Mr. Gardina has died
Dear AHS-66,
I got an email Friday morning from classmate Rex Olliff, and later a phone call from classmate Oscar Rivera, saying that there was an obituary in The L.A. Daily News about Ray Gardina. I called Frank Diaz and confirmed that it was our Mr. Gardina.
Mr. Gardina taught Freshman English on "The Boys' Side" at Alemany.
I phoned Mr. Gardina's Alemany buddy Mr. Smidt, our history teacher, to let him know too. (Mr. and Mrs. Smidt are doing well, and he is now Dr. Smidt. He recently retired from a 41-year career in education.)
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In a message dated 10/6/2006, Rex Olliff writes:
Friday's Daily News obits contained an entry for Raymond Gardina. Birth year (1930), Catholic funeral arrangements, mention of a long teaching career and likeness on photo make it almost certain the person is Mr. Gardina who I believe taught English to all sections in our freshman year. (Maybe not suitable for a eulogy or formal remembrance, but I remember with love "Big Ray Day" sometime during our freshman year.)
Rex
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Obituary from L.A. Daily News
RAYMOND E. GARDINA
Born July 1, 1930 in Pennsylvania; entered eternal life October 1, 2006.
Raymond worked in education for 34 years, and was active in Marriage Encounter for 15 years. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann; daughters, Carla (Don Pestana) and Celeste; son, Mark (Danielle); five grandchildren, Cody, Anderson, Marianna, Isabella and Priscilla; brother, Jack Gardina (Jean) of Davenport, Iowa; and sister, Janet Ruscio of Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Services will be held Wednesday, October 11, 2006, 11:00 a.m., at Mission Hills Catholic Mortuary, at Rinaldi and Sepulveda.
Donations may be made to Habitat for Humanity, or Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, 1 Elmwood Ave., Kansas City, KS 66103.
Directors 818-361-7387
(Published in the Los Angeles Daily News on 10/6/2006)
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Online Guest Book for Raymond Gardina
http://www.legacy.com/LADailyNews/Obituaries.asp?Page
=Lifestory&PersonId=19500901
October 6, 2006
Mr. Gardina was an important part of Bishop Alemany's history. We will keep each of you in our prayers and enroll Mr. Gardina in our morning prayers. God Bless each of you.
The Bishop Alemany High School Family, Mission Hills, CA
JoAnn Schnelldorfer
Director of Alumni
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In a message dated
I remember Mr. Gardina well. At the time my English wasn't very good [big understatement!] but he was patient and encouraged me to develop good grammar habits.
I also had Mr. [Dr.] Smidt for history and I have him to thank for the extensive vocabulary that I have today.
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In a phone call on Sunday, 10/08/06, our classmate Terry Bowles recalled that he used to see Mr. Smidt and Mr. Gardina tossing the football around up on our football field from time to time. That's a sweet thing to picture, the two good friends who are teachers at the school, playing catch on the football field at lunch. DM
6 comments:
10/10/2006
Mr. Gardina is one of the teachers I remember more than any other. Partly because he deserved a medal for all the abuse he put up with.
One prank in particular I remember was a few minutes before class, a group of us would stand just outside class. One person would go in and slam the door, another would go and slam the door, the next would go in and slam the door, etc. And I remember we would fool with the position of his desk - sometimes perching it right near the edge of the riser it was sitting on.
He was a colorful character and a good guy for putting up with us.
Kevin McHugh
Sacramento, CA
10/10/2006
Just a thought about Mr. Gardina. Thanks for the posting. That was Mr. Gardina alright. The photo was unmistakable.
Some of my most vivid classroom memories were in 'Big Ray's' English class. I don't know if this will come across as funny as it actually was, but I'll give it a try.
When someone was misbehaving in class and Big Ray had enough, he would very casually start to walk down the aisles. Just as he past the person he was targeting, he would spin on one foot and smack the person on the back side of their head with his book and everyone would fall apart laughing. In other words he would 'pivot'.
Well, it got to a point that whenever he started to walk down an aisle, everyone would cover their heads with their English book and
call out...PIVOT...PIVOT. It was hilarious and often a conversation piece during our lunch breaks.
I think everyone just really loved the man, because of his unique mannerisms and actually a very kind disposition. He was truly a very gentle giant and is already missed.
My thoughts and prayers to his family.
Leonard J. DiTrapani
Pomona, CA
10/10/2006
Sorry to hear about Ray Gardina… I will always have fond memories of his English class and Big Ray Day.
Do you have the contact information for Andrew Smidt? I had him in probably his first year of teaching (7th Grade) at De La Salle. He was very helpful to me back then and I’d like to say hello.
Thanks,
John
Flagstaff, AZ
10/10/2006
Sorry to hear this. Some of my strongest classroom memories were in English with Mr Gardina.
Two best: (1) The day everyone in his morning classes each brought him an apple. He was so cool about it. Just said "Thank you" to each guy. (Often wonder what he did with all those apples.)
(2) The time we all inched our desks up toward the front of the room each time he looked away. We were almost all the way to his desk before he noticed. Tried that one again at the Academy. The prof just grabbed the top of the blackboard, got his feet up on the eraser tray and kept teaching. All I could think was "This guy is as cool as Big Ray."
Funny the things that come back after all these years.
Jay
Whittier, CA
I was able to attend Mr. Gardina's funeral. SRO. I ran into a couple who I knew from coaching soccer many years ago. We were surprised that we shared a connection to Mr. Gardina. And they were especially surprised at my connection: freshman English '62-63. It was obvious from those attending that Mr. Gardina touched many souls with love. As I was leaving, I recognized Mr. Diez and Mr. Smidt who were talking. I introduced myself and we spoke briefly. But it seemed they had a lot of catching up to do so I did not linger. I was glad to see them there for Big Ray.
Rex Olliff
Mission Hills
Mr. Gardina was one of my favorite teachers as well. I don't know where he found the patience to put up with the stuff we tortured him with in 9th. grade. My wife, Sheila, and I "re-met" him and his wife Mary at a Marriage Encounter weekend many years ago. They were a great couple.
Bill Killian
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