Cogir Culture | April 2024

BY ROBERT LEINBACH • PHOTOGRAPHY BY THE YANKEES

OLDEST LIVING

MLB PLAYER

turns 100 at Cogir on Napa Road

About Art

Arthur “Art” Shallock will turn 100 years old this April at Cogir of Napa Road. Being a Centurian would be reason enough to highlight Art as our resident spotlight in the first quarter of 2024. However, having been signed by the Yankees in 1951, Art is the oldest living Major League Baseball Player in the country! What a blessing that he can share his stories with his fellow residents and team members at Cogir of Napa Road. And what stories he has! In order to make room for Art on the Yankees in 1951, the Yankees demoted a struggling rookie by the name of Mickey Mantle! Who knows? Mickey Mantle may have never turned out to be the player he was without Art Shallock.

Art Shallock grew up in Mill Vally, California where he was a star pitcher at Tamalpais High School in the 1940s. He had hoped to get signed by the local San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League but the Seals passed on Art because he was only 5’9” tall and weighed only 160 pounds. In the end it didn’t matter since two weeks after graduating from high school, Art was drafted by the Navy and shipped off to the Pacific Theater to fight in World War II.

Shallock spent three years as a radio operator on the USS Coral Sea, an aircraft carrier later renamed the USS Anzio. On November 23, 1943 the Coral Sea was steaming in the Pacific alongside its sister ship, the USS Liscome Bay when the Liscome Bay

was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The Liscome Bay went down in about 20 minutes and 644 men were killed. Shallock was usually positioned in the “Crow’s Nest” high up on the command center and felt like a “sitting duck” when Japanese kamikaze pilots attacked, just hoping his gunners would protect him and the ship.

Art was discharged in 1946 and once again took up his dream to play baseball. A lefty with a mean curve ball, he pitched a game against the Seattle Raniers in the Pacific Coast League in 1951 and unbeknownst to him a New York Yankee scout was in the stands. Halfway through the game he was sold to the Yankees. In 1951, the Yankees had won three consecutive World Series but Joe Dimaggio had recently departed. Art roomed with Yogi Berra that season. In his six starts, Art went 3-1 with a 3.88 ERA and won a World Series.He went on to win two more World Series with the Yankees. In 1955 he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles and after he went 6-8 that year with an injured shoulder, Art retired from baseball. In his day, the player minimum salary was $5,000 compared to $700,000 today.

Art and his wife Dona have been married over 75 years. Keep killing it Art! We are lucky to have you at Cogir of Napa Road.

TEAM HIGHLIGHT EMBER

BY ROBERT LEINBACH

This quarter we highlight our rockstar dishwasher from Cogir at Sonoma, Victor Mirote.

VICTOR MIROTE THIS QUARTER

we highlight our rockstar dishwasher from Cogir at Sonoma, Victor Mirote. Victor is being highlighted because of his great work ethic and enthusiastic energy that he brings to Cogir at Sonoma every day. Victor is originally from the Philippines where he studied computer programming and mechanical and electrical engineering.Victor originally worked as a surveyor for public works projects on highways in his native province. Because of his excellent abilities, the provincial government hired Victor Mirote to operate the storm warning system for the province and late the Officer of the Governor appointed Victor the coordinator of Disaster Operations for the Province. In that role, Victor learned the necessity of cooperation amongst many different agencies in order for emergency response operations to assist those in need in an efficient manner.

It was a good thing Victor successfully coordinated these various agencies to prepare and train for disasters because in 1991 Mount Pinatubo erupted in a similar fashion to Mt. St. Helens in Washington and Victor had to help evacuate 20,000 families over a 30 kilometer area. In all, Victor worked for 25 years for the government in the Philippines before making the difficult but exciting decision to follow his uncles and cousins to the United States in 2017.

Victor is married and has five children, ages 27, 24, 22, 18 and 16. His one boy in 24 and the rest are girls. Unfortunately, due to the inefficient US immigration system, Victor’s wife and two youngest daughters remain in the Philippines. It takes great courage and determination to move across the world in an effort to make a better life for his children. And that courage and determination continues to be needed until his entire family can be reunited.

Victor is very proud of his children. One child works at the Fairmont Hotel Spa in Sonoma and is studying to be a Pharmacist. Another child works at Sonoma Valley Hospital and another in San Jose as a mechanical engineer. In his free time he loves to go fishing in Bodega Bay with his family.

Despite Victor’s 25 year accomplishments and expertise in the Philippines, Victor found similar work hard to come by in the United States. In 2017 when he arrived he began working in the kitchen at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. When the Covid Pandemic hit, hotels shut down and everyone lost their jobs. Fortunately, assisted living communities continued operating through the pandemic and Victor found his way to Cogir at Sonoma. We are so lucky to have him on the Cogir team. Not only does he come to work with a smile every day in the kitchen, he has a desire to learn and appreciate all of the different operational departments in the community.

Victor’s sage advice to all of us at Cogir that he has learned from his impressive journey: “be patient. Patience is a virtue in all aspects of live. Your home life with your significant other; with your kids; with your job; with your friends; with everything.”

Victor’s desire from Cogir Management: please provide more cross-training and upward mobility career path opportunities for those willing to work hard and be good team players.”

Thank you Victor. You are #CogirStrong