Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, February 15, 2020

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, February 15, 2020 

WALKING SIERRA MADRE - The Social Side 

 by Deanne Davis


“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, 
do more and become more, 

you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams

“Life is never easy. There is work to be done and 
obligations to be met – obligations to truth, to justice and 
to liberty.” John F. Kennedy

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to 
succeed.” Theodore Roosevelt

With so many words to inspire us to become our 
best, how on earth did President’s Day become 
the biggest sale day of the year, probably as big 
as Black Friday. Mattresses lead the pack with 
televisions a close second. Appliances, La-Z-Boy 
chairs, the list goes on and on. We’re not sure 
which mattress retailer was the first to grab on to 
Presidents Day sales, and it’s hard to say which 
brand is the loudest. The key point is: Mattress 
sales own our Presidents Day consciousness. 
The third Monday of February might more 
accurately be called Mattress Day. Believe it or 
not, Disneyland started this whole thing, cleverly 
finding a way to tie patriotism in with a midweek 
trip to Disneyland, a good twenty years before the 
mattress folks picked up their fifes and drums.

Actually, though, I want to talk about one of our 
local heroes, a guy whose life accomplishments 
come into line with so many whose lives started 
with truly humble beginnings, then through sheer 
strength of will achieved much. Jerry Todd turned 
90 this past February 16th. The story of his life pretty 
much says it all, “I Took the Other Path.” Born in 
Los Angeles in 1930 during the Great Depression, 
Jerry was frequently placed in what were called 
“boarding homes” which took in children while 
their parents tried to keep body and soul together. 
These were not good experiences in any way, but 
Jerry, despite neglect and abuse, Took the Other 
Path and moved on. His early years taught him 
two things: He wanted recognition and he wanted 
to earn that recognition. Sports was where Jerry 
began to shine, becoming a handball expert at the 
age of eleven! Despite numerous moves from Los 
Angeles to Illinois and back again, and delivering 
newspapers at 4 a.m., Jerry managed to get good 
grades and went out for football, baseball and 
wrestling. When he was 14, the newspaper had a 
War Bond and Stamp contest to support the WWII 
effort and Jerry sold more Bonds and Stamps than 
any boy in the United States, eventually seeing 
himself in a movie newsreel!

The incident that changed Jerry’s life was a pure 
accident. Hearing cheers from the gym while 
playing handball, he looked inside and saw a 
gymnast holding an Iron Cross move on the rings. 
In case you didn’t know, an Iron Cross is where 
the entire body is supported by just the arms and 
shoulders with arms at ring height, extended to the 
sides so the body and arms form a cross between 
the rings. Not easy, but eventually, Jerry excelled 
at gymnastics and in his freshman year at USC, 
won the junior A.A.U., the metropolitan A.A.U. 
and the Pacific Coast Conference Championships 
on the rings. When Jerry graduated, his medallion 
as a college champion was placed in Heritage Hall 
along with all the other USC National Champion 
and Heisman Trophy winners. 

Another “lucky” coincidence gave Jerry the 
opportunity to work with the Pasadena City 
College gymnastics team. Coaching gymnastics, 
Jerry’s team was undefeated, winning 47 straight 
meets and winning the C.I.F. Championships 4 out 
of the next 5 years. In 1962, the PCC gymnastics 
team defeated USC. In 1964, Jerry was nominated 
to coach the Men’s Olympic Team in Tokyo, Japan 
and named NCAA Coach of the Year. Respectfully 
dubbed, “The King of Invitational Gymnastics,” 
Jerry hosted, judged, or was chief commentator 
for over 100 invitational men’s and women’s 
competitions.

