Attn: Lifeguard Family
Just in from Harold Dunnigan. We regret to inform you that we lost another member of our lifeguard family recently.
L.A. City Ocean Lifeguard (Ret.), KC Cooper passed away recently.
The memorial service for KC is this Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016. Please see the enclosed announcement above.
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KC Cooper Obituary, Los Angeles Times:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?pid=177503315
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KC agreed to be interviewed for our “County Recurrent” blog back in 2012, as follows:
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| (L2R: Jack Daniels, the lifeguard; KC; and Bill O’Sullivan) |
"County Recurrent" Presents: An Interview with L.A. City Beach Lifeguard (Ret.), K.C. Cooper
http://countyrecurrent.blogspot.com/2012/05/county-recurrent-presents-interview.html
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More recently, this past Sunday, April 26, 2015, we were fortunate to catch up with KC when we strafed and crashed the L.A. City Lifeguard Reunion… which we then blogged the heck out of and posted numerous photos, as follows:
Strafing the L.A. City Lifeguard Reunion…
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| (KC at center in the photo above with his colleagues and peers from back in the day) |
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KC was also mentioned as a celebrated beach lifeguard and a bro (respected guard) with a host of other guards in the Legend at the end of the following blog post back in 2011:
http://countyrecurrent.blogspot.com/2011/10/no-lifeguard-rookie-swim-test-for-2011.html
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The Canyon "back in the day"
by Don Rohrer
... I had the extreme pleasure of working " the Canyon" in the 60s. Check out the the list of guards who we worked with. When I went up there from Playa del Rey, Big Bob Burns was the man in charge,one of the best lifeguards I ever worked with, by the way. We were the permanents there. When Bob left to open his restaurant, Jake's at the Shore in Playa del Rey, Ron Mc Coid became the second permanent at the Canyon, Now for the All Star recurrents --- Tim Mc Nulty Sr. & KC Cooper @ Tower 17 --- Peter Cole, Buzzy Trent, Dave Rochlin, Bill Bullis, with Hal Dunnigan & Eli Gauna in the mix at times. An incredible group, to say the least. Apologies to anyone I forgot, at my age I have a fairly good excuse.
The Canyon, in those days, was plugged by 10:30 most every day. That meant that to get any sort of emergency back up was pretty much out of the question. So, for the most part, the lifeguards, did it all. We life guarded, did most all of the medical aids and ran the beach. I made a deal with SM Fire, that if we had a severe medical situation, they would pick up the victim at the Beach Club parking lot. We only had to do that a few times.
I think that the photo in question might have been taken by Peter Gowland. Peter was a very well established photographer who lived just up "the Canyon".
The home in the background (up on the cliff above Chatauqua and PCH) seemed to come down the hill a little at a time. Before long though, the slide and the demo crews made it disappear. I remember sitting in 18 one off season day, when the entire cliff let go behind tower 16!!! There was a con block concession building adjacent to the tower. All of it was blown right into the ocean. PCH was closed for quite a while as a result of the slide.
What a classic time to lifeguard.
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*** Dateline: Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016; Photos and video from the memorial service in honor of KC:
*** Video Alert ! ***
KC's Bagpipes: The Video
https://youtu.be/MYOeSnhIhuI
Rest in peace, KC. We will miss you and yet we are forever grateful to have known you. God bless you. Our thoughts and prayers are with your family and friends.
Respectfully submitted,
Will Maguire, Editor
“County Recurrent” News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com
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