Pomona neighborhood recognizes long-time resident

The residents of the 400 block of West Columbia Avenue are an ethnically diverse, close-knit group who make a point to look out for one another.

Someone who everyone makes a point of looking out for is Audrey Heesen, and this week they gave here a surprise belated birthday party to mark her 90th birthday and recognize her as the resident who has lived there the longest.

Heesen has lived in her West Columbia Avenue home for 62 years.

Her ties to the neighborhood run deep. George Streit, Heesen's father, was a general contractor who cleared the orange grove that once occupied the area and built the houses that make up the neighborhood, Heesen said.

Heesen and her husband, a World War II veteran, were the second family to move into the new neighborhood.

"It was all young vets and their young wives," Heesen recalled.

Shortly after, the couples began having children adding to the vibrancy of the neighborhood.

The street Heesen lives on has a number of mature trees.

"I moved in when they were just twigs," she said.

Heesen is a beloved member of the neighborhood as well as the person West Columbia residents go to when they have a question about something on their street, said Kim Johnson, Heesen's neighbor and the street's Neighborhood Watch captain.

Heesen said with the passing of time some of her original neighbors moved away or died.

"As I got older everybody thought I should move to a condo or an apartment or Hillcrest," she said, referring to the retirement community in La Verne.

But Heesen, who is very active and takes part in a water aerobics class and hosts a weekly Bible study group in her home, isn't planning on leaving her home any time soon.

"I'll move when I break a hip," she said.

As part of the party residents organized for Heesen they invited Mayor Elliott Rothman who presented her with a certificate, along with members of the Pomona Police Department's crime prevention unit and Mickey Gallivan, president of the Historical Society of Pomona Valley.

Gallivan presented her with a throw depicting prominent historic buildings within the city.