There, he oversaw a staff of 125 employees including his former CalCo employee, Lillian Ball, who became a Malibu Potteries tile glazer, then his personal assistant and secretary;[9] tile designers William Handley, Inez Garnet Johnson Von Hake,[22] and Donald Prouty;[23][24] clayman and presser Glen Dawson,[25] secretary Dorothy Prouty,[24] and others.
Malibu tile made its way into the Roosevelt Hotel,[26] Los Angeles City Hall,[23][26] the Geffen Playhouse (then the Masonic Affiliates Club), the Mayan Theater, Dana Junior High School in San Pedro,[32] the Adamson House, and countless private homes.
Malibu Potteries ceased to be in 1932 due to the intersection of a major kiln fire which destroyed the entirety of the factory, the Great Depression, and its owner, May Rindge's debt.
He then gained a full-time position with Emsco Refractories, located at 8661 Dorothy Ave. in South Gate, whose specialty was aircraft manufacture "but had a subsidiary business producing very high temperature-resistant ceramic tiles"[12] as well as bricks.
He had forgotten to turn on the exhaust fan in the lab and was unaware of an uncorked beaker of cyanide on a workbench, its odorless vapors already permeating the room.
His wife, Mary, continued to live in the home they built together for the family in South Gate until 1983, when she shifted to residential care in Orange County, California.