A Good Hobby, on the Face of It

Theron Ashby, 79, has traveled widely to gather his vast mask collection, but it was a stroll through Knott’s Berry Farm that started it all.

“I wandered off into the Indian Village there and saw a mask that caught my eye and thought it would be a nice decorating piece,” said the one-time Whittier College speech professor.

But it wasn’t until 20 years later during a stroll through Disneyland that he added to his then minimal mask collection, which he also expanded with mask purchases from the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.

Now most of the wall space in his La Habra home is covered with masks, some bought in Africa during one of his many worldwide travels with Dorothy, 74, his wife for 54 years.

“At first I didn’t know a thing about masks,” said Ashby, who left Whittier College and spent the rest of his working life as a financial system specialist in the aerospace industry, much of it with the Northrop Corp. in Anaheim.

While a mask may look exotic, “it really doesn’t mean anything by itself,” the Iowa University graduate said. “I think you have to understand masks to appreciate them.”

Ashby admits that he knew little about masks when he bought his first one, but he studied long over the years and became learned in the subject.

“Masks provide a look into the past and give you that feeling you have a tangible tie to the past that was very rich and cultured,” he said.

The mask itself was always worn by a character in costume who represented something that was usually part of some rite, explained Ashby.

Those activities could be anything ranging from a game, religious ceremony, historical pageant to an event that was part of village life.

Ashby said he wouldn’t mind adding more masks to his collection but points out that there isn’t much wall space left.

“I probably would get more masks if we had a place to put them,” said Ashby, who credits his wife with helping form the collection.

“She has located several key masks for the collection,” he said, and that’s in addition to the time she takes to expand her own wide collection of paper weights.

The mask collection was recently exhibited at the La Habra Women’s Club, where he volunteers as a creative writing class teacher. His wife is a member there.

But Ashby doesn’t plan other exhibits because of the difficulty of taking them down and putting them back up.

While masks may get more attention, Ashby also dabbles in bonsai plants.

“That gives me a lot of pleasure and it takes lot of time,” he said