Cliff

Clifford Leroy Hewitt was born on July 21, 1880 in Stockton, California to his parents Fred L. Hewitt and Addie L. Worth Hewitt. The Hewitts at that time were quite prominent and active in the business world as they weren't afraid to take the initiative and try out new ideas. Clifford's parents owned and operated Hewitt's Bazaar, "the first dime store in California."

As a young man Clifford worked in his parents' store. When he was about twenty-nine years old, he met and "flipped over" a young girl who worked in a tea and coffee shop that was located next to Hewitt's Bazaar. * Leslie May McFarland was born on November 6, 1892 in Linden, California to her parents Mary Agnes Stephens McFarland and Samuel McFarland. The McFarland family was large (there were eight children), and of average income and standard of living. Leslie's mother was very old-fashioned and strict which resulted in a somewhat naive Leslie May. When Clifford asked her to marry him, she said, "yes," even though she was interested in another boy named Maxwell. She thought she had to marry the first person that asked her. *

*Clifford at twenty-nine had already married, had a son, and divorced. His son is Dexter Hewitt Mast, born July 5, 1906. *To further illustrate Leslie May's innocence, daughter June tells a story when "Her [Leslie May's] mother told her she would have to share a bed with him [Clifford] and Mom said 'oh sure' thinking it would be like sleeping in the same bed with a brother. Must have been a shock!" Clifford and Leslie May were married in Stockton in the spring of 1910.

GROWING UP

Clifford and Leslie's first child was Clifford Maxwell Hewitt, born in Stockton, California on January 13, 1911. When Cliff was one year old, they moved to French Camp, a community located just outside of Stockton. They lived there for several years. Cliff remembers swimming in the irrigation ditches (of which his mother did not know), playing in the vineyards and living in an "old, old house." Cliff's best friend was their horse Prince who was the transportation to Stockton for shopping. Prince was enjoyed most as a tent, for when it rained Cliff would crouch under the horse and neither of them would move for the duration of the storm. When Cliff was about three and a half years old, the family (which now consisted of two additional children -- Maurice Frederick born March 27, 1913, and Stella May, born March 16, 1915), moved to East Oakland where father Clifford, a carpenter now by trade, built a house on 98th Avenue.

In this house Cliff remembers his parents reading the newspaper aloud about the advances of World War I, and how it scared all the kids. The eruption of Mount Lassen on May 19, 1915 also scared young Cliff. "I didn't know it was far away." Cliff's years growing up was marked by the persistent theme of poverty. This was due greatly to the overall situation of the United States at that time, but also to personal inconsistencies, which will be discussed subsequently. Due to poor economic conditions, the family had to give up the big house on 98th Avenue. They moved elsewhere in Elmhurst, where they would stay until 1922. The house was located on Almond Street and was very close to the electric railroad tracks that ran through town. * Cliff now had to walk three miles to and from Elmhurst Elementary School.

Two more children were born into the Hewitt family in Elmhurst. They are James Robert, born August 21, 1918 and Harry Leslie, born June 1, 1920. Again, things were very bad economically with the Hewitt family. There were always money worries to the point that at times there was not enough to eat. "I can remember being very hungry." Meals generally consisted of mustard greens and cornmeal. Sometimes, if they could afford it, there would be pork rinds.

There were a couple of reasons for the continued poverty. First, times in general were very hard in the World War I years and immediately after. As Fred points out, "The really bad depression was after the end of the first World War when they turned loose millions of soldiers, and at the same time the factories making war materials closed throwing millions of others out of work with no relief agencies to even feed them. The so-called Great Depression in 1929 was greatly eased by relief organizations."

*Brother Fred remembers, "One Halloween evening we heard a loud crash and ran out to see what it was. It seems someone had put a wooden bench on the tracks. The motorman was not amused. Cliff will still grin if you ask him about it.

