When Mike Moses left us last Tuesday, he did so with his wife, Pat, at his side. He died in his bed, in his room, in the Hawaiian-plantation-style house he had designed and built himself at the top of Rincon Mountain, with a window that gave him a view of the lineup at Rincon every morning. His home was surrounded by the organically certified avocados that he and Pat nurtured. As he had told Pat, “All I want to do is plant things and watch them grow.” In the far too brief 59 years Mike was here, he did a few other things, as well.
Mike had a lifelong love of the water. He started competitive swimming at the age of 10. He attended Venice High School and was a star swimmer there and at Santa Monica College, where he was an All-American under legendary Coach John Joseph. He also swam at the NCAA level at Cal State Northridge.
Mike began lifeguarding for Los Angeles County in 1977. He passed the rigorous United States Lifeguarding Association (USLA) test for an astonishing 38 years in a row. In 1978, Mike was one of three guards honored for Rescue of the Year for performing a record-breaking 48 rescues at Malibu during a single shift! In 1984, he was named Lifeguard of the Year. He loved working the northern beaches of Malibu, Point Dume, Nicholas Canyon, and especially Zuma. On his last trip to the Big Island, Mike and his daughter Shauna were swimming when he came to the aid of a woman who was six months pregnant and drowning offshore. He was in Hawai’i convalescing from chemotherapy.
