A CHRONICLE OF THE PASSING SCENE : Moving Memories

Attending a tiny church overlooking a giant cemetery may sound awfully solemn to some people. But the 75-member congregation of St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Catholic Church on the edge of Oakwood Cemetery in Chatsworth likes the location just fine.

Members point out that the cemetery takes on a holiday air as Christmas approaches, with graves decorated with traditional wreaths and flowers enhanced by the occasional Christmas tree or bouquet of red and green balloons.

“It’s as though the families are still sharing their Christmas love and joy with those who are gone but missed,” says Alma McKowan, a church member.

The Anglican Catholic commune is an offshoot of the American Episcopal Church (affiliated with the Church of England), which splintered off in the late ‘70s when a new prayer book, hymnal and more liberal ideas were adopted by the parent group.

“I guess you could say we are the staunch traditionalists. We love being able to celebrate the old service the way it used to be,” McKowan says.

The group picked a perfect building in which to celebrate its old-fashioned religious traditionalism. It is a white frame building of Victorian architecture--Los Angeles Cultural Historical Monument No. 14.

Built by volunteer labor in 1903 at 10051 Topanga Canyon Blvd., the then-nondenominational church was the only Protestant church in the northwest Valley for almost 50 years. When the property was sold and its congregation moved, the abandoned little church was heading for demolition.

According to St. Mary’s member Zena Thorpe, the community took action. The Chatsworth Historical Society was formed and the church was saved. Because the property on which the church sat was destined to become a strip mall, the society found a new location for it--Oakwood.

Then-Chatsworth residents Dale Evans and Roy Rogers paid to have the building trucked to its new location in January, 1965. Because the big oaks on Lassen Street and the small gates of Oakwood prevented the church from being moved through the main entrance, it took three days to transport the building across nearby fields.

Pacific Telephone and the Department of Water and Power cut wires so the building could pass over the land, then spliced them back together when the church had passed, according to Thorpe, now the Chatsworth Historical Society president.

In 1981, the old church, which had fallen into disrepair because it stood vacant, found its new congregation, who promptly cleaned and painted the building and replaced the stained glass windows.

Today, many members of the congregation will reconvene for its 9 a.m. Christmas Day services.

Dog Gone: A Holiday Saga

The end of this Christmas story is that Monica Sellers of Lancaster’s Sweetwater Ranch gave her 12 American Eskimo dogs--of which two are grand champions and three are champions--an unusual Christmas present.

Each one got a doggie tattoo. Not one says “Mom” or had intertwined hearts and flowers. They were tattooed with breeder Seller’s Social Security number.

This all happened because Sellers’ 4-year-old grand champion, Triumph, vanished last month. Triumph, who is insured for $2,000, went AWOL from the ranch with a female American Eskimo who had been brought to the ranch to be bred to another grand champion.

The visiting female was returned four hours after the beginning of her great adventure. Triumph was nowhere to be found.

Sellers, heartbroken, searched for the dog on foot, by car and on horseback. She posted signs, took out ads and got lots of calls.

After almost a month without Triumph, she resigned herself to losing him.

Then someone caught a glimpse of a dog that resembled the description in the ad for the American Eskimo. Within a matter of days, the dog was returned to her in a Sheriff’s Department car.

“Triumph had been taken in by a family that didn’t want to give him up, I was told,” Sellers says. “If they had really put up a fight, there is no way I could have identified the dog as mine.”

Why don’t the dogs just wear collars? It would mat their ruff.

Icing the Competition

For the past six years, Jacques Tokar could have won hands down in a Northridge neighborhood Christmas decoration contest, even though his one holiday piece is only on view for two days.

His holiday sculpture differs from year to year, but the medium is always the same--ice.

Every Christmas Eve day, Tokar, a chef for Ogden Aviation, has two 350-pound blocks of ice delivered to his front lawn, where he proceeds to carve them in front of the neighbors.

His works are something seasonal, such as a snowman or a Nativity scene or Santa Claus. This year, it’s two reindeer.

Tokar, who was born in France and apprenticed as a chef there, came to this country almost 30 years ago. Before going to work for the El Segundo-based aviation company, he worked at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles for six years and at the Beverly Hilton for 22 years.

“Ice carving is something I have always loved to do, although I’ve had no training in it. When I was at the Beverly Hilton, I had lots of chances to do them for the many banquets we had,” he says.

Talk about a holiday on ice.

Dreaming of a White February

While most of us are reveling in the holidays and maybe dreaming of a white Christmas, 30 fourth- through sixth-grade Sherman Oaks School students are probably wishing they were freezing in the February cold.

They will participate in an ecological adventure Feb. 8 to 12 in Yosemite National Park with fourth-grade teacher Lisa Ishikawa.

They will live in cabins without indoor plumbing and spend their time studying a mini-curriculum devised by Robert Clarillos, director of the Los Angeles school district’s Monlux Science Center in North Hollywood in conjunction with the nonprofit Yosemite Institute.

“It’s really about getting into the mountains and feeling the power of nature so that their science classes come to life,” says Clarillos, who is a park ranger in the summer.

Students will also be taught how to keep warm and about appropriate winter gear, Ishikawa says. Last year, one child brought an attache case instead of a backpack and carried it around on mountain hikes until Ishikawa, who felt sorry for him, bought him a backpack.

Parent Jay Levy, one of six chaperons and a fund-raiser for the trip--which costs about $200 per child--calls the trip the adventure of a lifetime for children and adults.

“I went last year, and I won’t pretend it was all easy. Thirty kids, freezing weather, no indoor plumbing. But I remember their enthusiasm, how eager they were to learn about the area. I remember one night when we took a moonlit hike to a bridge over the Merced River.

“There was snow on the towering mountains and all over the landscape. It looked like a wonderland. And when we stopped, everyone suddenly became absolutely silent and the only sound we could hear was the sound of the rushing river. It was a magic moment I don’t think one of those kids will ever forget.”

Overheard

“I guess I’m growing up because of what I want this year for Christmas. Before it’s always been a Mercedes or diamonds or a full-time nanny, you know, something ‘80s, something frivolous. This year, I just want unemployment, starvation and wars to stop.”

--Young woman to friend in Sherman Oaks