Grandpa

Allan Joseph Isola was my grandfather on my mothers side. He died two weeks before
my second birthday so I dont remember him. My grandfather was born on March 31,1941 in
Oakland, California. He was the first child for his parents Angelo and Alma Isola. They named
him Allan because everyone called his father Al for short and they liked it. Telegraph Avenue and
46th Street were the two homes he lived in during his early childhood. During those years he
liked to play cowboys and baseball in the park near his home. My grandfather had a brother,
Robert who was two years younger than him. They got along well and Robert looked up to him.
The boys spent their summers at their grandparents ranch in Pleasanton and a yearly trip to
Yosemite to camp.
My grandfather was a good student who liked sports and history. St Marys in Berkeley
was where he went to high school. He was well liked, on student council and a very good athlete.
Baseball and football were his two sports. He received a Prep of the Week for football in 1959
and I have the certificate hanging in my room. My grandfather attended DVC for one year then
went to the University of Oregon where he met my grandmother, Linda. They were married on
June 21,1964 in Lafayette, California.
My grandfather became a teacher and taught high school back at St Marys were he had attended.
He taught history and math and was also the baseball and football coach. My grandparents lived
in Berkeley near the high school for the first few years they were married then moved to
Lafayette to be closer to his parents who had moved that way. About ten years into teaching he
started a commercial laundry business on the side with an old high school friend. Eventually he
gave up teaching and just focused on the business but he would say in his later years that his

most loved days were his teaching ones.

My grandfather loved to duck hunt. It was a family sport brought down thru the
generations to him. He was a member of a duck club in Los Banos, which my uncle is still a
member of today. My grandparents had two children, my mom and her younger brother, Mike.
They lived in Lafayette till both children graduated from high school then moved to Moraga
Country Club because they loved to golf. My grandfather died of a sudden heart attack on
August 18, 1999; he was only 58 years old.