Meet Esther and Elliott Porter
By Beverly J. Clark, Publicity Director
Meet Esther and Elliott Porter. Both are City of Los Angeles Retirees.
Esther
Esther started her career straight out of high school in 1965. She graduated from Roosevelt High School on a Friday and began working with the City the next Monday. Her first position was with Public Works/Engineering as a Clerk Typist. She transferred to the Personnel Dept.’s Records section and then was promoted to Sr. Clerk Typist in Municipal Arts. She spent most of her career working in Rec and Parks as a Sr. Clerk Typist and resigned as a secretary in 1988.
Esther competed in the Miss Los Angeles contest for City employees and was chosen as the runner-up to the winner in 1968. The winner and the runner-up were given the chance to ride on the City of Los Angeles Rose Parade float.
Elliott
Elliott began his City career a few months after high school in January 1959 as a Clerk Typist with the Dept. of Water and Power. He transferred to the Customer Service Division swing shift, which allowed him to go to college during the day. After five years, he was promoted to Sr. Clerk, and for the next two years he worked in the Central Underground Electrical Division as a timekeeper where he was able to acquire a college degree while taking night classes. With his degree, he qualified to take the test for Junior Administrative Assistant and was promoted back to Water and Power.
In 1967, he was promoted to Personnel Analyst in the Recruitment Division of the Personnel Dept. In 1970, he was appointed Personnel Director and collaborated with the mayor’s office to staff the new Model Cities Program. In 1973, he was promoted to the Human Relations Bureau as the Asst. Executive Director, and the new mayor at that time, Tom Bradley, appointed him as acting Executive Director. When the Bureau was eliminated in 1974, Elliott moved to Rec and Parks as the Asst. Personnel Director. Elliott says, “I knew I had found my home when I went there. I was later appointed Personnel Director in 1984 and retired in 1996 on my 55th birthday after more than 37 years of service.”
Esther and Elliott
As the EEO Coordinator at Rec and Parks, Elliott was responsible for sexual harassment and discrimination complaints and investigations. That is when he met Esther, who contacted him with a complaint.
Elliott recalls, “She had come out number one on the Golf Starter list. The supervisor who received the certification list and interviewed her explained that it was a job for men only. They never had a woman in the position, and they weren’t going to start now. I investigated her complaint, and the supervisor explained to me that they would never have women working at a golf course. I easily found that Esther had been discriminated against because she was a woman. The Golf Unit told my supervisor that they simply would never use the list and would hire part-timers only. The general manager refused to interfere, so Esther never got that job. Esther not getting the job was the best thing that ever happened to me because we’ve been together 40 years now.
“Even though I really liked Esther, I never asked her out. As the sexual harassment investigator, I was not going to ask a department employee out, even though we were both single. Esther had tickets given to her by the department and asked me if I would like to go to a show. Because of my policy not to date a department employee, I declined. However, persuaded by a friend to call her back, I called her and asked her out. She said ‘yes’ and the rest is history. After we married, we decided that it was time for Esther to concentrate on things she enjoyed.
“Esther is a special lady in my life. She’s a great life partner, a wonderful mother to her daughter Jennifer and a wonderful stepmother to my daughter Sheryl. I adopted her daughter Jennifer, and when asked which one of my daughters is adopted, I always say, ‘I forget.’
“Esther is a wonderful artist and can draw just about anything. She is an amazing craft person and won the Burbank Christmas home decorating contest in 2008.”
Family
“Let me tell you about our two daughters, Sheryl and Jennifer. Sheryl has always loved music and took flute lessons for many years. I play clarinet and our tradition has always been to play Christmas carol duets on Christmas morning. Sheryl plays in four different flute orchestras and plays the contrabass flute. I had never heard of that instrument. I was surprised to find out that there are many all-flute orchestras in existence made up of volunteers who love to play. I go to most of her concerts. You can look up ‘Song of the Angels Flute Orchestra’ on YouTube and see how outstanding they are.
“Jennifer is an award-winning choreographer. She was named dancer of the year at Glendale College. For the last 25 years she has worked as a show choir choreographer at John Burroughs High School in Burbank. Her work can be viewed on YouTube. Go to JBHS VMA Sound Sensations. The performances are amazing. She also choreographs the annual Broadway musical and has been named twice the Jerry Herman Award winner for best high school choreographer in Los Angeles.
“Jennifer has a wonderful husband and two amazing boys, Mitchell and Owen. They are our pride and joy in retirement.”
Looking back on your City career, what achievements are you most proud of?
“I’m proudest of my work in Affirmative Action,” Elliott says. “The work I did at the Model Cities Program and at the Human Relations Bureau made me proud. However, my biggest accomplishments were at Rec and Parks.
“The Los Angeles Zoo had 56 animal keeper positions, of which 55 were filled by men and only five were minorities. We put together a new training program that prepared anyone interested to qualify for the animal keeper exam. When I retired, 45 of the animal keepers were filled by women and three in key supervisory positions.
“Another significant achievement of mine was to increase the number of minorities filling positions. When I began with the department, African American recreation directors were limited to working in South L.A., and Hispanic recreation directors made up only four percent. By the time I retired, African Americans were working in all areas of the City, and 48 percent of recreation professionals were Hispanic. Jackie Tatum was the first woman and African American appointed General Manager, and David Gonzalez was appointed Asst. General Manager.”
What hobbies or activities do you enjoy in retirement?
“I worked for the community college district teaching supervisory classes in the evening for 25 years. When I Retired from the City, I continued to work as a consultant and provided training for 15 different City departments until 2008.
“I’m a big Dodgers and Lakers fan and I have a huge, autographed baseball collection.
“My hobby has always been puppets. I love entertaining children. My family and I presented a Christmas puppet show every Christmas Eve morning in the large conference room on the 13th floor of City Hall East. Employees traditionally brought their kids to work on the half-day scheduled for Christmas Eve. After the show I would put on my Santa Claus outfit and take pictures with all the kids.
“Esther and I attended the RLACEI Holiday Party in December as Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus”
Any words of wisdom for Retirees or those about to retire?
“I strongly recommend not burning your sick time before retirement. You will probably never get another check as big as the sick leave and vacation time check you will receive after you retire.”
Are you enjoying retirement?
Elliott says, “Just being with Esther provides me with the joy of living. Our lives now revolve around our family. We talk to our daughters every day. Since I’m 83 years old and Esther is 77, both daughters have become very protective and parental – annoyingly so
