The Extraordinary
Dorothy Potts:
A Tribute.
The Once-in-a-While
Daily News
1 Last Friday we all lost one of our dearest. My Aunt Tag passed away after having announced, "I'm dying, like the Giants." She had health problems for several years, and finally gave us the slip as silently and as sweetly as she lived.
2 And still lives, to those of us who knew her spirit and humor.
3 It hit hard. Aunt Tag's real name is Dorothy, although she also goes as "Grams." If I had people give one word to describe my Aunt Tag, I'm guessing that the word "sweet" would be up there on everybody's list.
4 I don't want to crowd this piece with all of her history and such. Too much, too fast.
5 The Once-in-a-While Daily News seldom works as news anyway. Never did, even when it was The Daily News, or the DN, as I referred to it. Last week became a blur to many of us as it rolled through our lives.
6 To begin, we came off a nightmarishly long Presidential election and right into this, followed by an early Thanksgiving. Aunt Tag was always sweeter than all that. I always felt warmth and kindness when talking with her. And pure glory of a higher order when singing with her.
7 The glory of it all is legacy: the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren now have a Fairy Queen ruling the heavens with her immeasurable love of life, of children, of family, of friends, and of music.
8 When you would sing with Aunt Tag, you would feel that you were the only two people on the planet who knew just how good music could be, a treasured secret between just the two of you. You could, that is, until you would look around and see a family that sings, even the few who can't hit all the notes. Notes don't matter. Heart matters. My Aunt Tag taught all of us that. Heart matters.
9 I thought and thought of what to write, and as happens often with real events, words ran terrified from my head. I knew my limits, and I know my limits. I finally sat down and let my fingers do the walking with the words. They became a Disneyesque parasol, right out of Mary Poppins.
10 And so it travels up one lush meadow and down another. Have you ever seen the grass so green, or a bluer sky?
11 The family simultaneously jumped on Facebook, Twitter, Google, and all those grand things, in order to see how everyone else was doing. Pictures poured all over the pages, and the younger generation wrote some of the most soulful pieces I've ever read. I'd name names, but you know who you are. I wouldn't wish to leave anybody out.
12 I would even go so far as to wish Tag that she rest in peace, but she probably already knows that life simply continues, and that we are foolish spending our days crying and carrying on. She's probably sipping Margaritas with husband Jack, sister Lorrayne and Uncle Al, my Mom and Dad, and my own Uncle Bud, who went missing in action, and after whom I have been named.
13 Tom Brokaw hit the mark when he deemed them The Greatest Generation. Perfect. And my Aunt Tag was and remains living proof of their Greatness.
14 She touched SO many of us it's impossible to do anything but smile, look up, and then watch the sun burst through the clouds and throw rainbows. We love you, Aunt Tag. We love you, Grams.
15 Moving On, Part One: I remember years ago picking up one of those sepia books about different towns, those ones that you can get at Barnes and Noble. Here is what they look like:
16 I came upon the book pictured above while wandering aimlessly through our local Barnes and Noble. I had seen these books before, but can't remember having seen one that specific. The Excelsior District is where the Harrington family grew up at 131 Gennessee Street. I bought the book, took it home, and put a bunch of it online. One picture captured a lot of what the Gennessee experience was. Here it is:
Listen:
17 If you walked out the front door at 131 Gennessee Street and down the steps and looked up to your left, you would have seen a small market just up the street, old even when I was young. And just as quickly your eyes would move to the venerable water tower that defined McClaren Park, just up the hill. If you look at the picture above, THAT is what you would have seen. Possibly IN a sepia hue, were it a foggy day.
18 It was there that Emily and Frank Harrington decided to move to and to raise a family. They took in brother Leo, and became Nana, Papa, and Uncle Leo to their children's children and on and on. Family legacy. The house proper was built in 1912, and still stands. Don't bother the occupants. Scroll back up and have another look, and come back down to item 19, below.
Thank you.
19 This is the view Aunt Tag, Aunt Lorrayne, Bob Harrington (my Dad) and Bud Harrington (my Uncle Bud) enjoyed, every morning of their young lives.
20 I bought the book after looking through it for a Barnes- and-Noble hour. And I loved it. Conceived and authored by Walter Jebe, Sr., it is a gem of a book, since it exists as the definitive book about people who lived the Balboa High School experience. As I move through this, I shall include a brief caption from the book. Walter Jebe, Sr. was a brave soul; that is how I emerged from his book. I had to slip that in. It becomes clear that other people grabbed some of this and possibly altered a few things towards the end. I wash my hands of that stuff. Once again, I include pictures and their captions. The captions from the book I shall abbreviate, and I shall abbreviate them to this: CFB. Caption From Book.
