Finding My Wolf Tales Direction The Newsletter of At Gorton Gorton’s Class of ‘65 It is truly regrettable that Nikolai Gogol ‘Strength of the wolf is in the pack’ September 2020, No. 53 first appropriated the title Diary of a Madman, as it perfectly fits my journey at GHS over an 11-year stint. Newly certified and having passed the New York City speech test (in those days, there were actually standards for teach- ers, one of which was speaking the Eng- lish language correctly and clearly), I checked the mailbox every day. Nothing! Early in January 1963, my cousin, Marga- The sun glows red over Felton and is masked by heavy smoke caused by wildfires. ret Donelin, an assistant superintendent of schools in Yonkers, called and offered me a job substituting at Smoke on the Water, GHS. She, of course, knew me and knew Jim Cavanaugh. It Fires in the Sky would be a lock if I applied. I had heard of Yon- By Bob kers. It was vaguely Foley north of the Bronx, what to a young guy without a car, seemed an interminable trek; but with the school Smoke billows over Waddell Creek south of the Santa Cruz-San Mateo line. year already in motion and no word from NYC, I had little choice. Evacuating the Inferno Off for the interview with James By Joe Mikulsky Boulder Creek, a town six miles north of Cavanaugh the next day. On my third bus us, was being evacuated for a wild fire connection, I missed the GHS stop and It started with a hurricane off the coast that had tripled in size overnight. We found myself staring at cows. (This was, of Mexico. soon learned that we were under an of course, Andrus Pavilion, but I didn’t evacuation warning. Concerned about know that; all I knew was that I didn’t As the storm moved north along the Pa- being able to evacuate safely, we decided really want to teach Shakespeare to cow- cific Coast, it lost power but headed to leave immediately. hands.) Nevertheless, I got off the bus straight for California’s Santa Cruz Coun- and walked back to Gorton, late for my ty. On Aug. 16 around 2:20 a.m., dry light- We gathered our "special" belongings first interview.) ning was flashing all around us, causing including, of course, our cat Rags and real concern for lightning-caused wild- filled our car with what would fit. We The interview with the taciturn JC lasted fires. With bone dry forests after years of drove to our local Safeway parking lot no more than 10 minutes. “You’ll start drought, we were at Red Flag Fire Warn- that had already filled with evacuees. tomorrow. See my secretary for your pro- ing. Friends of ours had already said we could gram.” Had he asked if I wanted to start stay with them, a safe distance from the tomorrow, I might have declined; but this Three days later, while Annie and I were fire. We headed there. See FOLEY on Page 10 having our morning coffee, we found out See FIRES on Page 2 Wolf Tales, Page 2 FIRES (from Page One) After four days of monitoring the Cal Fire information updates, we decid- ed to leave their place and head for our house in Atascadero for two good reasons—a little room and we could visit with our son Nick, Makani and their new born son, our first grandson! 2 p.m. in Felton after the evacuation. As we monitored the CZU August Lightning Complex Fire on various websites, we became more con- cerned as the fire grew to more than 85,000 acres with no containment. However, with cooler weather and the return of the marine layer (fog), Cal Fire was able to set up a contain- A montage of thanks to the firefighters. Aftermath of the Fire Creek blaze. ment line around our town of Felton. The fire perimeter got within about My assistant, Ingrid, texted me to say she 1,000 yards of our house. As the days would not be in for a few days. She sent a went by, containment rose slowly photo (above) taken from her house. and after 11 days, we were allowed With the fire advancing at 30 mph, she to return home. stayed as long as she could to prevent looting but finally left. Fortunately, the fire crews got We were lucky. Our house was fine. air support and established a fire-retardant As of this writing, containment is at containment line. Her property survived. 