Pete Estrada Gave To Students
By Megan Long
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
The following is an article
which appeared in the Contra Costa Times just after the passing of Mr. Estrada. Our
thanks to Molly and Patty Walker, Paul Mitchell and Jan Blotz for using the "Internet
grapevine" to pass it along...
PLEASANTON -- Pete Estrada had "died"
three times before, so when friends and family heard of his latest heart trouble, they
expected the former longtime Amador Valley High School teacher and coach to stay with them
a few more years.
But it wasn't to be. Estrada, 70, who died Sept. 11 in San Jose, was remembered as a
"renaissance man" for contributing to many of the school's departments.
Those close to him said he had a lot to give; perhaps, they said, that was why paramedics
had managed to revive him when his heart stopped beating: his work wasn't yet done.
"I called him Lazarus," said Jay Risso of Brentwood, also a retired Amador
teacher and coach, referring to the Biblical figure Jesus brought back to life.
"(Before) it wasn't his time, I guess."
"He was quite a fighter," said his son Gary Estrada of Las Vegas.
Born in Arizona, Estrada was raised in Laton, a small Central Valley town near Fresno. He
was a lifelong sportsman who was a golf caddie growing up and later won a football
scholarship to St. Mary's College in Moraga. After hurting his knee, he switched to
baseball, a sport he pursued after graduation in the professional Pacific Coast League, a
minor league organization.
"He had tremendous hand-eye coordination. Pretty much anything he took on he was good
at," said Gary Estrada, who noted that his father once led the Pacific Coast League
with a .376 batting average. He also picked up tennis later in life and became Castlewood
Country Club's champion player, his son said.
His love of sports carried over to his career. He served as a baseball coach and athletic
director during his 30 years at Amador Valley High. He also taught Spanish and driver's
training and was the school's work experience coordinator.
But those were just his formal roles. He also was always ready to help out with activities
such as band, his friends said, until his 1991 retirement.
"Not too many people understand how much effect he had on us, but his spirit and his
willingness to dive in and get things done really kept us on track," Risso said.
Risso, who retired in 1996 from Amador Valley High, described Estrada as a warm man with a
great sense of humor. He remembers seeing him cutting across campus each morning, thermos
and briefcase in hand, jokingly calling out to him, "Hey, Gordo!"
"Pete was probably the most jovial, hard-working, friendly guy that I'd ever
met," Risso said. "He was generally somebody that you'd liked to be next
to."
Since his father's death, Gary Estrada has also seen how his dad made an impression at the
school, through e-mails from former students.
"Two girls who had him for driver's training wrote that they used to try to get him
distracted on subjects so they can go as fast as they could," he said with a laugh.
Estrada's death has left big shoes to fill, said Risso, who noted that his friend's
passing is like "losing a big brother."
"The world is a little less ... what else can you say? He was a great guy, we hated
to lose him. Now we all have got to pick up where he left off."
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Rembering Pete Estrada
The Importance of Remembering
It’s September 11, 2003, two years since we
lost Mr. Estrada, two years since the world changed very visibly and profoundly for me and
my fellow New Yorkers, my fellow Americans, my fellow humans. Somehow as we get older
every loss becomes every other loss, each one resonating with the other until loss becomes
a cacophony. And then I cracked open a yearbook, 1977, because that’s what was on my
bookcase rather than buried in a pile on the floor, and my daughter, 16 months old,
recognized me at 16 years old, picked me out of the line-up, so to speak, and made me feel
the continuity of loss and love and life.
Mr. Estrada, my sane, compassionate, hilarious adopted father, lost forever yet
still very much alive in my memory, in the life all of us who knew him forged out of a
shared past with him and each other. I can point to him in a yearbook that smells of humid
basement 3000 miles from our source and my beloved Alma can see him, take him in, and see
in my face love and loss and what it means to be human, to attach ourselves to each other
while we can and to grieve, to remember, and to celebrate, while we can.
