Blaco made Hermosa happen
Susie Blaco was an instrumental Hermosa Beach organizer during her 46 years living in the city. In 2004 she was named the Hermosa Beach Woman of the Year. She passed away Jan. 31, just three days after her 70th birthday.
She met her husband Steve in 1972 at the Poop Deck after she was accidentally drenched during a beer throwing game. Blaco served as Little League president and volunteered tirelessly for the Hermosa Beach schools.
Every Friday, she brought a flower arrangement to the Mermaid for their piano bar.
Blaco is survived by her husband Steve, sons Andy and Brady, sister Joyce Mason and brother-in-law Guy.
Easy Reader writer Yvonne Mason
Longtime Manhattan Beach food writer, poet and painter Yvonne Mason passed away April 9 at her home, surrounded by her family and friends, following a long fight with cancer.
Mason was a teaching member of Poets in the Schools and a past president of Southern California Restaurant Writers Association. She reviewed restaurants for Easy Reader, Random Lengths and the Long Beach Press Telegram. Mason was also an accomplished chef and gardener. She is survived by Richard, her husband of 54 years, sons Christopher and Jonathan and four grandchildren.
Matthies was legendary lifeguard, Surfing Santa
Paul Matthies, a barrel-chested waterman with a wit to match, was a member of the post World War II generation of Los Angeles County lifeguards who shaped what had previously been a largely volunteer organization into the most highly regarded ocean lifesaving organization in the world. In 1956, in Melbourne Australia, the year Melbourne hosted the Summer Olympics, Matthies became the first American to win the International Lifeguard Ironman competition. The run, swim, paddle and dory race had previously only been won by Australians.
He was a nearly unbeatable lifeguard doryman, early in his career with Greg Hoberg and later in his career with his son Dan. He revolutionized dory racing with his invention of the self-bailing dory. He added a sealed, floorboard a few inches above the boat’s bottom and scuppers to allow water that washed into the dory to wash out.
In 1978, Matthies agreed to surf at the Hermosa Beach pier in a red, wool Santa Claus suit for the Easy Reader holiday cover. Every Thursday before Christmas, for the next 25 years, Matthies appeared as Surfing Santa on the Easy Reader cover.
Matthies passed away peacefully at his Hermosa Beach home on June 14, at age 93.
Matthies is survived by Aneta, his wife of 65 years; daughter Dinah Stovall and her husband Ken and their daughter Jessica; son Dan Matthies and his wife Nina and their two sons Marty and Mo and Mo’s wife Meghan. He also has four great grandchildren Isabella, Logan, Aurora and baby Brynn.
Allen was Renaissance man
Retired Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Allen Morrow Jr., of Hermosa Beach passed away suddenly on Sunday, June 22 at his home at age 34. His death is believed to have been related to recent surgery.
After graduating from high school in 1999 he served in the Coast Guard for 13 years. Morrow was a true Renaissance Man. Cooking, surfing, hunting, guns and his cats are a few of the activities that frequently appeared on the “Steve Show.”
Morrow is survived by his wife Lisa. daughter Stevie, step daughter Lori, parents Steve and Donna, bonus-mom Terri Jean, sister Amber (Kevin) and brother Joey, and nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and countless friends.
Grannis was promising grom
Frank Grannis, son of Palos Verdes Surf Club member and pioneer surf photographer Leroy Grannis, passed away July 2 at age 68. In 1963, Grannis, Mike Doyle, Jim Graham and another South Bay paddler won the Makaha International Surf Championships paddleboard relay race. It was the first time the race had been won by a non Hawaiian team. Grannis, who was just 17, also placed third in the junior division of the Makaha surf contest that year.
His promising surf career was cut short in his early 20s when he began to suffer from mental illness. Grannis is survived by his mother Nancy Grannis, siblings John and Alana, niece Kaylee, and David, Liz and Alan Wiig and Kit and Paul Padilla.
Zisette given spirited and spiritual sendoffs
Mason Zisette, a 16-year-old Mira Costa High School tennis player died Saturday, July 9, two days after a freak accident on a doubledecker bus, enroute with friends to a party.
Over 200 surfing friends remembered Zisette with a paddleout. They formed a circle in the ocean just south of the Manhattan Beach pier while an equal number of friends stood with flowers at the water line.
On Sunday, two days after the paddleout, Zisette’s life was celebrated again, with a Funeral Mass at American Martyrs Catholic Church filled the 1,200 seat church.. Joe Dougherty, an usher at the church for over half a century, said the Mass was second in attendance only to that of a Manhattan Beach police officer killed in the line of duty.
Adams helped revive North Redondo
Clark Adams, owner of Clark Adams Windows and Doors in Redondo Beach, died July 26 of a brain aneurysm while in Snowbird, Utah for a family reunion. He was 61.
Adams was the president of the North Redondo Beach Business Association (NRBBA) for eight years and ignited a cultural renaissance among businesses in the then-blighted North Redondo Beach area. Every day for lunch, Adams would try a new restaurant in the neighborhood, which inspired the creation of the annual Dine Around Artesia. Adams enjoyed growing cacti and peppers.
His wife Jill describes him as a “trivia and knowledge buff” who didn’t want to waste time with fiction, so he only read non-fiction. Adams is survived by his parents B.J. and Clark G. Adams Sr.; his wife Jill; his three daughters Ashley, Lindsey, and Hayley.
