Pocket residents Demetrius Williams and Eustaquio Lafranco both love to skateboard.

Williams, who has been skating for five years, enjoys the freedom skateboarding gives him. “With this you’re not really required to do anything – you’re required to go out there and have fun, learn as much as you want or as little as you want,” he says.

And Lafranco, who has been skateboarding for the last 10 years, says the skateboard population in the area is steadily growing and although there is now a skate park at Reichmuth Park in South Land Park, it would be beneficial to have more skate parks as an interest in skateboarding continues to grow.

Now with the help of the City of Sacramento, the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), Freeport Renovation on the Move (FROM) and other community members are coming together to give skateboarders like Lafranco and Williams another skate park at Argonaut Park in Freeport Manor.

Getting Support

During their initial work on trying to get a local skate park built, the teens were meeting at the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library, where they met Kathi Windheim, president of the Friends of the Pocket-Greenhaven Library. She suggested Argonaut Park as a possible location as it was adjacent to New Technology High School and she knew the school had a group of skateboarders.

Windheim contacted New Tech’s Principal Paula Hanzel, who supported the project. “We’re in a neighborhood where kids need stuff to do, and they need the right stuff to do,” she explains. “And the more we can put in that park for not only my kids, but all the kids in the neighborhood to do, the better off we are.”

Next on board was Darrel Woo, second vice president for SCUSD Board of Education representing District 6, who believes the skate park will be a nice compliment to the workout stations that were put into Argonaut Park a few years ago.

Also on board is Sacramento City Councilman Jay Schenirer representing District 5. “I think anything that we can do to provide positive outlets for young people and safe places for them to be when they’re not in school is a good thing,” Schenirer says of why he supports the project.

And the group received support the of FROM, which according to President Barbara Moore works to provide a healthy way of life for children and teens in the Freeport Manor, South Land Park and Pocket areas. “It’s a need and we have so many kids that like to skate,” she explains. “There’s not (a skate park) that close, so we decided let’s put a skate park over here – we have the space and it would be a great thing.”

Skateboarder and Pocket resident Demetrius Williams. // Photos courtesy of Eustaquio Lafranco

Plan in Action

Now with support in place, plans could start for the Argonaut Park skate park.

According to Windheim, as another skate park is being built at McClatchy Park in the Oak Park area, they asked Schenirer if they could be part of the design process for McClatchy so they could design both at the same time to save money, and he agreed.

On March 5, Windheim says a meeting was held at the Evelyn Moore Community Center to begin planning the design of both skate parks. The meeting was lead by Aaron Spohn from Spohn Ranch Skate Parks in Los Angeles, who Windheim says will be designing both parks.

Dennis Day, landscape architect for the City of Sacramento, says Spohn discussed with those at the meeting what was possible for the skate parks. “He led them – there were some adults there as well as high school students – on what they would like to see in their ideal skate park,” he explains. “They got to design and move around templates of skate elements.”

Community skateboarders, including Lafranco and Williams, attended the meeting to give their input on what they would like to see in the skate parks. “He pretty much gave us a piece of paper and a layout of other parks he’d did that were similar, and just said put the pieces where you want them and that’s what we did,” Williams says.

Hanzel says letting the neighborhood kids help design the Argonaut Park skate park is huge. “You want to teach kids to be civically responsible and civically involved, and the sooner you get them involved and have that be a positive experience, the more likely to have that continued throughout their adult life,” she explains. “When you empower, you create positive people and positive people move things.”

Multi-Use Design

Although a design for the McClatchy Park skate park has reportedly been finalized, the design for the Argonaut Park skate park is still in the works.

According to Woo, the concept for Argonaut Park is still conceptual, but they are looking at a design that would create a “low-level stage amphitheater that the kids can skate around” with a pathway around the perimeter. This way, he says the skate park could serve multiple purposes as it could also be used as a stage area for New Tech. “It looks like a plan that will harmonize with the existing facility without taking away the other purposes of the facility,” he adds.

Hanzel says right now New Tech does not have a room where she can fit all of her 300 students at the same time. ” It would be great to have an outdoor space where we could all gather and engage in the things that we now have to do twice,” she says.

And Windheim says they are considering some skateboard-specific elements for the park, such as a stair set with rail and “hubba bank,” a roller, “curved taco” and flat ledge. She says the Argonaut Park skate park will be roughly 5,000 square feet. “We will be smaller than McClatchy Park (skate park), but with many of the same great elements and a different layout,” she adds.

Finding Funds

Although plans for the design are in motion, much is still needed to be done in terms of fund raising to build the skate park.

Windheim estimates the Argonaut Park skate park will cost around $120,000 to complete.

According to J.P. Tindell, manager of park planning and development for the City of Sacramento Parks & Recreation Department, the City has set aside $20,000 of Park Impact Fees as “seed funding” for the Argonaut Park skate park

Windheim says they are now in fund raising mode for the rest of what they need. “We’re trying to raise the rest of this money through grants, fundraisers, (and) different community support,” she adds.

In regards to fundraisers, they recently held a rummage sale in Belle Cooledge Park, and are now planning an event at Argonaut Park on Saturday, June 8 from 1-5pm that will feature a jazz band, food, prize drawings and a skateboarding demonstration. Windheim says the event will be funded through an $815 community grant they received from Schenirer’s office.

And they will be launching an online fundraiser where community members can vote for the best skateboarding trick videos on votdo.com. Windheim says from May 15-30 skateboarders can upload their videos to the site. Then visitors to the site can vote for $1 per vote from June 1-30. The most votes in each category, Windheim says, will win skateboarding gear donated by Spohn and Spohn Ranch Skate Parks.

Something Positive

Williams says he is going to be “pretty proud” once the Argonaut Skate Park is built as he will know he had a hand in helping make it happen. He also feels the additional skate parks will help people improve and build a love for skateboarding. “It’s going to be bring a lot more people out there to try to skateboard because every time there is a park, there’s people that see the park and say I want to try and they get out there.”

Moore also believes the new skate park will get more kids interested in skateboarding. “I think it’s going to revitalize the youth out there and make really something positive to bring to them because they need some positive reinforcement in the neighborhood,” she adds.

Lafranco believes the new skate parks may even bring new businesses to the area. He says right now skateboarders in the area have to travel to Elk Grove, Natomas, or downtown for skateboarding supplies. “With all these new skate parks emerging, … it could bring in a new business opportunities for skate shops,” he says.