The second reason for the bad situation in the Hewitt family in particular was that father Clifford was a "poor provider." Reasons for this are confusing, especially to Cliff, who found his father to be very intelligent and could in no way be called lazy. However, Clifford did not seem to be able to apply himself to one thing and stick to it. "He had no faith in his abilities and couldn't push himself." But he was able to have faith in others. For example, June remembers her dad as having great interest in her talents as an acrobat. He and Cliff would spend hours with June developing her talent. Of this June says now, "I believe if he had put the same energy into his own talents this evaluation [that he was a poor provider] would be different." But while in retrospect the situation seems very grim, the Hewitt children weren't really aware a lot of the time what the situation was. "Of course we were very poor but we didn't seem to mind." As kids, they had as much fun as anyone did. They played "as kids do today," pretending they were cowboy heroes or flyers. Fred remembers the times when he and Cliff would "snitch a couple of potatoes, some butter and salt and we would wrap them in foil* and go across the street to a large vacant lot and build a fire. When the coals glowed we would put the potatoes in and let them bake, then sit back and enjoy (really living).

*Cliff noted as he read the above that in "those days" there was no foil. He also noted that the fire was built "out of cow dung."

Between the years of eight and ten, Cliff was contented to go off by himself and make his own day. He had a German rifle that his Uncle Jim McFarland had given him from the battlefields of France, and he could content himself for hours in the open fields and hills by his house.

Vacations were rare in the Hewitt family, the closest thing being the once or twice yearly trips to San Francisco to visit Golden Gate Park. Being the oldest, Cliff was usually the only child to go, and they were the highlight of Cliff's early childhood. This was before the Hewitts had bought their first car, so the trip was an all day affair, even though they lived in Oakland. Up at four a.m., Cliff, his father and his mother would catch an electric train, then ride the ferry across the bay, getting to San Francisco with enough time to eat lunch, visit the park and turn around to begin the long journey home.

In 1921 Clifford was able to afford the family's first car--a "brand new" model T Ford Sedan. Cliff was only ten at the time, but he learned to drive it better than his father. In later years Cliff would be responsible for driving the family (and specifically June) all around California, which would generate income for the family.

In 1922 Clifford's job ended and the family had bad times again. He traded his last assets for a down payment on five acres of bare land at Tule Vista in the "Valley of the Moon” in Sonoma County, California. Cliff was eleven years old.

These times were probably the worst economically yet. Father Cliff built "a shell of a house," and the family moved in to a home with no wall coverings, plumbing or electricity. At this time Cliff, at age eleven, got his first job in order to help the family as his father was ill most of the time. He went with his father to San Mateo for a few months to find work. They got jobs in woodworking. Fred remembers those times. "While they were gone, I spent hours every day digging into the pile of dried bean plants looking for even a small handful of beans for food. Our dog starved to death. Soon there were no more beans or anything else. Mom talked to us, she said 'kids we will not steal or beg, there seems to be no place in this life for us so we must leave it and hope for better next time.' We sat there together and went to sleep."

That could have been the end of the story except for "dear Mrs. Robinson," their next door neighbor who saw what was happening, made them promise to share with her family until things got better. It wasn't long after when Cliff and his father returned home with a bag of groceries and things began to get better.

This was the time when the other children began helping out financially as well. June began dancing at "one night stands." These were talent contests that were held at various theaters around northern California. June often took first prize, which was usually a couple of bags of groceries. * Later, in her teenage years, June was to become "the world’s foremost acrobat" and would contribute greatly to the family in that way. The other boys sold newspapers. Anybody in the family that earned any money was expected to put it in the "family pot."

Note: Stella was billed as "June Worth" at the RKO Golden Gate Later she changed her stage name to June Mann.

The school in Tule Vista had one room, which accommodated eight grade levels. There were fifteen students at the school, mostly Hewitts. Miss Tunan taught all eight grades. She was "a very young but a very good teacher." They learned the basic subjects such as English, History and Math. They were also taught basic hygiene (keeping nails clean, etc.), as well as the bad effects of tobacco on the lungs and things like that. "...In some ways I feel I had a better foundation in education than the children of today," says June.

Cliff was not a good student. He got mostly "C's" and "D's" in school--at least until he met a young girl whom he wanted to go out with. She was graduating into high school and told him he wouldn't be able to go out with her until he did the same. Cliff immediately went to a surprised Miss Tunan and asked if he could graduate a year early from grade school into

*other merchandise was often given as prizes besides groceries. June remembers, "One time in particular I won first prize so I had a choice of anything I wanted. Well, there was a whole ham and a scooter. As a child of ten or eleven, I wanted that scooter and Mom wanted me to choose the ham. Well I picked the scooter and to this day I feel guilty about it.

