Lifelong Glendale resident Martha Dzaich McDaniel dies at 91
A lifelong Glendale resident who was born in the city’s historic Doctors House more than 90 years ago passed away in her home on Nov. 30 surrounded by her family.
Martha Dzaich McDaniel, who died from natural causes, was 91 years old.
Dzaich McDaniel was born on Sept. 24, 1924, in the parlor of what is now known as the Doctors House, located then at 921 E. Wilson Ave.
She was born to Katie and Joseph Dzaich, the second of six children and their only daughter.
Dzaich McDaniel grew up in the home with her immediate family as well as her aunt and uncle, Mary and Peter Kordich, and their children.
The daughter of Croatian immigrants who operated restaurants in downtown Los Angeles, Dzaich McDaniel learned to speak English at Doran Street School, now known as R.D. White Elementary, where she began kindergarten in 1929, she told the Glendale News-Press earlier this year.
Dzaich McDaniel returned to the school last February to celebrate the 100th anniversary of R.D. White’s PTA.
As a child growing up during the Depression, she and her siblings and cousins would walk to a store near their home where they knew they could get a free candy bar from the shop’s owner if it was their birthday, her grandson, Henry Whitehead, recalled.
“She said, ‘Of course, we had three or four birthdays a year,” he said.
Between 1922 and 1979, various members of the Dzaich family, and those of the Kordich family, occupied and shared ownership of the historic home, according to the Glendale Historical Society.
When members of her family sold the home, it was at risk of being demolished, said Isabelle Meyer, a former curator for the museum.
Glendale residents, including Meyer, worked to save the home and restore it, prompting the formation of the Glendale Historical Society.
In 1980, the home was moved to its current location in Brand Park.
In 2009, the historical society honored 18 members of both Dzaich and Kordich families by hosting a luncheon for them at the house, and Dzaich McDaniel was among those who attended.
“I really felt very strongly we hadn’t done enough to recognize the Dzaich and Kordich family. Four doctors lived in the house,” Meyer said this week. “Nobody ever really said much about the people who lived there for 60 years.”
Dzaich McDaniel’s daughter, Monica Wollenweber, has taught for nearly 30 years in Glendale Unified, and regularly takes her third-grade students to the museum on field trips.
“Being born to immigrant parents who worked hard, voted and stressed education, my mother wanted us never to forget where she came from and where we were going,” Wollenweber said.
Dzaich McDaniel carried a legacy beyond the historic home. The lifelong Glendale resident enjoyed a productive life in many arenas.
As a teenager, she moved out of the Doctors House and into her longtime home in the Rossmoyne neighborhood when her parents purchased that home in 1942.
She and her husband, James Wesley McDaniel, purchased the Rossmoyne home from her parents in 1959, and she lived there for the remainder of her life.
During World War II, Dzaich McDaniel was the only woman who belonged to Lockheed’s “shakedown” crew assigned to the newly manufactured P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft, according to her family.
With a hand smaller than her male counterparts, Dzaich McDaniel would reach into small ports to remove screws or other items after the planes were built, said her other daughter, Margaret Lohnes.
She was also a radio dispatcher for the Glendale Police Department and claimed a first-place prize in a 1947 police department shooting competition, in which she was the only woman to compete, according to her family.
She also worked in R.D. White’s cafeteria and held customer service jobs until she enrolled in Los Angeles Trade Technical College and later established her own electrolysis business.
She retired in the early 1990s.
“She was a symbol of strength and resilience,” said her grandson, Robert Keatinge.
She is survived by her younger brother, 87-year-old Matthew Dzaich, who lived in Glendale for many years and now resides in Oregon.
She is also survived by her six children: Katherine McDaniel, Margaret Lohnes, JoAnn Leeth, James McDaniel, Mary McDaniel and Monica Wollenweber, as well as eight grandchildren.
A memorial for Dzaich McDaniel will take place at 10 a.m. next Saturday at Church of the Incarnation at 1001 N. Brand Blvd.
Donations can be made in her name to the Casa Verdugo branch of the Glendale Public Library, located at 1151 N. Brand Blvd.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
