JERRY PERSON:The life of a local rancher

Back when I was doing research for a column on Lawrence Mollica — our city’s legendary shoe man — I kept coming across the name Lawrence Moiola and wondered if it was a misspelling of Mollica’s name or another resident of our community.

I brought up the name to the late Gordie Higgins and was told that, indeed, this was another gentleman, and that he had lived and ranched out in the 1940s near Fountain Valley.

After going over some research material, I found that Moiola lived at 18262 Bushard and was born in the northern Italian town of Rigoletto around 1911.

Rigoletto was nestled at the foot of the Italian Alps and was a beautiful place to be in the summer and would become a fairyland of nature to this young boy.

When Moiola was still a baby, his father James immigrated to America for a better life for his family.

The first seven years of Moiola’s childhood were spent playing in the deep-cut canyons and green meadows near his home.

His mother enrolled him in kindergarten and grammar school, where he was taught to read and write in his native language.

As seven warm summers and cold winters passed, Moiola awaited word from his father.

By the time he had entered first grade, World War I had spilled over into his beloved Italy.

Like our residents here in Huntington Beach during another world war, Moiola wondered if an enemy would invade his town.

By the time the war ended in Europe, 7-year-old Moiola was free to go out and gather chestnuts during the cool autumn days without fear.

Then one day a letter arrived with money to bring the two to America and a new way of life.

Mother and son booked passage on a French liner sailing for America, and as the shores of Europe faded into the distance, one can only imagine the feelings a boy would have leaving home for a new land.

But Moiola quickly made friends aboard ship, and during the long voyage his new friends offered him gifts of candy and bright golden oranges — things that were scarce at home because of the war.

Arriving in America, the two headed for California and the tiny farming community of Talbert.

Can you imagine seeing your father for the first time?

That must have been a sight as father and son embraced each other for the first time.

His father had purchased some rich Fountain Valley farmland and was raising feed for his dairy herd.

Not long after the family was reunited, a sister Rose was born and later came twin boys, Fred and Rene.

As Lawrence matured, he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a rancher. It was hard work in those days, getting up early in the morning to milk and feed the cows, harvest the hay, repair fences and help mother in the kitchen.

Sports was something that Lawrence particularly enjoyed, and when he entered high school, he played on the school’s baseball and basketball teams and was a member of the track- and-field team.

During these years, Lawrence met Bette Stimson and a romance developed.

It was on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 1932, that the two were wed.

In 1939, they were blessed with the birth of a baby girl, Margaret Sharon, and four years later came a son, James Larry.

During World War II, the family took an active part in the war effort and helped in Red Cross drives and supported many of our patriotic events.

Lawrence’s twin brothers did their part for the war and enlisted in the Navy.

Lawrence joined the Elks lodge here and was a member of the Huntington Beach Lions Club.

The family was very active in their church and its activities, too.

Lawrence’s son James would eventually marry a young woman named Mary and live nearby at 9532 Ellis. Lawrence’s brother Fred went on to marry a young woman named Joan.

One of Lawrence’s happiest childhood memories after coming to America was of riding in a surrey pulled by matching white horses.

Not a bad life for a man who succeeded in being a successful rancher, family man and becoming part of our rich and wonderful history.