Taking the Other Path, living a life of service, 
Jerry’s life is an example of what John Quincy 
Adams said in the quote up there at the beginning 
of today’s story. There is a statue of Jerry in the 
Court of Champions at Pasadena City College, 
along with bronze busts of 9 athletes and 3 coaches 
who have made an impact at Pasadena City 
College, including Jackie and Mack Robinson, 
Irv Noren and John Thurman. Without benefit of 
today’s safety devices, gymnastics needed a good 
“spotter”, one who had the courage, strength, 
knowledge, and skill to risk grasping a gymnast 
learning a dangerous routine element thus saving 
the athlete from potential serious injury, which 
Jerry did on more than one occasion. Without 
telling him, one of his gymnasts decided to 
put a new move into his horizontal bar routine. 
He missed and fell from the bar on the back of 
his neck. Jerry, though taken by surprise, was 
able to dive for him and get one hand under his 
shoulders as he struck the mat. “I’m paralyzed!” 
the gymnast said, was rushed to the hospital and 
his family informed he would never move again. 
That night Jerry visited this young man in the 
hospital and saw he was able to move his toes and 
feet. After surgery, the doctor told Jerry because 
he got one hand under him as he fell, his fall was 
broken enough that it did not sever the spinal 
cord. Amazingly, in just two years he competed on 
Jerry’s team again, completely healed! Needless to 
say, no one ever considered adding a new element 
without prior approval. 

Jerry’s wife, Pat, is a dear friend of mine and 
wanted Jerry to be remembered for the champion 
he has always been on the occasion of his 90th 
birthday. Jerry and Pat adopted two children, 
Tracee and Tim, and they now enjoy four 
grandchildren. “I Took the Other Path” is Jerry’s 
story of overcoming difficulties and hardship and 
keeping his eye always on the goal. In Jerry’s own 
words: “Throughout the many years that I have 
taught, students have complained to me about all 
their problems due to the tough upbringing they 
experienced. I told them that for every problem 
that happens, there are two paths to take…you can 
be a whiner, a quitter, a robber or even a killer or…
You Could Take the Other Path.”

Happy Birthday, Jerry Todd!

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis – 
check out

“Noah & The Unicorns” or maybe “The Vuillaume 
Violin”

“Sunrises and Sunflowers Speak Hope” 

Is available on Amazon.com as is

“A Treasure Map, A Drunken Owl and 47 Rattlers 
in a Bag.”

“Emma’s Etouffee Café” is a new Kindle story by 
me!

Also available on Amazon.com and here’s the link:

https://fave.co/2PItO4d

 

SENIOR COMMUNITY COMMISSION SEEKING 
“OLDER ‘SIERRA MADRE’ AMERICAN OF THE 
YEAR” NOMINATIONS 

The City of Sierra Madre Community Services Department and the Senior Community Commission 
are seeking your collaboration to find the next Older ‘Sierra Madre’ American of the Year. The 
honor is a long-standing tradition in Sierra Madre and is bestowed upon exceptional individuals, age 
60 or older, who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to community service. The individual 
selected by you or any organization must live in Sierra Madre. 

We are pleased to announce the theme for 2020, Make Your Mark, which was selected to encourage 
and celebrate countless contributions that older adults make to our communities. Their time, experience, 
and talents benefit family, peers, and neighbors every day. 

All submissions are due by Thursday, March 12, 2020. Recommendations are now being accepted 
for this recognition and will only be eligible for new candidates who have not been honored in prior 
years. 

Forms may be picked up and returned to the Hart Park House - 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra 
Madre, CA. 

Nominations may also be mailed or walked in to Sierra Madre City Hall, C/o Older American, Community 
Services Department, 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024. 

The Commission will review nomination forms and select an honoree at their regularly scheduled 
meeting in City Hall Council Chambers on Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. 

The honoree will also be recognized at a reception in their honor on Friday, May 8, 2020. 

For more information, please contact the staff at the Hart Park House Senior Center (626) 355-5278 
- Recreation Coordinator, Lawren Heinz (x 704); Recreation Coordinator, Clarissa Lowe (x 703); or 
Administrative Analyst, Rosemary Garcia (x 702). 

