Garden Grove group keeps friendships alive

GARDEN GROVE “Bill Hoganson, you made it after all!”

Vern Rez greeted his high school buddy with a handshake and a big hug Friday morning.

The men, both 84, were born and raised in Garden Grove. Rez was Hoganson’s best man at his wedding.

Both men are also members of what is believed to be the oldest social organization in the city – Auld Lang Syne. Rez and Hoganson met along with 130 other members at the group’s 100th anniversary at the Garden Grove United Methodist Church for a celebratory lunch.

“It’s great because we don’t get a chance to see the people we grew up with,” said Rez, who now lives in Huntington Beach. “Today, we’re honoring the people who started it all.”

Auld Lang Syne began on March 28, 1908 when Lyda Mitchell held a surprise birthday party for her husband, John. She invited her old friends from Garden Grove Village Elementary School.

“They had so much fun that they decided to do it again in a couple of months,” said Virginia Wade, one of the organizers of Friday’s event.

And Auld Lang Syne was born. Activities in the early years were limited to card games, book reviews and guest speeches, but now it’s all about, as Wade puts it, “swapping yarns.”

There are usually a lot of stories to go around, says Joy Crane, 90, who came all the way from Montana to meet up with her old friends. There was Jean Koch, a good friend and Stephen Smith, who mowed her lawn when he was a high school kid.

“It’s so nice to see everyone again,” Crane said, beaming. “It brings back so many great memories.”

Everybody in the room recalled simpler times — a golden era of wide-open spaces, tight-knit communities and camaraderie.

Carol Schnitger remembers riding her horse down to Huntington Beach – 20 miles round-trip across dirt lanes and through lima bean fields. Schnitger, now 81, was born at Dr. Violette’s Stanford Avenue office and even packed oranges at Sunkist’s Garden Grove factory. Schnitger also worked at the bakery Crane and her husband owned for 15 years in downtown Garden Grove.

“The whole place smelled so good in the spring with the orange blossoms,” she reminisced.

Membership in Auld Lang Syne has also extended over the generations. Most of the oldest members’ mothers or aunts had been members of this cordial group.

Bruce Beauchamp, who was with the local police department for 35 years, said his mother who passed away in 1986 was a long-time Auld Lang Syne member.

“This group is evidence that although our city has changed a lot demographically, there is a community of old-timers and natives who are still very much active and alive,” he said.

Many, such as Hoganson, have moved away, but keep coming back to renew old acquaintances and friendships.

“That’s why we came here today – to see old friends,” says Hoganson’s wife, Jeanne. “Our hearts are still in Garden Grove.”

Contact the writer: 714-445-6685 or [email protected]