05/28/2026
We would like to thank Skip Nevell '52 for submitting this Article for the Spring Hami Bugle Magazine. Unfortunately between editing and production a part of the Article was cut out and we at the Bugle did not notice . We are reposting the article for an even bigger audience to enjoy.
Harlan Barbanell ‘52
By Skip Nevell
In every life, there are defining moments, impressions, and meetings that linger in memory.
One of those singular moments, early in my life, was realizing that my home room at Louis Pasteur Junior High School would never win the annual school paper drive. That paper drive was important. It bestowed a certain cache upon all those who were fortunate enough to be on the winning team. I remember saving the newspaper we received at home daily all year long and canvassing the area for papers that our neighbors had saved and were willing to contribute. My classmates made similar efforts, but every year, infallibly, it was all for naught, and the reason was simple: Harlan Barbanell.
To clarify, Harlan wasn’t simple; he was, like everyone else, a complicated person. He was tall, handsome, friendly, and could hit the ball a mile, but more importantly, at that time, his father was affiliated with the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper. Every year, when the paper drive was underway, a huge truck, loaded to the brim, bearing the Examiner logo prominently, would back into the space where Harlan’s home room papers were being collected and deliver tons of paper, a mountain of paper we could never possibly match. From the outset, it was a foregone conclusion. The lesson was simple but important: You have to learn to live with disappointment.
There was more to come, and it was certainly not disappointing. When we were at Hamilton together, class of 1952, the Olympians, Harlan had the best after-school job in town. He was the engineer of the kiddie train at Beverly Park, the amusement center at Beverly and La Cienega. We watched from the street in great envy as he
guided his trainload of tots around the track and was paid for it, 50 cents per hour. When not driving the train, he ran the merry-go-round. Fabulous!!
But that was only the beginning. Clearly very bright, he did not disappoint. After graduation from Hamilton, Bachelor, Master, and ED degrees followed in short order, all capped by a storied 40-year career with the LAUSD,
While at LAUSD, Harlan was responsible for an innovative 24-hour-per-day adult education program that ultimately enrolled more than 10,000 students. He raised one million dollars for the United Way and for the Red Cross, 100 units of blood. He represented LAUSD at a reception for Nancy Reagan attended by His Royal Highness, Prince Philip. Personally, he squired Roxie Campanella, widow of Brooklyn Dodger great Roy Campanella, to
numerous Dodger games and events. His rise with LAUSD began at Culver High, followed by a stint at Fremont and then as acting principal of Manual Arts. Following numerous other residences, he became the LAUSD Director of Vocational Education in 1992, from which post he retired in 1996. He is a U.S. Army and Air Force veteran, honorably discharged in 1957 and recalled for service by the Air Force during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
In his spare time, Harlan is the resident expert and memorialist for the long-gone but not forgotten Triple A Pacific Coast League. He can tell you the names of all the prominent players for the Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Angels, and numerous other teams in the PCL. He once asked me, in a trivia pursuit discussion, which I often enjoyed with him, the name of the Portland Beaver second baseman who, in the off-season, was a violinist with the Portland
Symphony Orchestra. I, of course, did not know. He, of course, did (answer to follow).
Harlan once operated a driver education course for traffic violators. My wife, Grace, L.A. University HS, 1958, guilty as charged and unaware of Harlan’s identity, was quite surprised when, upon her appearance in his class, she was asked, “So tell me, Mrs. Nevell, how is Skip doing these days?”
Harlan can tell you the make, color, cost, and model of every car he ever owned, lots, the name of every girl he ever dated, many, and the evolution of almost every word in the English language. At age 90, he still conducts dispute resolution hearings on behalf of the United States Postal Service.
Harlan enjoys a most happy marriage of 54 years with his lovely wife, Laurilyn, is the grateful beneficiary of his son
Jason’s affiliation with a prominent insurance law firm, and is a doting grandfather.
A thoroughly engaging guy, great fun to be with, he is a graduate of whom Hamilton can be justly proud, and for
an encore, he provided for all of us a Trivial Pursuit question that wins a b**r in any bar in town, Eddie Basinsky.
