Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 4, 2016

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.comWalking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 
by Deanne Davis3Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 4, 2016 
SHARE SOME 
GOOD NEWS! 
“The Kindness of Strangers” feature encourages readers 
to share their stories. I can assure you, they will be 
uplifting especially in contrast to all the the challenges 
and issues we have to deal with daily. So, if you have 
something you would like to share, please submit it to: 
editor@mtnviewsnews.com. It doesn’t matter where you 
were or when it happened. Share your good expeiences in hope that it might bring a little joy and/
or inspire someone. 
-Susan Henderson, Editor/Publisher MVNews
Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.comWalking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 
by Deanne Davis3Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 4, 2016 
SHARE SOME 
GOOD NEWS! 
“The Kindness of Strangers” feature encourages readers 
to share their stories. I can assure you, they will be 
uplifting especially in contrast to all the the challenges 
and issues we have to deal with daily. So, if you have 
something you would like to share, please submit it to: 
editor@mtnviewsnews.com. It doesn’t matter where you 
were or when it happened. Share your good expeiences in hope that it might bring a little joy and/
or inspire someone. 
-Susan Henderson, Editor/Publisher MVNews
Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis


“Memorial Day is to commemorate and celebrate 
our fallen comrades,

the best and noblest who no longer walk among us.”

The gentleman in this picture is Gordon Caldwell. I 
shook hands with Gordon at the Memorial Service, 
hosted by Sierra Madre’s own Harry L. Embree 
VFW Post 3208, at Pioneer Cemetery last Monday. 
Gordon served on the USS Saratoga before the 
landings on Iwo Jima when six

 Japanese planes scored five hits on the carrier 
in three minutes. Saratoga’s flight deck forward 
was wrecked, her starboard side was holed twice 
and large fires were started in her hanger deck, 
while she lost 123 of her crew dead and missing. 
Another attack scored an additional bomb hit. 
Gordon’s brave actions pulling others to safety were 
described. He is an Iwo Jima survivor. He is a hero.

 Our Congresswoman, Judy Chu, spoke proudly 
of her father and his service in Okinawa. Judy is a 
loyal supporter of veterans’ issues and spoke of the 
veterans’ clinic which is so badly needed in our area 
and, while the PCC location she spoke of last year 
did not work out, she is diligently searching for 
another acceptable Pasadena site. Judy then spoke 
of our own Louis Vanirsel, who passed away this 
past year, and his extraordinary service. Louis 
arrived in the United States from Germany just as 
World War I was underway. With no English at all, 
he enlisted in the Army his first day in America. He 
quickly learned our language and was sent to serve 
in France. He carried 17 soldiers to safety under 
fire on one occasion. As his native language was 
German, he was the perfect candidate to infiltrate 
enemy lines, swimming the icy Seine to see what 
he could discover about the German army’s plans. 
What he found about their troop movements, after 
swimming back across the Seine, saved the lives of 
over 1,000 American soldiers. Louis Vanirsel was 
awarded our Medal of Honor and not one, but two 
Croix de Guerre medals! When Pearl Harbor was 
bombed, Louis and his three sons reported to enlist 
in the Army. Being told he was too old, Louis then 
talked his way into the Marine Corps. He is a hero. 
Ms. Chu instituted a bill which passed unanimously 
on the floor of the House of Representatives to 
rename the Sierra Madre Post Office in honor of 
Louis Vanirsel. 

 What a weekend this has been! The weather 
for the Mount Wilson Trail Race on Saturday 
was perfect, cool and cloudy. The winner, Adrian 
Diaz, came in at 1:01:35, followed by John Clark at 
1:03:15, both of which are so astonishingly fast we 
barely had time to talk to anybody after the race 
horn blew at 7:30 a.m. Our neighbor, Lisa Cardella 
– the genius behind Ixora Floral Studio right here 
in town – ran her first race and did really well, 
coming in at 1:23:47, just a little behind the women 
race winners: Mireya Vargas at 1:17:51 and Nicole 
Judd at 1:18. This race, as you probably all know 
is 8.6 miles of incredibly narrow, steep, rocky trail. 
There were 346 runners (100 Sierra Madreans) 
the oldest a mere 83 and the youngest, 9-year-old 
Dylan Douglas coming in at a very respectable 
1:59:45. 

 The kids’ race, starting at 7:45, is our favorite...
these are, after all, our future Mt. Wilson Trail Race 
winners. Those serious little people, wearing their 
huge race t-shirts, 7-12 year olds on one side of 
Baldwin, 6 and under on the other. Not too much 
falling down this year, no crying, one little guy lost 
a shoe on the way up the hill and kept going in his 
sock, encouraged by the official rabbits: Chantel 
Cravens and Robert Vangilder. 

 Niguel Rini, honorary Trail Race Starter, has 
run the race almost every year since 1994. I ran 
into Niguel at Beantown and he mentioned that, 
yeah, he is dealing with lymphoma, but has every 
intention of quickly putting that behind him and 
getting back into the race. Kaiya Wilson sang 
the National Anthem for us again this year. This 
13-year-old does the most thrilling rendition of 
our Anthem anywhere and apologized for being 
hoarse. It couldn’t have been any better...we should 
all be so hoarse!

 Our VFW honor guard guys were on hand in 
full dress uniform to display the colors, minus 
Bud Switzer, who had sprained a wrist. He was on 
hand for Monday’s Memorial at Pioneer Cemetery, 
though, in full dress with a brace on that wrist. 

 It takes a platoon of volunteers to put on this Race 
and thanks to all of you, it was fantastic. We’re still 
thinking of our veterans, who were out in force at 
the Memorial Day observance; some in wheelchairs, 
some with walkers, but proudly in uniform, looking 
forward, as are we all to “the day when peace should 
become our common possession.” (Msgr. Richard 
Krekelberg) If you missed it this year, mark your 
calendar for next year. 

 Have a great week and, hey, can you believe we 
had a bank robbery by a masked bandit! Bears and 
bandits and pepper spray! Oh my!

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

 “Tablespoon of Love, Tablespoon of Laughter” is 
available there.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com