Growing up in Lansing Michigan during the 1930 depression era, my mother taught me the “art of giving back” through community service.  Money was desperately needed by the Red Cross, T.B., Hospitals and March of dimes.  Collecting donations was done by ladies going door to door in their neighborhood asking for contributions.  Since my mother knew everyone, this event was also a social opportunity. As a child, tagging along, I learned what a community can do together.

My home was filled with classical music, including Opera, played on a wind-up RCA phonograph or from the radio.  At Michigan State University, USC and Columbia College, courses in Music History deepened my knowledge and love of music.  In 1949, I was introduced to the love of my life Stan Kallis who was getting his master’s degree at UCLA.  Following a two-year courtship, I finally wore him down and he married me.  Together we dove further into music by becoming season ticket holders to The LA Philharmonic which became a regular part of our cultural/social calendar.  Stan had become a television producer and writer.  This introduced me to Hollywood glamour as well as gave me the opportunity to act in many TV shows such as Mission Impossible, Columbo, Police Story, etc.

As our family of 5 daughters blossomed, we decided the Brentwood community should be the place to establish roots. We lived on the same lot (with many expansions up, down & sideways) for 62 years. I quickly joined various women’s organizations such as: The Friday Morning Club (My Grandmother was one of the early founders-1910), volunteering at the Los Angeles County Psychiatric Hospital and joining The  Assistance League of Southern California (1958). Their motto was “All for Service and Service for All.” The Assistance League had various auxiliaries.  Of particular interest to me was “The Nine O’clock Players”, a group of women who performed children’s plays, raising an enormous amount of money each year for disadvantaged children who were bussed in free of charge from their schools. Most of these children had never been to a live production. They were thrilled. We were thrilled. Lucetta is 95 years old and living in Laguna Beach, California.