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Columnists - Columnists: Jeff Jardine

Friday, Nov. 14, 2008

Ex-Navy man fills veterans' need to read

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In 1961, as tensions between the Soviet Union and United States built toward what would become the Cuban missile crisis, the Navy recalled Korean War veteran Mike Stavrakakis of Modesto to active duty.

(Oh, and don't forget your sunglasses and the Coppertone, Mike. We're sending you to witness thermonuclear test explosions at Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.)

After leaving the Navy again a year later, he visited the veterans' hospital in Livermore to be checked for radiation exposure.

"I'd glow in the dark," joked Stavrakakis, who worked for Pacific Bell for 37 years after leaving the Navy.

He arrived at the hospital about two hours early one day for his scheduled appointment, so he went to the hospital's library to read.

Just one problem:

"There were no books," said Stavrakakis, 80. "The cupboard was bare."

So he asked officials there if they would accept books and magazines. Yes, they told him, with two conditions.

"No sex books and no cookbooks," he said, setting up the punchline. "(The veteran patients are) too old for sex and they can't cook."

A few weeks later, he delivered a couple of boxes of reading materials. Then he collected some more and took them to the veterans' facilities at Palo Alto and Yountville.

He did same when the veterans medical clinic opened on McHenry Avenue in 2001 and again when the new veterans center opened on Carpenter Road in July.

He makes a book drop at each of those places every other month or so, and estimates he's gathered and distributed more than 3,000 books since he began 46 years ago.

In fact, on this Veterans Day you could say Stavrakakis has never stopped serving his country. He serves his fellow veterans, making their lives a bit more pleasant at the hospitals and clinics.

He and fellow Navy and Korean War veteran Melvin "Bud" Crank snag books wherever they can find them: garage and yard sales, moving sales, church groups and simply by asking.

Once, he went to a house where a woman's wares included both books and plants. She'd priced a box at $5. He asked her to donate it to the veterans and she refused.

"But there was a guy who was buying $50 worth of plants and told her she had to give me the box of books or the deal was off," Stavrakakis said.

"She hesitated, but she gave me the books."

When the new veterans center opened last summer, Stavrakakis asked center director Steve Lawson where he'd find the library.

"There was no place to put one, and they didn't have any books," Stavrakakis said. "So Melvin and I went begging, borrowing and stealing."

They went to Warden's outlet office furnishings store and "put the bite" on sales manager Sean Keon.

"He took us in the back and showed me what he had," Stavrakakis said. "Three identical bookcases."

When Keon learned they wanted the shelves for the veterans center, he donated them.

"Within a half-hour, we had a full-blown library going," Stavrakakis said, promising to expand it in the near future.

His trips to Livermore, Palo Alto and Yountville bring him nothing beyond personal satisfaction.

"People ask me how much money I get for selling the books up there," he said. "Heck, it costs me $50 just for gas to go over there and back. It's a labor of love. I'm just glad I'm in good health and can do it."

He sometimes delivers people as well as books.

"Whenever I have an appointment in Livermore or Palo Alto, he takes me over there," Crank said.

"I haul 'em up and back," Stavrakakis said. "Sometimes I bring back more than I came with."

That's because some vets will ride the bus over, finish their appointments and not want to wait several hours before the bus returns to the valley.

"I'll say, 'Anyone going back to Modesto?' " he said.

Each morning, he and several other veterans gather for coffee and conversation at the McDonald's on McHenry Avenue. They've been doing this for about 15 years. Their group once had about a dozen vets, mostly from World War II and the Korean War.

"You start the day off with a laugh and it makes all the difference in the world," Crank said.

"Lots of people don't understand us," Stavrakakis said. "But if a guy doesn't show, we call to see if he's still alive. We've lost some guys over the past few years."

Those who do show know he'll probably have a favor to ask, and it invariably involves helping other veterans.

"He'll volunteer you to death," Crank said. "But if you have him for a friend, you can't have a better friend in the world. He'd do anything for you."

Yes, he's still serving his country -- by serving others who served their country, 46 years later.

And when he talks about it, he just glows.

Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at 578-2383 or jjardine@modbee.com