THE TROPICS RESIDENT OF THE MONTH

33000 Almaden Blvd., Union City, Ca. 94587

May, 2002

Reporter - Charlotte O’Donnell

TROPICS RESIDENT OF THE MONTH - GERRI CASTRO

Gerri Lee Castro (Priuett) is a native Californian who has lived in the Bay Area most of her life. Her mother was a homemaker. Her dad owned a machine shop and invented an electric lunchbox. At the age of twenty she married and had two beautiful children, Daniel and Jaynie. Her son, Dan passed away last September, Jaynie works with computers.

Gerri married Joe Castro twenty-one years ago. They lived on his ranch in Fremont for awhile. They bought a home in Niles. Joe passed away six years ago. Shortly after that Gerri moved to the Tropics.

As a child Gerri was given many private lessons in Hula, tap, jazz, Flamenco, ballroom dancing, Hawaiian Steel Guitar, Spanish guitar, ukulele, piano, voice and roller skating. The lessons began when she was ten, and most of them were private lessons. She also took lessons from various teachers at the Honolulu Conservatory of music. She began teaching Hula for Stuart School of Dance when she was thirteen. At age sixteen she started a dance studio in Oakland near Castlemont High School. She graduated from that school. Gerri shared with me a scrapbook that is filled with pictures of her groups, articles and other memorabilia as she began fulfilling a life-time career as a dance performer and instructor. Thanks for sharing this treasure with me. Over the years she has had studios in San Leandro and Fremont. Some of the places where Gerri Lee and her students have performed are U.S.O. Shows, television, fairs, Lions Club, Moose Lodge, and state hospitals. They have been participants on many floats. Some years she and her dancers have given thirty or more shows.

At present Gerri is teaching Hula at Retirement Centers in the Bay Area. The majority of her students are from seventy to ninety-eight years of age. The large percent of the participants sit in a chair and tell a story with their hands. She wishes everyone in The Tropics could see how wonderful the women and men are doing with their dance lessons. In Gerri's words, "They look forward, as I do, to their class each week."

Your reporter,

Charlotte M. O’Donnell