What’s the definition of a family? Maybe it’s not as cut-and-dried as we might have thought.
At last week’s funeral Mass for the late Jack Bluth, a former Times sports editor (he spent 38 years in total at the newspaper, beginning in 1951), a neighbor and very close friend related his heartfelt thoughts on the departed Peninsula journalist.
For Michael Kalagayan, although he and his wife and two boys were not related to Jack and his wife, Teresa, in any official or legal way, the Bluths were, in many aspects, family.
The two households (the Kalagayans have two young boys, the Bluths had no children of their own) lived near one another in a quiet San Bruno neighborhood just west of El Camino Real. They looked after each other almost on a daily basis.
When asked, each would refer to the other as “family,” according to Kalagayan, who was nearly moved to tears as he discussed the Bluths during the service at St. Bruno’s Catholic Church.
It was an apt label. And it tends to belie the notion that only actual blood relatives or those related by marriage can fit into that tight category.
Somehow, at a time when rude behavior, divisive language and general personal unpleasantness seem to be rampant in the land, it’s comforting to hear simple, clear examples of precisely the opposite in people, especially local people.
We should all be so lucky to have such close-knit relationships.
Tomato alert
There is something rather quaint about that healthy tomato plant which is growing next to a parking meter on the 200-block of Lorton Avenue in downtown Burlingame.
The vegetation is located on the sidewalk in front of the Zambra Tapas Bar. Whoever is responsible for the care and feeding of the thriving plant is doing a nice job. But what about the tomatoes themselves?
How about using them in Bloody Marys instead of the canned variety? There are a number of bars nearby, including Paddy Flynn’s, a blue-collar establishment. Home-grown tomato juice available next to a parking meter — what a novel concept.
Make mine a double. Hold the celery stalk, please.
Major upgrades
For generations of Catholic families in the mid-Peninsula area, St. Matthew’s and St. Catherine’s elementary schools have been vital institutions.
Their educational/spiritual influence has been critically important for generations of youngsters. St. Matthew’s opened for business in 1931, St. Catherine’s in 1938. Thousands of individuals have graduated from the two schools, located about three miles apart.
Through the decades, neither school has had an adequate gymnasium/large-group meeting facility since they made their debut. But that’s about to change.
Both schools are in the process of finishing new, modern buildings that will address important needs that have been lacking for decades. They have been a very long time in coming.
A $2 town?
It’s not entirely clear where he gets some of his material but Paul Constantino, a Burlingame attorney, has made it a diligent habit to jot down words and phrases which he considers to be local slang.
Recently, he came up with some jargon for San Bruno, which is celebrating its centennial in December. According to Constantino, these are some of his favorites:
“Brunoids” is slang for San Bruno residents; “Two Dollar Town” refers to a minimum wager at the long-gone Tanforan Race Track there; and “the flume” was the name given to a water line running from the Crystal Springs Reservoir through San Bruno north to thirsty San Francisco.
In any event, lingo or not (have not heard “Brunoids” until now), happy anniversary, San Bruno, incorporated in 1914.
Dracula sighting
How about a San Mateo County history question (of the trivia variety) to whet your summertime interest?
OK, which early horror film star got married in Redwood City? Give up? It was none other than Bela Lugosi way back in July of 1929.
According to the public record, he got hitched there to one Beatrice Weeks. It didn’t last. They divorced just months later.
So you could say that Dracula may have spent some brief quality time in the county seat. Wonder if he checked his fangs at the courthouse door? Probably not.
John Horgan’s column appears on Thursday. You can contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com or by regular mail at P.O. Box 117083, Burlingame, CA 94011.