High school. She told him that it was a lot of work and she didn't know if he could do it. He asked if he could try. Cliff spent the rest of the term working very hard. He passed both his written and oral exams almost without incident. *

Cliff then tried to enroll in Sonoma High School, but there was no room left. He spent his time in the wood shop class, but didn't learn much as he knew more than the teacher due to his father's training! Soon after that the family moved to Bay Shore in South San Francisco. There were now six children total, Sam M. Hewitt being born August 23, 1924. They are in order Cliff, Fred, June, Jim, Harry and Sam.

Cliff tried again to go to high school in San Francisco, but because of his age and size (he was very tall), he "wasn't paid attention to." So at fourteen years old Cliff quit school and began to work full-time to support the family.

*For the life of him Cliff could not remember the date of the Declaration of Independence--a question he had to get. Another boy, an Italian, was also taking his orals. After several minutes of silence from Cliff, Miss Tunan told the boys to go out and sit on the porch for a break. As Miss Tunan was probably aware, the Italian boy told Cliff the answer. "You damma fool! Can't you remember anything?! It was 1776!"

ADOLESCENCE

Cliff's first "real" job was at Eureka Sash and Door. The year was 1925, and he made $3.50 a day, "man's wages." Eureka Sash and Door was a large company that employed approximately 800 people. Cliff lied about his age in order to get the job, and said he was eighteen instead of the real fourteen. He worked there for about one and a half years. All the money that he made was put into the "family pot." The other children helped as well when they could, but at most they worked part-time so that they could go to school. For Cliff it was full-time. "Cliff was the breadwinner many times and we all felt good about him," says Fred now.

Due to "boredom," Cliff began goofing off and eventually got fired. Cliff and his dad then left the family, and went to San Mateo to find more work. Both got hired at the Wisnom Mill and Lumber Company there. They moved into an abandoned "one room shack" in the mud flats at San Francisco Bay. There was no floor (just dirt), and no "modern" facilities--not even anything to cook on. They lived there for six or eight months until they were "run out."

Cliff didn't see his family during this time. He and his father sent most of their salary home to them, and supported them in that way. After a few more months, however, Cliff found himself fired again (his father had gotten in an argument with the boss and he fired "the both of them"). They joined the family in South San Francisco, and Cliff got his old job back at Eureka Sash and Door. He worked there for another year.

At this time (1925), Cliff's sister June began to get more attention as an acrobatic dancer, and her career began to take off. It became Cliff's job to drive her all around the state so she could continue winning groceries at "one night stands." Soon thereafter, she began to dance with Pearl Hickman's Kiddies. She was just ten years old.

This exposure paid off, and June was offered a part in a movie that was to be filmed in Hollywood! It was then Cliff's responsibility to drive June, his mother, Sam (who was just a "babe in arms"), and himself from San Francisco to Hollywood. It was "one of the greatest adventures I ever had," says Cliff now. "We started out in a pouring down rain, in a 1920 Essex four cylinder two door Sedan. It took twenty-four hours."

The foursome finally arrived in Hollywood at about two or three in the morning. As they had no money, they pulled alongside the road and slept until the sun came up. Soon they were settled in a basement apartment on Sunset Boulevard.* Rent was $3.50 a month.

The movie took several months to shoot. Cliff got a job selling magazine subscriptions for the Buttrick Publishing Company Delineator. Subscriptions sold for $2.00 each and included a free dressmaking book. Cliff was able to sell three to four subscriptions a day and make a little money at it.

*That basement apartment today is the location of the Department of Water and Power of Los Angeles.

It was also his first sales job and he learned quite a bit about the art of selling which would help him in his later careers. He was just sixteen years old.

Then he began working for a cabinet shop for 15 cents an hour as a shaper and sticker operator. Before long he became the foreman of the shop. At seventeen years old he was in charge of over twenty employees and making "two bits an hour." He worked sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. Most of his salary was contributed to the family.

