Honoring the past and living the present

Deepa Bharath

Catherine Eckles was proud of her Irish heritage and her ancestry.

She was the family historian. Catherine stored old records, land

deeds and family photographs in shoe boxes, neatly stacked and

labeled. The boxes took up two closets worth of space in her Costa

Mesa home. Her albums and scrapbooks were bulging with pictures,

letters and obituaries she saved.

But even at 92, Catherine knew where everything was. Someone could

ask her for a yellowing piece of paperwork and she would pull out a

shoebox and locate that piece of paper.

Catherine came to Costa Mesa in 1966 to be close to her daughter’s

family. She and her late husband, Gilbert Eckles, went through a

divorce that year after 31 years of marriage. But their separation

was amicable and they continued to spend time together with their

children and their families.

Catherine moved to Costa Mesa because she believed it was perfect

for her. She could feel the gentle sea breeze, the kind she grew up

with as a young girl in Santa Barbara. She lived close to her son and

daughter. She could go to the grandkids’ soccer games. It was a

community that had a small-town feel to it and a place where she felt

safe living by herself.

She was a person who never let herself get caught in a time warp.

She was hip to the latest trends and enjoyed watching popular

sitcoms. Her favorites were “Friends” and “Frasier.”

Catherine was a news junkie. She read the newspaper from cover to

cover and didn’t stop there. She’d flip channels, from CNN to the

local cable access television channel, to get a variety of news, from

local and national to international.

She could carry on a conversation with anyone. She could talk to

her teenage grandkids about the latest in entertainment news as she

could discuss real estate and the stock market with others.

Catherine loved animals. When she talked to people, she always

asked them how their pets were doing. She never had pets of her own,

but was often seen leaving crackers on her balcony for the birds.

She always had a way of making people feel better. She held hands

with those who went through troubled times and they always felt

rejuvenated when they heard her say: “This, too, shall pass.”

Catherine was blessed with good health, an agile mind and a kind

heart. She drove until she was 90. Her green 1969 Ford Torino with

40,000 miles on the odometer is still parked in her garage. Her

neighbors smiled when they saw Catherine drive that car, still in

mint condition, to do her errands. It was almost like an extension of

herself.

She loved the beach. Catherine didn’t go out to neighboring

Newport Beach, but she always looked back fondly on her days as a

child in Santa Barbara.

She frequently took vacations there with family members. But her

favorite destination was the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego.

Even during her final years when she couldn’t walk up to the

beach, Catherine went to the resort with her family. She picked a

room that had a balcony with an ocean view.

Then, she’d pull up a chair to watch the pounding surf and the

kids frolicking on the beach.