Teacher Jim Giovando was notorious for homework

<p>Over the course of this column, I've had the enjoyment of writing about a wide spectrum of occupations in and around Petaluma. Among these folks, none seem more content with their lives than the half-dozen former school teachers who've appeared in this column.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Perhaps it's the nature of the job and the rewards of seeing former students gain maturity and achieve success. </p><p>Among the most memorable moments for one teacher, Petaluma-born Jim Giovando, who enjoyed a 38-year career at Petaluma High School, was teaching the kids of Dr. Gomez Lumsden, the doctor who delivered him in 1932, and the opportunity to teach each of his four daughters, Mary, Lucy, Lizzy and Caroline, in his classroom domain, Room B-1 at Petaluma High.</p><p>The courses he taught — trigonometry, physics and chemistry —were tough subjects. He expected a lot and was conscientious of teaching his pupils to be well prepared. </p><p>“I was notorious for homework,” admits Giovando, known as Mr. G. to many of his students. </p><p>He completed his first year at PHS teaching in the Petaluma Junior High School building that was being shared while the current school was under construction. Last summer, he attended the 50-year reunion of the class of 1959 and simultaneously celebrated the 50th anniversary of his hiring. </p><p>The powerful Italian heritage under which Giovando was raised is unmistakable. Both his father, Pietro Giovando, who came to Petaluma in 1918, and his mother, Lucy, who came in 1921, were from Borgiallo, Italy. For several years they operated a chicken ranch near Skillman Lane and Petaluma Boulevard North before moving to Petaluma's east side. </p><p>Despite speaking very little English, just the Piedmotese Italian dialect, Pietro Giovando worked for the local gas and water companies and later at the Poultry Producers. Jim Giovando likes to tell a story of how his parents wisely chose to live on Kent Street, “up on the hill where it doesn't flood.” What he omits is that prior to that, the family lived in east Petaluma, where during one high-water winter, they were rescued by a rowboat.</p><p>After moving to Kent Street, to what he described as the poorest house in the richest part of town at that time, Jim learned English from a renter and was tutored by neighbor Elsie Gervasoni. In return, his mother babysat for Elsie and helped her write letters home to Italy. The kids in the neighborhood would hold cookouts at Oak Hill Park and enjoy breakfast together.</p><p>Jim attended Phillip Sweed and Washington grammar schools, but wasn't really happy until he transferred to St. Vincent Elementary School in fourth grade. As a teenager, he mowed lawns on Keokuk Street and earned 50 cents an hour working in the vegetable department at Pacific Market, where a neighbor, Ed Cella, was the manager.</p><p>Proving that St. Vincent's was the “perfect fit,” Jim was named valedictorian for the Class of '51 and was awarded an academic scholarship to University of San Francisco, where he earned his degree in physics. Choosing a career in teaching rather than science, Jim first taught at Antioch High School before the PHS job enabled him to return to his hometown, where he taught until 1996. </p><p>He and his wife, Cathy, who is also a retired teacher, spend ample time every year in the Italian city of Borgiallo, in a home built in 1619 that's been in his family since 1906, when his grandfather finished working on the Simplon Tunnel, the more than 12-mile-long Alpine tunnel that connects Switzerland and Italy, and until 1988 was the longest railway tunnel in the world. </p><p>A man of few hobbies, Jim kept busy remodeling his Kent Street property, which is still in the family, and along with his father-in-law, Fred Giacomini, made additions to his westside residence. In an effort to improve his language skills, he took five years of Italian lessons from his neighbor, retired PHS teacher Gino Paieri. </p><p><i>(Harlan Osborne's column, Toolin' Around Town, appears every two weeks. Contact him at harlan@sonic.net)</i></p>