Lee Mather Co., Realtors Celebrating 60 Years With Grand Reunion

ALL CURRENT AND PAST EMPLOYEES INVITED TO ATTEND REUNION, SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, CORONADO YACHT CLUB

   You don't operate a business for 60 years without making a few friends along the way. And that’s just what Lee Mather Co., Realtors is celebrating this August – their 60th year in business, and all the friends they’ve made along the way.

   The veteran Realtor is inviting all former and current employees of LMCo to a party, and asking everyone to send in their memories, stories, photos and anecdotes gathered along the way. A large celebration will take place involving all past and current LMCo employees, Saturday, August 10, at the Coronado Yacht Club.

   “When Lee founded this company 60 years ago,” said Debbie Riddle, partner at LMCo, and stepdaughter of Lee Mather, “he had big plans. He signed a 25-year lease on the building, put his name up in four-foot letters, and began to build a real estate dynasty that included six offices in the greater San Diego area, escrow, 2nd trust deed loans, insurance … it goes on and on.

   “What’s really interesting,” added Riddle, “is that many of the other Realtors in Coronado got their start with Lee.”

   Now, 60 years later, the legacy of Lee Mather continues. “We’re going to celebrate our 60th year by asking former employees and agents to share their memories of working for Lee over six decades, when Coronado was a smaller, slower moving place,” said Mike Herlihy, co-owner of the company, who began working for Lee in 1976. “We’re asking people to send in their memories, and old photos, so we can build a fitting tribute to Lee and 60 years of business in Coronado.”

   Those “early days” Herlihy refers to were the days when you just couldn’t be in a hurry in Coronado, no matter who you were, or how important your appointment. The ferryboats carried you and your car across the bay to San Diego (the Coronado Bridge wasn’t built until 1969), and that was a half hour process in the best of times, depending on traffic and time of day.

   The condos along the beach weren’t there, and the Coronado Cays was then nothing but a junkyard of old cars and trash heaps; there were no one-way streets, no stoplights, and pedestrians had right-of-way.

   “Indeed, that was a special time in Coronado,” remembered Lee Mather, now 95. “We’d help a Navy family buy a home, manage it for them when they transferred out, sell it for them when they came back and needed a larger residence.

   “But there were also pretty exciting development opportunities that I was proud to broker: The acquisition of the Safeway property (now Vons); the development of what is now the 4th & G Condos; the acquisition and development of The Commodore,” recalled the veteran Realtor.

   “I met my wife, Phyllis, while sitting an open house in the model for Country Club Estates in 1957,” said Lee. “That worked out pretty well. I sold her 936 Adella Avenue for $26,500. We closed escrow on the house in 1957 and closed escrow on the marriage in 1958!” he said with a twinkle in his eye and that famous Lee Mather smile.

   The Lee Mather Co., Realtors 60th Reunion will take place Saturday, August 10, from 4-7 p.m. at the Coronado Yacht Club. Anyone who ever worked at LMCo is invited to attend. Judging by the attendance at Lee Mather’s recent 95th birthday party, there will be plenty of veteran Realtors in attendance.

   For more information, to RSVP, or to submit your memories of working for Lee Mather, call (619) 518-7506, or write Debbie@LeeMather.com. Lee Mather Co., Realtors is located at 944 Orange Avenue. Visit them at www.LeeMather.com.

   This article produced by Joe Ditler and Part-Time PR, serving Coronado's public relations needs with an eye for Coronado history. For more information contact josephditler@san.rr.com or call (619) 435-0767.