No gathering this year, but 8 inducted into Vista Hall of Fame
They’ve headed a botanical garden and made costumes for a theater company, brought the San Diego Symphony’s Summer Pops to town, built a nearby “fort,” coached Little League baseball and lived in one of the city’s oldest ranch houses.
Four individuals and two couples are the latest members inducted into Vista Hall of Fame this year.
They were to be honored Aug. 8 at the annual membership meeting of Vista Historical Society, but it has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic — and the society’s annual ice cream social that was to be held July 25 has been canceled.
But Jack Larimer, director of the society’s museum, says the 2020 honorees already have been placed in the Hall of Fame, begun 30 years ago and numbering more than 90 members.
The new inductees are Ron Holloway, Ted Huntalas, Dick and Nancy Larkin, Jim and Carlotta Malone, Marty Miller and Mary Regan.
Holloway is president of the Alta Vista Botanical Gardens board. The gardens sit on 14 acres adjacent to Brengle Terrace Park. He received his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from San Jose State University and is senior vice president at BHA Inc., a land-planning firm in Vista.
Also, he is a 30-year member of the Amigos de Vista Lions Club and a member of Vista’s youth Basketball Advisory Board.
The late Ted Huntalas died in 2016 at the age of 93. He was the youngest son of Nick and Bessie Huntalas, who started 420-acre Rancho Minerva in 1917. As a child, he lived in the ranch house, now preserved as the historical society’s museum and headquarters, and was a member of the first graduation clsss of Vista High School. He was a longtime supporter of the historical society.
Both his parents and his late brother, Bill, are members of the Hall of Fame.
The late Larkins are the ones who built the fort — constructed in stockade style and called Valley Fort. It was a restaurant and antiques shop.
Dick’s real name was Bainbridge Morse Larkin, and he was a dentist.
They lived in Vista from 1949 to 1963 and were active in everything from Vistacado Days to the Boy Scouts and Brownies. He had been a member of the Palomar College board they returned back East for him to taking a teaching job at the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.
Dick Larkin died in 1982 and Nancy in 1986.
The Malones have done all kinds of everything at Moonlight Amphitheatre. He’s built sets, and she’s sewn costumes. Their daughter, Bets, an actress, is a frequent star of Moonlight productions, and her husband, Steve Glaudini, is producing artistic director.
Jim Malone’s already in a hall of fame — in San
Diego — for athletic coaches.
He’s coached swimming and water polo at Vista High and taught history, government and economics. Later, he did much the same at Rancho Buena Vista High when it opened and continued helping with stagecraft after retirement.
Carlotta Malone was a substitute teacher for years and coached swimming and diving and later became a full-time fourthgrade teacher at Monte Vista Elementary School.
Speaking of coaches, Miller led the Rancho Buena Vista baseball team into the finals of the Little League World Series in 2005 and has coached the sport at El Camino High in Oceanside.
Miller owns a local construction company and is a director of Vista Irrigation District and its representative on the County Water Authority. He also is past president of Vista Optimist Club.
Regan wouldn’t take no for an answer when it came to arranging for the San Diego Symphony to present its Summer Pops concert in Vista, not just once, but for several years running, beginning in 2005.
She’s also past president of Kiwanis Club of Sunrise Vista and has been active with Vista Woman’s Club, Boys & Girls Club and Chamber of Commerce. She’s been in the real-estate mortgage business for more than 30 years.
Lola Sherman is a freelance writer. Contact her at lola@ seaside-media-services.com.