About Us:
Estella Naylor-van Hoorn
Estella Naylor-van Hoorn, a 50-year resident of San Pedro, California and world traveler extraordinaire was born May 23, 1931 in the New Mexico mining town of Santa Rita on May 23, 1931, the daughter of Josephine and Larry Gonzales. She was named and baptized Estela, but mistakenly registered as Estella. The family moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s, where she graduated from Manual Arts High School in 1949, and later graduated with honors from Immaculate Heart College, making her the first in her family to receive a university education, and she then helped her sister Laura to become the second!
Estella originally worked for an aviation magazine, and toyed with the idea of taking flying lessons. She traveled by commercial air instead in the summer of 1957, when she toured Europe in a Fiat convertible with her good friend Margaret Moran, visiting a number of countries, befriending many people on the way.
She met her first husband, Geoffrey Naylor, a native of Manchester in Britain, in 1960. They settled in San Pedro, where they raised their three children: Mary, Catherine (Katy) and Michael. When Geoffrey died of cancer in 1972, Estella, now a young widow with three children to provide for, pioneered being an Avon Lady calling on ships docked in the Los Angeles/Long Beach harbor selling Avon products. She was very successful, winning many sales awards throughout the 1970s. In 1978 she became president of Standard and Hall Ship Supply, Inc., a business she owned and operated with Gus van Hoorn, a longtime friend and admirer whom she married in 1999. Together they enjoyed friends and family and traveling wide and far: on this continent, in Europe and in Asia. Estella will be remembered for her grace, intelligence and kindness, and for the importance she placed on the many quality relationships she nurtured throughout her life.
Estella was a voracious reader, enjoying classics from “Don Quixote” to “Dr. Zhivago”, as well as modern-day literature such as “Water for Elephants,” and for instance, the wide ranging stories of Alexander McCall Smith. She recalled a childhood spent, often ill with asthma, holed up in bed, but always with a book. As busy as she was being a mother and business owner, she was always known to find time to devour many books, often several a month. That appetite for a wide range of subjects and authors probably further nurtured Estella’s already inherent tolerance for people’s foibles, her people skills and non-judgemental gentleness and diplomacy. Maybe her prime virtue and the greatest gift to those she came into contact with, was her ability to listen to people, to really patiently listen. And reading… isn’t reading a form of listening attentively?
Estella would be extremely pleased to know that a student from her alma mater high school, Manual Arts, who shares a love for reading, will receive a scholarship in her name.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT: The family and friends of Estella Naylor-van Hoorn would like to share her love of reading and writing with Manual Art students who have similar literary passions, with hopes to further their education and career aspirations.