San Lorenzo

In the summer of 1969 we moved from Hayward to San Lorenzo. It is also the year I started kindergarten at Grant School. My teacher was Mrs. Comb. We only went to school for half a day; I went to the morning session. I remember the best part of class was the "Free Time" where we got to choose a station in the classroom to play at. I know I always wanted to play with the blocks. It was a popular choice, so I did not always get to do what I wanted. The worst was getting stuck in the "House" with mostly girls.

In 1970, I started 1st grade with Mrs. Bierwith. I was only in that class for a short period of time. Sometime in the Fall of that year, Grandpa and Grandma Clara came to visit. They were not Marie's natural parents, but were foster parents of Marie for a significant amount of time. For whatever reason, I went home with them to Lynnwood, California, and stayed with them and went to school there through Christmas that year. We drove the whole way, the first road trip that I can remember. I flew back home and finished the school year at Grant.

The summer of 1971, I went back to Grandma Clara's and stayed with them for most of the summer. There was a feral cat behind her house that had kittens and grandma tried and tried to get this one cute kitten to take food from her. I think she wanted to adopt it as a pet, but it never got brave enough to come close. It was here that I was first introduced to soap operas. Grandma Clara was an avid soap opera watcher. We used to watch "All My Children" with Susan Lucci as Erica Kane and "General Hospital" everyday. It is amazing that these shows are still running today. We watched "Dialing for Dollars" and "Let's Make a Deal" with Monty Hall regularly as well.

I also remember it was a summer of football trading cards with the kids across the street. Whenever we had a dime we would buy a pack of cards from the Ice Cream Truck. The standouts that I remember were, Darryl Lemonica from the Raiders and Bubba Smith from the Colts. Those were hot cards, at least to us.

Our San Lorenzo Home:




When we lived there, the garage was detached and there was no second story. It was a small 3 bedroom 1 bath home. The detached garage was huge though, it was long, it ran the length of the house. Craig used it as a workshop mostly. The big window next to the garage did not exist. It was a fence and gate that opened to a walkway between the house and the garage. The house was also white with green trim.




Blue Circle: House
Red Circle: Grant School
Green Circle: LDS Church