Donations for the Argonaut Skate Park can be made out to “FROM” and mailed to Barbara Moore, 6013 McLaren Ave., Sacramento 95822. For more information on the Argonaut Skate Park, call Kathi at 392-0101 or e-mail Rosio Ruano in Councilmember Jay Schenirer’s office rruano@cityofsacramento.org.

Argonaut Park is located on Kitchner Road near Freeport Boulevard.

Now in its sixth year, the Rotary Club of Pocket/Greenhaven has been doing what it can to help those at home and abroad with projects such as distributing dictionaries to third graders, launching a high school service club, supporting the Robbie Waters Pocket Greenhaven Library, and even helping to eradicate polio in other countries.

Although their club is small — with currently 14 members — President Keiko Wong says they do the best they can to help. “We are community minded … we try to brainstorm and think what can we do, where would the needs be,” she adds.

Judy Foote — a charter member, past president and current treasurer of the Rotary Club who was recently named Rotarian of the Year for their district — says the club helps meet the education and literacy needs of children in the Pocket area, and she believes by the club being involved in worldwide efforts they can share this information with family friends to make them more aware of what’s going on in other places. “All of a sudden we have a chance to have some concrete information to share with others, and I think it’s a wonderful thing to be able to do that,” she adds.

Helping Out

A number of the Rotary Club’s projects revolve around education and literacy. For instance, one project the Club recently completed on March 7 was the delivery of about 75 dictionaries to third graders at Yav Pem Suab Academy in the Pocket. Wong says this is the third year the Academy’s third graders have received dictionaries. “A lot of times the kids may not even own a book, so this is a wonderful thing for them to have and they get to take it home and it is there’s – we label it and put their name on it,” she explains. “They’re just thrilled to death to receive that.”

Another project of the Club is helping the Friends of the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library with their book sales. Wong says the next Friends of the Library book sale the Rotary Club will be helping with will be held on March 23.

Foote says the Club helped with book sales early on before the library was built and they were held in the Elks parking lot by helping set up and take down the book sales and sell the books. Now the Club still helps the Friends by working at their large book sales during the year, and helping to keep the book sale storage areas organized. “It’s a wonderful place for us to at least make sure that we have books in the hands of kids,” Foote adds.”

However, the Club also has a number of community efforts throughout the year. For example, on April 21 the Club will hold a Rotary Day fundraiser at the River Cats with a portion of tickets going towards helping to end polio, Wong says. Additionally, Wong says the Club provides a number of tickets to a community youth group to attend who may not normally have the opportunity to attend a River Cats game. Last year the Club sponsored a group of 20 high school students to the game. “It was special for them and special for us to give back to the community,” Wong adds.

And on July 25 from 9:30am to 1:30pm, the Club will hold its 2nd Annual Blood Drive with BloodSource. Wong says a mobile unit will be parked at Pacific Business Centers at 1104 Corporate Way next to Greenhaven and South Land Park. Those interested in donating blood can contact Tracy Wilson at 395-4400 to make an appointment.

Supporting the Future

One local student that has become quite involved with the Rotary Club of Pocket/Greenhaven is Daniel Li, a senior at John F. Kennedy High School. Since his sophomore year, Li has won Rotary’s annual speech contest on the club level — including just winning this year’s contest on March 7, for which he will compete on the district level in Elk Grove on April 2. Last year Li won both the club and district levels and took second place in the regional speech competition.

Additionally, last year Li was selected by the Club to be sponsored for RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award), which Wong says is a week-long leadership/motivation camp usually in the Tahoe area. “They learn all sorts of leadership skills and get in touch with themselves and learn to take it to the next level,” she explains.

Li says the opportunities he has had through the Rotary Club so far have been “pretty exciting” and allowing him to expand his ideas and express himself in a way he does not normally get to. And he says his RYLA experience was “fascinating” as it was the first leadership camp he ever attended. “(RYLA) provided a really great foundation for me for the rest of my life in terms of leadership and communications and just finding out things for myself,” he says.

Charter members of the new Interact Club at John F. Kennedy High School, which was charted on February 13, 2013 in the Kennedy Little Theater. Photo courtesy Rotary Club of Pocket/Greenhaven.

Interact Club

Through RYLA, Li says he was able to meet those that were involved in Rotary’s Interact Club, which is a service club for high schools. “I was very interested in forming one at JFK to provide the foundation for other Kennedy students,” he says.

After returning home with the idea of an Interact Club and getting support from his school, Li and the Rotary Club of Pocket/Greenhaven charted a new Interact Club at John F. Kennedy High School on February 13.

Currently with 50 members, the Interact Club has been busy with a number of fundraisers, including one that helped raise money for polio vaccinations in countries that cannot afford it, as well as a fundraiser through the international disaster relief charity ShelterBox to aid victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Li — who is president of the Interact Club — says they are working on new fundraisers, including selling bento boxes at JFK in May, as well as holding some car washes and helping out with book sales at the Robbie Waters Pocket Greenhaven Library.

Foote says the Rotary Club is very proud of the Interact Club and the fundraising work they have done so far. “Youth of today, they’re so excited and encouraged and they want to act — they don’t want to sit back and listen, they want to do something,” she says. “They’re the leaders of the world, that’s our future, and I think to be cognizant of the needs of the world and helping people instead of fighting people is going to make a huge impact on our world.”

Li says by being part of the Interact Club he has learned there is a need to help, and if he and his peers band together and unify themselves, they have the power and will to make a change. And he also says being involved with the Rotary Club has made a very good first impression and has plans on joining a local chapter in the future. “It is a club that I will definitely join on the college level, and that’s definitely something I’ll want to be a part of for the rest of my life,” he says.

The Rotary Club of Pocket/Greenhaven meets every Thursday morning from 7:30am-8:30am at Aviator’s Restaurant at the Sacramento Executive Airport. For more information, visit pocketgreenhavenrotary.org, or call Keiko Wong at (916) 718-7400.

Unless you’re a music teacher at Sacramento City Unified School District, chances are you’ve never heard of the district’s Music Library – considered a “hidden gem” tucked away in Leonardo da Vinci K-8 School in South Land Park.

Started in the 1950s, the library has continued to be a resource for music teachers, housing thousands of pieces of sheet music, both loaning and repairing instruments, and providing music teachers with a place for them to meet and network.

“This is the most wonderful resource,” says Ilda Ballin, who has been music librarian at the SCUSD Music Library since 1986. “I don’t believe there is any resource like this in the state of California.”

Music Maker

The Music Library is known for its vast collection of sheet music. According to Jennifer Nakayama – a music teacher at Leonardo da Vinci K-8 in Land Park, and Rosa Parks Middle School and Fern Bacon Middle School in South Sacramento – library houses music for all abilities from elementary through high school that music teachers can check out to use.

