‘I bring a happy, friendly mood . . . sisters- and brothers-type mood.’

Nathan (Nat) Maurer was an athletic youngster. He played in the streets of the Bronx with his brothers and sisters and won medals at a local track meet. After World War II, Maurer graduated from UCLA and started an accounting business. Although a diabetic, he continued to exercise by camping and hiking. Maurer, 69, now limits his outings to the trails of Griffith Park. He and his wife, Annette, live in Arleta.

In 1946 when I got to California, Ft. MacArthur, to get my final discharge from the Army, they gave me a physical. They said, “Anybody in your family have diabetes?” I said, “Yes, my mother.” He said, “You’ve got it too.” I said, “Well, I’m getting discharged. I had a war. It’s over with. I’m going to see my parents, brothers and sisters. I’m through.” He said, “You’re going into the hospital tomorrow.” I was there for five weeks.

I’ve had just about 42 years with diabetes. I wasn’t terribly affected by it. With the insulin, testing and diet it’s controllable.

I met my wife, Annette, two days after I was discharged. I had made up my mind when I was coming back on the boat that “I am not going to fall for the first girl I see.” But I went to her house, met her family and went to her New Year’s Eve party. My whole life opened up. Everything I was looking for, the paradise of life, I found with her and her family. Her mother was very enthusiastic, a very fine mother. They say, “Look at the mother to find out what the daughters will be like.” My family and her family united and all are friends.

My sister and my wife’s sister talked us into going camping in 1961. We got into camping and someone told me about the Sierra Club. I started to go to their meetings and found out what hiking was. I loved the hikes and the scenery. We went to Yosemite and all these different places. When the tax season was over, we had time to take our children camping. They loved it.

I joined the Sierra Club, and someone talked me into taking basic mountaineering. In 1968 when I was 50 years old, a diabetic taking insulin, I took the mountaineering course. The outdoor sessions were at Stoney Point, climbing between rocks, and in the Angeles Forest. I still have the shoes I bought in 1968. They’ve been resoled three times. They cost me $26.

I started hiking in Griffith Park with the Sierra Club in 1968 and continue to go there a few times a month. In 1981 I became their slow-hike leader.

Hiking is very stimulating. It’s good exercise. When I get through with the hike, I feel good, even if I’m tired. Hiking brought my sugars down. When you’re hiking, you have to take your regular insulin shots, eat more and take your regular rest stops. It also gave me the opportunity to eat sweets that I’m not normally allowed.

Hiking is also social. I like the ego feeling of being the hike leader, of being noticed. I think ego is excellent for anybody. It’s also helping other people as well. You teach things that you learned from other leaders before.

I also play my harmonica on the hikes. Sometimes I get them singing as we go along, many of the songs that I’m familiar with: “The Happy Wanderer,” “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” “You Are My Sunshine.” I don’t play the popular ones of today. We have a lot of fun. The people like it. I bring a happy, friendly mood to them, sisters- and brothers-type mood. I guess that comes from my family background. I even play “Happy Birthday” for them. I say, “Anybody have a birthday this month? This year? Sing your own name.”

I feel that I climbed up the ladder from the New York city streets. I finally got an education 14 years after high school and started my own accounting business. I didn’t think I would want to work for somebody else. For years I struggled. I had very little business and my wife had to help with it. But I don’t work the entire year. When the tax season is over we could go on camping trips with the family. That’s the healthier way to live. If you’re going to live life, you live life.