When a Ruin Becomes a Refuge

The Anaheim neighborhood was beautiful except for one rundown house. One of its previous buyers had wound up in bankruptcy. For years, the house was empty, on occasion a place for transients to get out of the cold. When Lorri and Mike Galloway of Anaheim first inspected it more than two years ago, they found hypodermic needles on both its floors, scatological graffiti on nearly every wall.

It was a mess. But the Galloways saw potential, and they shared a vision for what they could do with it.

Mike Galloway, an avid golfer, gave up the game to devote every spare moment to renovating the house. Lorri Galloway got busy finding people willing to help.

In just a few days, the house will open to women who have finally mustered the courage to break away from an abusive spouse, to help themselves and their children. They will have one more option in a county where bed space for them is usually scarce. Professional counselors will be on hand to help them.

It will be the third and largest of the Eli Home facilities, the Galloways’ efforts to help abused women and their children.

Not everybody is happy about what’s going on. The homes in the area sell for $300,000 and up, and many of these neighbors remain bitter that they lost the battle before city leaders to keep the Galloways from opening.

But I suspect these neighbors will learn what residents found out when similar homes for abused women came to their neighborhoods: That their fears of the extra traffic and bad elements that would follow were groundless. The new Eli Home will become an asset to the community, by far an improvement over the rundown crack house that existed there before.

I asked Trena De Lamar, an interior designer who donated her time to design this home, if I could come take a look. I got there just as a beautiful Christmas tree arrived, a gift from Target stores. Lorri Galloway worked on the tree as we talked.

The place is simply grand, with all new furnishings, fireplaces that had never been there before, a kitchen to match anything in a model home. Lorri Galloway proudly gave most of the credit to her husband, Mike, who is an electrician, and Pete Medici, Lorri Galloway’s uncle, who is known to everyone as “Uncle Pete.” Lorri Galloway and De Lamar have devoted most of their time to the renovations too.

But so many others have helped. Anna and Alex Garcia, close friends who live in Monterey, took the long drive on three successive weekends to donate their time to the landscaping. Orange County firefighters spent a day helping with the drywall. The Galloways appreciated much more than their labor. Their support came at a time when Eli Homes was under attack from the neighbors.

Several community groups or businesses have bought the furnishings for some of the rooms. But De Lamar and the Galloways are eagerly in search of more donors to help furnish some of the upstairs bedrooms. As many as 24 women and children will be able to stay in the seven-bedroom house.

“Mike and Lorri have taken an eyesore and turned it into something important,” De Lamar said.

I hope the neighbors can arrange a visit once the place is open. Once they see the faces of those children whose mothers are just trying to survive, it surely will soften their hearts.

Let the Galloways put their next one in my neighborhood, right smack up against my property. I’d be proud to have them.

That’s the Way It Is: Just about any book on politics or journalism spanning the last few decades includes observations on Richard Nixon, who was born in Orange County, built his library here and is buried here next to his wife, Pat.

Among the more interesting comments comes from Walter Cronkite, the dean of television journalism, in his new autobiography.

“To say that Richard Nixon was the most complicated personality to ever occupy the Oval Office is to barely scratch the surface,” Cronkite writes. “In an odd twist, I got along rather well with Nixon. In fact, I was somewhat embarrassed that I had not made his news media ‘enemies list.’ He was quoted somewhere as saying that I was the best of a bad lot. I’m not sure I would put that on my escutcheon.” (Cronkite is a devoted sailor. The escutcheon is the place on the ship’s stern bearing the nameplate.)

Cronkite also writes: “Nixon may have been the most ardent student to occupy the White House. It is likely he felt inadequate and in many aspects he deserved his inferiority complex. But he was diligent in overcoming the holes in his knowledge. His homework paid off and he became exceedingly well informed on issues of the day, particularly in foreign affairs”

A Chief Remembers Too: A few weeks ago I wrote about the anniversary of the shooting death of Richard Steed, the only San Clemente police officer killed in the line of duty.

Gary E. Brown, chief of police in Ashland, Ore., received a copy of the column and sent a moving response. Many of you in San Clemente will remember he was the police chief in your city when Steed was killed in 1978.

Here’s part of what Brown wrote: “I recall the vigil at the emergency room, the bloody uniform shirt, which had to be cut off, the medical staff working furiously, trying to revive him . . . my having to be the one to tell his wife, Kathy, that we had lost him, and holding her as she sobbed.”

The chief further writes: “The occupation of a police officer is a calling. Not all can handle the difficult task at hand.”

The chief added that he was honored to hand Steed’s widow the U.S. flag from Steed’s casket, and that no one associated with the San Clemente Police Department at that time would ever forget Richard Steed.

Wrap-Up: For 10 years, my assignment here was to cover Orange County’s criminal courts. A colleague recently asked me if spending so many years going from murder trial to murder trial was the reason my column now is filled with so many positive stories. Maybe.

But as I think about it with Christmas Eve upon us, I think there’s a much better reason why I like to write about people who do good deeds in Orange County: There are so darned many of them.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com