Earlier today, I had the idea to see if a former teacher I had (in several political science classes, including an independent study class) at El Camino College in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County was on Facebook.
Even though we were poles apart politically, Lance G. Widman was a good teacher and we had some good laughs during my time at El Camino. I thought it would be fun to reconnect after all these years.
Unfortunately, I found that Widnan passed away last December of congestive heart failure.
In 1972, during my first year at El Camino, I was at the Century Plaza Hotel with the youth organization (Young Voters For The President) of President Nixon's Committee To Re-Elect The President. President Nixon was there for a campaign dinner. At that time, I had an early morning political science class with Widman that started at 7:00.
During the evening, I wandered out to the front of the Century Plaza and saw a few hundred anti-war protesters out on the sidewalk. (This was right after I ran into comedian Red Skelton in the lobby and got his autograph.) Among them was good ol' Lance Widman. I yelled out, "Hi, Lance!" and he waved back. We had a good laugh over this the next time I saw him in class.
We got along fine, even trading some campaign buttons over the years. He good-naturedly took wisecracks from those of us with the Young Republicans of El Camino College during classes. We knew where each of us stood politically. He was a liberal with a good sense of humor, something rare these days. He's someone I'll remember fondly.
He later was elected to the Hermosa Beach City Council.
According to his obituary, he retired from El Camino College in 2016. It is sad that he didn't have much in retirement years before passing last year. He was only nine years older than I.
No comments:
Post a Comment