The Road Genealogist: November 2017

Phil DiGirolamo Memorial Services Santa Cruz, CA

    On 9 November 150 to 200 friends, relatives, and residents of Monterey nearly filled San Carlos Catholic Church for the memorial services of Phil DiGirolamo, who finally lost his battle with myeloma late in October.
    [I seem to recall a sign near the church which states that San Carlos is the oldest continuously-used Catholic Church in California.]
    One of my regrets is that I shall no longer be able to tell him he is my much-older brother-in-law since he was born in the decade of the 1930s while I was not born until the next decade. [But we both graduated from our respective high schools in 1957.]
    He was the fullback on Monterey High School's football team and was offered a scholarship to San Francisco State. However, when he went to the City by the Bay to preregister he discovered that the classes he wanted were not available. And he decided instead to attend Monterey Pennisula College.
    He met Jane Lemmon, a girl from Santa Cruz on a bus to MPC. To make a long story short they were married on 20 August 1961 at Holy Cross Church in Santa Cruz, if my memory is correct, and the reception was that evening at the San Carlos Hotel in Monterey, where I was drafted to work dispensing liquid refreshment. When Jane's maternal grandmother, who had promised her mother that she would never drink, approached the bar for some ginger ale or Seven-Up, I asked her if she didn't want something in it. Thereafter she watched me like a hawk to make sure I did not add anything potent to her soda. [:-)>]
    After their daughter Lori was born and I was stationed at Ft Ord I remember making many trips to Marina to play Scrabble, our parents' favorite board game. Eventually Phil, Jane, and Lori moved to Salinas, which is likely where their son Blaise was born.
    When Phil and his family made trips to Santa Cruz we often ended up at the Surf Bowl [now renamed the Boardwalk Bowl]. And he was a reasonably good bowler -- though I think he was a left-hander bowling from the "beach side."
    Since Blaise's father-in-law took photos at the reception following Phil's services, perhaps Blaise can talk him into providing a few of the photos he took for this blog post.

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