I, Lee Huniu, would like to give some history about my Dad Solomon (later known as Edward) Huniu. My Dad, son of Leah and Rahamin, was born on February 22, 1926 in Seattle, Washington. Dad was born right before his fraternal twin brother Mike (initially named Marco). The Huniu family moved to Los Angeles around 1930. Dad was one of ten children in the Huniu family. Dad went to 52nd Street Elementary school. His nickname then was Sol. Early in Elementary school he made best friends with Larry Michaels and stayed good friends through high school and beyond.

Dad worked with Mike starting age 6 selling magazines door to door. Then he started selling newspapers -Herald Express at corner of 54th & Normandie. Sold starting ~25 papers/day and then worked up to ~50 papers/day. They bought one small bike which allowed delivery of the newspaper. Also, he rode about 12 miles to beach with Mike about two times a week in summer. Also, he sold papers at the Coliseum during football season. He stopped selling newspapers towards the end of elementary school. Then Dad went to John Muir Junior High school. He was appointed leader of the safety group. Around 7th or 8th grade Mike and Sol bought two new 28” bikes. In 8th or 9th grade they rode bikes to the beach.

Then Dad went to Manuel Arts High School 10th-11th grade, but joined the Navy in 1944 while in 12th grade at age 17 (a couple days before turning 18) and did not graduate. While in high school, he continued bike riding with Mike and even rode all the way to Long Beach. He wanted to join the air force and Mike wanted the navy but they ended up swapping. Mike was taking academic courses which is why he got in the air force (gunner on B17) and Sol took commercial classes so decided to join navy to prevent him from being drafted into the army. Sol was a gunner protecting commercial ships selling allies on Pacific coast like Australia or transporting troops (1st ship named after President Tyler). He went to New Caledonia, Bougainville, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and other areas in south Pacific to provide war goods to defeat Japan. He was on three different ships during the war (2nd ship was named Hamakura).

When the war ended, Dad got jobs typing and commercial work until honorably discharged from navy in late 1945 or early 1946. When his friend Larry was discharged from the navy before Sol, his family (Grandma and Aunt Shirley) was evicted and came to live with the Huniu family. Of course, much later Larry married Dad’s sister Esther Huniu. Dad became a produce clerk working various markets for 3 or 4 years (Better Foods, Market Basket, grand central markets and finally Ralphs). Dad with Mike bought the first car in the Huniu family, a 1935 Ford – a real lemon that they pushed as much as drove. He quit being a produce clerk and took over Gladys position as a florist at St. Vincent Flower Shop for one to two years.

Then he went to Cal State LA without graduating high school based on having a high enough gpa. He started in commercial courses then took social study classes (history, government, psychology). At that time Dad changed his name from Solomon to Edward Solomon. The name change was never done officially. People always called him Eddie or Ed for short from then on. In 1954 Dad met my Mom Shelly while studying maps in the library (for hard teacher Dr. Frankien who Dad had before). Six weeks later, Dad and Mom were going steady. Dad pinned Mom as part of a fraternity thing on the front lawn of the college. My parents had fun with fraternity activities including dances, parties, etc. They dated for 14 months and got married on June 26, 1955.

Right after marriage, they had no honeymoon, but instead bought a brand new tract home for $15350 with $1000 down on the GI bill. In September 1955, Dad started teaching history at a high school located in Watts, CA. A few years later he taught math at Hollenbeck Junior High. Lastly, he transferred to Belmont High School where he taught social studies related topics including history and government. In a few years he became the social studies department chairman. Dad retired at the end of 1983 after having taught for 29 years.

I thank my parents for sacrificing living in a house and moving into the Beverly Hills apartment building, because this allowed my brother Raymond and I to attend Beverly Hills High School which of course was one of the top high schools in the country.

Dad’s unfortunate physical and mental decline started around 2018 when he broke his right pelvis which was surgically repaired. In early November 2021 Dad had some unexplained mental lapse which resulted in him falling at a Rehab facility thereby breaking his other pelvis which could not be fixed surgically and made it impossible for him to ever walk again. Because of this, on December 9, 2021 Dad went to spend his final years at a board and care facility at Miracle Mile Manor under the dedicated director Edith Nagel. During his stay there, Susie and I loved taking him for a stroll where we constantly pointed out all the flowers and trees. When we would look at roses he sometimes would sing “Moonlight and Roses”. We also loved playing cards and ball with him. Dad was always at his best when we bounced a tennis ball back and forth to him up to 300 times without him dropping the ball – a testimony for his still fantastic reflexes and hand-eye coordination and his love of tennis which he played for many decades.

My parents enjoyed going with the larger Huniu family to Bass Lake for one week each summer for about 50 years. Dad loved to play pinnacle at the beach with his bothers Mike and Joe and his niece Paula. At night Dad liked playing poker with the family while Mom played tripoly. I personally have many incredibly good memories at Bass Lake as a child and as a parent with my family. My parents bought a condo in Palm Springs which they enjoyed for about 25 years until April 1999. Dad enjoyed playing tennis and socializing at the pool especially in the Jacuzzi. Dad was always very outgoing a quality that I always admired.

My parents enjoyed traveling to Israel for their 25th anniversary in 1980. Other trips included eastern US Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington DC, southeastern US, Maui HI, Europe including Holland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Arizona and 4 corners area.

Dad loved all the family gatherings which included many birthday parties, weddings and Jewish holiday celebrations. My dad loved to say “the family that prays together stays together”.

I would like to share some of the activities in which I enjoyed with my Dad. Dad enjoyed my Hebrew chanting at Temple Tifereth Israel for over five years as a junior cantor under the very talented Cantor Behar.

Dad took me on at least two ocean fishing trips with Uncle Mike. On the deep sea fishing trip, I was not in the pool for getting a prize for catching the largest fish but I ended up catching the largest fish. Dad always loved to brag about my achievements as well as my kids and Ray’s kids. Dad always loved playing with kids and extremely enjoyed his grandchildren and great grandchildren. Dad always loved to play cards with me, my Mom and Susie. While in the apartment, we played tripoly and then ate Dominoes pizza. He loved the walks we gave him in the same transport chair that Uncle Mike used. Dad loved looking at all the beautiful houses in the neighborhood and would say, “whether you were rich or poor, its nice to have money.”

I cannot overemphasize several characteristics that I always admired about my Dad: His incredible optimistic attitude kept us all going. He was a very strong man who outlasted all of his brothers and sisters. His outgoing nature always resulted in good times especially at Palm Springs. Lastly, Dad was always a family man – he always emphasized the importance of family.