1958-1963: Teenagers
Mom was challenged again by the move to a new house in Santa Clara (a fixer-upper) and three teenagers.
It was April of 1958, time to Rock 'n Roll.
I rocked the boat first that summer by asking Mom and Dad for permission to attend the Salesian Junior Seminary in the fall. Mom was delighted to have a potential priest in family. Dad wasn't as sure I was mature enough to make such a big decision. After some negotiation with the Salesians' vocation director, they decided to drop me off at the Seminary in Richmond in September. I think they both cried on the way back to Santa Clara. Mom (above) posed on the seminary grounds with me at one of the monthly visits. We were allowed visitors one Sunday each month.
Now Mom and Dad only had two teenagers to deal with. Things couldn't have been too rough. They even found time to play in the snow. And Mom was happy volunteering at the Carmelite Monastery only a few blocks away. Soon she was driving the Monastery van around Santa Clara gathering donations:
Mom would also help with care for Mother Fidelis's mother, Mrs. Bellport, and her friend, Mrs Sled:
Then it was time for Zoe to rock the boat. After graduating from Santa Clara High in 1960, she decided to enter the convent. Soon Mom, Dad, and Joyce were visiting her on special Sundays at the convent in Watsonville.
A few years later we got together at Lone Mountain in San Francisco where Zoe was taking classes. Now Mom and the rest of the family wouldn't see me for several years. I was headed for Don Bosco College in Newton, New Jersey.
Meanwhile, Joyce was attending San Jose City College where she met a great guy at the Newman Club. Soon she would be leaving home. Mom and Dad would have an empty nest and would soon be rocking again, this time, grandkids, lots of them.
Mom & Dad 1963
