Claire Haines died last week. She was born in Grass Valley, CA, and was a lovely, brave, cheerful person. At this retirement center we are, in a way, like Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians". Only, we are 200 Little Indians. Claire's husband, George, is still here. I have told him I'm going to visit him, as he is entirely too quiet and alone.
Well, last week, George Jr flew all the way from Madrid, Spain, for memorial services and to be with his father. One morning, I introduced myself and mentioned that I had been a teacher in Tucson, Arizona for many years. Then it all came out: He has lived in Tucson for 20 years, is a Cal Berkeley graduate in electrical engineering, and is now a high-powered executive with Hughes Aircraft, working on a joint venture in Spain, with Hughes. He is married to Virginia Montaine, who was a former student of mine at Tucson High School! Astonishing!!
Al and Rose Sellinger have been among our best friends in San Francisco. Fay and I ment them at Cal, Berkeley on Alumni Day. They have visited me here in Roseville twice, and they phone frequently. Fay and I used to have them over for cocktails--or we'd go to their house--and then we'd all go to a nearby restaurant. In their beautiful new Cadillac they took us on an overnight to see the great Aquarium at Monterey. It's a "neat" friendship.
Well, they phoned me not long ago to say they had been on a bus tour to Portland, Oregon. Two of their companions were Margot St?r?us and Mary Carter. While they were getting acquainted, Mary mentioned that she lives in the Sequoias, a skyscraper retirement center on Geary Boulevard in S.F. Margot said she lived in the Marina area in San Francisco, but was on the waiting list to move to the Sequoias.
Then Al or Rose said they had a friend who moved four or five years ago from the Marina to a new retirement center at Roseville. Of course the women asked, "Is his name Anderson?"
Margot St?r?us was a member of the "Bridge Group" at Calvary Presbyterian Church. We played cards in one another's homes once a month. A lovely person, she acted as hostess at many church affairs. She lost her husband, a Cal, Berkeley graduate, and her son the same year, but she has carried on bravely. She had hped to sell her home in the Marina and move to the Sequoias, too, but it was damaged in the Oct '89 earthquake and needed a lot of repairs.
Now, Mary Carter, widow of Judge Carter--who died when he was presiding over the Patty Hearst trial--knew Fay quite well. They were both volunteer workers at Pacific Presbyterian Hospital and won gold ?pens for more than 1,000 hours of service. She and Judge Carter lived in the same block--3400 Fillmore as we did.
It is, indeed, a small world!
I had a phone call this afternoon from ?Seve ?Bigham who had been president of the Delta Chi fraternity at Cal Berkeley the first semester of '33-'34. We had mot seen or heard from each other for 59 years, yet we were able to talk about old times and old friends. We are both over 80 and not in very good shape, but you'd have thought we were kids the way we recalled our Berkeley experience. He saw a piece I had written for the California Monthly! Amazing! His wife called Roseville information. He lives in Carmichael and had been Postmaster of Sacramento.