A Look Back

Jerry Person

There are two people to whom I shall forever be in debt for the

information they have given me over the years.

Before their passing, the name of Diekoff was as familiar to residents

of Huntington Beach as apple pie. Everett Diekoff was a neighbor of mine

and his brother Lawrence lived not far away. I knew both for quite some

time.

This week we are going to look at two members on the distaff side of

the Diekoff family.Our first Diekoff was the matriarch of the family and

her name was Mabel.

Mabel was born in South Hampton, England on June 23, 1881.

When she was a small child her parents brought her to the shores of

America to live.

While in California Mabel attended a party and out of that maze of

people one would later convince Mabel to marry him, his name was August

Diekoff. August and Mabel were married in Los Angeles. August had come to

California with his school teacher.In 1915 Mabel and her new husband came

to Huntington Beach to live, and they would remain here for the rest of

their lives.

Mabel and August would go on to raise three children; sons Everett and

Lawrence and a daughter Ellen.

“Mother was a saint to all of us,” said her daughter Ellen Trabant.

Mabel and August farmed on land near our central library using

horsepower to pull the farm equipment. If you knew that area in the old

days, then you know that the area sits upon a huge peat bog. For the

horses to pull that equipment their feet had to be wrapped in gunny sacks

to keep from sinking into the ground said Trabant.

When August and Mabel lived on their ranch there was no such thing as

an indoor toilet, just the ol’ outhouse. There also was no running water

or electricity.

But Mabel took all this in stride and made a home for her family. She

was a wonderful seamstress and could sew just about anything.

Mabel and August farmed for several years on a 5-acre plot of land

near Hampshire (Beach Boulevard) and Taylor Street.

Mabel left us on November 13, 1967.Our next Diekoff, Betty, was the

first wife of Everett and she was born in my old neighborhood of

Huntington Park on October 28, 1924.Betty attended Manual Arts High

School in Los Angeles where she completed a course in business

accounting.

With the outbreak of World War II, Betty moved to Huntington Beach to

live in 1942 and in 1943 she worked in the finance department at the old

Santa Ana Army Air Base.In 1944 Betty and Everett were married.

Betty continued working at the air base until it closed in 1946. In

June of that year Betty went to work as a deputy city treasurer for

Huntington Beach. Later she became head of the accounting and records

department along with being the city’s assistant treasurer.

In 1953 Betty became a director on the board of the City Employees’

Credit Union and held that position for many years.

When William Clegg retired as city treasurer in 1962, Betty was

appointed treasurer by the city council.

Betty and Everett separated and Everett married a girl by the name of

Virginia, who now lives in Hawaii, but that is a whole new story.