Paying a picture-perfect tribute

COSTA MESA — It was a suspenseful moment for many people at the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen Saturday evening — even for the staff members.

A renowned local artist had delivered a painting of the kitchen’s founder, the late Merle Hatleberg, and as the picture resided in a cardboard box on the shelf, most of the assembled crowd had never seen it.

Finally, Corona del Mar artist Phil Roberts took his creation out of the box and showed it to Hatleberg’s daughter, Debbee Pezman, in front of several dozen diners and staff members who had gathered for the kitchen’s open house.

The audience couldn’t see the picture, but when Pezman broke into tears and hugged the artist, the room quickly filled with applause.

“This is my mom,” Pezman said, holding up the still-wet oil portrait of her mother that Roberts had finished the day before.

Hatleberg, who founded Someone Cares in 1986, died of congestive heart failure in May at the age of 83. The kitchen canceled its usual summer fundraiser after her passing and held the open house Saturday partly to compensate.

The event largely took the form of a tribute to Hatleberg, as staff members showed a slide montage of her before unveiling the painting. Pezman, granddaughter and Executive Director Shannon Santos and other family members took turns at the microphone sharing their memories of the kitchen’s beloved matriarch.

“Once we got over the shock of Merle’s passing, as a family, we rededicated ourselves to the cause of Someone Cares,” said her son-in-law, Steve Pezman. “Merle embedded in all of her children and many of the people she met and touched throughout her life, with a core value that made this kind of thing come out of it.”

Santos said afterward that the most difficult decision would be where to display the portrait.

“Merle is with us in this room,” she said. “She surrounds us. And the fact that we have a visual representation of her is extremely heartwarming.”

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].