Listening to Joe Eskin was a lesson in history and geography. His Russian father was stationed in Manchuria in 1914, where Joe was born into a family of eight, two months before WWI. Before his second birthday, polio left him with a lame leg and decreased hearing affecting his speech. However, Joe was not deterred...he had spirit and a sharp mind. With his family, he lived in Siberia and Harbin, China - while civil wars raged throughout Europe.

In 1929, at fifteen, Joe’s father took him to see a physician in Berlin. Joe’s memory of medical help is overshadowed by a meeting he attended with his father. The speaker with a mustache was very animated and Joe thought it was Charlie Chaplain ... what a surprise to learn it was Hitler.

Joe attended a Russian Institute studying economics and law. With encouragement from his best friend, Georgia, he maximized his physical abilities. Times were tough in the 1930’s. Japan invaded Manchuria, occupied his city of Harbin and held Joe in a police station for interrogation because they thought he might be an American spy. On the second day, Joe escaped to freedom in Peking, China, where he lived for three years. Weather was frigid; there was little food, no education and many deaths, including Georgia and Joe’s oldest brother. Joe says it was, “Just like the Wild West.” He observed Japanese experimentation with torpedoes and told his father Japan was planning war with the United States. His father dismissed that idea and sent Joe to the United States for a better life. Joe landed in San Francisco in 1940 - and as he predicted - Japan attacked the United States in 1941.

Fortitude and engineering “know-how” served Joe well. He came to Long Beach in 1954, met and married Sue, built a home and worked at Honeywell until he retired in 1977. Joe passed away peacefully at home in June 2006, but his legacy lives on.

CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY Joe and Sue were married happily for 34 years before Sue died. Since they had no children of their own, Joe decided to leave their legacy at Miller Children’s Hospital (MCH) to benefit children. Through the MMCF, he funded several Charitable Gift Annuities, which provide him with a guaranteed income during his lifetime. Based upon age, he received 11 percent income annually with 70 percent of it income tax-free, for the remainder of his life. If you would like to learn more about a CRT that pays you income for life, contact Julie Heggeness, JD, at 562.933.1669, jheggeness@memorialcare.org or Jim Normandin, MMCF President, at 562.933.1667, jnormandin@memorialcare.org.