T. Willard Hunter, 93

By David Allen on July 1, 2009 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) |

The elaborately named T. Willard Hunter, one of Claremont's biggest and grandest characters, died Monday night. (Tony Krickl of the Claremont Courier got it first.)

Hunter is best known for having started the Speakers Corner segment of the Fourth of July festivities in Memorial Park in which anyone is allotted 10 minutes to speak on any subject they choose. But he was also a frequent contributor to the Courier and the Bulletin, wrote a few books and spoke all over the country.

He also founded the annual Labor Day Walk from the San Gabriel Mission to Olvera Street in 1981, L.A.'s 200th birthday, to commemorate the city's founding. The nine-mile walk follows the path of the city's first settlers.

You can read more about him in the Bulletin on Thursday and in my column Friday. Here's a photo of him holding forth (Fourth?) at a previous Speakers Corner.

Know him, ever meet him or ever hear him? Post a comment below. He was one of a kind.

1 Comments

Bob House said:

As a former Claremonter, I was chagrined that I had never heard of Mr. Hunter before, so I did a little research and discovered I actually had an indirect connection. His son, Tom Hunter, was a year ahead of me at Claremont High School and we were acquaintances. Tom went on to a great career as a pastor, educator and "educational entertainer," which I discovered when I saw his obituary in the Courier last year -- http://www.claremont-courier.com/pages/obit062808.1.html

Very sad that they both died in such a short period and that Tom predeceased his father. It seems they were both remarkable people.

July 1, 2009 4:44 PM