In 1929 Cliff was fired from his job at the cabinet shop. "It seemed I was always getting fired for being independent." He moved to Napa, California (on his own), and got a job as a male attendant at the Napa State Hospital. It housed over 3000 mentally ill patients. "I learned a lot about human nature," Cliff says. This job paid pretty well--$45.00 a month plus room and board (pretty good, that is, for 1929, the eve of the Great Depression). Cliff worked at the hospital three years before he met Esther, his wife to be, through a "mutual friend."

A BIT ABOUT ESTHER

Esther May Standard was born on January 3, 1911 in Napa, California to her parents Essie Maude Chiltson and Robert Henry Standard. She was the fourth of six children: four boys and two girls.

Esther grew up in Napa. The family was "very poor," and Esther remembers her childhood years as ones in which she "didn't get to do anything." Her favorite memories are of the times when her father took her on trips to San Francisco to see her grandparents.

Esther got along well with her father, but had a more difficult time with her mother, as she was very old-fashioned and strict. She didn't believe in movies, dances or boyfriends. She was extremely religious, and required all the children to go to Sunday School four times on Sunday as well as two additional times during the week. This forcing caused a lot of frustration and discontent for Esther.

When Esther was about seventeen years old, she left her family in Napa and moved to Oakland where she lived for a little over two years. There she finished grammar school, one year of junior high, and one year of high school. At nineteen she quit high school to join the Salvation Army.

Esther was interested in working in homes for pregnant girls. Instead she was sent to Montana and Idaho to sell The War Cry publication of the Salvation Army. As a California girl, she was not used to the harsh climate of the Mid West. "I nearly froze to death," recalls Esther.

After one and a half years, Esther became quite unhappy with her job. She felt as if she were "begging" when she had to sell the magazine. So at twenty, Esther returned home to Napa.

There she spent her time baby sitting and doing housework for people who were elderly or injured. About two years later, at age twenty-two, Esther met Cliff through a mutual friend. It was not love at first sight. "I didn't particularly care for him," she says, and Cliff felt the same way. Nevertheless they began to see each other frequently over the next few weeks. First they went to a dance, then a movie. Then Cliff began having Sunday supper with Esther's family. (This was quite an accomplishment, as Esther's parents didn't believe in dating. One reason Cliff may have "passed" was that Esther's father had worked at the Napa State Hospital, and Cliff had been working there for several years, so they had something in common.)

Cliff remembers feeling that in Esther he saw someone with whom he could relate to. "She was more on my level, something I could understand." So, Esther's desire to "get away from home," coupled with Cliff's feelings of loneliness and wanting to be close to someone, resulted in their marriage on April 23, 1933. It was less than one month after they had met for the first time.

"STARVING TO DEATH"

Cliff and Esther continued to live in Napa the first years of their marriage. These were "rough days," for Cliff only made $45.00 per month at the Napa State Hospital. "A friend took pity" on the newlyweds, and gave them the use of a chicken coop to fix up and live in. The owner furnished the lumber and Cliff spent his evenings after work making their first home. When complete, it had a bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom. It was very small and there was no heated water.

During this first year, Esther tried to find odd jobs such as picking fruit, but times were hard, and Esther ended up staying home most of the time.

In 1934 Cliff and Esther decided to move to Los Angeles. Cliff fixed up his 1924 Buick with a flatbed, piled it high with their belongings, and left for Southern California. When they arrived, they had just $7.00 in their pockets.

By this time, Cliff's parents and the rest of the family were living on Sunset Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles. Cliff and Esther moved into their three-bedroom home.

Cliff's father suggested he take his $7.00, go to the wholesale fruit and vegetable stand, buy some lugs at ten to fifteen cents apiece, and go out and peddle them. That he did. He began selling carrots and potatoes and cucumbers and anything else you can think of. What? He needed a license to do that? Never matter. Cliff just took the advice of a fellow peddler; sell on one block, then beat it to another neighborhood before a policeman could catch up to you.