“We have thousands of arrangements here for both band and orchestra, and teachers are able to check out arrangements for their students to try and play,” she explains. “Students have been playing them for years and years.”

Ballin says the various arrangements are for orchestras, bands, and string orchestras, as well as choral music. She says many of the arrangements the library holds are permanently out of print, making them irreplaceable. Additionally, Ballin says music teachers can borrow method books for students.

Keeping track of the thousands of arrangements is quite a task, and it was learning more about the arrangements in the library that drew Nakayama to become a volunteer at the Music Library for the past three years, which just a few months ago became a part-time employment position for her.

“I really enjoy looking through the arrangements, and really enjoy being part of the upkeep and making it still accessible for all of the teachers,” she adds. “It’s really quite a place when you come in.”

Strike Up the Band

Another job of the Music Library is to send out the school’s instruments for repair, and provide loaner instruments for students who need them.

According to Ballin, each school in SCUSD has its own inventory of instruments that students can use.  However, if a school is lacking in a particular instrument, the music teacher can come to the Music Library to see if there is one available for the student to borrow. “We provide so many instruments and usually it suffices for everybody – it’s very seldom that a student goes without playing the instrument of their choice,” she says.

As a music teacher herself, Nakayama has used the instruments available through the library on more than one occasion and feels they are indispensable to making sure all students have an instrument to play. “If a student can’t afford an instrument, then there’s no way for them to be in a class,” she explains. “Most of my students use school instruments – it’s essential for us.”

Then if a school instrument needs to be fixed, music teachers can bring them to the Music Library, who then handles sending them out to various repair technicians, Nakayama says. “We have a repair technician we work with at Kline Music for band instruments, and then there’s a string repair technician as well,” she adds.

Having the Music Library take care instrument repairs has been a big help for George Miles, band director at John F. Kennedy High School in the Pocket. “It’s a really valuable thing,” he explains. “There’s a lot of accounting and dealing with that, dropping it off and picking it up at the repair shop that they handle there that we don’t have to deal with.”

Meet & Greet

And the other major role the SCUSD Music Library plays is one of a central meeting place for district music teachers.

Nakayama says music teachers will meet at the library to collaborate and plan events since they do not see each other throughout the day. “It’s a place where we can let our hair down and work together and really work for the kids,” she explains. “We’ve had some great ideas here over the years. It’s nice to be able to pull (an arrangement) off the shelf, show it to each other, and collaborate in order to make events like that happen.”

The Music Library is also a place where music teachers can receive further education, according to Gayle Carrick, fine arts training specialist at SCUSD, who says she conducts trainings there for the teachers.

And Miles says having a central place like this to network has helped him further his career during his past 26 years at the district. “(It’s) really a sounding board, able to provide a lot of ideas on how to deal with certain problems that come up in the classroom musically,”  he adds. “It’s just been a really valuable asset for us.”

Up Tempo

As with everything in schools today, the Music Library has also been impacted by budget cuts. Once open five days a week, Miles says, now it is only open two days a week on Monday and Thursday.

And Ballin says due to budget cuts, she has no longer been able to purchase new arrangements for the library, as her limited budget has been going to furnish supplies students need to play their instruments, such as  drumsticks, reeds, mouthpieces, and strings.

So how can the community help support this valuable resource?

Nakayama says they are always looking for donations of both music and instruments, from violins to even pianos. “You would be amazed how many instruments that somebody’s grandfather might have used and sat in a closet for years, somebody found it and brought it to the library,” she says. “If there’s repair work that needs to be done, it’s done and it’s put into use.”

Carrick – who is currently working on grants to find additional funding for the Music Library – says in addition to monetary funds, they are looking for volunteers to help keep the library organized and extend its open hours. “People who have been involved in the music program and have been involved with the music library really have an understanding and attachment to what it represents, and a lot of people have been happy to add their energy to keep it going,” she says.

And Miles hopes the Music Library continues to keep its doors open, as it provides the educational materials, equipment and support music teachers need to be successful in the classroom. “Without it, it would really make it difficult to do our jobs,” he adds.

Many people in the Land Park and Pocket areas have fond memories of Sally Anderson, a clerk who worked for nearly a decade at the United States Postal Service’s Land Park Station at 5930 South Land Park Drive.
But what many customers of that post office may not be aware of is that Anderson can still be found behind a post office counter bringing smiles to those who she serves.
After leaving Land Park Station 13 years ago, she has worked at the capital city’s well known post office at 2000 Royal Oaks Drive.
But Anderson’s post office career began long before her years at the Land Park Station post office.
In fact, Anderson, 84, was already a well established post office worker in 1971 – the year the United States Post Office Department was reorganized into the United States Postal Service.
Those who are most familiar with Anderson recognize her as a woman who displays a strong work ethic and a love for her job.
Anderson’s positive attitude and joyful spirit was on full display last week as the post office was handling its busiest time of the year.
Anderson explained that like in years past, she recently enjoyed working at the post office during the holiday season.
“I love it, because people are mailing love,” Anderson said. “That’s what I like. When they come in and they’re mailing something to somebody, I’m thinking they love someone they’re mailing these things to and that’s a joy to me.”
Ralph Petty, customer relations coordinator for the Sacramento Post Office, said that during the holiday rush, USPS handles about a 20 percent increase in items being mailed.
After being asked to describe his appreciation for Anderson and her dedication to USPS, Petty said, “Sally is an ambassador for the post office. She’s been around for a long time. She knows a lot of the history about Sacramento. She’s able to reflect back on her early days when she worked for the postal service and she’s given us a lot of information on the way things were and how we’ve advanced over the years. Sally is a very conscious person. She loves the history of the postal service and what it’s meant to the American people throughout the years. She’s just an all around absolutely wonderful person.”
Many readers of this article were not even living in Sacramento or, in some cases, even born when Anderson began working for the local post office.
In presenting the early part of her history with the post office, Anderson, who has resided in the same Greenhaven area house since 1972, said, “I’ve been with the postal service for 47 years. I started out, actually, down on 7th and K (streets). That was a (red sandstone) building that belonged to the postal service and they called it the Pink Panther. I was hired as part of 50 people who were sorting Department of Motor Vehicles mail. That was a time when they did that just once a year.”
Anderson’s next post office work was at the old post office building at 8th and I streets.
Eventually Anderson, who was hired under the classification of “temporary indefinite,” was encouraged to take a post office test, so that she could become a regular full-time postal worker.
Although she was initially uncertain whether she wanted to continue working for the post office, Anderson said that she ultimately decided to pursue a long-term position because she figured $2.34 an hour was “pretty good.”
“I took the (post office) test (in 1965) and two days later I got a call and they said, ‘Please come in’ and I’ve been here ever since,” Anderson said.

