The Friday Flyer • February 13, 2015

A-2 THE FRIDAY FLYER FEBRUARY 13, 2015 A Valentine story: in sickness and in health . . .
FROM PAGE A1
to be built in Los Angeles.
In time, they each took on more and
more responsibility in their careers – Ken dealing with darker side of human- ity and Dorothy oftentimes caring for the rich and famous.
One of Ken’s first assignments was watching inmates at the Hall of Justice in downtown LA. One of the more infa- mous residents was the Japanese-Amer- ican traitor, Tamoya Kawakita, “The Meatball,” known for his brutality at the POW camps in Japan during WWII. An- other was Barbara Graham, whom the media called “Bloody Babs” for her vi- cious murder of a Burbank woman. The movie, “I Want to Live,” was based on her story.
Working at Good Samaritan Hospital, Dorothy also met famous people, in- cluding actor Robert Mitchum (his wife was a patient), actor Humphrey Bogart, comedian William Bendix and exotic fan dancer Lilly St. Cyr, among others.
Both Ken and Dorothy remem- ber where they were when Presiden- tial hopeful Bobby Kennedy was shot. Dorothy was on duty when Kennedy was brought into her hospital; Ken and other officers were guarding a polling place. Kennedy had just been declared the winner when everyone heard on the radio the live broadcast of gunshots and the announcer’s stunned description of the shooting.
Ken himself had a moment of infamy when well-known broadcast journal- ist Clete Roberts brought his camera to an eviction of homes in the Chavez Ravine, ordered by the City of Los An- geles in preparation for building Dodger Stadium. Ken was in charge of the evic-
tion, and in a famous photograph, was pictured with three other officers “bru- tally” carrying a screaming and kicking evictee down an outdoor staircase.
Of course, there was no brutality, ac- cording to Ken, who says the
woman was a good actor
putting on a show for
the benefit of Clete Roberts, who was walking along- side the stair-
case with his camera. Amazingly, many years later, Ken’s good friend and fellow Canyon
Laker Ron Martel called Ken
from a car museum to
tell him he
was looking
at that very scene painted onthesideofa Chevy van.
Ken’s career was
long and interesting and
he eventually rose to the
position of chief before retiring
in January 1988. Dorothy also moved up in the ranks, eventually becoming the head of nursing at Downey Regional Medical Center where she taught LVN and Clinical Nursing. She worked full time most of her career but still strived to be thoughtful of her husband’s needs. “I tried to make sure that he had a glass
of wine and time to unwind each day when he got home from work,” she says. She doesn’t recall any real challenges in their marriage, crediting her content- ment to Ken being “such a wonderful
man.”
The couple learned
about Canyon Lake in the 1970s, when Ken was captain at the Lakewood Sta- tion and had a sergeant who owned prop- erty here. Ken and Dorothy and Ken’s sister and brother-in- law bought lots here at the same time in the late ‘70s: the Cables on Seahorse Circle and the in-laws on Pin Tail. Later the couples trad- ed properties and Dorothy drew the floor plan for her dream home on Pin Tail, over-
looking the Main Lake.
From her drawing, local architect Billy Maxwell designed their house and a local contractor built it. Ken and Doro- thy moved in in 1982 with their young- est son Jeff and their dog Poppy. They continued to commute to their jobs for several years before retiring on the same day, going back to work, and retiring
again a few years later.
Finally here full time, they got more
serious about their hobbies: Ken with his writing and Dorothy with her art. In their new community, they became staunch supporters of the Travel Club, the Fine Arts Guild, the Woman’s Club and the Chamber of Commerce.
All the time they continued to travel the blue highways of the world – the roads less traveled – as often as possible. Until one day last May they hit the bump in the road that changed the course of their lives, sending them on a detour that doesn’t promise to end well.
During their annual trip to Hawaii, Dorothy decided to visit the doctor with complaints of tiredness and a stom- ach ache that wouldn’t go away. Tests showed she had leukemia. She received a pint of blood and a pint of platelets and was told to see her own doctor as soon as she got back to the mainland.
Thinking “chronic leukemia” would be controllable, Ken and Dorothy were concerned but not alarmed. It wasn’t un- til they saw her doctor here at Kaiser that the bottom dropped out of their world. After more testing, the doctor told them Dorothy had acute myeloid leukemia and gave her six weeks to three or four months to live.
“We were in shock – it was mind- numbing,” says Ken. Especially trou- bling was the cavalier way in which the doctor announced the prognosis. He was rambling on until Dorothy stopped him in his tracks and boldly challenged the amount of time he had given her to live.
His response? “Prove me wrong.” And of course, she did. She is still here, almost a year later, and considered to be
CONTINUED PAGE A3
CANYON &MORE
NEXT TO
SPORTS STOP
FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED CANYONMATTRESS.COM
244-330031592RAILROADCANYONRD. CANYONLAKE92587
NEW QUILTED 8” MEMORY FOAM MATTRESS NO TAX
NEW FROM THE SERTA FACTORY-DALTON EURO TOP WITH LAYER OF COOLING GEL
NEW
UNITY EXTRA FIRM MATTRESS WITH INDIVIDUALLY POCKETED
COILS, FOAM
ENCASEMENT, & MORE!
FULL MATT $249
QUEEN $299 KING $399
NEW
FREEDELIVERY & 12MONTHS
NOINTEREST
O.A.C
SERTA PERFECT SLEEPER
SUPER PILLOW TOP QUEEN MATTRESS CLEARANCE!
SAVE UP TO $300 WITH A FREE
FOUNDATION ON
ANY ICOMFORT
OR ISERIES SET
FREE FOUNDATION VALID 2/4/15-3/2/15 NO SALES TAX NOT VALID ON ISERIES/ICOMFORT
PHOTOS BY SHARON RICE
$360 queen matt
$350 queen matt
$189 twin matt