Lost friend from the 50's - by Scott Mann

I was looking for a lost friend from the late 50's. My mother worked at the grocery store at Western and Lomita Blvd. Before Ralph's and before Lucky it was "Jim Dandy". She was a checker and knew a well behaved teenaged box boy. After a stint in the Marines "Steve Lohayza" returned to the store and was eventually promoted to Second Man (assistant manager). As a friend of the family he respected my father as a Naval Reserve Captain. Prior to holding inspections of his helicopter squadron Steve would spit-shine my dad's shoes as he learned in the Marine Corp. Over the years Steve went from baby sitter to the older guy my younger brothers (twins) and I could ask questions about the birds and the bees... and girls. I remember he would take us for rides in his 1954 Chevy. I also remember he would hot-wire his car with tin foil during the times his keys were misplaced. A year or so ago I tried to find Steve through several search engines. One day I tried NarbonneHS. Searching for the school/maiden name of Lohayza I found Carole Cottrell from the class of 1957. I sent her an email explaining who I was and who I was looking for. She remembered Steve talking about my family that lived two blocks away. It turned out that Carole was Steve's twin sister and was happy to give me his phone number. I connected with Steve and tried to catch up over the last 45 years. We talked about getting together with one of my brothers that returned to live in Lomita. Since we talked last year my younger Lomita brother has passed away. I kick myself for not getting together during the past year and thought of how sad it would be if Steve was no longer with us. Since I started writing I have called Steve and we are getting together next Sunday. I remembered his birthday was the day before mine. Last Sunday was my 61st birthday and Saturday was Steve's 71st. I then noticed he and his twin sister graduated 10 years before our class of 1967. I feel somewhat like John-Boy Walton as I reminisce over the first quarter of my life living in Lomita. Good night Mary Ellen.