Grandma Kay Turns 102
Four fascinating stories about the matriarch of Gemello neighborhood.
👋 Hello, I’m Kevin Ferguson, author of 🍷 Rain on the Monte Bello Ridge,🍷 a memoir about health, aging and winemaking. (Book summary) 🍇 This is my newsletter. It includes book research and early release chapters about winemaker Mario Gemello and his centenarian widow, Kay Gemello. 📖 They are my lovable maternal grandparents. You can subscribe by clicking on this handy little button.
Looking good at 102!
Grandma Kay Turns 102
Kay Gemello, the matriarch of Mountain View’s Gemello neighborhood, turned 102 yesterday. In honor of Grandma Kay’s latest milestone, I’m sharing four things about her life.
If you are new to Grandma Kay’s story, I published some of her longevity secrets in her hometown newspaper last month.
1. Dating in the 1930s
On one of their dates in 1939, Grandpa Mario romanced Kay by taking her on a neighborhood excursion to see the Prohibition-era brothel and gambling hall called the Blue and White Kennel Club. It had been shuttered by then, after a 1933 police raid prompted by neighborhood complaints. So much for trying to hide its illicit activities behind a dog racing front.
“Grandpa would take me for a ride. We’d park in front [of the shuttered Kennel Club] and we’d neck,” she told me, reminiscing one day in 2020.
The building, with a city landmark placard in front, still exists on Eunice Street tucked behind, of all places, a preschool.
The historical marker in front of the house on Eunice Street.
2. A 1940 Vegas Wedding
Mario and Kay drove 540 miles to Las Vegas to get married at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church.
“We had to make the drive in one day, because we couldn’t stay in a hotel before we were married,” says Grandma Kay.
The allure of a Vegas wedding to my grandparents was the ability to combine an out-of-town wedding and a honeymoon on the cheap. Mario’s cousin managed a hotel in downtown Las Vegas.
At the time, Las Vegas was simply a train stop connecting Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. It had no resorts, yet. But it did have the 91 Club, where my grandparents did a little gambling, drank and danced the night away as newlyweds.
The 91 Club had a storied history, starting as The Pair-O-Dice Nite Club, a private club (Knock. Knock. What’s the password?) during Prohibition. It was the first night club on US-91, later renamed Las Vegas Boulevard.
3. The Centennial First Pitch
In 2011, the family celebrated Grandma Kay’s 90th birthday in a VIP suite at the Giants game. Here’s a video of how we celebrated her 100th birthday.
WATCH: Grandma Kay Throws First Pitch
4. Becoming a Neighborhood Matriarch
With her family, Grandma Kay moved to Mountain View at age 7, and never left. Upon marrying winemaker Mario Gemello, it solidified a bond that would last 64 years into widowhood. More than half of those years were spent living on the Gemello Winery property. The winery was bulldozed in 1990, eight years after Mario had retired. Part of the land became home to Gemello Park, land my grandparents dedicated to the city of Mountain View.
1978: Kay’s grandchildren on the day of the winery’s last crush.
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She is such an inspiration. I love these stories.
Oh my, love this, Kevin! The Centennial Pitch was fabulous! And the picture of you, Mike and your cousins brought me way back to some fun times. Happy Birthday, Kay!