Eckert rooted in the Tree Section
Manhattan Beach resident Cherie Eckert passed away August 10th, shortly before her 95th birthday. She resided on John Street in Manhattan Beach for sixty-four years. Eckert was remembered for her long strolls through her Tree Section neighborhood, her beautiful flower arrangements and her love for her family. She was preceded in death by her husband, Fred Eckert Jr., a retired teacher at Mira Costa High School and survived by children Mary, Fred III, Jeff, and Tom. She was grandmother to seven and great-grandmother to five.
Sang owned Squashed Penny Flats
Manhattan Beach native Janice (nee Blount) Sang passed away Monday, September 29, two days after being rescued while swimming in the ocean she loved, in front of her family home at 19th Street and The Strand in Hermosa Beach.
In the early 1970s, Sang owned Squashed Penny Flats, a boutique flower shop in Manhattan Beach. Previously, she worked at the Bay Nineties restaurant where she met her future husband Ian “Scotty” Sang. Sang attended Pacific Elementary school, Center Street School, Mira Costa High School and El Camino College.
Sang is survived by her husband Ian, her son Jonathan Dalton Sang and daughter Stephanie Rose Sang, her father Earl Blount, stepmother Jane and brothers Mike and Dick Blount.
Nelson lived to surf, skate
Skyler Nelson, 22, of Redondo Beach was found dead in his bed on October 7 from an apparent seizure. Nelson suffered from epilepsy. The following week, over 100 friends and family members people gathered in his memory at the end of the Hermosa Beach pier, under a sign that reads, “No diving. No Alcohol. No Skateboards. No Bicycles. No Scooters.”
The “No” in front of “Diving” was scratched out and replaced with “Sky.” Last Fourth of July, Nelson did a backflip off the 30-foot high pier.
His mother Stacie Rees urged his many friends to remember her son whenever they surfed and to learn from his example. He was a four-year member of the Redondo Union High surf team. After graduating in 2010 he worked in construction and could be seen skateboarding with his nail gun to work sites throughout the beach cities.
Barnett was committed, talented lifeguard
Los Angeles County Lifeguard Tom Barnett was known as a strong competitor and talented musician who demonstrated his commitment to his first County lifeguarding assignment by having Zuma tattooed across his back. Barnett passed away from cancer on October 15, at age 61.
Barnett was remembered with a flag presentation ceremony and paddleout on November 15, at the Lifeguard Southern Section Headquarters on the Hermosa Beach pier. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby presented Barnett’s wife Ellen with the flag that flew over the Southern Section Hermosa Beach Lifeguard Headquarters, where Barnett was last assigned.
Barnett is survived by his wife Ellen, sons Philip and Nolan, his mother Bea and his brother Steve.
Schneider a Hermosa original
Third generation Hermosan Doug Schneider died November 8 at age 47 in a dirt bike accident in the desert near Barstow. Schneider had ridden to the area with a group of friends on their annual outing. Schneider attended Hermosa Beach schools, Mira Costa High School and UCLA, where he played volleyball.
A paddleout in memory of Schneider was held November 16 at 24th Street in Hermosa.
Friend Jim Lindberg said, “Doug was a great human being. Loved to talk as we all know. He always spoke passionately about any subject. Loved life. Great athlete. Great guy. Another South Bay original.”
Schneider is survived by his wife Christine and son Dylan, parents June and Bill, stepmother Chris, Christine’s parents Myra and Gary, brother Stuart, sisters Jane and Erica, and brothers-in-law Wes and Jeff. He is also survived by his uncle, numerous aunts, nephews and cousins.
Hill managed Weber Surf
Former Weber Surf shop manager Chris Hill died of prostate cancer on November 18 at age 55. At a paddleout in his memory former Weber shaper Wayne Rich recalled Hill as a born leader with an always positive attitude. Bobby Warcola remembered Rich as a friend whose loyalty never wavered. Hill was a professional level surfer and a dominant figure for decades in the San Pedro line-up. He developed his love affair with the ocean during his Catalina Island childhood. Hill is survived by his mother Lenni and brothers Gregory and David.
Schaefer was Kick Ass artist
Artist and legal assistant Barbara Schaefer passed away in early November from breast cancer at age 69. A casting of flowers on the water was held in her memory at 22nd Street in Hermosa. Schaefer was well known in the beach community as the legal assistant to Redondo Beach criminal defense attorney Robert Courtney.
Another side of her life was glass art, which she sold under the name My Kick Ass Glass. Her glass work was frequently featured in luxury lifestyle magazines.
Davis, Powelson embodied the spirit of Redondo
Mary Davis and Chester Powelson, two of the most influential Redondoans throughout the last half of the last century, died within a week of one another.
Davis and Powelson occupied opposite ends of both the political and social spectrum. Davis owned the Portofino Marina in King Harbor for nearly three decades and was a forceful advocate of business interests. Powelson worked in the harbor for three decades as a city laborer and was an outspoken political watchdog.
Davis passed away at her La Quinta home on December 8 from heart failure at the age of 86. She is survived by her nieces, nephews.
Powelson passed away November 29 at his Redondo Beach home at the age of 81. He is survived by his wife of 62 years Anna, children Lorenza Smith and Joseph, Louis, Rene and Angela
Powelson and by nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Four were at Christmas recital
Four adults and a child, all of Torrance, died after being struck on December 17 by a car on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach. They were among 12 pedestrians struck while crossing the highway at Vincent Street, following a Christmas recital at St. James that evening. St. James kindergartener Samuel Gaza, 6, had sung in the recital. He and his mother Martha, 36, a classroom parent, both died after being struck. Mary Anne Wilson, 81, and Saeko Matsumura, 87, were also struck and died. They had attended the recital to see their grandchildren perform.
