Raymond Aston, E.A.

Raymond Aston moved to the United States from Smethwick, England (suburb of Birmingham, England) via Toronto in 1959. While in England, Raymond worked for England's version of the IRS. In the late 60's Raymond introduced to the United States flexible Aluminum Conduit which was manufactured on Date St. and Orange Ave. in Alhambra. The very first house built in the United States with aluminum flexible conduit was on North 5th Street in Alhambra. Before his introduction of aluminum it was made with steel. The company eventually became Alflex Corporation. The first major contract was the original high rise buildings in Century City.

Shortly after selling the conduit business he started Alhambra Tax Center with his wife Jean Aston on 4th & Main St, which is currently Denny's. In the 70's he started a free service for Seniors at the Alhambra Library, which eventually moved to the Joslyn Center at Story Park. The volunteer service ended up getting too big and he passed it on to the American Red Cross to manage and find more volunteers. Eventually that got too big and the AARP took it over and the program became the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) which is available nationwide. Due to redevelopment Raymond moved the office to it's currently location 1009 E Main, across from Bun & Burger and the Thrift Shop.

50 years of tax preparation, Raymond has done tax returns for a Nobel Prize Winner, $1,000,000.00 Lottery Winner, Award Winning Screen Writer and Award Winning Music Group. He has done many types of tax returns including individual, corporate, or trust. He help fight the IRS to get a client almost $150,000.00 inheritance tax refund.

Unfortunately Raymond passed away in January 2021, leaving the business in the hands of Jean, Peter & Michael Aston.