Karen McKinnon - Class of
1978
Pete Had a Special Gift
Pete Estrada was my favorite teacher and I will always count it a blessing that I
had the chance to tell him that and to introduce him to my two daughters. I have
used my Spanish every day in my job for many years...and I think of Pete every time.
He taught us all so much. Of course we all remember his wonderful sense of humor,
but I shall also remember his sense of fairness. His son, Ron, was in our class and
I never got the feeling that it made any difference. He managed to intoduce much
more than another language. We learned to THINK in Spanish and we learned that we
could accomplish much more than we would ever have believed. When he told us we
would read a novel in Spanish I thought he was crazy, but he showed us we could do
it. He took us to San Francisco to eat Mexican food in a fancy restaurant with the
same ease as he taught me to merge into traffic on the freeway. Either prospect
would send most adults running for the hills! Pete had a special gift and we are all
much richer for his having shared it. I miss him very much.
Patty Walker Cleveland - Class of 1971
Great Memories
Pete's passing was a sad moment for everyone who had
the pleasure of knowing him. I've had the good fortune of being best friends with his son
Gary since we were very young. I have great memories of all the times I spent at their
house when I was growing up. I remember Gary and I taking Drivers Ed with Pete, and how
lousy he said we did; all the time in a laughing way. He even bought us lunch. I think of
the poker games at his house after we graduated with his son Ron and former teachers we
had. I think of pouring a driveway with him at the house he bought for Gary in Reno, when
he was going to UNR. I think of how he shared my love of baseball. I think of the 3 years
of Spanish classes I had with him at Amador. I visited him at the hospital the day before
he passed. I know his children, Gary, Ron and Lisa have really appreicated the outpouring
of kind words from the students he taught. His memorial service was a celebration of his
life, with many former teachers in attendence.
For me personally, I will always remember his kind words, his great sense of humor and his
dedication to his students and the school of champions- Amador Valley High.
Doug Avilla - Class of 1974
Total dedication...
Mr. Estrada was my favorite teacher and I'll tell you why.
He made it clear to the class (in a calm fashion) that he would not go on to a new lesson
until every single person in the classroom understood what he was teaching. He said
it was their right. He would word things in different ways, what ever it took to get
through because different people learn in different ways.
I remember one time he got mad, not at us but at "the system". He said he
was not able to teach us sentence structure in Spanish because we had not learned it in
English. I also remember him chewing his gum with earnest during Driver's
Training. That and his hand exerciser to get off some of his stress.
Molli Riopel Holser - Class
of 1973
A friend to all...
I never had Mr. Estrada as a teacher. He wasn't
my drivers-ed instructor. I never had him as a coach. And yet, whenever we passed each
other in the halls or at a game or even in someplace as innoccuous as a grocery store, he
always offered a smile and said, "Hi Dennis" and would usually ask how I was
doing and engage in a brief conversation. I never really thought about it until now,
but he was one of the reasons my years at Amador were good ones.
As a teaher he wasn't there just for his students and as the A.D. didn't recognize
only the athletes. He was there for all of us and I hope he knew the positive
influence he had on the school and students he served so well.
Dennis Jones - Class of 1978
He put a smile on everything...
I was really hit with Mr. Estrada's
death. I spent countless hours with him during high school in his capacity as teacher,
athletic director, summer school tennis instructor and father. I spent many evenings on
the couch in his living room listening to his jokes. He had a great sense of humor - very
sarcastic and quick - just my style.
One of his favorite lines as a coach was, "You guys can't be tired yet, I don't feel
a thing." I enjoyed his ability to lighten every moment.
Once, after handing me back one of my spanish tests (with an F on it), he was still able
to make light of it with a wisecrack.
I do realize that there are times for jokes and times to be serious, but I am one person
who appreciated his continual wit.
Chris
Kearns - Class of 1978
...in rain or sleet or snow!
The memory that flashed across my mind when I first
heard and then thought of him was of his smile and of how much I enjoyed him as a teacher
and as our Ski Club advisor. It took a special person to be able to sit on a bus for
all those hours to the ski area and to then try to keep track of everyone and get them
back to Pleasanton!
Katie Fleischer Thompson -
Class of 1978
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