So here go: May I introduce to you Walter Jebe, Sr. He emerges as my hero for having the strength to put this all together. Keep in mind this is brief, and all about a specific world through which the Greatest Generation locally romped and played. Enjoy the ride. And by all means, buy the book, so you have it.
2 And still lives, to those of us who knew her spirit and humor.
3 It hit hard. Aunt Tag's real name is Dorothy, although she also goes as "Grams." If I had people give one word to describe my Aunt Tag, I'm guessing that the word "sweet" would be up there on everybody's list.
4 I don't want to crowd this piece with all of her history and such. Too much, too fast.
5 The Once-in-a-While Daily News seldom works as news anyway. Never did, even when it was The Daily News, or the DN, as I referred to it. Last week became a blur to many of us as it rolled through our lives.
6 To begin, we came off a nightmarishly long Presidential election and right into this, followed by an early Thanksgiving. Aunt Tag was always sweeter than all that. I always felt warmth and kindness when talking with her. And pure glory of a higher order when singing with her.
7 The glory of it all is legacy: the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren now have a Fairy Queen ruling the heavens with her immeasurable love of life, of children, of family, of friends, and of music.
8 When you would sing with Aunt Tag, you would feel that you were the only two people on the planet who knew just how good music could be, a treasured secret between just the two of you. You could, that is, until you would look around and see a family that sings, even the few who can't hit all the notes. Notes don't matter. Heart matters. My Aunt Tag taught all of us that. Heart matters.
9 I thought and thought of what to write, and as happens often with real events, words ran terrified from my head. I knew my limits, and I know my limits. I finally sat down and let my fingers do the walking with the words. They became a Disneyesque parasol, right out of Mary Poppins.
10 And so it travels up one lush meadow and down another. Have you ever seen the grass so green, or a bluer sky?
11 The family simultaneously jumped on Facebook, Twitter, Google, and all those grand things, in order to see how everyone else was doing. Pictures poured all over the pages, and the younger generation wrote some of the most soulful pieces I've ever read. I'd name names, but you know who you are. I wouldn't wish to leave anybody out.
12 I would even go so far as to wish Tag that she rest in peace, but she probably already knows that life simply continues, and that we are foolish spending our days crying and carrying on. She's probably sipping Margaritas with husband Jack, sister Lorrayne and Uncle Al, my Mom and Dad, and my own Uncle Bud, who went missing in action, and after whom I have been named.
13 Tom Brokaw hit the mark when he deemed them The Greatest Generation. Perfect. And my Aunt Tag was and remains living proof of their Greatness.
14 She touched SO many of us it's impossible to do anything but smile, look up, and then watch the sun burst through the clouds and throw rainbows. We love you, Aunt Tag. We love you, Grams.
15 Moving On, Part One: I remember years ago picking up one of those sepia books about different towns, those ones that you can get at Barnes and Noble. Here is what they look like:
16 I came upon the book pictured above while wandering aimlessly through our local Barnes and Noble. I had seen these books before, but can't remember having seen one that specific. The Excelsior District is where the Harrington family grew up at 131 Gennessee Street. I bought the book, took it home, and put a bunch of it online. One picture captured a lot of what the Gennessee experience was. Here it is:
The venerable water tower
standing tall in McClaren
Park.
Listen:
17 If you walked out the front door at 131 Gennessee Street and down the steps and looked up to your left, you would have seen a small market just up the street, old even when I was young. And just as quickly your eyes would move to the venerable water tower that defined McClaren Park, just up the hill. If you look at the picture above, THAT is what you would have seen. Possibly IN a sepia hue, were it a foggy day.
18 It was there that Emily and Frank Harrington decided to move to and to raise a family. They took in brother Leo, and became Nana, Papa, and Uncle Leo to their children's children and on and on. Family legacy. The house proper was built in 1912, and still stands. Don't bother the occupants. Scroll back up and have another look, and come back down to item 19, below.
Thank you.
19 This is the view Aunt Tag, Aunt Lorrayne, Bob Harrington (my Dad) and Bud Harrington (my Uncle Bud) enjoyed, every morning of their young lives.
20 I bought the book after looking through it for a Barnes- and-Noble hour. And I loved it. Conceived and authored by Walter Jebe, Sr., it is a gem of a book, since it exists as the definitive book about people who lived the Balboa High School experience. As I move through this, I shall include a brief caption from the book. Walter Jebe, Sr. was a brave soul; that is how I emerged from his book. I had to slip that in. It becomes clear that other people grabbed some of this and possibly altered a few things towards the end. I wash my hands of that stuff. Once again, I include pictures and their captions. The captions from the book I shall abbreviate, and I shall abbreviate them to this: CFB. Caption From Book.
