NAPA VALLEY REGISTER SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2022 | B11

FACES&PLACES

NEWS-Domestic Violence & Sexual Abuse Services’ staff and board of directors held a retirement party for Program Director Shea Hunter (front row center) on Sept. 8. Shea is a beloved
member of the staff and has worked at NEWS for 20 years.

Celebrating Nancy Morgan’s 90th birthday in St. Helena with her family.
Members of the Napa High School Girls’ Tennis Team participated in this year’s Coastal
Cleanup Day on Sept. 17 and collected nearly 44 pounds of trash and over 17 pounds of
recyclables along the Napa River and Oxbow Commons. Team members pictured include
(back row from left to right) Mia Hernandez, Ariatne Navarette-Gonzalez, Kaelin Paringit,
Georgia Morris, Brianna Bulman, Emma Guillet, Olivia Parriott, Jessie Jessup, Brooklyn
Carter, Zariel Robles-Carreon, Head Coach Marie Dolcini, (front row, left to right) Isabella
Graffigna, Claudia Lopez-Moreno, Casilda Perez-Fontan, and Assistant Coach Jose Orozco.

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NAPA JOURNAL

The summer the music died

I
know nothing about Christian
heavy metal music, yet here I
was in SoCal for the funeral of
one of its celebrated performers,
Michael Bloodgood.
My connection with Blood-
good, he of the Christian Music
Hall of Fame, was Cheryl. He
was married to one
of her high school
besties, Marilyn,
for almost a half
century.
Michael suf-
fered a stroke last
KEVIN spring. While
COURTNEY recovering this
summer in a rehab
facility, he was up-
ended by COVID.
I never met Bloodgood, but
Cheryl had told compelling
stories. He and Marilyn were a
power Christian couple. They
raised three sons who became
ballet dancers. Michael per-
formed with his band, Blood-
good, while pastoring a church
in Washington State. And while
his surname sounded made
up – a moniker designed to sell
00
1
In coming to pay respects and
bolster Marilyn, Cheryl was
joined by two childhood bud-
dies, Sue and Nina. They had
been an inseparable foursome at
Crescenta Valley High School. I
had only a slight role to play, that
of supportive partner.
We gathered in a stone chapel
to hear tearful tributes by the
Bloodgood sons and watch a
montage of family and band
photos accompanied by Blood-
good songs. The band’s outfits
albums – it wasn’t. Michael was were outrageous, which is to say
born a Bloodgood. they were real rockers.
The funeral was set for Forest While many dabbed at their
Lawn Memorial Park in Glen- eyes, I sat quietly, trying to com-
dale, which isn’t the Forest Lawn prehend a genre of music and a
where all the stars are buried. faith-based life so far removed
That Forest Lawn is in Holly- from my own. My attention kept
wood. returning to the stoic widow,
But the Glendale Forest Lawn dressed in black, who sat two
is the original and the largest, rows ahead. What do you do
with more than a quarter mil- when your life partner, someone
lion people resting for eternity larger than life, is gone? What
on 300 serene acres. And as for kind of existence do you recon-
celebrities, Michael Jackson and struct for yourself?
Humphrey Bogart lie here, which After the service, everyone
isn’t too shabby in the stars de- gathered outside while the coffin
partment. was positioned for the ride to
the grave site. When I returned
from a restroom detour, I found
Cheryl gathered with Sue, Nina
and the widow.
This will be awkward as hell, I
thought. What can I contribute
but perfunctory condolences?
That’s not how it played out.
Before I could say a word, Mari-
lyn had words for me.
Looking me straight in the eye,
she said, “I bet you’re looking for
an angle for your column.”
Nothing had prepared me for
this. How does a woman whom
I’ve never met even know I have
a column? Do I not belong here?
Should I slink away?
Marilyn wasn’t done. “I bet
your brain is whirring for an an-
gle,” she continued.
My brain hadn’t been whirring
– not about a future column,
anyway. The very notion seemed
crass.
Then I realized Marilyn wasn’t
rebuking me. Wise to journalists
and their ways, she was teasing
— and smiling.
After the funeral, we all gath-
ered on a rooftop in downtown
Glendale for light eats and
socializing. I sat with Sue and
Nina and their husbands as
they processed a dear friend’s
loss. All of us surely carried a
heightened sense of our own
mortality.
Marilyn circulated through the
crowd, projecting great com-
posure. When she joined the La
Crescenta alums, she spoke of
the uncertainties that lay ahead.
The number of issues to be re-
solved was staggering. When
she occasionally struck notes of
humor, her sharing became un-
bearable poignant.
Having no role to play in this
group catharsis, I wandered off
to take photos, then stood gob-
smacked at the magnificence of
San Fernando Valley vista – the
silhouetted palms, the imposing
San Gabriels, the fiery orb of or-
ange that was sinking toward the
Pacific.
It was overwhelmingly beauti-
ful. I had never felt so alive.
Kevin can be reached by emailing
kfcourtney@yahoo.com