Anderson continued to work at the 8th and I streets building while the Royal Oaks post office building was being constructed.
The Royal Oaks building was opened on May 8, 1966 and its carrier annex was added in the 1980s.
Among the first mail sorters at the Royal Oaks post office was Anderson, who alternated between the “Tour 3” 3 p.m. shift and the graveyard shift.
Anderson’s next assignment at the Royal Oaks post office was sorting mail in an upstairs room.
She later worked at the same post office putting together mail that had fallen apart.
In speaking about this latter job, she said, ‘You hopefully get the right mail going in the right (packaging) or else people were going to be really surprised.”
Anderson said that people have attempted to mail many odd things during her tenure with the Sacramento Post Office. Among these things were a baby alligator and a very odiferous item.
The latter item was initially quite disturbing to the post office’s workers, Anderson explained.
“You could smell it and it smelled horrible,” Anderson said. “About that time, we had heard that there was someone who had dismembered someone and (the package) was the size of a head. (The item turned out to be) a head of (rotting) cabbage.”
After deliberating for a day shift, in 1974, Anderson was made a “pool clerk,” which is a person who is trained to perform a variety of jobs and then rotated to different positions.
Through her work as a pool clerk, Anderson worked at many post offices in Sacramento and Yolo counties.
Eventually the pool clerk position was eliminated and Anderson was sent to the West Sacramento post office to sort mail.
As previously mentioned, Anderson’s post office career included her employment at the Land Park Station, where she enjoyed working with the public for eight years.
But Anderson explained that she enjoys interacting with the public wherever she works.
“I do love my job,” Anderson said. “I like to talk to people across the counter. I also like to try to get them to buy stamps that they are just going to put away.”
Anderson, who is a longtime, avid stamp collector, believes that stamp collecting is a great way to learn history.
“People learn from (stamps),” Anderson said. “They learn history of this country and that’s what’s so important. I love my country, I make my money here and I spend it here.”
And in being a traveler, Anderson takes opportunities to learn about America at the actual sites of historical happenings.
Thus far, she has visited 36 states, including two of her favorites, Alaska and Tennessee. While in Tennessee, she visited Elvis Presley’s beloved Graceland Mansion.
Anderson said that Presley played a strong role in USPS history, through his post-mortem connection to what she referred to as the “stamp explosion.”
“When the Elvis stamp came out (in 1993), we made more money on that stamp than we’ve ever made on any other stamp,” Anderson said. “People would buy whole pads, which are 2,000 stamps each and just put them under their beds or in their closets and stuff.”
Anderson, who has two daughters, four grandchildren and one grandchild, made sure she purchased plenty of Elvis stamps and is continuously purchasing other stamps to add to her very large collection.
After nearly a half-century as a postal worker, Anderson said that she has no plans for retirement.
In speaking about her continued pleasure of coming to work each day, Anderson said, “It’s been a very fun life working for the postal service. People are constantly saying, ‘When are you going to retire?’ And I say, ‘Whenever I get around to it.’”

Editor’s note: Lance Armstrong’s series on dairies in Land Park will be continued on Dec. 27.

South Land Park resident and philanthropist Dr. Herbert Yee, who is also recognized for his many years of working as a dentist in the capital city, makes it no secret that he is a staunch supporter of education.
Already known for assisting in the advancement of education through other projects, Herbert recently presented a check in the amount of $12,500 to Sacramento’s Confucius Chinese School.
The school, which has an enrollment of about 70 students, received this charitable donation during a special dinner honoring Herbert. The donation will be used for teachers’ salaries, janitorial services and school supplies.
The event, which was held on Sunday, Dec. 2 at Rice Bowl restaurant at 2378 Florin Road, began with a performance by some of the school’s students, who sang “God Bless America.”

Directing the event, which was attended by about 250 people, were its masters of ceremony Alfred Yee, the school’s principal, who spoke in English, and Henry Yee, who spoke in Chinese.
Represented at the event were the local Chinese Confucius Church and school, the Chinese Benevolent Association of Sacramento, the Yee Association and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Association.
And attending the gathering as special honored guests were Alan Yee, the western grand president of the Yee Association from Los Angeles, Eddie Yee, the president of San Francisco’s Yee Association, Yi Hua Yu of Stockton’s Yee Association and Bill Wong, president of the Chinese Benevolent Association of San Francisco.
As a prelude to the dinner, the event included several speakers and presentations.
Among these speakers were Senator Leland Yee, who represents District 8 in the western half of San Francisco and the majority of San Mateo County, Sacramento County Supervisor Jimmie Yee, Dr. Jong Chen, president of the Chinese Benevolent Association of Sacramento, and Frank Kwong, president of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial and Soo Yuen Benevolent associations.
In speaking beyond the topic of Herbert’s monetary contributions, Kwong said, “(Herbert is) the nicest person, he’s my mentor, he’s a good friend, a good father. That means a lot to our community. It’s a good example of how we put our community together.”
Herbert also spoke to the gathering’s attendees, who also included his wife, Inez, their sons, Randy, Alan and Wesley, their four daughter-in-laws, and five of their grandchildren.

In honor of his goodwill to the Sacramento community, Herbert was presented with a state senate proclamation from Leland Yee.
He also received a proclamation from the People’s Republic of China and a plaque from the Chinese Benevolent Association of Sacramento.
And as a show of appreciation for Herbert’s financial donation to the school, students of the school presented him with a large, artistically decorated, heavy stock paper that included a drawing of an apple on a stack of books and a bullhorn-like image with the words: “Thank you, Dr. Yee, Confucius Chinese School.”
Surrounding these features were signatures of the school’s students.
Herbert is very well connected to Sacramento’s Confucius Chinese School, considering that in addition to attending the school himself, his father, Henry, and all of his sons and grandchildren were once students at the school.
Furthermore, Henry, Herbert and Randy Yee have all served on the school’s board.

