Hill is an attorney and a philanthropy consultant. She lives in Point Loma.
Not a day goes by that I don’t thank my dad for moving to San Diego.
He was a big thinker, brilliant and brave — especially when he decided to move from Ohio to the West Coast.
Willis Lipscomb was born in the middle of a family of nine children. In high school, he worked a full shift after school to the family in Kent, Ohio, and continued to Kent State University to study electrical engineering
An innately cultured person, he loved classical music and took voice lessons. He eventually tried out for the Akron Men’s Chorale where he met my mother, who at age 16 had become the chorale’s piano accompanist. They married in 1936 when my dad was 25 and my mother was 19. For their honeymoon, they drove to Niagara Falls and New York City, the farthest either had been from Ohio.
Their first son was born in 1938 and construction of a new house on two lots in Kent began in 1939. The home featured a bay window for the piano, and there were plans to expand the house to a second lot.
However, the outbreak of World War ll changed everyone’s plans, and my parents realized that my dad’s career opportunities were on the West Coast. In 1942, at age 31, he drove to Seattle for an interview, accepted a job offer and returned to Kent to prepare for the move. My parents packed their 1941 Hudson and, with their 4-year-old son and faith in the future even though the world was at war, they headed west.
Because gasoline would soon be rationed and travel curtailed, they decided to take the southern route to visit college friends in San Diego. My dad learned that Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp. (later Convair) was hiring thousands of workers to build B-24 Liberator bombers at the plant on Pacific Highway, which was entirely camouflaged. Consolidated Vultee, desperate for my dad’s electrical engineering skills, offered a position at “twice whatever they are going to pay you in Seattle.”
My parents decided to stay and were thrilled to find a house in Point Loma with a view of the Pacific Ocean. My dad became the professional tenor soloist for several Downtown church congregations. Many of their neighbors were also new to San Diego, and became lifelong friends.
After the war ended, my dad needed to work for a consulting electrical engineering firm for two years to become licensed. He commuted to Los Angeles every week and in 1948 established W.L. Lipscomb Consulting Electrical Engineering, the first consulting electrical engineering firm in San Diego. His office on the third floor of the Spreckels Building on Broadway wrapped around the corner and had a view of the building where The San Diego Union-Tribune was located until 1973.
During the post-World War II baby boom, my parents had two more children — a second son and then a daughter — me! San Diego’s economy also boomed, and my dad was busy providing electrical designs for new schools and colleges, the Education Center on Normal Street, churches, homes, a new Chevrolet showroom Downtown (City Chevrolet was the first commercial building in San Diego with fluorescent lighting), San Diego County Hospital, Miramar Airport and major projects for the San Diego Unified Port District, such as Terminal 1 of Lindbergh Field when it moved from Pacific Highway to Harbor Drive in 1967. Over the years, he invented a variety of designs for electrical and other equipment and obtained 42 U.S. patents.
Local architects, such as Homer Delawie, referred to my dad as “the dean of electrical engineering.”
Our home was filled with music, and family recitals included my mother accompanying my dad, singing songs such as “Because of You” and “Roses of Picardy.” The San Diego Opera’s annual family Christmas dinner dance was magical, including a ride across the bay on the ferry, my dad in his tuxedo, and a special father-daughter dance in the ballroom at the Hotel Del Coronado.
Many years later, in 1981, Dad would receive an award from the National Electrical Contractors Association in the Hotel Del Coronado ballroom. He was honored for “Outstanding Contributions to the Electrical Industry.” His firm continued for 45 years in the Spreckels Building — its longest-term tenant.
My dad was kind, thoughtful and generous, always looking out for others — most of all, his family. His philosophy was, “You can accomplish anything you put your mind to.” He provided us with security, education and a bright future, and I will be forever in awe of his confidence, determination and devotion. For my dad, anything was possible.