But after awhile, selling door to door did not satisfy Cliff financially. As a natural entrepreneur, he decided to get some restaurant customers and sell his wholesale vegetables to them for a larger profit. "They were tickled to death with the service." It is in this way that Cliff made money in order to help his family and while Esther was pregnant. Their first son, Clifford Maxwell Hewitt, Jr. (hereafter "Sonny") was born on February 14, 1935 at his grandparent's house on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.

Cliff, Esther and Sonny moved to Glendale when he got his old job back at the cabinet mill for 25 cents an hour. * Their new home was a one-bedroom apartment on Duran Avenue in Glendale. They lived there a little over a year. Their second son, Robert Leroy Hewitt, was born on May 30, 1936.

Cliff got fired from his job at the mill when he joined the Millman's Local Union as a Charter Member. He was fired at 10:00 a.m., and by 2:00 p.m. the foursome was on their way to San Francisco.

In this big union town, Cliff easily found employment at $1.00 per hour as a sticker and shaper operator. But still, the effects of the Depression were still being felt, and consequently factories could get away with just hiring employees until the work they had was done, then laying everybody off when business was slow. But Cliff was not to be taken advantage of. He established himself with three

*This is the same cabinet mill that Cliff worked at as a foreman when he was seventeen years old.

Different factories. If one decided to lay him off, all he had to do was show up at one of the other places and they would usually have work for him to do. Cliff worked this way for two or three years.

Cliff and Esther and the boys "got along o.k." as a family. They were able to move into a "flat" that had "modern facilities," and lived comfortably for those years. Cliff was unable to spend very much time with his two small boys since he had to work so much. Esther did not work; she always felt that a mother's place is at home with her children. The family was able to enjoy some mini vacations together. They all loved the water, so they often drove to Santa Cruz to be by the ocean.

In 1938, Cliff got the idea to use the vacant "store" that was the downstairs part of his flat as a workshop. He decided that he could manufacture toys, novelties and giftware out of wood and sell them. He had no tools at that point, so he had to buy all the equipment that he needed for woodworking, on time. Soon he was pouring out cocktail trays, album covers, napkin holders, bookends and "return ball paddles" like they "were going out of style." Cliff would then pile them into the car and go out and peddle them. "We made a living."* Soon, however, things began to get worse, so they had to give up

*Some times were better than others. One good time was when Cliff got an order for 1500 gross of "return ball paddles." That was "quite a little bit" for a one-man operation. Cliff hired help, and they worked three shifts around the clock, finishing the order "in the nick of time." They had to sneak into the warehouse in San Francisco. It was raining and everything was sopping wet, but they made it, and Cliff made about $3,000.00 on the order--a lot of money for the time.

Their home on Mission Street and move to 38th Avenue in Oakland.

Cliff tried to open a gift store there that would be similar to the business he had operated out of the Mission Street shop. He went in with a partner, who turned out to be "a total loss" and could only manage to output "pure junk merchandise." After a year of frustration with this man, Cliff left the "business" and found a job with Robert Barkell and Company as a road representative.

For a year Cliff traveled from Fresno to Oregon checking on various gift stores served by Robert Barkell and Company that were spotted throughout the west coast. Again, the family was "neglected" by Cliff, as he was always on the road. Soon Cliff realized that there was no real money to be made at this job, so he moved his family to Los Angeles. There he joined his younger brother Harry who was working in a cabinet mill in Alhambra. They made good merchandise and Cliff was happy to stay for awhile.

Then the war broke out.

VALLEJO

Soon after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Cliff took a defense job at the Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California. He became a "third-class ship fitter" in the machine shop and worked there throughout the war. He worked the swing shift, which had the effect of distancing him from his family once again, as he slept during the day. They lived at Federal Terrace, a war housing community in 1942.

It was at the shipyard that Cliff became interested in boats. He met and befriended an old Indian named Mays. Mays took a liking to Cliff and offered to sell him his boat harbor that was located on the mouth of the Napa River. Of course there was no way that Cliff could afford it, but the "old guy" made the terms so easy that he was able to buy it "on time" using the income he would generate to pay it off. Thus in 1944 Clifford Hewitt became the owner/operator of the Vallejo Boat Center.

It was a complete mess and needed massive renovation. Everything was run down. Cliff continued to work at Mare Island, doing "double duty at the at the boat harbor. He and Esther and the boys worked night and day cleaning up the place so that they could do business.

