Some Familiar Subjects Revisited

Responses to this column generally fall in three categories: slings and arrows, occasional niceties and what-ever-happened-to inquiries. Here’s a look back to tell you what happened to some of the people once mentioned here:

Hur Big Day: One of the most dramatic interviews I’ve ever conducted was with Beverly Hur, once a 12-year-old alcoholic and drug addict who later turned to nude dancing to earn money to feed her habits. Hur barely escaped death from a drug overdose after years of addiction. Turning her life around was a process that took years.

When I wrote about Hur last October, she had completed two years on the debate team at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa--including a term as team president. She left the debate team to concentrate on her studies. Her goal, she said, was to be admitted to USC.

Well, she’s USC bound, accepted for next fall. But she’s got one more big step to take first: Hur, 33, has been asked to be one of two commencement speakers at Orange Coast College’s graduation exercises May 30.

During our previous interview, Hur greatly feared she’d say something to offend her parents. They are close now, but she’d had a rough childhood. After the column ran, I received a poignant letter from her mother, Edie Hur, who said those early years had been rough on all of them.

I asked Edie Hur the other day what she thought of her daughter, the commencement speaker. “I’m dancing off the clouds,” she said. Hur’s parents are throwing a huge reception for her after the ceremonies at their Garden Grove home. I wouldn’t miss it for anything.

A Church’s Church: Sometimes things don’t always turn out as promised in a column.

In April 1996, I had enjoyed a wonderful Sunday service at the Main Place Christian Fellowship--known as the Country Music Church--whose congregation comes from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. It was located in an industrial warehouse in Santa Ana.

The congregation was used to strange settings for their services. The 8-year-old church got its name because it used to hold services by leasing theater space at the Mainplace Mall in Santa Ana. It once met at an Elks Club, and later a Days Inn. I wrote at the time I attended services that Main Place Christian Fellowship was moving to its most glorious facility yet--an old auto dealership.

Those plans went awry. But about two months ago, Main Place did finally move into what it hopes is a permanent home. And it’s one that none of its members ever expected--a real church building, in the 13800 block of Red Hill Avenue in Tustin.

On Sunday at 6 p.m., the church is hosting a free public concert by the African Children’s Choir, made up of orphans and others from poor families in Africa. The choir is now on a tour of the U.S.

I asked Main Place’s pastor, the Rev. Rich Mathismud, if the move to a new facility had caused any drop in attendance. He laughed. “We’ve moved nine times in eight years,” he said. “Our people are used to new places.”

Wet-Eyed Media? Just over a year ago, Astrid Harvey’s 4-year-old son, Christian, was killed while walking along a train track in Lake Forest in the company of a baby-sitter. When I interviewed Harvey last month, the Foothill Ranch hairdresser was about to speak at a news conference put on by the commuter rail service Metrolink. It was promoting a new series of TV rail safety spots, graphic depictions that simulate actual deaths that occurred when people acted recklessly around moving trains.

Harvey explained to me that she was extremely nervous at how she’d do, telling her own story. She must have done pretty well. This week, Harvey also appeared at Union Station in Washington with some pretty heady company--U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater and Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. They were on hand to help publicize those same train safety spots, which will be shown nationally this summer by the American Railroad Assn.

Spokesman Ron DeFore told me later: “You don’t often see tears at a press conference like this. But there were sure a lot of wet eyes all around after Astrid Harvey talked about her son.”

Grease & Greasepaint: For just plain column-research fun, nothing could top the night I spent in January watching actors from the Anaheim Therapeutic Center put on “Oliver” at Western High School in Anaheim. This ambitious troupe of developmentally disabled actors had hardly hung up their London rags before they began preparing for their next musical, “Grease,” which played at Western this week.

Teri Mountford, the center’s executive director, said the same three volunteer directors were back. “They showed everyone the movie ‘Grease’ the first night of rehearsal. They all listened to a lot of early rock music to get ready for this one.”

Wrap-Up: On Friday I had the pleasure of meeting with the Friends of the Huntington Beach Library, one of those groups of unsung heroes who raise money to keep our libraries going. Virginia Whipple, one of its members, taught me a good lesson about the column business.

Recently she had attended a Polish Constitution Day celebration at Arden, the restored, five-gabled home in Modjeska Canyon (once Santiago Canyon) that was built by the great turn-of-the-century Polish actress, Helena Modjeska. As Whipple talked about how marvelous the occasion was, I almost groaned aloud.

I had been invited to the Arden event but couldn’t attend because of another commitment. I don’t even remember now what it was. I’ve written here before that, to me, Arden is the most majestic home and grounds in all of Orange County. If you like local history but haven’t been there, you’ve got a rich treat ahead of you. Whipple’s description of that day’s events at Arden taught me a good lesson: Don’t let the daily grind keep you from doing things you really want to do.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by call-ing the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail [email protected]