Herbert described his longtime involvement in assisting in the advancement of education and his overall love for education.
“My love is in education,” Herbert said. “I built a school in China. That’s education. I’m on the board of the University of the Pacific. That’s education. I love the Chinese school. That’s education. I have an exhibit at the (California State) Railroad Museum. I’m on the board yet, 32 years. And that’s education about trains, transportation. I have a hologram at The California Museum about the history of our family, so that’s education. In Fiddletown, you’ll see my great-grandfather’s herb store. So, I am more attuned to encourage young people to go to college, and especially the Chinese. But now you really don’t need to encourage them. They know, especially the immigrants who come from even Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, China. That’s why (at the University of California,) Berkeley, more than half of the students are Asian, because their parents encouraged them to study.”
Herbert, who graduated from Sacramento High School in June 1942, said that his own father, who began attending Stanford University in 1918, encouraged him to attend schools to further his education.
“I skipped low 7th (grade) and I just went straight from 6th grade to high 7th (grade) and I skipped the last six months of high school,” Herbert said. “Of course, my father pushed me a little bit. Then he said, ‘You try Stanford.’ I didn’t know it was so tough to get (into Stanford), but I got in. I was there 70 years ago. Now I’m 88, almost.”
Eventually, Herbert spent more than a half century working as a dentist. This time included his work as the official dentist for the staff of governors Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan.

Herbert, who is a longtime member of the Sutter Club, American Legion Post 692, Lion’s Club District 4 C5 and Del Paso Country Club, has served as president of many organizations, including the California State Board of Dental Examiners, American Cancer Society for Sacramento County, Sacramento Chinese Benevolent Association and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Association.
Additionally, Herbert recently reached a milestone as a South Land Park resident.
After experiencing difficulty purchasing a home in the area due to his ethnicity, Herbert was finally able to buy his current home on Nov. 2, 1952.
He celebrated the 60th anniversary of this event with his sons, and noted, “Dad is kind of a sentimental guy.”
In speaking about his achievement of purchasing a home in South Land Park, Herbert said, “I was one of the first (Chinese to live in the area). I don’t want to claim to be the (first). Since that time, quite a number of Asians have lived here.”
With his love for education, Herbert said that he is proud that his sons were able to graduate from college and become successful in their professional lives.
Randy is a retired dentist, as well as a member of the Confucius Chinese School board, Alan is a pulmonary doctor, Wesley is a dentist, and his late son, Douglas, was a dentist.
Herbert and Inez also have a granddaughter, Juliana, who is attending Stanford Law School.
Wesley, who gave a speech about his father’s life during the event, recognized the importance of his mother in his Herbert’s life.
“What my father accomplished would not have happened without the love his life and his soul mate, our mother, Inez,” Wesley said. “She raised four boys, was a Cub Scouts den leader, attended our PTA meetings and worked in my father’s office. Later she would accompany my father worldwide on his missions to help people around the world and in our nation.”
As a man who is always involved in many projects, Herbert does not feel that the word, “retired,” is a word that would best describe his current status in life.
“Now, I’d like to say I’m retired, but you know a man like me, we never retire,” Herbert said. “My mind is always thinking. I always say when I wake up in the morning, I want to think that I want to be a better person – a better person today than yesterday. And I want to see how I can best take care of my little wife, who I married 67, going on 68 years (ago), and, of course, my family and all the business I have.”

Lance@valcomnews.com

I have vivid memories of how our family spent Thanksgiving when I grew up on Janey Way. The entire Relles/Petta extended family went to Granma Petta’s house on 14th Avenue to celebrate the holiday.
I remember we always urged dad to take us their as early as possible. That gave us lots of time to play with our many cousins. We frolicked on the tall swing set in the backyard. Sometimes, we snuck into basement of the two-story home. There, with its myriad of rooms and stacks of family artifacts, it was magical like some Harry Potter tale. Soon, however, Grandpa Petta chased us out of his territory, warning us not to enter again. Then we went out to the large, ranch style garden on the side of the house. It featured a chicken house and a barn full of rusting farm implements. These were always points of interest for growing young children.
Eventually, Grandma called us in for a wonderful, traditional Thanksgiving dinner, much to Grandpa’s relief. “You kids are too wild,” he would say, as we filed in for dinner.
When we grew into our teen age, the location of our holiday dinner changed from Granma Petta’s house to our uncle Ross Relles’ house on Hillsboro Lane in South Land Park. That venue seemed perfectly suited for teenage boys. The house had an extra large game room with a full sized pool table and a 28-inch console television perfect for watching the football games. If we got bored, we went outside and played on the railroad tracks behind the Relles house.
At the Relles house, Aunt Margaret supervised our aunts in the preparation of the Thanksgiving feast. There, as at Grandma Petta’s house, the dinners were always, just the best.
When our family finally reached adulthood, my parents took over the Thanksgiving duties, for just our immediate family. Then, we celebrated the great holiday at my parents’ house on Janey Way. Dinners there always tasted great, but somehow lacked the grandeur of the feasts we had at Grandma Petta’s old house. The guest list appeared much smaller too: Mom and dad, My wife and I, our three children and sometimes my brother Terrence and his family, or my sister Patricia and her family.
Since my parents passed away some years back, I took over the duties of serving Thanksgiving dinner at my house on La Riviera Drive. It is a labor of love. While my grandchildren run on the grass in the back yard, Le Grande (my wife Barbara) and I prepare the dinner. I do the cooking and Le Grande sets a majestic table replete with a live floral center piece and candle sticks.
We have a wonderful time kicking off the holiday season and watching our little grand children Angelo, Gabrielle and Madeline play in the back yard.
Sometimes though, I think back to the big Thanksgiving parties we had with our extended family at Grandma Petta’s house so many years ago and miss the happy times I had playing with my cousins: a nostalgic Janey Way Memory.

