BRIDGE GENERATION NEWS

BG Personality of the Month — Don Velez, 85, Rohnert Park CA:  I was a struggling college student in the 1950s when I first noticed Don.  He was the outstanding center of the “Fils” basketball team — one of Stockton’s many Filipino American youth clubs.  At 6’2″ he was not hard to miss as he towered over most of the players of California’s F/A basketball circuit — then in its heyday.  At Edison High School in Stockton, Don was better known for his athletic prowess in track and field.  He was virtually a one-person team — sprinting in low and high hurdles, leaping far in the broad jump, and propelling himself skyward in pole vault competition. He was a consistent medal winner in local and state competitions.  In recognition of his track and field achievements, Don was named Edison High School’s MVP in his senior year.

Don was born on October 16, 1937 in Stockton CA, the youngest of three children of Fay Russo, of Italian heritage and Joe Velez a fisherman from Carcar, Cebu, Philippines. Older siblings were Virginia and Joseph.  Half brother, Herman Palad, was from his mother’s second marriage.  Don’s formative years were spent on McDonald Island, one of numerous small islands of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta surrounding Stockton.  His first grade was spent in a one-room school where other grades were also taught.  Later, as a growing adolescent working in a packing house, he lugged hundred-pound boxes of produce.  When Don was a teenager the family moved to South Stockton where most Filipinos were confined in what then was racially segregated Stockton.  The family’s new home was  located within a half block neighborhood of Sutter/8th Streets where six other Filipino families also resided — the Laniohan’s, Samporna’s, Inosanto’s, Carido’s, Catanio’s, and Elmidolan’s.  One of Don’s Bridge Generation contemporaries, Dan Inosanto, later gained fame as a martial arts guru and Hollywood performer in action movies.  Another of his neighbors, Gloria (Carido) Nomura, served several terms on the Stockton City Council.  The Sutter/8th Street neighborhood was also where Don’s sister, Virginia, met and later married Nick Catanio.

Stockton Junior High and Edison Senior High Schools as well as Stockton Junior College, were great opportunities for Don to meet scores of other BG Filipino Americans, including his future wife, Mina Mercado, who he married in 1962.   Don and Mina were devoted  jazz aficionados; played tennis at the Filipino Tennis Club of Northern California; enjoyed golf and pickle ball; were regulars at Bridge Generation old timer reunions; and like most grandparents, spoiled their grandchildren. Sadly, Don lost Mina to cancer in 1995. Their 33 year marriage produced two children — Donald Velez, Jr., today a San Rafael attorney and Danielle Colorado, a Physical Therapist Assistant in San Diego.

Filipino/Japanese American, George Ramirez — a teammate on the “Fils” — became one of Don’s best friends.  After obtaining jobs in San Francisco, they organized the Bay Area “Bards” that also participated in the F/A basketball circuit. Following in the footsteps of his brother, Joseph, Don got a job as a printer with the San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle, where he worked for forty years until his retirement in 2003.  During the early 1990s my office was located only a few blocks away from Don’s, enabling us to periodically catch-up over lunch.

In 1999 Don married the former Veronica Davey. Early in their marriage, Veronica was instrumental in introducing him to a new interest.  Considering his artistic bent and knowing he was good with his hands, she bought a lathe for his birthday.  Don soon focused on woodworking and attended a craft club, which evolved into creating exquisite wooden bowls.  The bowls have been a best seller on Etsy — the online marketplace for handmade, custom, and unique gifts.  He also sells his wooden bowls at Northern California street fairs and craft shows.  I purchased several bowls as gifts. All received glowing reviews from recipients.

Creating the wooden bowls he calls woodjammin’ came at a convenient time for Don.  His years as an athlete had played havoc with his knees.  In retirement, no longer was he able to skillfully play basketball, golf, tennis, and pickle ball or engage in the track and field events of his younger years. But woodjammin’ is not his only interest.  When he is woodjammin’ in his home hobby shop, he likely will be listening to straight ahead jazz on his stereo. He also is a fan of Bay Area professional sports teams and faithfully follows the basketball Warriors, football 49ers, and baseball Giants.  Don’s observation, “Woodjammin’, jazz, sports, and family may comprise my many interests, but woodjammin’ is the only one that brings me spending money!  Happy Woodjammin’, Don!

