The idea of a cool summer escape from a hot climate is not exclusive to Arizonians who spend the summer months in Coronado. Coronado resident Claudette Harshberger, born in Apopka, Florida and raised in Miami recalls spending cooler summers in New York. Her father was a contractor and her mother was a teacher so they would head home to the farmlands of New York at the end of the school year and join family in the vast open space where roots remain. “So, we would go every summer, to New York, where it was nice and cool and have so much fun being there with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. So we never stayed in Miami in the summertime.” As a Coronadan since 1972 she found the area irresistible upon her first visit and relates to a love of the area and all that draws others here to beat the heat.
Survived by her husband Bob Harshberger (1934-2013) the couple first discovered the crown city in 1965, when Bob attended instrument training upon completion of a Masters degree from post-graduate school in Monterey Bay, CA. His instructor for the training school was Bob Pearson who is still a long time resident. Bob taught aeronautical engineering at the Naval Academy. Shortly after screening for and becoming Commander he received orders to take a squadron in Japan. Thinking he was receiving orders to Coronado he purchased a home in San Diego for his family to live. Claudette and their four children, Mary Ellen, Becky, Bob Jr. and Claudine lived in the home while he was deployed. She acquired a sum of money and contacted their investment advisor, a classmate of Bob’s, to put the
money in a retirement fund or other account. He knew how much she wanted to be on the island so he advised, “Don’t send me the money until you’ve gone to Coronado.” She took his advice, contacted a local real estate agent and found the home at 1217 Alameda where she lives today. She purchased the home in October of 1972, before Bob had a chance to see it in person. The home was not to his liking. After driving his antique, Austin car across country to join his family, his first comment upon seeing it was, “I don’t like it, it only has a one-car garage.”
Built in 1938 and sold by the original owners in 1941 to Captain Barry and his wheelchair bound wife, the house had been on the market for 6 months to a year when Claudette walked through for the first time. “Captain Barry was a very tall man. All of the door handles…are six inches higher than normal door handles. It had venetian blinds with double drapes and when you walked in this house, it was so dark. It didn’t show well. I looked at it and I just loved it. I loved the idea of being close to the ocean and I had been raised in a home with lots of acreage in Miami, and I loved the garden…loved the idea of a garden and so did the children. They came and said, ‘we don’t care if we have to all live in one room’.” The youngest, Claudine, was two when they first moved in, could not reach the handles to open the doors in the house, like she could in their San Diego home. “It was another six months before she could reach the door handles to open them here in this house.” Despite the four bedroom, three bathroom home with a butlers kitchen, butler’s quarters, Italian nero marble fireplace, original wood floors, silver sconces and 9000 sq ft lot, one block from the beach, the car lover began warming toward the home, as he realized the length of the driveway held five cars as the kids began driving. Also, when moving an existing wall to the property line, the Harshberger’s unearthed a rich piece of history by discovering papers about warnings on the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor and the possibility of Japanese landing on Coronado beach. They continued renovations, and a few short years later Bob claimed, “I’m glad you bought the house.”
The couple met in 1956 when Claudette was attending Florida State University (FSU) and Bob was at the Naval Academy. Of FSU, she says, “I loved it. It had the leaves that fell, it had spring flowers that we don’t have and blooming trees so, I really enjoyed it. It was a gorgeous campus and it was entirely different than Miami.” One of her college friends and roommates said, “I’m gonna go to June Week at the Naval Academy. Anyone want to go? There are lots of guys who wanna date.” So, my roommate and I said, “’We’ll go’, and the five of us drove up to meet blind dates for June Week.” She met a young man, dated him and became “pinned”. “I graduated in 1957, went to June Week again…and I just told my mother, ‘I’ve only seen him on the weekends. I just think I should go and teach there, and it was scandalous because people didn’t do that, although I met several women who did, who became my good friends. In April I was up for Easter week, applied and became a teacher in Glen Burnie, MD. My mother went with me to find an apartment and I just told the school board I wanted to have any single, women teachers that needed a place to stay. I was wanting to split an apartment.’” The first weekend that the men were back at the Academy, Claudette and her new roommate hosted boyfriends and their roommates over for dinner. Bob was the roommate of her friend Roberta’s fiancé. Bob attended the dinner and said, “I hope something happens (about her being pinned to someone) because I want to date her.” The rest is history.
Their first date was to go and buy him a car. At that time, all the midshipmen were buying cars because they could keep them on the grounds. “So, we bought a car in the morning, went to the basketball game and then met Sammy and Roberta and had dinner that night. He is a great dancer and singer. I just really enjoyed him.”
Once married and living in Coronado, both were active with family, careers and community as they flourished in their little slice of heaven. Bob retired from the military in 1979 and worked in intelligence, computers and communication for West Coast Atlantic Analysis and then Logicon (Northrop Grumen). Claudette ran a Girl Scout troop of 60 girls, with a co-leader, the only troop on the island. She sewed for people, was a substitute teacher and taught religious education (CCD) for Sacred Heart Church where all the kids attended school, later going on to Uni and then Marion Catholic High School. Claudine is the only one of the kids to graduate from Coronado High School. Additionally, Claudette worked for ten years at Food Maker Corporation as a Sensory Analyst. She prepared food for TV shows. She went on to teach a Consumer Education class for 10 years for the community college, in the parish hall at Blessed Sacrament school. Her job responsibilities included making lunch for the class in the full commercial kitchen and teaching from 8:00-2:00. “It was very creative in how we did things. We had lots of good times and I got them out of the neighborhood.” When the class disbanded, the sentiment from her boss was, “Who is going to love these people like you love them?”
Full of love she is, from the moment you glimpse her bright eyes and smile, to the warm hug and conversation in answering questions and sharing her story. Insisting that reference be made to her long time neighbors, Rita McCabe, who “When we moved in immediately
brought coffee down to us, a Navy wife, and still our neighbor.” Dr. Chris Malloch moved in to the home next door in June of 1972, 6 months prior to the Harshbergers and still remains. As do the Stanleys, on the other side. After traveling around much of the world with Bob before his passing, she now enjoys her amazing garden, proximity to the ocean, cherished home and blessed community.