McClatchy High School’s only Olympic athlete is Starr Walton-Hurley who competed in skiing in the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Starr, who graduated from CKM in 1960, is one of first 50 individuals (between 1938-1962) chosen to be inducted into McClatchy’s Sports Hall of Fame on September 20, at the Elks Club as part of McClatchy’s 75-year Anniversary Dinner.
Starr was born in Yuba City but moved to Sacramento and attended Joaquin Miller and later McClatchy. Her grandparents were involved with the Soda Springs Hotel, the Donner Ski Ranch and managed Sugar Bowl in the 1930’s and 40’s. When her father went off to war in 1945, she moved to the mountains with her grandparents and began skiing at age three. She won her first race at five and was hooked for life. She was both the Junior and Senior National Champion and Skier of the Year in 1963.
High school life was challenging as a skier. “McClatchy was lots of fun,” she laughed, and “Mr. Pepper was always cutting out articles about my races for me.” Living in South Land Park, she remembers walking to school through Land Park with her friends. Other happy times include her first car, a blue military jeep, that she drove to school each day her senior year. Mrs. Johnson (Johnny) was one of her favorite teachers, and all of her teachers were supportive of her efforts to become a world-class skier.
With the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley, she broke her foot right before trials, but she carried the Olympic torch at the opening ceremony, which was quite an honor for a local girl. She also helped Stan Atkinson and Stu Nahan get interviews with the American athletes that she knew for local television stations. Later that year, she came back to beat many of the Olympic athletes in races.
“To get to the Olympics, my parents paid for everything including various competitions. I represented Sugar Bowl and they gave us a little money, but you couldn’t take a lot of money because you were considered an amateur. Only amateurs could compete back then. We had no logos, no labels. Things were a bit different then, no endorsements. We had to give back all of our equipment after the games.”  Starr smiled as she called herself a “flatlander,” a person who lived in Sacramento but skied every weekend at Soda Springs or Sugar Bowl.
After graduating from McClatchy, Starr attended Sacramento City College and then transferred to University of Colorado, Boulder where she could ski and try out for the 1964 Olympic team. They picked six women every four years, and in 1964, at Innsbruck, she was the top US finisher in the downhill (14th) dominated by Europeans with a time of 2:01.45. She finished 9th in the world at the end of the ski season and laughed as she called herself “The fastest American woman skier in 1963 and 1964.”
When asked about her favorite Olympic moments, she said there were two of them. “One was walking in behind the children who carry the United States name plate and walking into the stadium in your uniform as part of the United States team with all of the other competitors. It’s pretty awesome! The reality hits you!  It’s like, I‘m an Olympian!”
“My second favorite memory is the closing ceremony. All of the athletes come in together. It’s an unstructured parade, and I remember walking in with the friends that I had made.  It really kind of states the camaraderie that has occurred. You may be competitors but, on the other hand, you are new friends and it is incredible.”
After the Olympics, she lived in Vail, Colorado for a while before moving to Sacramento and San Francisco where she worked for United Airlines. Later, she continued in the ski business with “Starr Trekks” where she led groups of skiers all over the world on ski trips. In 2002, she was again an Olympic Torch Bearer for the Olympic games in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in 2010 carried the torch in Squaw Valley for the 50-year Olympic anniversary celebration.”
Today, Starr is known throughout Sacramento as “the ultimate volunteer.” She is President of the Land Park Zoo Association, a trustee on the Crocker Museum Board, and named Volunteer of the Year by the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. She is an active volunteer with the Northern California Olympians, the Sacramento Sister City Council, and the Leadership Council of UC Davis Medical Center and Drexel University. Widowed, her husband was a famous cardiac surgeon at UC Davis Med Center. In her few minutes of spare time, she can be found playing golf at El Macero.
When meeting and talking with Starr, you can see a person who loves life and truly cares about people. And, you can still see that 15-year-old flying down the Sierra slopes, taking on all comers.
“I have a passion for skiing. I still ski all the time. I am on the slopes and I ski with anybody. I enjoy watching the beginners as their face goes from anxiety to this wonderful realization that they can do it!!! When I go to Sun Valley and ski with the “big boys,” as I call them, and I am cruising at 70 miles an hour down that mountain, I am in Hog Heaven. I am loving every minute of it and I do wear a helmet.”
This is the second in a series of articles about athletes and teams chosen to be part of McClatchy’s Sports Hall of Fame induction to be held on September 20. For more information about the members/teams and how you can attend the 75-Year Celebration, go to restoretheroar.org.

Rich heritage

This person is Sacramento native Gail Fernandez Jones, who has a very rich family history in the Pocket, Greenhaven, South Land Park, Hollywood Park and Tahoe Park areas.

Jones, 59, who worked as a dance teacher before beginning a career as an elementary school teacher in the Pocket and Meadowview areas, explained that her drive to preserve her family’s history began as a result of a personal illness that caused her to follow new directions in her life.

“Due to the illness, I had to retire early and I needed something to do, so I decided to research and write my family’s history,” Jones said. “It was something that I always wanted to do. I figured that if I didn’t do it, nobody else would do it and the history would be lost for future generations.”

Motivating factors

In addition to her illness, Jones said that she was also motivated to write her family’s history upon the birth of her grandson.

“My grandson was born in 2002 and he was the original catalyst for my project to preserve the family history,” Jones said.

Unfortunately, due to Jones’ health issues, her motivation to gather information and write her family’s history was initially short-lived, as she almost entirely abandoned the project for more than eight years. But reinvigorated by improved health within the past year, she is back on track and working on writing her family’s history at a greater pace than at any time during her entire project.

With Jones’ deep, local roots, the value of her project is much more than a family history – it is also a notable part of the community’s history.

Portuguese heritage

Her grandfather, John Fernandez, who was born in the island of Pico in the Azores Islands of Portugal on Jan. 10, 1887, immigrated to the United States at the age of three with his parents, Manuel and Rose (Jacinto) Fernandez, and at least one of his sisters.

Jones said that John Fernandez had two sisters, Mary, who was born in the Azores Islands, and Rose, who was born in either the Azores Islands or the Greater Sacramento area.

El Dorado Hills aka. Clarksburg

Once arriving in America, the family made its way to the Clarksburg area, where they began a dairy farm.

Through her research, Jones discovered that her grandfather, who completed his education through the eighth grade, began an apprenticeship to learn the building trade, so that he could become a building contractor.

“My grandfather was a very dedicated man,” Jones said. “He asked some builder to take him on as an apprentice at no charge, so he could learn the trade. He then started his own company, Sierra Builders, during the Depression.”

Sierra Builders

John, who built one of the first cabins in the Strawberry tract along Highway 50 for himself during the 1940s, named his business Sierra Builders due to his love for the mountains.

Jones said that her grandfather began the business with no employees, but eventually took on his five sons – Ralph, Ray, Norman, Jack and Jim – as his employees.

Of these sons, Norman, Jack and Jim contributed the most time to the company, since Ralph began his own building company and Ray apparently died during World War II, as the plane he was flying over Russia went missing and was never found.

The earliest projects of Sierra Builders, which had a large office and lumber yard at 1716 26th St., was the construction of houses in Tahoe Park and the construction and development of sections of Hollywood Park.

One these Hollywood Park area projects, which included both residential and commercial developments, was an early Raley’s grocery store at 2390 Fruitridge Road.

The Raley’s project was part of a retail space that also included The Dance Center, which was owned by “Miss Pennie” Davies.

Jones said that she is quite familiar with this dance center, since she took lessons from Davies at this site and later returned to teach classes at the studio.

With the building boom that followed World War II, Norman, who was Jones’ father, founded the Norman Construction Co. in 1955 and began building custom houses. The majority of these houses were constructed in the South Land Park Hills area.