So here go: May I introduce to you Walter Jebe, Sr. He emerges as my hero for having the strength to put this all together. Keep in mind this is brief, and all about a specific world through which the Greatest Generation locally romped and played. Enjoy the ride. And by all means, buy the book, so you have it.
Walter Jebe, Sr.
Caption from the book (CFB):
Born in San Francisco on August 15, 1924, Jebe attended Excelsior, Monroe, and Balboa High Schools, and later, Penn State. After his release from the Army, he established Jebe's Camera Shop on Mission, at Ocean Avenue. It was there that his fabulous collection of photos began.
21 I chose a few and posted them a while back as a sort of gift to my elders. Here are a few more. (Note: I got this book in 2005, I think, so any references to what stores and such are called today are inaccurate. I'm going from memory, and memory fades. Here are excerpts from this jewel created by Mr. Jebe, Sr.) :
22
Sailor During WW II
CFB
4500 Block of Mission, between Excelsior and Brazil.
23
24
26
27
28
"This photo taken after 1932 when all of Balboa High
School's buildings were completed and ready to accept the 3,200 Excelsior-area students. Today, bronze numerals embedded in
the concrete on its main stairway entrance represent 114 graduating classes. Balboa's 8,000-member alumni association
is dedicated to preserving school traditions and honoring
those who have contributed to the betterment of the
school; it names facilities after them and affixes impressive
plaques throughout the school.
"The main building is called Robert R. Chase Hall after the first
and longest term principal (1928-1951). 'Big Bob', the six-foot-tall-plus Yale graduate and former principal of Bernal Grammar
School in Bernal Heights, is remembered by many students
for the whistle he carried with him at all times and blew
when he saw something he didn't approve of.
"The Nick Kafkas Quad is named after a 37-year civics faculty
member, while the Emily Powell Library Building is named after
Lew Powell's daughter for her outstanding volunteer service
to Balboa since 1970.
"The Leta Wheeler library is named for the longest serving librarian at the school (over 40 years). Sections of the Emily
Powell library building are named in honor of respected
science teacher Allan Hummel and English department
head Don Holvendahl.
"Balboa's auditorium is named after 1958 graduate
Calvin Simmons, the first African American to be named
conductor of a major U.S symphony orchestra and
who died in a tragic canoeing accident at Lake Placid
in 1932.
" The Orron Quails Boys Gym is named after a basketball
coach, the girls' gym after Renea Case, who often
sponsored the Girls Athletic Association. The athletic
fields named after Carl Mitchel, varsity football coach
from 1935 to the late 1950's who, in the fall of 1957, led
the football team to Balboa's first city championship
over San Francisco Polytechnic.
"The stadium is named after Archie Chagojian, a varsity football coach.
" The 'Little Theatre' is named after Salvadore Billeci, music director and composer of Songs of the Buccaneers, including
the beloved Balboa Hymn."
29 Whew.
30 Hope I didn't misspell anyone's name.
31 The Greatest Generation.
32 And my Aunt Tag was among the best.
33 I do need to go; this piece became emotionally insane for me to write and edit.
34 My thoughts when I began were to present a local view of one of the greatest generations ever to walk over gravel roads and rocks.
35 I hear what sounds like a cat being ripped in half on a teevee down the hall.
36 This usually implies that I gottago.
37 Smoky Joe.
38 Headin' out of here and towards Kokomo.
39 Give my Aunt Tag a good thought today. This was supposed to be all about her, but somehow the world in which she walked in her younger days came into my own head as important. No amount of words could express it. This entire piece seemed impossible to attempt alone.
40 I may have had a little help.
41 Smile today. She still lives, and always will.
42 Proof of God.
43 Gottago.
44 Live life.
45 Love life.
46 Peace.
Tony and Joe's Sea Food Grotto, 4435
Mission Street.
CFB
"... founded by two brothers in 1946. Today it is called
Joe's fish Grotto. Like the famed Fisherman's
Wharf, Tony and Joe's kept big boxes of crabs on
the sidewalk, a tradition that came from
the coastal area of Italy"
24
Tony and Joe's Sea Food Grotto.
CFB
Interior.
25 Amazingly, the book has no photos of the 1906 Earthquake which devastated the City. There are a few photos from 1906, but hardly worth writing home about. Here is one shot called View Looking South, with captions:
View looking south.
CFB
From the book:
"This view looking south shows the Islais Creek gully on the far left, which today is Highway 280 South. Note the wooden-covered aqueduct over the creek used for carrying water. In the center is the former track bed fot the Ocean Shore Railroad. The pipe opposite the man in the photo was used for water transportation."
Lew Powell.
