Sweethearts Justin Matsuura and Flora Huang were supposed to be getting married March 22 in Pacific Palisades. But the statewide shelter-in-place orders and common sense during the coronavirus crisis meant there would be no Southern California wedding that day.
But there was a celebration. And it was a surprise.
Justin and Flora ventured out for a walk from the Sunnyvale home of Justin’s parents, Gary and Kelly Matsuura, that Sunday evening at 5 p.m. — the same time their ceremony was supposed to be taking place hundreds of miles away. And that’s when they saw Justin’s uncle Michael Wong, who had their first dance music playing in the cul-de-sac of Bedford Court. Neighbors stood in front of their homes to watch the couple dance and applaud them. Grandmother Gerrye Wong, watching from her car, noted that the couple did get rained on but said that in Hawaii that’s considered good luck.
Michael Wong, ordained by the Universal Life Church, offered to perform the ceremony right there, but the couple decided to have their wedding later when people could celebrate from fewer than six feet apart.
ARTISTIC ASSISTANCE: We’re certainly missing our friends in the performing arts, but they’re also helping out during the crisis. As I’ve previously mentioned, many artists are sharing their work or teaching workshops online to help the rest of us manage the shelter-in-place creatively. Others, though, are having a more direct impact.
With TheatreWorks having shuttered its productions of “They Promised Her the Moon” and “Ragtime,” the regional theater company gathered up its safety supplies and donated them to the Valley Medical Center Foundation. The contributions included N95 masks — typically used during the construction of sets — and Nitrile gloves. On top of that, the trained stitchers from TheatreWorks’ famed costume shop is producing masks for the local Emergency Assistance Network.
And they’re not the only ones putting sewing skills to work. Alyssa Oania, the costume coordinator for Opera San Jose, also has been busy creating 64 masks this week with plans to keep making them until her supplies run out. Oania dropped off a batch to Valley Medical Center on Friday.
LIVING LONGER IN WILLOW GLEN: Heidi Robertson probably did a double take when she read my column this month about Lenore Luedemann, a Willow Glen woman who had just celebrated her 106th birthday in March. It turns out that Robertson’s mother, Hildegard Wagner, also lives in Willow Glen and also turned 106 on March 11. There must be something in the water in Willow Glen.
Robertson’s mom, who goes by Hildie, lives at Lincoln Glen Skilled Nursing, and before that lived independently at Lincoln Glen Manor until December 2018. Coincidentally, Robertson said the family celebrated her 100th birthday in 2014 at the Three Flames, the same Meridian Avenue restaurant where Luedemann and her family celebrated her 106th on March 3 before we started sheltering-in-place.
“This year was to be a small gathering, but due to the coronavirus we couldn’t get close to her and
sang at a good distance in front of her building,” Robertson said. Here’s hoping that everyone’s able to be closer together for next year’s big 1-0-7.
BLOOMIN’ SHAME: It was a difficult thing to announce but not much of a choice for “Bulb Guy” Rich Santoro, who had to close down the colorful bulb garden in his San Jose backyard to the public this year. Santoro originally had planned to open this week end and then a combination of early March rain and sun prompted him to re-schedule the opening a week earlier to March 21. And then, as we know, everything changed. He figured he might be able to let 10 people in at a time, but when the shelter-in-place order came down, he knew he had to cancel. Well, OK, he canceled on the smart advice of his wife, Rizalina.
Santoro’s working on a plan to post photos of this year’s garden, and in the meantime he’s been adding to the list of people keeping our spirits up with humor. Santoro, who sings with a Big Band, says he’s working on putting a coronavirus twist on new songs, leading off with a punny Beatles tune, “All You Need Is Gloves.”
NOTE OF THANKS: Milpitas resident Dana Arbaugh had high praise for the customer service he and his wife, Linda, received from Piercey Toyota’s Miguel Lopez, who came to their home in Milpitas twice on a recent day to service their RAV-4 Hybrid. Arbaugh, 72, sent a note of thanks to Piercey General Manager Brian Ressler. “He and his crew should be commended for helping keep us geezers safe during this crazy confinement time,” Arbaugh told me.
HEALTHY IDEA: Method3 Fitness in San Jose’s Cambrian neighborhood, meanwhile, started a 21-Day At-Home Workout & Accountability Challenge for those of us who might be relying a little too much on DoorDash and can’t hit the gym. Where’s the fun in that, you ask? Method3 is giving out gift cards — from local businesses like Blvd Coffee of Los Gatos and Almaden and Enoteca la Storia — to participants who achieve milestones and stick to the program.
“We wanted to create something that not only helped people work on self care, health and fitness, but that also gave back to local businesses to support them during this crisis,” Method3’s John Heringer said. More than 100 people have enrolled in the challenge already, and $6,000 has been raised to support local businesses. The challenge can be joined anytime, so check it out at method3fitness.com.
COMMUNITY MATTERS: Knowing that many of its school community families were in need, the counseling department at Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School put together an amazing team to deliver meals to 50 of the school’s families. The Party Helpers, a San Jose-based event and catering company owned by San Jose State grad Kristin Dickens, cooked and packaged to-go dinners of pasta and sauce with a side of fruit. Dan Barsanti, who was co-owner of the sorely missed Race Street Fish & Poultry, brought Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen on board to deliver 200 precooked chili and rice meals, and families also were able to pick up a box of fresh fruit and vegetables, supplemented with rice, beans and fresh eggs.
And that’s just one example of how our community is figuring out how to get through this crisis together.
