In Memory

Mitch Garrison



 
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12/16/14 09:35 PM #1    

Shep Johnson

I first got to know Mitch when came to Wildwood from a school in Hawaii.  I liked Mitch.  He was mechanical and had the most interesting bicycle I’d ever seen.  The seat was five feet off the ground and you steered it with a car steering wheel.  Mitch and his brothers built it.  He was mechanical and at 10 he was the first kid I knew who liked machinery as much as I did.  Mitch was also the best bongo drum player I’d ever heard and adding to his mystique he never wore shoes.  I was fascinated and we became good friends.   Mitch lived down the street from Bruce Burrows and John Appleby and the four of us and others played Beckon Beckon tearing up backyards. 

In junior high, Mitch moved to the Philippines and then returned to join us at Piedmont High. While in high school, Mitch was on the track and football teams.  He was  fun loving and very creative.  After Piedmont High he moved to Palo Alto with his parents.  We rode our motorcycles on the peninsula while I was at Menlo college.  As the Vietnam war escalated, Mitch dropped out of school and was very concerned about the draft.  Mitch was into the music and motorcycles. He tragically died in 1969.


12/17/14 07:34 AM #2    

Leslie Flegal

Mitch was fun and funny.  When we were in Jr. HS we liked to dance together.  He was the first boy who ever kissed me.  When he died my heart was broken.  He left this world far too soon.  He will remain young forever.

 


12/22/14 12:37 PM #3    

Bruce Burrows

Mitch was one of the most interesting guys I grew up with.  Like Shep said, Mitch could build just about anything, without plans or instructions.  The Garrisons, Applebys and Burrows lived on tiny Palm Drive, and we had a blast during our years at Wildwood.  There was something magical about the 50's; and Mitch, John and I had the advantage of older brothers to expose us to "dangerous" troublemaking.  It was like the movie "Sandlot" when we all thought we were really cool and life was good.  Mitch's family moved to the Philippines during junior high but he returned for his senior year at PHS.  He was a step ahead of us in worldly vision after being exposed to street-life in Manila.  Although he didn't play football away from Piedmont, Mitch started as a defensive end on our undefeated team, and was one of our leading tacklers.  He was one tough guy with a smooth, mature personality.    I was saddened to hear of his passing before college graduation.  He was very passionate about ending the Vietnam War and all the elements the 60's exposed us to.  Now that John Appleby is coming to the 50th reunion perhaps we will take a memory walk down Palm Drive and recall stories, such as Mitch on that 5' bike.


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