Page 8 February 5, 2015 TORRANCE TRIBUNE TerriAnn in Torrance Five Generations in Torrance By TerriAnn Ferren Those of us who grew up in Torrance sometimes take for granted the history all around us. There are many residents who have lived in town for generations. Last Saturday, I was privileged enough to meet with a family who boasts of five generations still living in our fair city. Driving past the huge eucalyptus trees that frame Torrance Boulevard, I made my way east to Beech Avenue past tidy Spanish style houses to meet with Mary Ann Bradford, Maurine Swilley, Kim Pittman, Summer Pittman, and Mackynzie Higgins, who together compose the five Torrance generations gracious enough to meet with me. Walking up to the door, I thought about the history this home holds, not just for this family but for Torrance as well. Ninety-six year old Mary Ann Bradford greeted me with her daughter, Maruine Swilley. As I was escorted into the tidy living room I noticed an array of glass birds, on antique knicknack tables, not unlike those my Grandma Bradley used to collect. It was a cozy and welcoming room. Vibrant at ninety-six, Mary Ann told me she came from Lomita. Mary Ann (Taylor) Bradford was born at home in 1918 in San Pedro and told me her family has always lived in this area. “My grandparents were pioneers. They built the first home on the Palos Verdes Ranch. My grandfather was from Cornwall, England and my grandmother was from Forfar, Scotland,” said Mary Ann. She told me she grew up in Torrance and has lived here all her life. She graduated in 1935 from Torrance High, where she met, and later married her high school sweetheart, George A. Bradford. Mary Ann continued, “We both graduated from Torrance [High] the same year. I have lived in this house since 1944. That’s seventy years. I raised our three children here. Maurine is my daughter, Richard lives in Oregon, my youngest son Frank, passed on many years ago. My husband passed on twenty-seven years ago.” Mary Ann still lives in her home and is blessed to have her daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter, and great-great-granddaughter nearby. “I am happy and healthy,” said Mary Ann. Maurine Swilley began to explain, “The first four years of my life I grew up on Acacia, at 1519, the rest of the time has been in this house. I was five years old.” Right then, it hit me. How many of us can say we still have a link to a home we lived in when we were five? Maurine continued, “I went to Torrance High and graduated in 1956, I was the first graduating class at Greenwood Elementary and started kindergarten at Fern Elementary.” Maurine told me she has seen Torrance change a lot since she was a young girl. She remembers big, open fields everywhere. “I used to go out and pick flowers, hunt rabbits, and pick mushrooms. It was wonderful. We used to ride our bike all around and take Torrance Transit.” Maurine lives nearby, right behind the Fire Department and has three children; Brian, Kimberly, and her youngest son, Greg. Maurine told me she cooks dinner for her mom, Mary Ann nearly every night and they enjoy each other’s company. “We do a lot of things together. We travel together when she can. I remember when the dairy was around the corner – Dead Man’s Curve; they used to call it, the pig farm, and the turkey ranch. Across the street where I live now was all open and they had horses and we could ride horses from there to the top of the hill because in Palos Verdes, there was just nothing,” added Maurine. Wow, that sounds like a dream childhood. “I am very blessed to be so close to my mom. She is my best friend. We have a lot of fun together,” said Maurine. Kim Pittman, Maurine’s daughter, grew up around the corner from her grandmother and went to Greenwood Elementary, Madrona Middle School, and then Torrance High School. “I live in north Torrance now. I love Torrance. The safety, close to the beach, the weather - just the history of it, the old houses, Kim Pittman and her granddaughter, Mackynzie. and the generations – I went to school with kids that my mom went to school with and then my daughter went to school with the children of all the people I went to school with,” said Kim. Talking about the history of Torrance, Mary Ann Bradford with her great, great granddaughter, Mackynzie Higgins. Maurine piped up, “My mom and dad went to school with a lot of the great-grandparents of all these kids. My mother grew up with Louis Zamperini.” Kim told me she remembers when the mall was just two separate shopping centers and then they had the ‘Marriage of the Malls’ (The “Marriage of the Malls” took