This year whizzed by, but not without leaving impressions of
events, people and progress. Together we saw Santa Teresa Boulevard
reborn, we watched the demolition of the downtown area and after
months of waiting, it was finally resurrected.
This year whizzed by, but not without leaving impressions of events, people and progress. Together we saw Santa Teresa Boulevard reborn, we watched the demolition of the downtown area and after months of waiting, it was finally resurrected. A new sports center was constructed on the south end of town. And while new homes were being built, sadly, others burned down. Neighbors rallied to support the families on Teal Court and Crawford Drive when their homes were destroyed and I was personally saddened at the loss of Moon’s Happy Acres as I watched my neighbors lose everything.
Some families welcomed new babies and others mourned the losses of Brayan Trejo, Julio Gonzales and our own “Birdman”, Norman Watenpaugh, who were all tragically struck by vehicles. We also grieved over the losses of little Courtney Quintana on Easter Sunday, Adam Charvez, Doris Kallis, 16-year-old pilot Nicholas Nilmeyer and former Garlic Festival Queen, France Barsi.
As old and nostalgic structures were razed, new construction followed close behind filling the empty voids and open fields all over town. The new police department construction was underway and a long overdue signal light was installed at Third Street and Wren Avenue. It snowed. It also got very hot, reaching 115 degrees!
We ate at the new Westside Grill and at Stubby’s. We avoided spinach. We adopted animals from the overcrowded Animal Shelter and shot a mountain lion in a back yard on Polk Court.
Our children thrived and made us proud in sports and academically: 18-year-old Emily Castillo won a $2,000 scholarship for reciting “Mujer”; 12-year-old Kayla Lemos made her professional theatrical debut in “Gyspy”; Patti Gresham won the first Garlic Idol competition; and 4-year-old Caley Camarillo, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, got her wish to go to Disneyland from the “Make a Wish Foundation”.
STAR testing showed improved math scores in the Gilroy Unified School District and Gilroy High School received a six-year accreditation which is the maximum awarded by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. While we celebrated these successes, we also shed some tears at retirement parties for some of our favorite teachers. Patti Littlejohn and Roberta Bertrero retired from El Roble School after teaching there for 39 years. We will also greatly miss Gretchen Vandenberg who was on the GUSD staff as the music/choir teacher and her many successful children’s choir performances over the years. That’s not all that occurred in GUSD this year, we also tightened up security procedures when 7-year-old Lisa Galvan wandered off campus nearly a mile before she was found looking for her classmates who she thought were on a filed trip. That was a scare!
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero brings home the title of featherweight champion and GHS cheerleaders finally make it to Hawaii. We were all relieved to find Kathleen Maki alive and well at the Comfort Inn after she was reported missing. We busted a prostitution ring, we voted against Measure A sparing the local farmers and vintners major problems agriculturally and I think we were all horrified when our own South Valley National Bank was robbed at gunpoint.
We celebrated our Garlic Festival and crowned Sheena Torres as our Garlic Queen and we offered our support to Dottie Stewart and Donald “Elvis” Prieto as they embarked on a life-saving kidney transplant surgery.
Rebekah Children’s Services received $1.1 million dollars from a fund left by a former citrus farmer and the Gilroy Grange gave 398 new dictionaries to Eliot School students.
Businesses struggled to stay open on Monterey Street downtown during the new street construction but in spite of hard times Gilroy was deemed a “Green City” by the county for supporting eco-friendly businesses. We saved the Willey House and the Hecker Pass deodara cedars, but we will likely lose the historic old red barn at Christmas Hill Park. We watched old movies in a parking lot from lawn chairs and we competed with an infections holiday spirit for the most decorated house at Christmas (congratulations Ruben and Marty Trujillo, this year’s winners!).
As of this 2006 we are now honoring school bus drives (it’s about time!) every fourth Tuesday in April. We also honored Sam Narvarez as educator of the year and the Gilroy Dispatch won the state’s top journalism prize placing first in, “General Excellence” by the California Newspaper Publishers Association!
As the end of this year approaches and I say goodbye to 2006, I’ll spend some time reflecting on all that occurred during the past 12 months and at the same time, I also eagerly welcome the forthcoming 365 days of traditional, unexpected, heartwarming and shocking moments 2007 will bring.
Lydia Eden-Irwin and her husband were both raised in Gilroy. They have three children
collectively. Lydia can be reached at ed*****@*ol.com.
