74-Year-Old Man’s Work Has Been a Real Lifesaver

Much of Edward C. Sockerson’s life has been spent teaching people how to save other people.

“I like to do things for other people,” said the 74-year-old San Clemente resident, “because you can see the results.”

He’s referring to the American Red Cross first-aid classes--and more recently cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)--that he has taught over the years to thousands of Orange County residents. “If you know first aid and CPR you can save anybody that is in need including yourself,” he said.

In the early days, the course only consisted of a lecture “but today it’s a modular course that includes a lecture, a videotape and a hands-on demonstration on how it is done.”

But despite his lifesaving skills, Sockerson said, “I’ve never had a chance to use it except once when I was a lifeguard and gave artificial respiration to a swimmer.” He spent 22 years as an officer in the Navy where he taught lifesaving water skills.

He also taught water safety skills as a Red Cross junior and senior lifeguard during the years he grew up in Anaheim and later as a lifeguard in Corona del Mar and other parts of Newport Beach.

Last month the Red Cross honored Sockerson for his years of volunteer service by presenting him with 15-, 20-, 25-, 30-, 35-, 49- and 50-year service pins attached to a colorful ribbon.

“I guess they caught up to me,” he said. “I had only received my 10-year pin.”

It is not an easy assignment getting through the 8-hour classes he teaches at the Red Cross Center in Laguna Niguel.

“I won’t let them go until they have confidence in themselves and they have got to show it to me before I’ll sign their card,” said Sockerson, an Anaheim High School and Washington State University graduate. He majored in forestry at the university.

Although he worked with the state Deparment of Forestry after graduating, Sockerson taught science in Riverside high schools until he retired in 1974.

He plans to attend his 50th class reunion at the university in Pullman, Wash., in May, and then continue on with a countrywide trip in his recreational vehicle with his wife, Lois, 70.

“We’ll go wherever the wind blows us,” said Sockerson, who became a “90-day wonder” after joining the Navy in 1940 before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Later he saw duty in the Pacific aboard a cargo ship, oil tanker and destroyer during World War II.

“I had a feeling something was brewing,” he said.”

Quoting the old saw, “To understand someone you need to walk a mile in their shoes,” Newport Beach architect Randy Roberts, 40, said it may take two years to complete his weekend walks across the United States while he talks to people of different life styles, ages, opinions and concerns.

Roberts, also known as a seminar speaker and self-development instructor/trainer, said he hopes to walk a mile with each person he interviews.

When he’s all done with his “American Journey,” Roberts plans to write a book of the experience and call it “American Journal.”

He said his cross-country trek will begin at 6 a.m. Friday at Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach.

Acknowledgments--Daniel Munzing of Orange, a senior medical student at UC San Diego, will serve eight weeks as a volunteer at Kuluva Hospital in Uganda beginning in March. He was selected as a fellowship awardee from MAP International, a Christian global health organization that provides medical students the opportunity to intern at remote clinics and hospitals in developing countries. He is the son of Orange residents Carol and George Munzing.