Richie

Richie
by Thelly Reahm - Tidbits of Time

1964

When I met Richie, he was working for RCA Service Company as Manager of the San Diego branch. He was six feet tall, 195 pounds and sported a salt and pepper grey crew-cut. I was working for Southland Electronics at the time (see my story Crossing Paths for more detail) as assistant bookkeeper.

He was born to Harry and Eliza Ethel Reahm in Detroit, Michigan, June 30, 1929. They moved to Nebraska and then to California by the time he was five. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley like a true "native" Californian. Glendale, first, for elementary school, then Tarzana for Grammar School and Canoga Park for High School, where he played clarinet in the band. He also went as far as "Life Scout" and "Order of the Arrow" in Boy Scouts.

He graduated mid-term and joined the Navy in 1946. He went through U.S.N.T.C. in San Diego, then was sent to Electronics School at Del Monte Hotel (now a Naval Post Graduate School) in Monterey. He served on the U.S.S. Boxer and cruised the coast of California for the duration of his enlistment.

On the G.I. bill, he entered University of California at Berkeley studying electrical engineering for a period of just over two years. During that time he married Shirley Sims.

He began with RCA Service Company installing television antennas on roofs, to help pay his way through Berkley....just a temporary position! He bought his first V.A. house in San Lorenzo, but was transferred to Honolulu, Hawaii before the house was built, so never moved in. Linda was born in Oakland, but spent most of her first year in Honolulu. There were only three major hotels on Waikiki Beach at that time. Due to Shirley's female health problems in the Islands, he transferred back stateside to the Hollywood Branch on Linda's first birthday.

His next transfer was to Burbank where he rose to Chief Bench Technician. Later he was promoted to Training Administrator at Hollywood Regional Office. This job entailed traveling from branch to branch teaching technicians how to repair RCA TV's He and his family lived in Van Nuys, where Jimmy and Danny were born. He was there several years, then promoted to Branch Manager in San Diego, where he bought a house in Bay Park Village.

His wife stabbed him in the back with a kitchen knife after an evening of bar hopping. This precipitated a divorce shortly after moving to San Digo. His children were 4, 7 and 12 when I met them.

He gained custody of all of his children which was unheard of at that time.

When he proposed to me, I decided that it was probably not wise to give a firm answer until I knew whether his children and mine could get along. So, very unceremoniously, he rented a large house for me in Clairemont, moved all the children (plus Joyce Baird, a niece of mine) and me in for a test run. I quit my job at Southland Electronics, because his youngest child was not in school yet. Richie lived in North Park in a rooming house, but took his evening meals with us, so that the children would not miss him too much. Every night at 10:00 p.m. when the News came on, he went home. We were very concerned that the neighbors would not think he lived there.

This was a year for the U.S. Census. You can imagine their consternation when I started giving information on all these children from various and sundry families. It sounded like I was running a group home or a half-way house. Especially when I got to the part where Dick lived at the Mortuary in North Park, and that if we laundered his sheets we could save a dollar a week!

A year later, we were married at the Reformed Church of America in Clairemont on Sunday, May 15, 1965 with all the kids on the front row and both sets of our parents attending. We had a small reception at the church and later, after our wedding trip and buying a new four bedroom house on Birkdale Drive, we had a housewarming party for our rowdier friends and co-workers. We had very little money at this time, and he devised a drink for the party that he called Richie's Ravaging Rejuvenator. We served it from a five gallon water cooler and it was the hit of the evening. Unbeknownst to our friends, it was cheap Red Mountain Wine and 7-up!

We were there just a year when he was transferred back to Regional Office in Hollywood to be the Training Administrator again. His territory covered all states west of Denver so he traveled a lot.

We sold the Clairemont house and moved to Canoga Park, the girls attending Dick's old Alma Mater. We were just a block from an elementary school for the boys. Bruce by this time had joined the Air Force and was stationed in Florida.

In 1969 Richie underwent the radical amputation of his lower jaw (see The Swinging Sixties....an overview). He also turned 40 that year and had to get bi-focals! It was not a fun time for him, so for his Over The Hill party, I invited a whole bunch of my girlfriends to pamper and pet him for the evening! It was cheaper than hiring a Belly Dancer! It was a patio party and he danced 'til the world looked level and got thoroughly bombed besides.

1972 found us transferred to the Monrovia Branch of RCA, as Richie no longer qualified for the teaching job due to his inability to be a public speaker any more because of the surgeries. On the first day he was at Monrovia Branch, his father died of a massive heart attack. We were now out of the social orbit of RCA or our friends from the Valley and moved geographically to what we considered to be the end of the world. We purchased a mobile home in Charter Oak, hoping that this would only be a temporary thing. Meanwhile, Mrs. Reahm purchased a mobile home in the same park and moved from Vista so that we could look after her, because she had Parkinson's Disease.

Our next transfer was to Orange County Branch in 1973. We purchased a four-plex in Huntington Beach for 10% down, which launched us in the apartment business and eventually into real estate. Meanwhile things were going downhill for Richie at the OC Branch where he had enormous conflict with the Branch Manager. He quit in 1974 after 24 years. He would have had to stay until age 60 to retire. That was when he became interested in buying a business and we purchased a Copy Boy Print Shop. (This is covered in another story.)

We sold the print shop in 1978 and traded some apartments in Anaheim for the twenty units in Tempe, Arizona. We also purchased a condo at The Lakes in Tempe with the full intention of retiring there, however 120 degree weather changed our minds and we decided to retire in Cardiff by the Sea, where we already had a small rental cottage on Summit.

He spent most of 1982 remodeling Summit House and making a wonderful woodworking shop out of the original garage behind the house. His thinking at that time was that he had always wanted to be a woodworker all his life, so now was the time to do it.

He established himself in a small handyman business, doing repairs for property management offices and building entertainment walls for private customers. He enjoyed working at his own pace and traveling back and forth to Arizona to tend to the apartments. His rules for the business were:

1. Don't call before 9:00 a.m.
2. He doesn't work in the mornings.
3. He doesn't do windows or painting.

With all those "don'ts" he has a loyal following of people who think his work is wonderful and who will put up with all his idiosyncrasies.

In 1990 he discovered that he loved working with computers....in front of the screen....not behind as with TV sets....and has collected all kinds of programs to keep him occupied. Due to back problems, the wood shop has been relegated to second love and the computer is his main interest. He does his bookkeeping system, his own income tax work and has a whole conglomeration of games for escape.

For someone who could hardly be budged from Orange County, he is perfectly content at Cardiff by the Sea. He has very little interest in travel. In fact he thinks you have to have shots and a passport to get out of North County.

After twenty eight years of marriage, he's now white haired and full bearded to cover the scars of his jaw surgery. He has a little bit of a paunch where his chest slipped down below his belt. But, of all men I know, he is the only one who is content with life exactly like it is.

All things considered, that's quite an accomplishment!