After about four months of constant work, the family decided to take a night off and go out to dinner with friends in Napa. When they returned to the harbor late that evening, they noticed that there were no lights on the wharf. Cliff sent his family to their houseboat and went down to investigate. "I almost stepped off into the water," Cliff recalls. The whole wharf was burnt to the water, and there was no insurance. Cliff was devastated, for his whole life savings had just burned up. That fire caused over one million dollars worth of damage.

After two to three weeks of stunned inactivity (a "nervous breakdown"), Cliff made arrangements with a bank for a loan and undertook to rebuild the harbor. He and his brother Harry hand built the entire wharf. It took a year before the harbor could operate normally. However, the effect of that fire was far more devastating than just the loss of one year of business. Cliff was to be plagued with debts from the loan throughout his ownership. But for nine years the Hewitt family ran a successful and profitable Vallejo Boat Center almost single-handedly. They lived in a two bedroom houseboat located against the bank of the shoreline on the mud flats. It was on jacks (or pilings), for it could not "stand" to float. At high tides, the water would seep up around the boat and their home would "snap and pop and crack. The houseboat had a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. In the early years there was no central heating-- only a kerosene stove--so Sonny and Bob had to dress in the front room when they got up to go to school. It was too cold in the rest of the house.

A typical day at the harbor was "work, work, work," and it was a family affair. They did all kinds of boat work; they painted and rehabilitated and did complete boat overhauls including engine repair and propellers. It was Sonny and Bob's job (at eight and seven years old) to haul the boats out of the water by a wooken ways and scrape the bottom clean of various sea growths that would accumulate there (barnacles). When Sonny and Bob got a little older, it became their job to see that the rowboats were rented. While they weren't paid a salary, they did get tips and were able to keep that money to spend as they pleased. It was Esther's job to operate the harbor coffee shop and the "Ship's Galley," a small tackle shop. She worked as bookkeeper, salesgirl, cook waitress you name it, and she did it. "Mom made the most delicious hamburgers," remembers Sonny, and that was the general opinion of everyone who ever ate one. Cliff's brother Harry worked at the harbor from 1946-48.

The Hewitt family lived and worked at the harbor in this way for over nine years. One day, Ray Bruce, a customer of Cliff's, invited him out to lunch. He belonged to the Vallejo Exchange Club, and that was where he took Cliff to lunch. "I was embarrassed to tears". Cliff felt like he didn't belong in a room filled with doctors and lawyers and "all kinds of professional people.'' He felt completely ill at ease. The next time Ray invited Cliff to lunch he introduced him as the newest member of the Exchange Club. Before long Cliff was elected as Treasurer, then Vice-President, and finally President of the Vallejo Exchange Club. He was also District Governor one year, State Convention Chairman in 1951, and Chair- man for the Industrial Development Committee of the Vallejo Chamber

LAND

After the Vallejo Boat Center, Cliff began driving a taxi cab as a transition job. After about six months, Cliff's brother Jim called him from Bakersfield, California, and told him about an opportunity that was opening up with J. L. Dandy and Company, a development/construction company. It would pay $100.00 a week steady income. Cliff jumped at this opportunity. He left for Bakersfield in July 1953. His family followed him six months later.

Cliff worked for J.L. Dandy for three and a half years. He helped cash in notes and deeds of trust to pay off debts of the company. He learned a lot about the business of real estate while he worked there. He got his Brokerage License, but at the time he did not think that he particularly wanted to sell real estate. In addition, he learned how to design and build houses and appraise property. The mid fifties were years of much valuable experience.

In 1956 Esther had an accident. She had to go to the hospital to get an operation for a "slipped disc." J.L. Dandy cut Cliff's salary almost in half at that point, "because he knew I was desperate." Cliff told him to "go to hell," and walked out on a surprised J.L. Dandy. This incident illustrates Cliff's "no-nonsense" nature.

Cliff then joined his brother Jim in his real estate business. He sold property in the Bakersfield area. They "made enough to get by."