Greenhaven 70

After furthering his reputation as a quality builder, Norman, who married his accountant’s daughter, Betty Webb, in 1948, was invited to become one of the original 10 builders of Greenhaven 70, a development that was bordered by Riverside Boulevard and Greenhaven, Havenside and Gloria drives.

Jones, who moved from her home in Hollywood Park to South Land Park Hills in 1962, said that she also contributed to the Greenhaven 70 project by handing out brochures for open house events and decorating some of the homes with knickknacks from her own home and furniture from Gabe Silveira’s furniture store, G.L. Silveira Co., which was located at 2100 X St.

“The decorating really helped those home sell,” Jones recalled.

Jones said that one of the more interesting parts of the history of her family’s neighborhood developments was the naming of various local streets.

Street names

Among the more prominent of these street names are Johns Drive and Johnfer Way (a combination of John and Fernandez), which were named after Jones’ grandfather, Norman Way, which was named in honor of Jones’ father, and Jacks Lane and James Way, which were named in tribute to Jones’ uncles.

Other street names include: Trudy Way, which was named after the secretary of Sierra Builders, and Benham Way, a tribute to Ben Hammond, the insurance agent for Sierra Builders.

Although John passed away in 1966, his legacy in his longtime trade continues today through the local land developing company, Sierra-Fernandez.

Good advice

In pondering her project to preserve the history of her family, Jones said that she encourages others to write about their own family history.

“I encourage others to write their family histories,” Jones said. “Start talking to the people who are still alive right now. What I started with were dates and now what I’m really trying to get are anecdotes out of the people who are left. Gather stories, because if you don’t you’ll have nothing.”

lance@valcomnews.com

Born in the Azores

Born on Dec. 14, 1867 in Faial in the Azores Islands of Portugal, Charles arrived in Boston at the age of 11 in 1878 and then proceeded to the Sutterville area in today’s South Land Park area of Sacramento.

With only $2.50 in his pocket, Charles used $1 of his money to reach the town of Vernon in Sutter County, where he became employed as a milker on a dairy ranch for 50 cents per day.

Teen cheese entrepreneur

Using earnings from this job, Charles, when he was 13, paid a cheese maker $50 to teach him how to make cheese, after which he went into business for himself.

Charles eventually rented a ranch in Yolo County, bought cows and established a dairy and cheese plant.

Charles’ next venture was his purchase of the 160-acre Ramsey Ranch, which was located six miles above Vernon on the Feather River. He also rented the Hoover Ranch and the Clark and Cave ranches near the Sacramento River.

While conducting business along the Sacramento River, Charles entered the boating business, as he bought a gasoline-powered boat and a barge.

Meanwhile, Charles purchased the Point Ranch, where he cut wood, which he transported down the river to Sacramento.

In 1900, Charles returned to the capital city, as he purchased and resided at the Meadows place on Front Street, between O and P streets. It was there that he also established a wood, hay and grain business.

Shipping businesses

In addition to this business, Charles purchased the steamers “Neponset” and “Neptune,” the trading boats “Jersey” and “Inder” and the barges, “Columbia,” “Sutter” and “Vernon.”

In becoming engaged in the transportation business, Charles formed a partnership with a Capt. Jones. This partnership continued for many years and their route included towns on the Sacramento River, between Sacramento and Butte City.

Rancher

During this time, Charles was also involved in the cattle and sheep business.

Eventually, Charles sold his interests in the boats to devote his full attention to his livestock business.

Charles experienced much success in this endeavor, as he enlarged his interests on an annual basis and also established retail businesses – four local meat markets and a large wholesale business in Sacramento.

Additionally, Charles bred Hereford stock and was renowned throughout the state as a breeder of these fine cattle.

So large was Charles’ livestock business operation that he became known as the largest individual cattle dealer in California, shipping thousands of head of cattle from Mexico, in addition to his large shipments from throughout the state.

Charles’ wealth was great, as he purchased various Northern California ranches and later sold the ranches for twice the amount that he had paid for them.

Land dealer

Along with his real estate transactions, Charles was actively associated with various reclamation projects and served as the organizer and director of the Sutter Basin Co. and the Natomas Land Co.

Following his time with his previous cattle business endeavors, Charles invested in many Sacramento properties, including business blocks, warehouses and residences, and purchased a 21,000-acre cattle ranch in Modoc County.

Charles additionally accumulated other properties such as 243 acres dedicated to fruit growing in Yuba County and 670 acres on the Feather River in Butte County, with one half of this acreage being devoted to fruit.

Another major part of Charles’ life was his interest in horses and for many years he was involved in breeding standard-bred animals. 

Breeder of race horses

 Charles, who eventually had the finest standard-bred stock in the state, raised the well-known pacer, Teddy Bear, who broke a 6-year-old record at the California State Fair on Aug. 29, 1911. The horse set the mile mark of two minutes and five seconds.

With his continued interest in horses, Charles purchased a racetrack in Woodland in 1916.

It can be speculated that Charles, who continued to own the track until 1921, purchased the track in order to run Teddy Bear on his own schedule during fair weather days throughout the year.

In the early 1920s, Charles traded a 21,000-acre parcel of land in Alturas (Modoc County) for the old Weinstock-Lubin and Co. department store building at 4th and K streets. The building had been vacated and the company had reopened in its new location at 12th and K streets.

Meat marketer

Charles also owned other business operations in Sacramento, including the Fulton Meat Market at 4th and M (now Capitol Mall) streets, California Market on J Street, between 7th and 8th streets, and meat markets on 10th and M (now Capitol Mall) streets, 16th and M (now Capitol Avenue) streets and in Folsom and Knights Landing.

He also owned a slaughterhouse on Y Street (present day Broadway), between 5th and 6th streets.

Charles established a rich connection to the Land Park community with his founding of Charles Station, which later became known as South Land Park Hills.

Charles’ property was located off the present day Del Rio Road in the area of today’s Kennedy Lane and Pleasant Drive.

On this property, Charles owned and operated a second slaughterhouse, which had a thick concrete floor that later posed difficulties in building the foundations of some of the area’s high quality homes.

Family manDuring his life, Charles was married twice, with the first of his marriages occurring when he married Theresa Kennedy in Sacramento on Aug. 15, 1899. Together the couple had nine children.

Following Theresa’s death, Charles married Lois Blackwell and this marriage added two more children to his family.

The most prominent of Charles’ children was former Land Park area resident Ray Silva. Ray, who passed away in 1996, was a referee for the Harlem Globetrotters and the founder and operator of Kiddie Land, Land Park’s small-scale children’s amusement park, which is today known as Funderland.

