The End of the Grovecenter Era

A couple of days ago escrow closed on the home my siblings and I grew up in on Grovecenter St. in West Covina, California. My parents bought it is May of 1955, the only house they ever bought. They paid $14,700 and struggled with that high initial monthly mortgage payment of $85. It sold for $430,000.

Pat, Rachel and I drove over to California along with my brothers and their wives to help clear out the house for the sale. My sister Tricia had been down a couple of times prior and had gone through a lot of Mom and Dad's things. In fact, she told me as we planned our trip there that she was surprised that they had not accumulated more stuff over their 53 years there. But as it turned out, we filled at least 8 large plastic leaf bags with all manner of stuff not to mention many items for Goodwill or Salvation Army to pick up. Pat sat with Dad at his desk for a pretty long time and helped consolidate his enormous collection of paperwork (spread over his desk in the den, his desk in the back bedroom and the kitchen table). We shredded LOTS of documents and he got organized!

Dad had told us that a neighbor (who works for U-Haul) had promised to have a truck at his house for us to use to move Dad and his furniture to his new place, a retirement center in San Dimas called Atria. But Friday night came and went, no truck. So first thing Saturday morning I rented a 17 foot truck and we started loading. By now my brother Doug had arrived with his large son Nicholas and another large friend and they started in. We made two trips, the first with furniture and the second with boxes. Everybody pitched in and things went amazingly smooth. We had cleaned out the cupboards of dishes, small appliances, silverware, etc. Most of that was taken by my brother Robert and he was very happy to have it! There were other knickknacks we all sort of gleaned. Mom had some antique teacups and saucers and other such stuff and we picked them up for the granddaughters.

When we got to Dad's new place, "job one" was to set up his new apartment. We arranged furniture and lamps a couple of times, got his beds set up and made and stocked his closets and bathrooms. We wanted to make it seem "like home" as soon as possible.

Dad put us up in the Radisson (formerly Embassy) Suites and it was very comfortable. Robert brought two acoustic guitars and we stayed up late a couple of nights singing Beatles, Buddy Holly and Merle Haggard songs. It was SO fun. We also all went out to BJ's Brewery for a big family dinner which was also fun. My brother John stayed on a few days to arrange the cancellation of the utilities in Dad's name, transfer his phone number, and arrange for a dumpster to be delivered to the house. I think this weekend, Doug and Nicholas are going over to fill it with all the leftover junk and trash.

In all the hubbub, We all noticed that Dad seemed a little detached. Well, who can blame him? So many years in the same place and then to be shuffled, perhaps a little hastily to a two-room apartment. We didn't mean for it to be hasty. I just think we wanted to take advantage of everyone there and available to help. When we finally left him on the fifth floor Sunday, Pat started to get teary and said, "I hate to leave him alone!" But after all he is only 10 minutes from his old house, all his friends including Betty are close by and we know he will be checked on and will have three decent meals a day. Betty has since been there to visit him at least once.

So, the Grovecenter days are over but life is change, isn't it?. I know that Pat and I and our kids have great memories of visiting Grandma and Grandpa Bertoglio in that house (they have all told me that recently). We do and will continue to worry about Dad. My sister-in-law Janice, who is a nurse and has worked with older folks, thinks that he may be suffering with TEA or TIA (I didn't catch the acronym) which apparently are small strokes which may explain his rather passive demeanor through all this. Maybe or maybe not. But I believe we can help keep his spirits high by being in touch. I know he loves to send and receive letters and get phone calls. Please email or call me or Pat for his new address. His phone number is the same. Thanks, props and muchas smooches to all my sibs and their wives and sig others for their tireless work, love and concern for Dad. Y'all did a yeoman's job. And thank goodness for Doug and Pat both being such organized types ("type A"?). They really helped keep us and the move in line. Rachel also pitched in during this project even though she had hoped to meet a friend there in SoCal and head off to Magic Mountain. It didn't work out though. Still I think it was fun for her to see her uncles, aunts and cousins.

If this experience has done anything for me, it is to reinforce my belief that family is of the utmost importance in this life.