A Look Back:

The new senior center in Huntington Central Park seems to be moving ahead smoothly, except that it will not continue to honor the man who spent a good many of his later years fighting for the rights of our senior citizens in Huntington Beach.

I remember Michael E. Rodgers, as he went to the post office in the downtown and at city council meetings, and I got to know this soft-spoken gentleman before he died.

When I was at the senior center at Orange Avenue and 17th Street recently, I asked if the new center would still be called Rodgers Seniors’ Center. I was told no, but they might put a plaque or something at the new location.

This week I thought I would remember this man who was known as “Mr. Senior Citizen.”

It was in the picturesque fishing village of Ballymartin in County Down in Northern Ireland on Aug. 1, 1902, that Michael Rodgers was born.

County Down was the home of the famed Bronte family, from which the young Rodgers absorbed some of this rich heritage.

In 1921 Rodgers received part of his education in England, where he learned wireless (radio) as an electrical engineer for the Marconi Wireless Company.

While in his teens he became a radioman during the Irish Civil War.

While with the Marconi Co. Rodgers was sent around the world as a company troubleshooter, traveling to China, India, Iran, Japan, Shanghai, Russia and what was then called Burma, but is the Union of Myanmar today.

In the late 1920s Rodgers took a six-month leave to return to Northern Ireland.

Returning to work, Michael headed back to the Orient and on the way traveled through Canada and the United States.

In 1929 Rodgers found himself in Hollywood at the same time sound found its way into motion pictures.

With his knowledge of electronics, Rodgers was hired by Paramount Studios where he was offered a job by the head of the sound department. He worked on several of the studio’s early talkies and got to know many of the top movie stars of that time.

It was in the 1930s he met and wed Mary, and this union would last for 60 years and resulted in the birth of their son, James.

It was also at this time that Rodgers became an American citizen.

When America entered World War II, Rodgers went to work on aircraft wing design for Donald Douglas.

About this time Michael and Mary moved to Huntington Beach to live, but he continued to work at Douglas until he retired in 1967.

After the war Rodgers was one of the first Westerners to witness the fighting between the Nationalist and Communist forces in China.

At 65 when most men retired, were taking vacations or were relaxing, Rodgers was just beginning a new career — that of a spokesman for the graying generation.

Rodgers began to appear at City Council meetings, where he championed the rights of our senior residents.

In the late 1960s and mid 1970s, Rodgers became a co-founder of our city’s Council on Aging, helped establish the TLC project and helped start the Huntington Beach chapter of AARP.

If it hadn’t been for the energy Rodgers put in those projects, the current senior outreach, Meals on Wheels and transportation programs may never have become a reality.

In 1982 the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce chose Rodgers as its Outstanding Citizen of the Year.

Our city’s parade committee recognized Rodgers for his efforts to seniors by selecting him as its citizen grand marshal in the 1983 July Fourth parade.

In this parade Sports Grand Marshal Vince Ferragamo of the Rams and Equestrian Grand Marshal newscaster George Putnam joined him.

Rodgers won a city humanitarian award in 1984, and on April 27 of that year the city renamed the senior center on Orange Avenue the Michael E. Rodgers Seniors’ Center.

In 1993 his wife died, but with this great loss in his life, Rodgers continued as a City Hall activist and senior citizen ombudsman.

That great songster in the Singing Goodtimers and newspaper columnist Stan Cohen said Rodgers told him to, “Stop complaining about things that happen in your city, do something about it!”

It was on Nov. 15, 1996 at 94 that Rodgers died.

Betsy Crimi, human services coordinator at Rodgers Center said, “I don’t believe the senior center would be here without him.”

Former Mayor Ruth Finley said, “He was a gentleman, but he fought for seniors. He was a perfect representative for the seniors, and he was always there for them.”

During the services for Rodgers at Smith’s Mortuary on Main Street, a soloist sang “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.”

I think he would have liked that, and I’ll bet he is up there smiling down at how much we are doing for our seniors that would not have been done if it hadn’t been for him.

JERRY PERSON is the city’s historian and longtime Huntington Beach resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box 7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.