The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 110, No. 42 - October 21, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............2
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................14
City Council..........................3
Classifieds............................6
Crossword/Sudoku.............6
Legals............................12-13
Police Reports.....................3
Real Estate.....................7-10
Sports................................ 3-4
Travel.....................................2
Weekend
Forecast
Happiness is About Finding the
Right Person in Your Life
Congratulations Jo and Andy Orens on celebrating your milestone 71st Anniversary. Thank you for your many years of service to the community. Photo by Gregg McMullin.
Surprise! Andy and Jo Orens to
Celebrate 71 Years of Marriage
By Duane Plank
So, when the great Gregg McMullin, longtime
High Schooler Holds
Guinness World Record
By Kiersten Vannest
Eighty countries. Eighty languages.
One powerful voice.
Capri Everitt, a seventeen-year-old
star on the rise and recent citizen of El
Segundo, traveled the world at twelve
years old to sing the national anthem of
eighty different countries in their native
language, giving her a Guinness World
Record and making her an international
singer.
Originally from Canada, Everitt began
singing at the age of five years old.
Wanting to cultivate the things she liked
to do, her parents put her in singing
lessons. Her skills blossomed, and she
picked up piano and guitar. Inspired by
strong singers like Christina Aguilera and
Mariah Carey, she developed her voice
to be clear and strong.
When Capri wanted to sing around
the world, her parents supported her by
homeschooling her for a year and picking
up and traveling
Whether it was people nearby or in
foreign embassies, Everitt found native
speakers of each country’s language to
go over the national anthem with her
for accuracy and make sure that she was
singing anthems in a way that would be
politically acceptable. She learned all
eighty anthems before her trip and spent
about three to four days in each country.
El Segundo resident, ES High School
coach, and beloved writer for the Herald, suggested
that I pen a profile on Andy and Jo
Orens, who had recently celebrated their
71st wedding anniversary, I of course said,
sure, why not?
And adding to the story was that Andy just
blew out the candles on his 90th birthday cake.
No word on if Andy is considering being
catapulted into space like the great Captain
Kirk, William Shatner, another nonagenarian,
was last Wednesday.
Anyway, squirreling the story about the
iconic Orens family, McMullin said it would
be nice if the Herald story would be a
surprise, so I hope that this fits the bill and
surprises Andy and Jo.
Here are some of the high points of a
relationship that has spanned more than
seven decades. JoAnn and Andy met in high
school and married in 1950. They lived in
Huntington Beach until 1958, when Andy
seized a job in Santa Monica, drawing his
paycheck from General Telephone.
Not wanting to make the long commute
to work, their daughter Sandy King said, the
couple started looking to find a place to live
that was closer to his work and “stumbled
into El Segundo.” As many now longtime
residents have done over the years, they
turn west from what is now Pacific Coast
Highway and discover the charms embedded
in the city’s heart.
Sandy remembers that her parents relocated
here in 1958 and lived in “some apartments
before they bought a house on Oregon St.”
where they lived until they moved to Camarillo
in the late ’80s.
During their years in El Segundo, the
Orens became immersed in the El Segundo
lifestyle. Andy umpired and coached in the
local Little Leagues. They both were involved
with their four children in Scouting adventures
and performed in Little League “Blackouts,”
which were recitals that featured parents lipsynching
to tunes, dancing, telling a joke or
two. All to raise money to support what was
known then as the El Segundo American
Little League. King says she remembers her
father dressing up as a member of the Tijuana
Brass and lip-synching to musical hits of the
day. Herb Alpert must have been so proud!
Stretching her memory, King mentioned
that she remembers iconic El Segundo
families like the Bretts, the Obradoviches,
and the Hamiltons were at the forefront of
organizing these “Blackouts.”
King also remembers her father enjoyed
puttering around his vegetable garden and
displaying his repair person talents, evincing
his ability to “repair anything.”
King related that her father, the avid vegetable
grower, would always insist that, once
he picked an item or two from his garden,
whether it be green beans or corn, he would
ask that those fresh items would be cooked
See Orens, page 11
See Capri Everitt, page 12
Friday
Partly
Cloudy
66˚/59˚
Saturday
AM Clouds/
PM Sun
67˚/56˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
67˚/59˚