LOOKING BACK

Young Chang

Bertren Smith served in almost every capacity he could to make Costa

Mesa better in the 1940s and ‘50s.

He worked as a caddy at the Santa Ana Country Club in his younger

days, volunteered with the Costa Mesa Fire Department, spent time as a

volunteer fire chief, served as Costa Mesa’s first vice mayor and also

helped form the local chapter of the Lion’s Club in its early days.

The Colorado native, who lost his father as a child, lived in Costa

Mesa with his grandparents after his mother moved the rest of the family

to Chicago where other relatives helped them make do.

In his 30s, the city’s first vice mayor helped the Lions Club gain a

strong presence in Costa Mesa.

“This man would give the shirt off his back and then some,” said

former Costa Mesa mayor Bob Wilson. “Part of the things that made Costa

Mesa successful was the kind of people that belonged to the Lion’s Club.

They automatically ran for City Council.”

The Lions Club’s accomplishments during World War II included raising

money through white cane sales, presenting plays and hosting football

games, according to Wilson’s written history of Costa Mesa titled “From

Goat Hill to City of the Arts: The History of Costa Mesa.”

Funds were given to groups that specialized in eye treatments.

The history also quotes Smith, who served as president of the club in

1947 and 1948, as saying, “The highlight of my years with the Lions Club

was the Costa Mesa Fish Fry.”

He mentions the hamburgers, the funds raised, a balloon ascension and

how proceeds from the event increased through the years to become what he

called a “community chest.”

Smith was one of the founders of the Fish Fry, proceeds from which

helped create Lions Park.

Smith joined the City Council in 1952, the year the city was

incorporated. His cohorts at the time included Wilson, Donald Dungan and

Costa Mesa’s first city clerk, Arlie Swartz.

Council members back then were paid $50 every month, according to

Wilson’s history. When asked to run again by Wilson after his second

term, Smith, who died in April of 1999, declined.

“The Lions Club in Costa Mesa and Bert Smith -- they put forth 150% in

whatever they did for years and years,” Wilson said.

* Do you know of a person, place or event that deserves a historical

Look Back? Let us know. Contact Young Chang by fax at (949) 646-4170;

e-mail at [email protected]; or mail her at c/o Daily Pilot, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.