Balboa Island sculpture memorializes couple as a symbol of the community
A sculpture of Balboa Island couple Herman and Lois Dorkin is being created to be placed on a bench at the end of Marine Avenue, the island’s main drag.
Herman and Lois Dorkin had the quintessential Balboa Island romance.
Married 68 years at the time of Lois’ death in 2004, the devotion they had for each other was unwavering.
But the couple — known by friends and family as Hi and Lo — also had a love affair with Balboa Island that spanned from the early 1940s until 2003, when they were no longer able to live on their own in their Apolena Avenue home and moved in with their daughter in Palo Alto.
The beach, the quaint shops on Marine Avenue — Balboa Island’s main drag — and the feeling that when you walk down the street you’re bound to run into a friend all contribute to a charm that envelopes the island like the salty ocean air, residents say.
Lois’ parents discovered Balboa in the early ‘40s and bought a home on Diamond Avenue shortly afterward. In 1947, Hi and Lo rented a house on Apolena and two years later moved the family there full-time.
“They loved the island, the sense of community that was always present,” said their daughter Barbara Leighton. “When they remodeled their house, they built their dining room at the corner of the house with windows all around it so they could greet people walking by.”
During one of their daily walks around the island in 2003, the couple — he 92 and she 89 — sat on a bench to rest and watch the gentle waters of Newport Harbor. The cool breeze grazed their faces as Lois nestled against her husband’s shoulder, the brim of her hat pushed against his rosy cheek, and closed her eyes.
He wrapped his left arm around her lower back and she gently rested her hand on his leg.
It wasn’t a special occasion or celebration, just a quiet moment together only a year before Alzheimer’s disease would claim Lois’ life. Herman died in 2007.
Miriam Baker also was on a walk around Balboa Island that day. The sculptor and island resident saw the couple sitting along North Bayfront.
“Just like that I took one look and said, ‘Oh, how cute’,” Baker recalled this week.
She walked up to them and asked if they would mind sitting for a sculpture. Herman said he wasn’t sure — he’d have to ask his son.
Two hours later, the couple called Baker and said they would do it. Baker re-created the scene on the bench and took photos of the couple from every angle. She eventually sculpted an image of the pair out of wax into a small statue, but she always dreamed about doing something larger.
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Thirteen years later, as Balboa Island marks its 100th anniversary of incorporation into the city of Newport Beach, she finally has the chance.
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Celebrating 100 years of people
If all goes according to plan, the Dorkins will be memorialized in a bronze sculpture sitting on a wood bench at the end of Marine Avenue. There will be room on the bench for other couples to sit and enjoy views of Newport Harbor, just as the Dorkins did, said Balboa Island Improvement Assn. President Lee Pearl.
The bronze sculpture is expected to be completed in time to be dedicated at the island centennial celebration Sept. 18. The sculpture, with a price tag of about $50,000, is being funded by Balboa Island residents. So far, six have pledged donations, and Pearl is looking for a few more to make up the last $20,000.
The names of the donors will be engraved on a bronze plaque near the bench.
“We want this to be a legacy item on the island for families,” Pearl said.
What makes Balboa Island so special is people. Next to Disneyland, Balboa Island is the friendliest place on the planet.
— Longtime Balboa Island resident Ralph Rodheim
Longtime Balboa Island resident Ralph Rodheim, who is part of a committee tasked with planning events for the centennial, thought long and hard about the identity of the island before deciding on the sculpture.
The committee considered many factors, from the beach to the dueling banana stands on Marine Avenue, but eventually settled on what Rodheim believes to be the island’s heart and soul.
“What makes Balboa Island so special is people,” he said. “Next to Disneyland, Balboa Island is the friendliest place on the planet.”
Rodheim approached Baker with the idea of a sculpture of a person who represents the lifestyle on the island. She had just the couple in mind.
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Re-creating the Dorkins
Several days each week, Baker and her friend and fellow sculptor Rhonda Jones can be found hard at work building the piece in Jones’ studio behind her Huntington Beach home.
The initial clay mold for the sculpture will be used to create a bronze mold.
Baker and Jones estimate they’ve put in more than 100 hours of labor and 500 pounds of clay.
To the untrained eye, the piece looks nearly finished. But Baker insists they have a long way to go to get Herman’s facial expression and every wrinkle and fold of Lois’ black pants just perfect.
“A lot of people can identify with this subject matter,” Jones said. “It’s about people aging and living a good life.”
Baker said the couple represent the best parts of life on the island, which has a mix of young families and aging couples whose children have long left the nest.
The love of community has kept Rodheim and his wife, Penny, on the island for 26 years. But it hasn’t always been easy.
The couple recently completed a costly remodel of their home on Onyx Avenue that was made necessary by Rodheim’s advancing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a nervous system illness also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
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The disease has left Rodheim unable to walk, his mobility dependent on a wheelchair. But instead of packing up and leaving Balboa Island for a home that would more easily accommodate his needs, Rodheim and his wife decided to adjust the house.
A neighbor invited the couple in until the remodel was finished.
Their home now not only features larger hallways to accompany Rodheim but also has patio doors with large windows that open to the street so the couple can greet neighbors and passersby.
It’s common on Balboa Island to see people sitting on their patios waving to friends and neighbors who stop for some morning coffee and conversation. It’s as much a part of the island as the beach and frozen bananas.
“It’s the island way,” Rodheim said.
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Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
