YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 11, No. 17
Including Surrounding Communities
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Bristow – a legacy of caring by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer
BILL BRISTOW SEPT. 17, 1935 APRIL 19, 2009
There are people who live their entire lives never feeling appreciated, important or significant. Those people never met Bill Bristow. “He was one of those people who, the minute you met him, you knew you were special,” said Patty Bristow, Bill’s wife of 14 years. “That’s just the way he was.” Bill Bristow, educator, family man and late-in-life track star, died of cancer Sunday at his home in Brentwood, surrounded by family and friends. He was 73. “He was one of the most admired and beloved members of the community, a man who was one of the people responsible for making many of the good parts of Brentwood what they are today, not just in education but throughout the community with everyone and everything his was a part of,” said longtime friend Emil Geddes. “I am in awe.” One of eight surviving children of an Oklahoma sharecropper, Bristow and his
family piled into a Model A Ford and came to California to escape the Dust Bowl in 1936. He lived in a dirt-floor house, and worked at various jobs before graduating from Liberty High School. He earned a masters degree at San Francisco State and began his career in education in Knightsen. He started as an eighth-grade teacher and, at age 27, became the youngest district superintendent in California history. After five years, he moved over to the Liberty Union High School District, where he helped develop curricula for Liberty and other local school districts. His next move would be to the Brentwood elementary school district, where he served as a principal for two years before becoming superintendent. It was a post he would hold for 25 years. In 1991, Bristow was diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin cancer. He endured years of chemotherapy, radiation, experimental drugs and therapies that, at one point, burned away all the skin, hair and nails on his body. It was a longdenied desire to run track, however, that might see Bristow page 26A
Freedom graduate earns Silver Star by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer
When Nick Eslinger played quarterback for the Freedom Falcons, he never threw a football while on his knees. For the 10 men who were with him in Iraq last Oct. 1, though, it’s a good thing he could do it with an explosive device. “I saw a hand come up over the wall and toss a grenade, which landed about six to eight feet away and rolled toward my soldiers,” said Eslinger, who at the time was a first lieutenant and platoon leader with the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Without hesitation, Eslinger dove on the grenade, pinning it between his chest and the ground. He grabbed it with his hand as he rolled over, came to his knees, and threw it back over the wall a second before it blew up. “There was no thought in-
Photo courtesy of Donna Behnke
1st Lt. Nick Eslinger receives the Silver Star from Army Chief of Staff George Casey on March 16. While on patrol in Iraq last October, Eslinger dove on a grenade, rolled over and threw it back where it had come from, saving the 10 soldiers who were with him. volved,” Eslinger said by phone this week. “It was over before I knew what had happened.” Then again, it wasn’t quite over, at least not for Eslinger.
Word of what he had done spread, and on March 16 he was awarded the Silver Star, the country’s third-highest award for gallantry, by Army Chief of
Speak up!
Staff George W. Casey, Jr. “It’s a weird thing to be called a hero,” Eslinger said, adding that he had been raised to be “thankful and humble” and not give a lot of thought to his own exploits. “It was a big surprise that such a high-ranking officer (Casey) would take time out of his busy schedule,” Eslinger said. And what did the Army’s top commander have to say? Eslinger chuckled. “I’m not sure you can use this in the paper, but he said, ‘That took a lot of balls,’” Eslinger said. “He said, ‘You have more courage than most of the soldiers I know.’ I’m very honored.” Eslinger, 25, graduated from Freedom in 2002, and from West Point Military Academy (which he attended on a scholarship) in 2007. While in high school, he was a standout on the football see Star page 26A
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April 24, 2009
THIS WEEK
Lowdown on spiffing up
Our spring Home & Garden Guide is bursting with ideas on how to enhance your environs.
Page 1B
Day of the living dead Heritage High students got a taste of the consequences of drinking and driving.
Page 8A
Installed in the Hall
Their old uniforms might not fit anymore, but their accomplishments are tailor-made for immortality.
Page 19A
INSIDE Calendar ..........................23B Classifieds ........................17B Cop Logs ..........................17A Entertainment ................12B Food .................................14B Health & Beauty .............10B Milestones .......................15B Opinion ...........................16A Sports ...............................19A
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