The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Stephanie Pezino Hibbitts

Good Neighbor: Alfred Pezino Sr., pictured with his son Alfred Jr., was a familiar smiling face at the bus stop at Willow Street and Carolyn Avenue for years.

Neighborhood greeter and story-spinner dies at age 91

Alfred Pezino Sr. was never without a wave and a smile

By Rebecca Wallace

A blue '61 Chevy pickup truck decorated with oranges and brightly colored bottles. Boxes of free fruit left out for all to enjoy. A neighborly wave from a bus-stop bench and a wild story about walking to Los Angeles.

These are only some of the things that Alfred Pezino, a longtime Willow Glen resident who died Jan. 26 at the age of 91, will be remembered for, his son Alfred Jr. said last week.

Most people in the area knew Alfred Sr. as the cheery man in the knit cap smiling a hello to them from the bench at Willow Street and Carolyn Avenue. An impromptu memorial of flowers and his photo now marks the spot.

"He was a friendly person out there enjoying life," said Willow Street resident Larry Ames, who often paused to wave to Pezino while mowing the lawn or taking a walk. "Now I'm kind of sad that I never made the effort to go across the street and talk to him."

Those who did stop to chat with the retired Del Monte cannery mechanic were never bored. In later years, Pezino suffered from dementia, and his fanciful stories about traveling all around the world weren't always truthful. But he was so well-read that the facts about the exotic locales were generally correct, his son said.

"People will remember him for his stories; he was very entertaining," he said.

Born in Brazil in 1906, Pezino moved to San Jose in 1910, living on Lincoln Avenue north of Willow Glen, then moving to Carolyn Avenue 37 years ago. When he wasn't working, he pursued his other two passions, gardening and hunting.

"His whole life was spent picking flowers, grafting trees," his son recalled. "He would pick oranges from the huge tree in his yard and put them in a box for people who went by. And he would decorate everyone's yard, put grapefruits and flowers on each corner."

Pezino loved nature and enjoyed enhancing its colors by decorating the things he saw around him--trees, cars, fences, buildings--with colorful fruit, citrus-toned bags, bottles and flowers.

"He would hang apples from apple trees so that during the off-season they would still have apples," his son said. "He was an artist at heart."

Besides hunting, Pezino enjoyed taxidermy, filling his garage with at least 30 sets of antlers and a wild boar that he shot in the 1930s in Modoc County while defending his brother-in-law, his son said.

Last week, Pezino succumbed to melanoma, dying peacefully at home surrounded by his family. Memorial services were held Jan. 28 and 29.

Preceded in death by his wife Mary, Pezino is survived by his son, Alfred, and daughter-in-law Jan; granddaughter Stephanie Pezino Hibbitts; great-grandson Clifford Hibbitts Jr.; two sisters, Jean Bondi and Genevieve; and nephew Ted Pezino.

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