By this time, late 1956, Sonny had begun college at the University of California at Berkeley. Bob had graduated from Bakersfield High School earlier that year, and had joined the Air Force, where he would serve four years. Cliff and Esther saw their two sons infrequently during this time, but relations were good.

When asked about their marriage relationship during this time, both Cliff and Esther are vague. Both mention that in general they had a "hard marriage." In earlier years, there perhaps was no time to worry about their relationship, as they were bonded together by the all-consuming need to work and survive. After their children left the nest, and their income became more secure, their attention may have turned to their relationship as a couple for the first time. This made their middle age years much better.

These years were also successful business wise. In 1957 Cliff began to get "very interested" in some property that was located in Lake Isabella, California. He began to talk with a woman named Loree McGuire, the only real estate broker in Lake Isabella at the time. (The population of Lake Isabella was only 2,500; today it's over 18,000.)

Cliff was especially interested in 1,300 acres in the valley. (Cliff later named it "Squirrel Valley.") He and Jim took a look at the property and were pleased; "it was a nice valley, with lots of oak and pine." It was for sale for $50.00 an acre. Cliff got his associate Anthony Leggio on the telephone and told him to buy the property right away. He did all 1,300 acres sight unseen.

Cliff got busy laying out the first subdivision in two and a half acre lots. When he put them up for sale, at a price much higher than Leggio had had to pay, they sold "like hot potatoes." Before long, Cliff had made Leggio over three
million dollars. Cliff worked for Leggio until 1962.

In 1962 there was a recession, and sales in real estate dropped to nothing. Cliff was in debt for $8,000.00 from expenses of his operation, so he accepted a job from J.L. Dandy again as General Sales Manager. He had seven people under him and he worked there for three and a half more years.

During the early sixties, both Sonny and Bob got married and had children. Bob married Carolyn Nipper on November 27, 1959. They had a son, Chad Leroy Hewitt, on December 17, 1960.

"Sonny" married Kay Worthington on May 19, 1962. They had two daughters: Carla Ann on May 9, 1963 and Kelly Lynn on February 5, 1965. Finally, Shannon Hewitt became part of Bob and Carolyn's family when she was born on June 26, 1971. Cliff and Esther were extremely proud of their grandchildren and still are. They made a special effort to see them as often as
possible while they were young.

In 1966 Cliff and Esther moved to a house in Lake Isabella that overlooked the lake. Cliff moved into an office in Squirrel Valley where he represented two landowners: Bob Joughin and Anthony Leggio. Cliff was a developer and he "did it all." This included designing the tracts, naming the streets, etc. He worked for Joughin for ten years.

The years between 1966-71 were relatively calm. They were secure financially, and began to establish Lake Isabella as home. They enjoyed seeing their grandchildren, which they did regularly five or six times a years. (Both families were a significant distance away--four and twelve hours by car--so that it was impossible to make the visits any more often.) Relations remained loving.

In 1971 Cliff decided to open his own office and run a general real estate business, due to a problem with Joughin, which eventually ended up in court. He built an office in Mt. Mesa, just a few minutes drive from his home on Southlake Drive. He bought and sold property, did "a little developing in Squirrel Valley, " and did appraising. "I made a little money at it." He worked for himself out of this office until 1984.

At age 74, Cliff decided it was time to "retire." He still continues, however, to work out of an office in his home. He generally works as an appraiser, his only sales effort being some property owned by Bonnie Owens.

CLIFF

"I have always respected him because he has always tried to better himself."

"He has always worked hard and has earned his place in life the hard way."

"His strength is his ability to know what his goal is and go after it..." Cliff is "just naturally born to lead, not follow."

He "is a great guy. I really think an awful lot of Cliff."

"Yes I admired him [as a child] and still do."

The above tributes to Cliff by his siblings seem to say it all. Cliff, in his life, has been many things to many people.

As a brother he was respected and admired.

As an employee he was responsible and a hard worker.

As a husband he was domineering, but appreciative.

As a father Cliff was "feared" and respected.

As an employer he was "fair."

And as a grandfather, Clifford Maxwell Hewitt was always loving, generous and proud. As a grandfather he is respected, admired and appreciated.

My Uncle Cliff Passed away in June of 1987.
James R. Hewitt Jr.