83%; 86,509 acres burned; more than 1,490 structures burned, includ- Ingrid told me that every motel within 50 ing 940 single-family homes; and one miles of the fire opened their doors and fatality. offered free rooms to evacuees for as long as they were needed. They did this despite se- The fire will not be completely out vere economic loss caused by the pandemic. until the winter rains arrive. Mop-up activities will continue for months to Cal Fire is over-extended. We had burn areas come. Relying on bigger than four Rhode Islands and could not send personnel. Volunteers came from hun- "Normal" fire suppression tech- dreds of miles away to fight the infernos. niques don’t work in the Felton area. The Kindness Thick vegetation, giant redwood These are big-hearted people, putting in 18- trees and very steep walled canyons 20-hour days working in rugged terrain, in make firefighting extremely difficult. Of Strangers By Bob Mason C59 100-plus temperatures while carrying or Air attacks with fire retardants are wearing more than 100 pounds of equipment stymied by the thick canopy of the lassmates who stayed on the East Coast and protective gear. I couldn’t do it. redwood trees and the steep can- C probably don’t know what it is like living with yons prevent the use of bulldozers to After months of headlines about violent pro- cut fire breaks. a fire season every year. tests, looting and the spreading pandemic, I find it hopeful to see the U.S. at its best… And the worst time of year for fires The recent Vacaville wildfire jumped a 12- lane freeway…that’s a pretty big firebreak! ordinary people giving what they can to help isn’t upon us yet! other ordinary people. [email protected] GORTON HIGH SCHOOL CLASS of 1965 Gorton High School Class of 1965 Drop Box Wolf Tales, Page 3 SUNSET ON THE HUDSON--Growing up in Yonkers we all marveled at the beautiful sunsets over the Hudson River and the Pali- sades. Steve Tuers recently recaptured those memories with this photo taken near St. John’s Riverside Hospital. “A few days ago, I witnessed that same sunset and those magnificent Palisades reminding me some things don’t change,” Steve writes. The only thing back then of which we could be certain is that Gorton High Wall of Fame Inductee School would be in session in September. Alumni And that, my friends, is exactly what is happening now. News School Bells Ring Principal Will Shaggura reports Gorton is back in session, albeit virtual learning for the first 3-4 weeks. Once the City of Yonkers feels confident Going Strong that the students, teachers and admin- istration will be in a safe, virus-free envi- Despite It All ronment for all schools, doors will reopen sometime in October for on-site educa- tion. In some cases, a hybrid on-line/on- Greetings Alumni! Arthur D. Hellman, Class of 1959 site alternative may be offered based on Happy September to all! I hope everyone safety conditions. continues to be smart… safe…and strong The Class of 1959 valedictorian, Arthur as we plod through these crazy times. We are extremely proud of Gorton’s per- Hellman more than demonstrated an apti- formance during the spring 2020 semester tude for group and scholarly activities, Imagine when we were kids that people and feel confident it will once again meet such as three years on the Gorton News would be concerned with wild fires span- the challenges of the pandemic environ- staff including Editor-in-Chief; Stridarians ning a broad swath of the West Coast, ment. More to come in the October Wolf for three years; the Promenade staff in- Colorado snow flurries in September, Tales as the school year develops. cluding Copy Editor; two years in the Gor- tropical storms and hurricanes so numer- ton Players; National Honor Society; The ous that we had to use the Greek alphabet Our Victory Garden Press Club; U.N. Contest for two years; to name them all, a 100-degree day in We spoke at length with Principal Shag- and the Creative Writing Club. Russia’s Arctic Circle and, by the way, a gura and school alumni liaison Marilyn global pandemic. See ALUMS on Page 4 See ARTHUR on Page 4 Wolf Tales, Page 4 and the First Amendment. He became a ALUMS (from Page 3) (from Page 3) ARTHUR full professor in 1980 and was later rec- Rabadi about the Victory Garden project This was the foundation on which Arthur for the 2020-2021 school year. Discussions ognized as a Distinguished Faculty Schol- became a professor of law at the Univer- ar. He was also the inaugural holder of centered on the location of the garden, sity of Pittsburgh and one of the fore- hopefully adjacent to the Alumni Brick the Sally Semenko Endowed Chair until most, nationally recognized scholars on his retirement in 2017. commemoration due west of the main the Federal Court system.