Tony Brio
My Memories of a really brave friend.....
The other day I was looking at some class pictures of young Miller Elementary School students. There was a whole class of "gonnabees".
Each face had some memories in my head and heart.
One face was that of my friend Tony Brio. Tony was not a good student and really had a hard time getting gown up. Tony was always really fat. He took a lot of abuse for being fat.
At age 16 Tony quit school and joined the Navy. I was sad to see him go. He was my friend. In less than a year, before he turned 17, he was back at home. I thought he had washed out of the service and was back home a failure.
Was I wrong! Tony joined the Navy, got sent to Medic school and assigned to a US Marine unit in Viet Nam. He was nearly killed saving a young Marine (he did not even remember or know his name.
I saw Tony at his parent's apartment and we talked. He showed me the scars of the machine-gunning wounds across his stomach. How could he survive that? Tony nearly died.
Now he was disabled and retired from the US Navy at age 17. He was the first real hero I ever met or knew.
I hope he is alive and well now. I hope he is everything he wants to be.
If you see Tony Brio, know what you are seeing. He is a solid gold American service man. Tell him, thank you for your service. Tell him Ken Moore and you remember him.
Thanks, Cathy.
Ken Moore
1960 Miller 5th Grade
click on pic to enlarge
Back: Johnny Patterson, ? , Jerry Berg, Ricky Schofield, Larry MacMonagle, Fran Serafin, David Synder, Don Ray Ripley, Robert Moss, Bobby Anderson, Timmy
Middle: Mr. Mathias, Richard De Britto, Johnny De La Rosa, Kenny, Martha Burke, Margaret Green, Connie Cirinelli, Nancy Hartley, Greg Pierce, Tony Brio, Ken Moore
Front: Janet Martin, Charlotte Ryan, Jeanne Barron, Cathy Shalda, Linda Wilson, ? , Cheryl Roberson, Christine Davies, Cathy Fairburn, Laurie Still, Susan Heppes
UPDATE EMAIL
Ken,
I agree. Tony was a great kid and I liked him also. I last saw him when we were in the 9th grade. He drove into the John Muir parking lot in a 1964 or 65 Mustang. I figured he must have been older than us. Not sure.
I’d swear that his last name is Briel or something very close to that. I’ve searched every possible spelling (including Brio) and couldn’t find any Anthony or Tony anywhere.
What a mystery. I know his father worked at the southeast corner of Magnolia and First Street (the building is still there) and the name of the business was Redi Spuds or something like that.
Do you have any other information? Do you remember where he lived? I’d love to track him down. Did I tell you that I tracked down the family of Johnny de la Rosa and learned that he had died quite a few years ago of problems relating to alcoholism?
How sad.
Thanks for the kind thoughts about a kind person.
Your friend,
Don Ray
Don Ray
Don Ray Media
donray@donray.com
tel: (818) 237-3728
(808) 450-2009
We added Johnny De La Rosa to our Class Memorial Page.
And please check out Don's new blog where he shares a portion of the oral history video he made of his mother around 1996 at http://www.oralhistoryinstitute.wordpress.com/ - here is his email:
Greetings,
You can consider this an all-purpose update on the goings on of Don Ray . But what’s most important is that I want to share with you a portion of the oral history video I made of my mother back in about 1996.
My wonderful friend, David Ritchie , conducted the interview of her. I was the camera person. I would have done the actual interview, but I knew for sure that Mom would have talked baby talk to me, she would have glossed over stories that I’d heard many times before and she would have withheld some of the juicy stuff. It’s strange how people will open up more to people outside the family. Go figure.
Oh, during the interview, I wore headphones and listened to Latin music. I wanted to ensure that my mother knew that I couldn’t hear anything she said.
I’ve embedded a brief interview segment on a new blog that I have created to encourage people to record the recollections of their parents, grandparents and other loved ones and friends on high-quality videotape so that they can share them with family members of the future.
Some of you know that I’ve been conducting oral history interviews for more than 35 years. Many, many times I’ve mourned the loss of a friend or family member, but then thanked the heavens that I had taken the time to sit down with them and record their thoughts, their memories, their recollections, their wisdom, their tone of voice and their gestures.
Indeed, it’s one of the few things in my life that I’ve done really well.
Oh, the blog I mentioned is at http://www.oralhistoryinstitute.wordpress.com/.
Also on the blog, you’ll find some tips you can use in case you want to record an oral history interview with someone you love or admire. And, I’ve included, so far, three magazine articles I wrote over the years about oral histories or wrote based on oral histories I had conducted.
In fact, the very first oral history I conducted was back in the mid 1970s It became my first published article in a major magazine, Westways. I interviewed pioneer news photographer George R. Watson just a couple of years before he died. You’ll be amazed when you read about all of the famous and infamous people he met and photographed. Two or three years ago, I sat down with George Watson’s nephew, Delmar Watson, and recorded some delightful stories about the antics that he and his five brothers — all six of them news photographers — dreamed up or staged while they shot photos for every newspaper in Los Angeles.
It saddens me that Delmar lost his fight with cancer recently. I’ve asked his family members for permission to post a portion of that interview on the blog also. Stay tuned.
Finally, I want to fill you in on what I’m going to be doing for the next year or so. I’m enrolled full time in a well-regarded digital editing and post production school, Video Symphony, in Burbank . It will enable me to finally learn the new, high-tech way of editing and will enable me to complete several promising documentaries. I’m currently working to complete “Captured Memories,” the story of the American civilians who were in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded and occupied the islands during World War II. In 1987 I accompanied two dozen or so Americans when they returned there for a reunion of those the Japanese put in what they’d later describe as concentration camps. With the help of two talented crew members, I conducted oral history interviews of most of them.
The following year, I went to a reunion outside of Fort Benning , Georgia , to interview veterans of the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division. They had gathered for a reunion. These brave soldiers pulled off the most daring and successful rescue of more than 2,000 internees — more than 25 miles behind enemy lines. Their stories will bring tears to your eyes. By the way, if you ever wanted to be involved in the production of an historical documentary, get in touch with me. This train is loading up and will be leaving the station soon. If you want a screening of the rough-cut of the documentary, get in touch with me.
To remain afloat for the next year (forgive the transportation metaphors), I’m producing personal, “family” documentaries based on oral history interviews of people who lived through the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War. Family members of these “The Greatest Generation” heroes are realizing that they have a lot to learn from their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They’re also aware that nobody lives forever. As one oral history professor told me, “It’s like a library that’s burning down. You have to act fast.”
I hope to share with you portions of the interviews I’ll be doing. With permission, I’ll post them on the blog.
Would you kindly do me a favor? Would you keep your eyes and ears open for people who might want to engage my services? One of my clients heard about me and my work from my long-time friend, Joe Veraldi , down in Encinitas. He was chatting with a store owner who talked about her 85-year-old father who is a veteran of World War II. She said she had been wanting to do an interview of him, but, like so many other people, hadn’t taken the time to do it.
I don’t have an advertizing budget, so I’m relying on the wonderful people in my own world to be the lookout scouts for me.
Thanks so very much.
Warmly,
Don Ray
Ps. I hope you enjoy my mother’s story of the bicycle that saved her life. I’m working on some other stories to post soon. Please check back.
Don Ray
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