ARTIST FOCUSES ON FAMILY HISTORY.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Odds and ends from around the Valley:

Sometimes you think you know people, then one day you find out you've barely scratched the surface of their lives.

Take Bill Lambert, who for years thought he knew Rick Hyman.

Lambert, the director of government relations for United Teachers Los Angeles, walks by Hyman's desk every day, stopping in the lobby of the UTLA building to say good morning and good evening to the friendly security guard.

But a few months ago something on Hyman's desk caught Lambert's eye, and the Tarzana resident stopped to take a closer look.

``There were all these beautiful paintings of African-American families at the turn of the century and earlier, scattered across his desk,'' Lambert said. ``I asked Rick who painted them, and he said he did, from family photographs.

``I asked him how someone with that kind of talent wound up working in security,'' Lambert said.

Hyman smiled and repeated one of the world's great truths: ``A guy's got to eat,'' he said.

And that's what led to the security guard's unique artwork hanging in the rotunda of the state Capitol to commemorate Black History Month in February.

``Rick's art depicts an era in the history of the African-American community that isn't often told or understood,'' said Assemblyman Jerome Horton, D-Inglewood.

Lambert showed Horton the paintings and the lawmaker was so impressed he took them to the state's legislative Black Caucus, which chose to hang four of them in the rotunda.

``We decided to put the photographs with the paintings to authenticate the rich history of so many African-American families after slavery,'' Horton said.

The 53-year-old security guard has also written a book - ``My Texas Family'' - about his ancestors' lives, from indentured servitude to migration west in covered wagons.

On Valentine's Day, Hyman will be honored on the floor of the Assembly for his contribution to Black History Month. In the meantime, he's back at work.

Because a guy's got to eat.

``I'm ecstatic - still on cloud nine,'' said Hyman, who lives in Sherman Oaks. ``I've been painting since I was 3, and to have my work recognized like this in the state rotunda is pretty incredible.''

One of the San Fernando Valley's good guys - 82-year-old Cam Galeti - was honored last week by his co-workers for 50 years as a State Farm Insurance agent in the San Fernando Valley.

Galeti still comes into the office five mornings a week to take care of his longtime customers. He heads home at noon to work at the job he's most passionate about: making sure all the GIs he served with in Easy Company at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II receive the Bronze Star for bravery that Gen. George C. Marshall promised them.

Back in early 2004, I wrote a column on how Galeti, who received the Purple Heart for the wounds he suffered in that famous battle, never received the medal Marshall wanted his men to have.

In doing some checking, he learned most of the survivors of Easy Company hadn't received theirs, either. So Galeti's been on a campaign to get that medal to his old buddies before they die.

``I just got a letter Wednesday from the War Department saying they were sending me Dwight Butler's medal soon. That will make 10 buddies I've gotten the medals for,'' he said.

But it comes a year late for Butler, who died of cancer last year. So Galeti will make sure Butler's son in Tennessee gets the Bronze Star for bravery that his father earned at the Battle of the Bulge.

The good news is Galeti has no plans to retire anytime soon - either from his insurance gig or fighting for those medals.

In Thursday's column on local residents with Lou Gehrig's disease helping actor James Woods prepare for his role as an ALS patient on the TV show ``ER,'' I mistakenly referred to the Hard family of Thousand Oaks as the Hand family.

Also, they belong to the Greater Los Angeles chapter of The ALS Association, not the ALS Foundation. For more information on the association, call its toll-free national number, [phone].

And finally, the annual town hall meeting for residents living in LAPD's Devonshire Division area will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Shepherd of the Hills Church, 19700 Rinaldi St., Porter Ranch.

Topics for the evening include crime stats and trends, community concerns, a consent-decree update, and identity theft - followed by a question-and-answer period.

There will also be a talk by fraud prevention and security specialist R.J. Rebhan.

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Artists Ronda and Rick Hyman of Sherman Oaks display a photo of Rick's grandfather. Rick created a large oil painting from the photo. Four of Rick's paintings are now on display in the rotunda of the state Capitol to celebrate Black History Month.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer