Blog 12: Chance Encounters

Life changing moments, that is what we are all made of. I have a few I would like to share, maybe I have already. This one though is truly a generational journey. After my junior year, I applied for and got a job as a maid at La Costa. Most of the time it was a hit and miss assignment when it came to whose condo I would be cleaning. One day I received a call from the head maid, and was told that one of their guests requested that I be the only person sent to clean their condo. That person was none other than William Powell, a well renown actor from days past from the Thin Man Series.   I am thinking he was 72, ironically my age now when I met him in 1965. 

 

I went to clean the condo once a week as I recall.  He liked to share many stories with me about Carol Lombard. He said I reminded him of her. Although they were divorced I could tell he still loved her decades later. She married Clark Gable after that, and summarily died in a plane crash.

His current wife at the time, several years younger that he, was often off playing golf.  I remember meeting her a couple of times. 

We formed an odd relationship based on our conversations, mostly about his glamorous past.  As I went about cleaning, he would follow me.  It seemed perhaps that his stories seemed fresh somehow with a new audience.   I was only there for the summer, and he said he wanted to send me to college. Although that never transpired,  it was a kind thought.  He gave me a very gracious and generous tip on the last day.   I won’t ever forget that gesture or him. It was a chance encounter that changed my life. 

 

William Powell & Carol Lombard