CAFÉ VIDA AT SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE ON FEBRUARY 17

 

 The next selection in Off the Page, the ongoing series of staged play readings at Sierra 
Madre Playhouse will be Café Vida by Lisa Loomer. This reading will be co-presented by 
Sierra Madre Playhouse and the Sierra Madre Public Library.

 

 Cafe Vida follows the men and women who work at Homeboy Industries. Chabela 
and Luz are rival homegirls ready to leave the life and begin anew at Cafe Vida - the only 
place in the city that gives young women and their troubled pasts a genuine second chance 
to start a new life free of violence. It's here that these former enemies choose "la vida" over 
"la muerte" as they learn to compost, tend a garden, julienne an onion, and rock your lunch 
order with a smile and a heaping side of transformation. Cafe Vida is inspired by interviews 
conducted at Homegirl Cafe and Homeboy Industries, organizations that offer vocational 
training, rehabilitation, and employment to former gang members.

 

 Playwright Lisa Loomer is partly of Spanish ancestry, and many of her plays feature 
Latinx characters. Among her plays are The Waiting Room, Two Things You Don’t Talk 
About at Dinner, Motherhood Out Loud, Living Out, Expecting Isabel, All by Herselves, 
much more. She co-wrote the screenplay for Girl, Interrupted. She has also written for 
several television series, including Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Café Vida was 
produced in Los Angeles in 2012.

 

 The Off the Page reading series is produced by Sierra Madre Playhouse Artistic Director 
Christian Lebano and is coordinated by Roxanne Barker.

 

 A list of events in February that complement the Café Vida reading that are being 
presented by the Sierra Madre Public Library can be found at http://cityofsierramadre.com

 

 Café Vida. Staged reading of a play by Lisa Loomer. Monday, February 17, 2020 at 
7:00 p.m. At Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024. 
This is just east of Pasadena. Parking is available on the street and in free lots behind the 
Playhouse and across the street. Suggested donation: Five dollars. Website: http://sierramadreplayhouse.
org Phone: (626) 355-4318.


TABLE FOR TWO by Peter Dills

thechefknows@yahoo.com

I thought winter just started, is it springtime? Being a good guest I often ask what type 
of wine is the host or birthday boy’s favorite, and half the time the answer is chardonnay. 
When you look at supermarket wine offerings these days, many major chains seem to be 
focusing on wines, so why then is the space allocated to chardonnay so large compared 
to other varieties of wine? I have deduced my own theory that not only is the price point 
narrow compared to other wines, but the aging potential is longer so you might run into a 
chardonnay that is a few years old. Supermarket sales of chardonnay have remained steady 
over the past few years .

I have been a big fan of St. Francis 
Winery for some years -- I even 
visited the winery on a recent visit 
to Santa Rosa to the Charles Shultz 
Museum. St. Francis’ 2018 Sonoma 
Chardonnay fit all right notes with 
me, having benefitted from heavy 
rains that May and followed by a cool 
summer. I closed my eyes on my first 
taste and could actually taste the aromas of __citrus_, finished by soft tannins. The St. 
Francis website suggested a pairing of __crab, but my market was out of crab so I had 
rotisserie chicken which went very well with it. I do suggest decanting the wine for a few 
minutes before drinking and drink it just slightly chilled.

Writers Weekly Wine Definition: Aging Potential. The potential for the wine to get better 
in your wine storage area. This 2018 St. Francis Chardonnay has it!!!

Dills Score 90

Retails around $18, on sale $12, wide distribution throughout So Cal including Pavilions 
and your local Vons.

Each week I will give you my Dills Score. I have added points for value. I’m starting with a 
base of 50 points; I added 8 points for color, 7 points for aroma or “nose”, 8 points for taste, 
8 points for finish, and 9 points for my overall impression, which includes my value rating. 
I deducted one point one point for the time it took away for decanting.

 Email Peter at thechefknows@yahoo.com and follow me on Twitter @KINGOFCUISINE 
Tune into my radio show on FM 105 Go Country 105 on Sunday Mornings


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