In the Pipeline: Stan Cohen’s words will live on

When I began writing this column 8 1/2 years ago, I received an email wishing me luck.

It was from a gentleman named Stan Cohen, who for years had been writing his own weekly column called “Nobody asked me but …” in the Wave, another local paper. I appreciated the encouragement, and I always enjoyed his blunt, funny and often touching pieces each week.

Stan died last week at age 82 after being in hospice care since January for a variety of illnesses. Although we never met face to face, I always sort of felt I knew him, thanks to his lively and personal writing. After all, he penned that column for about 20 years.

I stopped by the family reception just after the funeral because I wanted to pay my respects. I never knew much about Stan’s personal life, but I’d heard so much about him over the years, and I was curious.

Cohen moved to Huntington Beach with his wife and their two children in the late 1960s. I knew he had been an active citizen, serving on the Huntington Beach Planning Commission, Housing and Community Development Committee, Council on Aging and other groups. He volunteered in his local Little League, soccer league, Edison Boys Aquatics Booster Club and more.

I spoke to his son David, a Long Beach police officer. He told me: “Dad loved writing this column and especially loved Huntington Beach. People would stop him on the street occasionally to talk to him about something he had written. That always made his day. One of his favorite things was going out to eat at Ruby’s on the pier. So we made sure we could do that in the last year of his life.”

His daughter Susan also attested to how much he loved his newspaper column. “He had so many opinions about everything, and his newspaper column was the perfect platform. He needed that outlet. After my mom died in 2007, he stopped writing for a while because the grief was just too much. But then eventually he returned to writing the column, and I think it was cathartic for him. He just loved expressing himself.

“Even in the Huntington Terrace community where he lived, he continued to write for their newsletter. It was very important to my father that not just he but that others expressed themselves too. He always told us, ‘If you don’t like something, then go help make it change. Don’t just stay home and complain. Go to City Council and have your voice heard. Go out and make a difference.’ Our mom was the same way.”

I didn’t know Stan had self-published a memoir titled “Nobody asked me but … it isn’t easy being Jewish.” I read it in the past several days and learned many amazing things about this man. The Brooklyn-born diehard Dodgers baseball fan was drafted in the early 1950s and documented, in typical cantankerous and irreverent fashion, many tales from his service.

I learned that he and I attended the same school, Emerson College in Boston. In his mid-20s, Cohen had a brain tumor removed, and against many odds, he survived the surgery.

When Stan’s beloved wife, Pat, became ill with cancer, he wrote about her poignantly in his column. In dedicating his book to her, he wrote: “So I owe everything to my best pal, my wife, Pat. When Pat got to heaven and met God, I believe he said: ‘Pat, thanks be to me, you’re here! Now we can get this place organized!’”

Stan died on what would have been his and Pat’s 49th wedding anniversary.

As his daughter wrote in a eulogy for Stan: “Dad always said life is about experiences, and he had so many. He liked to try new things, whether it was an ice cream flavor or a volunteer job. He’d say, ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ He loved to laugh and make others laugh. There is an old Hebrew proverb that I think is appropriate for him: ‘Say not in grief he is no more, but in thankfulness that he was.’”

I’m very thankful that he was and would encourage all of you to look for his book, which is available on Amazon.

Meanwhile, thanks to Stan, along with all the other citizens who have written so many enjoyable weekly columns over the years. It’s special when you meet someone who utters those amazing words, “I read your column.”

That’s when you most appreciate the opportunity to have that platform that meant so much to Stan — the chance each week to share a story or an idea or two. That’s when you realize what a privilege it is and when you’re grateful for those who have come before you. Especially people like Stan, who made a difference and whose words will, I believe, resonate in print long after he is gone.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 25 books, including “Legendary Locals of Huntington Beach.” You can follow him on Twitter @chrisepting or at facebook.com/hbindependent.