place on September 11, 1977). “When I was a kid, where the new Police Station is now – that was an empty field where we used to ride our bikes. That was our dirt bike track and we used to jump the hills,” added Kim. Summer Pittman, daughter of Kim Pittman, grew up in Torrance as well and began, “I went to Fern, Madrona and then I went to Torrance High and then North High. I moved away for one year to San Pedro, but I was Summer Pittman and her daughter, Mackynzie. too spoiled with Torrance. When I told people I was from Torrance, they would say, ‘Oh that is so far away.’” Summer told me her daughter Mackynzie is fifteen months old. Then I asked Summer if she likes living in Torrance and she told me, “I love it. It is big, but small.” I then asked how these five generations of families celebrate the holidays. Somehow I could envision the whole house filled with the generations that began with the Bradfords. “Previously, they have all came here Christmas Eve and sometimes Christmas Day. Usually we go back to Kimmy’s for Christmas dinner but this year because of the baby[Mackynzie], Kimmy’s had us at her house for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,” said Mary Ann. “You can see my house isn’t babyproof anymore,” laughed Mary Ann as she glanced at her collection of porcelain figurines and glass birds. I learned Mary Ann still decorates for every holiday. She told me she had a bucket in the kitchen filled with Valentine decorations just itching to be displayed. No grass grows under this very active great-great-grandmother! Mary Ann told me, “I have been active in the church all my life and raised my children there. We go to a lot of the musicals at the Armstrong Theatre and the Nakano Theatre – and to the little theatre in downtown Torrance. We have season tickets. We are all going to the South Bay Ballet for Bravo! in March -we go to all their performances. My daughter is real active with the Old Torrance Neighborhood Association. I grew up on Gramercy Avenue and the house that I grew up in is on the home tour this year. That was fun! I had to look around and see all the changes so that was very interesting. It had been modernized a little. Beautiful wood cabinets had been added and then my folks, when they moved from there, built a home at Arlington and El Dorado and that home was also on the tour this year so it is interesting. So we are very steeped in Torrance and we love all the activities. My daughter keeps me moving. I am truly blessed to have all these girls. There was my grandmother, my mother, so the baby is the seventh generation [born] right here in this area. We are fortunate to live here all our lives. And I have been to many countries around the world and I wouldn’t trade Torrance for any place I have been!” Then Kim said, “It’s true, I moved to Texas with my husband when my daughter was two years old – I lasted nine months. We have been here ever since – and now he won’t move anywhere else.” Mary Ann added, “I have seen lots of changes here. When I was in high school we could walk through town to get to the library in downtown. And I still remember Mrs. Isabelle Henderson, the librarian. Lovely lady. I was in school with Louis Zamperini.” Then Kim shared, “We were just at her sisters about a month ago [Mary Ann’s] and my uncle [Gene Bordeaux] grew up next to Louis and he was telling us stories about things they used to do. They will celebrate their 70th anniversary in March! And they were in elementary school and high school together. So we’re real grounded in Torrance. We are fortunate to live so close together.” Sweet Mary Ann told me, “I have a lot to be grateful for and I am grateful to be busy.” I asked her what she attributes her long life to and she said, “Staying close to God and knowing He’s close to me. He guides me all the time. It is my faith in God that keeps me going all my life. I am grateful for my religious background. My grandparents were very religious…keeps you going.” I asked Summer how she is doing with her little one, Mackynzie and she said, “It’s fun! She sleeps from 8:30 p.m. to 9 a.m.” Really? I always joke that my son Christopher didn’t sleep through the night until he went away to college! My visit with the five generations was like a family reunion and history of Torrance all at the same time. This family is deeply rooted in our town and they appreciate, treasure, and are very aware of the wonderful place Five generations - Kim Pittman, Mary Ann Bradford, Maurine Swilley, Summer Pittman, and Mackynzie Higgins. that is Torrance. •
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