August 23, 1958

We’re parked outside the home at 322 Arbolada Drive, Arcadia. It’s early morning and everything is quiet. Nice place, isn’t it? Built in 1951. You’d never guess, but one spring day a few years ago, a college girl up the street killed herself over her boyfriend while her parents were on vacation. Very sad.

Ready? Let’s go. Keep your hands in your pockets. Don’t touch anything and don’t move anything.

They’re over here in the swimming pool. In a few hours, a man from the maintenance company is going to find them.

The man floating face-down is named is Reginald J. Koster. He’s 69 years old,* a retired businessman. Reginald was staying here by himself while his daughter and son-in-law were on a trip to Washington, D.C. According to an in-law, he was not a good swimmer.

The woman is Lucille Marceline Barry, 43, an auditor for Manor Market, 2526 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena.  She lived at 101 S. Fremont in Alhambra with her mother, who says Lucille wasn’t a good swimmer.

Apparently they met for drinks at Eaton’s restaurant, 1150 W.  Colorado Blvd., Arcadia. That’s the one with the windmill on the roof.

Witnesses say Reginald and Lucille had a few cocktails and took a cab back here. Reginald changed into his trunks in
one room and Lucille changed into a swimsuit in another room. Here’s their cocktail glasses: empty.

Police will figure they drowned when one of them began having trouble in the deep end and the other tried to help.

Reginald was widowed or divorced and survived by three married daughters. He might have been a lab assistant to a New York inventor named Fred E. Bright, or maybe that was another Reginald J. Koster. Judging by California death records, Lucille had never been married. The Times wrote about several women named Lucille Barry, but it’s unclear whether any of them were the same woman. One of them was a model who posed for pictures promoting the County Fair. We better get going, the pool man will be here soon.* According to California death records.