Donald Charles Klinkhammer

Written by Donald Charles Klinkhammer

I was born 06 April 1927 to Edith Messenie and Charles Klinkhammer in St. Vincent Hospital, Los Angeles, CA.

I was baptized at St. Clements Catholic Church in Ocean Park, and after we moved, we went to St. Paul the Apostle Church. It was there that I attended school through the eighth grade, was an altar boy, sang in both the boy and school choirs, played the violin, and played all sports, excelling in football. St Paul the Apostle performed at the San Francisco World’s Fair in 1939 and I sang solo.

I attended Loyola High School and lettered three years in football. We were league champs for two years. My after school jobs included ushering at Beverly Hills movie theatres, summer jobs working at a lumber yard, but most interesting was my Christmas holiday job of delivering mail in Beverly Hills to many of the movie stars which included Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Barbara Stanwick and Robert Taylor.

At age 17, I enlisted in the Navy and served on two ships, a sub-chaser and a busy carrier, on the South Pacific. I returned home and enrolled in Loyola University, taking General Business courses and playing football. I was successful and chosen as an All-Coast Offensive End. After graduation in 1951, I joined a Marine Corp Officer training program from June to January. At the same time, I had an unsuccessful tryout with the Chicago Bears football team, but then enrolled in the Wharton School of Finance, graduating in 1952 with an LLB. A fun memory for me during that time was a trip to Yankee Stadium chaperoning a group of boys from Loyola High School, which included John Wayne’s son. I returned to California and enrolled in Loyola Law School and graduated in 1955. After passing the bar, I spent the next three years teaching and coaching football at Notre Dame High School in Van Nuys, CA.

In 1958 I met Barbara Gleason, my wife to be, and started my business career. Barbara and I were married 16 May 1959 at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood, CA. We had two daughters, Teresa Anne, born 26 September 1960, and Colleen Eloise, born 22 May 1962. Our first two homes were in Woodland Hills, CA, moving in 1988 to Calabasas and then in 2000, moving to Santa Maria, CA. In 2009 we made our biggest move to Cincinnati, OH to be closer to our married daughters and grandchildren.

My business career started in 1958 with McCullock Motors, later moving on to Carter Building Company, Hill Richards Stock Brokerage, and the Kirkerby Natus specialty money lending company. Later I formed the Special Correspondent Lending Company followed by a brief stay with Beverly Hills Bank. I then went with the Bank of America in San Francisco as an advisor and created tax shelter programs. The heads of major corporations were the investors. In 1973 I formed KP Management Company (Klinkhammer/Palmer) in Thousand Oaks, CA, which managed over 2,000 apartment units. The investors put up the money to purchase the properties and were the limited partners with me being the general partner buying and overseeing the investments. The company was dissolved in 1984 when the property was sold. I was then technically retired, but then went on to serve on the Board of Directors for the California Professional Savings and Loan, and in 1987 I became President of the Savings and Loan.

In 1986 I returned to my great love of football by coaching as a volunteer at Crespi High School for seven years. These were exciting years, as we won the State Championship in 1988. I later went on to coach at Westlake High School, St. Genevive and Malibu High School.

Other notable things in my life would be my struggle with alcoholism and with God’s great help finding Alcoholics Anonymous in 1972, which I am a member to this day. I also served on the Right to Life of Southern California Board of Directors, becoming President in 1985.

Barbara and I started Angels Way, a maternity home for single pregnant women needing shelter in 1984. This home is still in existence today, and has served hundreds of women and their babies. We also served as foster parents for newborn babies before they were to be adopted first in 1965 to 1968 and then again in 1978 to 1984. This brought great joy into our lives.

Last but not least is the important role of our daughters in my life. Although I was not around as much as I should have been while they were growing up, there are many wonderful memories of swim meets, volleyball games, Dodger baseball games, our Hawaiian vacation, and just being together as a family. Both were beautiful brides as Teresa married Derrick Denny and Colleen married Mauricio Viola. And then I entered into a new role in life as a Grandparent. And what a joy that has been! We have been blessed with fourteen grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

God blessed me abundantly and I will be eternally grateful for my very full and long life.

One hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much I had in my bank account nor what my clothes looked like. But the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child….Angels Way