CFB
"Excelsior boxing icon Llewellyn Powell was lightweight
champion of California in 1906...He was
the main trainer for virtually all of the professional
boxers who came out of the Excelsior District,
which became a sort of incubator for
prizefighting in the San Francisco Bay
Area."
the main trainer for virtually all of the professional
boxers who came out of the Excelsior District,
which became a sort of incubator for
prizefighting in the San Francisco Bay
Area."
27
December 7, 1941.
CFB
"When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on
December 7,1941, most of the Lew Powell Tigers
gathered at Lew's store to discuss the shocking news. Within an hour after this picture was taken, loads of newspapers were dropped in front of the store and the Tigers [a baseball team formed and funded by Lew from local lads who used to hang out at his store] went out selling these special issues door-to-door. This photo, taken by 'Tiger' Jack Bermie, shows, from left to right, John Olson, Joe Bricker, Jim McCarthy, Ed Phillips, and Walt Woodall. Within two years, all of them were in uniform."
December 7,1941, most of the Lew Powell Tigers
gathered at Lew's store to discuss the shocking news. Within an hour after this picture was taken, loads of newspapers were dropped in front of the store and the Tigers [a baseball team formed and funded by Lew from local lads who used to hang out at his store] went out selling these special issues door-to-door. This photo, taken by 'Tiger' Jack Bermie, shows, from left to right, John Olson, Joe Bricker, Jim McCarthy, Ed Phillips, and Walt Woodall. Within two years, all of them were in uniform."
Balboa High School.
CFB
"This photo taken after 1932 when all of Balboa High
School's buildings were completed and ready to accept the 3,200 Excelsior-area students. Today, bronze numerals embedded in
the concrete on its main stairway entrance represent 114 graduating classes. Balboa's 8,000-member alumni association
is dedicated to preserving school traditions and honoring
those who have contributed to the betterment of the
school; it names facilities after them and affixes impressive
plaques throughout the school.
"The main building is called Robert R. Chase Hall after the first
and longest term principal (1928-1951). 'Big Bob', the six-foot-tall-plus Yale graduate and former principal of Bernal Grammar
School in Bernal Heights, is remembered by many students
for the whistle he carried with him at all times and blew
when he saw something he didn't approve of.
"The Nick Kafkas Quad is named after a 37-year civics faculty
member, while the Emily Powell Library Building is named after
Lew Powell's daughter for her outstanding volunteer service
to Balboa since 1970.
"The Leta Wheeler library is named for the longest serving librarian at the school (over 40 years). Sections of the Emily
Powell library building are named in honor of respected
science teacher Allan Hummel and English department
head Don Holvendahl.
"Balboa's auditorium is named after 1958 graduate
Calvin Simmons, the first African American to be named
conductor of a major U.S symphony orchestra and
who died in a tragic canoeing accident at Lake Placid
in 1932.
" The Orron Quails Boys Gym is named after a basketball
coach, the girls' gym after Renea Case, who often
sponsored the Girls Athletic Association. The athletic
fields named after Carl Mitchel, varsity football coach
from 1935 to the late 1950's who, in the fall of 1957, led
the football team to Balboa's first city championship
over San Francisco Polytechnic.
"The stadium is named after Archie Chagojian, a varsity football coach.
" The 'Little Theatre' is named after Salvadore Billeci, music director and composer of Songs of the Buccaneers, including
the beloved Balboa Hymn."
29 Whew.
30 Hope I didn't misspell anyone's name.
31 The Greatest Generation.
32 And my Aunt Tag was among the best.
33 I do need to go; this piece became emotionally insane for me to write and edit.
34 My thoughts when I began were to present a local view of one of the greatest generations ever to walk over gravel roads and rocks.
35 I hear what sounds like a cat being ripped in half on a teevee down the hall.
36 This usually implies that I gottago.
37 Smoky Joe.
38 Headin' out of here and towards Kokomo.
39 Give my Aunt Tag a good thought today. This was supposed to be all about her, but somehow the world in which she walked in her younger days came into my own head as important. No amount of words could express it. This entire piece seemed impossible to attempt alone.
40 I may have had a little help.
41 Smile today. She still lives, and always will.
42 Proof of God.
43 Gottago.
44 Live life.
45 Love life.
46 Peace.
~H~
Left to right, back: Picture of Shirley Harrington
(my Mom), Gayle Wilhelm (my younger sister),
Marcia Joseph (Aunt Tag's daughter), Nancy Potts
(Aunt Tag's daughter) and Linda Calhoun (my older
sister who looks younger than me!), and front:
Aunt Lorrayne Duhvetter, Bob Harrington (my
Dad) and my Aunt Tag (and "Grams"to so
many), Dorothy Potts.
Each could sing like the wind.
Peace.
fin.
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