Undoubtedly, Charles, who passed away on July 14, 1944, was a man who achieved many great things in his life.

And considering his many accomplishments and the fact that he once had practically pennies in his pocket and no assets to his name, Charles Silva should be remembered for many years as a self-motivated man whose drive to excel led to a life of success.

lance@valcomnews.com

As Sacramento once again prepares to come alive with a variety of activities to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, one local organization believes in making the celebration of Irish heritage and traditions a yearlong activity.

This organization, The Shamrock Club of Sacramento, is dedicated to its mission of “fostering and preserving the traditions of Ireland for the people of the greater Sacramento region.”

The club is also very well connected with the Arden, Carmichael and Land Park areas of Sacramento, explained Chris Brown, a South Land Park resident, who grew up within a lion’s roar of the Sacramento Zoo.

“We have about 15 members from the Arden and Carmichael areas and about a dozen more from the Land Park area,” Brown said. “Our many valued members span from Grass Valley to Lodi and areas throughout Sacramento. We couldn’t expand our club into the future without our founding and new members. But we also have plenty of room for more members who have interests in things Irish.”

Shamrock Club member Jane Lamborn, a 25-year resident of Carmichael, said that the club is a very enjoyable and educational organization.

“I joined the club three or four years ago and it’s just a lot of fun,” Lamborn said. “It’s a great group of people. They have that quick wit when you’re with the group and they’re friendly and open and welcoming. They promote Irish culture and Irish history, so you get a chance to learn about it, to enjoy it and they’re just a great group of people.”

Lamborn added that much of her interest in the club derived from the fact that her mother is half-Irish and her stepfather is 100 percent Irish and that she enjoys learning about Irish music and dance.

“They (her mother and stepfather) traveled extensively in Ireland, they lived there for a short period of time and growing up with her, I really learned about Ireland and that background,” Lamborn said. “I discovered the club when I went to the Scottish games in Woodland and they were there with some of their members playing music and I stopped to listen to the music and learned about the club. A lot of the enjoyment in learning (through the club) is with music and dance, so you’ve got bagpipes, fiddles, flutes, drums and they really promote music, which I particularly enjoy and that caught my attention.”

 

Putting on the parade

As the capital city’s only Irish club, the Shamrock Club is presently working with the Old Sacramento Business Association to bring the city’s 14th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade to Old Sacramento on Saturday, March 13 at 1 p.m. Other sponsors of the event are the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation, Fanny Ann’s Saloon and radio station, Mix 96.

The family-friendly event, which was designed to celebrate the diversity and richness of the community, will feature Irish dancers, costumed marchers, floats, military regiments, school bands, police and fire representatives and various cultural organizations.

Participants in this year’s parade will include the White Hackle Pipe Band, the Sacramento Fire Department Pipes and Drums corps, the Ophir Prison Marching Band, Irish dancers in Celtic costumes, tartan-clad Highlanders and Gold Rush re-enactors.

The Shamrock Club, which selected Kitty O’Neal of radio station KFBK 1530 AM as the parade’s grand marshal, encourages parade participants to “Go Green by Wearing Green.”

Lamborn said that the parade is a fun celebration of Irish history and culture.

“It’s a chance to experience Irish music and dance, to see the people in the community who participate in those activities and to learn a little bit about it,” Lamborn said.

Additional information about the parade can be obtained by calling the Old Sacramento Business Association at (916) 442-7644.

 

 

Hearts in Ireland

Emphasizing that Irish heritage is mostly recognized one day per year in the United States, Shamrock Club Vice President CJ Kennedy said, “Everybody wants to turn Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, but we’re active preserving the heritage of Ireland the whole year round.”

Kennedy, who comes from both Irish and Scottish heritage and is very knowledgeable about Irish history, added that although the club takes its position as an Irish heritage preservation group seriously, its members never forget that they belong to a social club.

“We want to be known as a well-known, nonpolitical and nonreligious club in Sacramento and the Northern California region that is serious about Irish heritage, but we also want to just kick up our heals and have a good time, too.”

In addition to meeting on the second Wednesday of every month, the group also makes sure to work the attendance of live performances of Irish music and various Irish-related field trips into its schedule.

Activities of the club have included social nights at de Vere’s, the Fox and Goose and the Streets of London pubs in Sacramento, an annual Christmas party and a trip to the United Irish Cultural Museum in San Francisco.

Upcoming club events will include Celtic Heritage Night at the Sacramento River Cats game on July 1 and a “Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day” party in September.

The organization, which has met in Sacramento at SMUD and de Vere’s Irish Pub, began in 2005 through the efforts of its founder Chris Brown and about 15 other founding members.

Brown, who is serving in his fifth term as the club’s president, said that his idea to establish the club derived from his love for his own Irish heritage and the fact that Sacramento was without an Irish club.

“There was an Irish club in Sacramento that failed and there was a point in time that there was no Irish club (in Sacramento),” said Brown, who is a member of fourth and fifth generation Irish families in Sacramento. “So, we founded the Shamrock Club in late 2005 and built it from the ground up.”

 

Historic and honored

Unlike many Irish clubs, which were established in and around the political difficulties in Ireland, the Sacramento club, Brown explained, took a different route in its formation.

“A lot of the Irish clubs 10 to 15 years ago were sort of formed (in connection) to the troubles in Ireland,” Brown said. “We’re just not fostering any of that political stuff and in essence, Ireland is at peace right now and it’s doing well with peace.”

Sacramento’s Shamrock Club, which is affiliated with about seven Shamrock Clubs throughout the nation, patterned itself after The Shamrock Club of Columbus, Ohio.

And because of its growth, Sacramento’s club, which consists of about 100 members, reached a level and ability to assist a group in New Jersey in its efforts to form a Shamrock Club.

Brown, who graduated from Bishop Armstrong High School in 1965, said that the Sacramento club is on a course to grow extensively during the next two years.

“We have survived the test of time and we’re into our sixth year and we have been continually growing,” Brown said. “We’re gathering more and more kindred spirits, but not just kindred spirits, but people who are willing to take an active part in ensuring the longevity and the expansion of the Shamrock Club.”

Brown said that 80 percent of Sacramento’s Shamrock Club members are of Irish heritage and the remaining 20 percent of the club members “just enjoy things Celtic and want to be a part of the group.”

“It’s just a fun group of people,” Brown added.

For more information regarding The Shamrock Club of Sacramento, including how to become a member, call Brown at (916) 447-6511 or visit the Web site www.shamrocksac.com.

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.