Councilmember and Mayor Will Hyde, by his son, Will Thomas “Tom” Hyde, Jr.

Family visits were filled with discussions of politics. Frequent committee meetings were held at our home. Many conversations were about how to defeat a sports arena proposed for East H Street and I-805. My father was so proud of the development of the Chula Vista Marina that every time I came home, there was a tour of lower J Street. Dad insisted that the changes to the city benefit the citizens of Chula Vista, and that growth be reasonable, responsible, and life enhancing.

My father and I talked passionately of national politics, local issues, and our duties as citizens. I once challenged my Dad with my idealist views to give up his home in the suburbs and come live in Southeast San Diego with the “real people.” My Dad responded with the practicality of “real politics.” He advocated of aiming at attainable goals and making reasonable compromises. Though a life-long liberal, he knew that nothing major was accomplished without compromise. He was a living example of the concept “think globally and act locally.” Some discussions ended harmoniously, though my younger brother Jeff would probably say that most ended contentiously.

Looking back through 35 years of personal history, I realize that those arguments were lessons for both of us. As a high school teacher myself, I give my students advice that sounds a lot like the wisdom my Dad tried to instill in me decades ago. I am lucky to have lived with and learned from Mayor Hyde.

I still have a few “Hyde for Mayor” bumper stickers! My father’s last political action was standing at the corner of 4th and F streets with a picket sign in a successful campaign to convince a non-responsive City Council to save the park which now bears his name. I return to Chula Vista at least once a year to stroll through Will T. Hyde Friendship Park, check out the library, clean gravel off his statue and to “talk to Dad.” My dad was thrilled to be Grand Marshal of Chula Vista’s Yuletide Parade barely a month before he passed away. It was a fitting punctuation to a 45-year love affair between a man and his city.