Congratulation to:  Richard Gacer, of S&R Stockton Properties, for his continuing generosity in funding the annual High School Scholarship Program of Stockton’s FANHS chapter.

Happy June Birthday to:  Virginia (Velez) Catanio.

PINAKBET — NEWS ACROSS AMERICA

Filipino American Historical Tidbits:

On December 1, 1936 a labor contractor’s agent murdered Filipinos Virgil Duyungan, founder and president of Seattle’s Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union, and Aurelio Simon, union secretary………… During the 1968-69 San Francisco State College student strike, the Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE), led by Patrick Salaver, began the push for a specific “Filipino American” demographic category to be officially recognized by the state of California…………. In 1993 Bobby Scott was elected as the U.S. representative for Virginia’s 3rd congressional district, the first Filipino American voting member of Congress.  He has served continuously in the Congress as the lone  pinoy and is dean of the Virginia Congressional delegation.

Did You Know:

Actress Hailee Steinfeld‘s maternal grandfather was Ricardo Domasin from Panglao, Bohol, Philippines.  When she was only 13, she was nominated for an Oscar in 2010 for Best Supporting Actress in “True Grit”, starring John Wayne………… Readers of a certain age will be pleased to learn the Sesame Street TV show introduced T.J. as the first-ever Filipino Muppet on May 9.  ………. The new location of “Ludi’s Restaurant” in Seattle is two blocks north of its old location. The original spot, on Pike Street near the famous Farmer’s Market, earned a large following as a casual old-school diner, offering all-day breakfast and Filipino specialties like silog (garlic fried rice with eggs and cured meat), lumpia, and ube pancakes…………. Robyn Rodriguez, accomplished academician and former Director of the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at the University of California at Davis, is undertaking a new venture.  She and her husband, Joshua Vang, launched the grand opening of Reimagination Farm in Lake County on May 6.  The farm will incorporate intergenerational farming techniques that draw from their Filipino and Hmong ancestries as well as local Native American land knowledge.

Passings:

It is with great sadness to report the death of Edgardo Maravillas Calibjo of Fremont CA on April 8.  He and his Bridge Generation wife, the former Veronica “Roni” Roslinda, were fixtures on several BG old timer reunion organizing committees and regulars at Central Valley FANHS chapter events.  Born on August 10, 1941 in the notorious Tondo District of Manila, Eddy spent the first eight years of his life hiding his mother and younger sisters from Japanese invaders.  (His father was in America, having immigrated in 1928.) Upon their immigration to San Francisco in 1949 the family settled in the Filipino enclave of the Filmore.  He didn’t speak English in entering grade school but learned it quickly in four months.  He worked for 25 year as a pipe fitter in U.S. Navy shipyards at Hunters Point, San Francisco and Mare Island in Vallejo before retiring in 1991.  Eddy and Roni married in 1961, a marriage that produced four boys.  In addition to their affiliation with  FANHS, they were active members of the Loonanon Pioneers of America.

MUSINGS

(From White Supremacy in America, (to) It has Always been about People of Color, (to) equitable Justice for People of Color, (to) Multi-racial  Democracy Weakened, (to) Political/Gun Violence) Part XXXV:

The number of mass shootings increased precipitously since my last blog — adding to America’s unenviable record of more mass shootings than days in 2023.  According to Gun Violence Archive, 576 young persons were killed or injured in mass shootings so far in 2023.

Two young persons were shot by quick-triggered white senior citizens in a space of three days in April.  In Kansas City MO, black teenager Ralph Yarl, 16, on his way to pick up his two younger brothers from a play date, mistakenly went to the address of white resident, Andrew Lester, 85.  When he rang the doorbell he was immediately shot twice and wounded by Lester.  In the second incident — high school student  Kaylin Gillis of Hebron NY was fatally shot by homeowner Kevin Monahan, 65, after the car in which she was a passenger mistakenly turned into the winding driveway leading to Monahan’s home.  Authorities reported there was no apparent reason for the homeowner to be threatened.  The incidents sparked a national discussion on gun violence and the proliferation of “stand your ground” state laws that state a  person can use force as a means of self-defense if they reasonably believe the force is immediately necessary to protect them against another’s use or attempted use of force.  (To be continued.)

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