July 15, 2004

Volunteer of the Week: Damion Pantiga
                
By Jeanne C. Lewis
Staff Writer

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Damion Pantiga may never have read the quotation, but his life exemplifies that belief. 

Growing up in New Almaden and attending local public schools, Pantiga was diagnosed with learning disabilities and wrestled with problems focusing on educational subjects, leading to a troubled youth. But that didn’t stop him from helping anyone, anytime.

“Ever since he was a small child, Damion was always willing to help someone, especially someone older in the neighborhood,” Kitty Monahan, president of the New Almaden Quicksilver County Park Association said about her lifelong friendship with Pantiga.  “When Damion was 9 or 10, he and his brother would pull weeds and garden for Auntie Pat down the street.”

Monahan described the fierce storm last year that severed a massive limb of the old growth oak tree, damaging a crypt and the fence at the old miners’ Hacienda Cemetery on Bertram Road.

Damion rushed into action. He took a chain saw, cut up the wood into removable pieces, fixed the crypt and fence and then proceeded to haul away the debris; he completed it all without anyone asking for help.

“Last week we had a cleanup of New Almaden. When Damion came over, his truck bed was full of all his neighbors’ discards, which he had picked up from them, none of his own things. Then he put my items on top and we delivered it to the landfill site. He’s been like this all his life, always helping others,”  Monahan said.

Pantiga moved to New Almaden at age 1 with his mother, father and seven siblings, some of whom still remain in the area. His love of the forested area and wildlife in southern Almaden is evident, even where he lives. He tenderly cares for hundreds of plants; impatiens, begonias, asparagus ferns and many others, planted in rustic containers he has collected through the years. A plaque hangs from the porch proclaiming, “Everyday is a gift.

That’s why they call it ‘the present.’” He lives with his Aunt Mary Lou Bernal, who is his mother’s lifelong friend.

“Damion kept me out of a nursing home,” Bernal said sitting in the patio surrounded by flowers and foliage tended to by Pantiga. Bernal was suffering from diabetes and recovering from a stroke when Pantiga moved in with her 10 years ago to help. “He has a tender heart towards animals and natural beauty. I think it’s the Indian in him.”

Pantiga has a strong jaw line, with crystal-clear blue eyes. His large frame stands over 6-feet-2 inches tall, as the naturalist gently reveals a nesting bird concealing her two eggs in a hanging planter and then displays five guinea hens in a coup he raised when the mother bird died. The hens are soon to be set free. 

His gentle spirit extends beyond his own environment. Bernal told of a few weeks ago when Pantiga stopped at a yard sale. There he found an elderly woman selling items who said her family had left for Arizona leaving her home alone. She only had a couple of plates of food and a chair to sleep on. Pantiga rushed into action and brought the woman a bed and meals until the family returned.

“He will go out of his way to help the underdog,” Bernal said smiling. “And here at home, I just make him a list and he gets it done.”

And it’s not just at his home that he gets the job done. Throughout the New Almaden area is Pantiga’s handiwork for construction. His passion for gardening has led to the landscaping of many of the area’s homes.

“I call it Damion’s Garden.” Mike Boulland, president, Friends of Santa Teresa Park [FSTP] said about Pantiga’s landscape design. “It’s a unique style. He also volunteers for FSTP and the community groups. And he has a real knowledge of old things, collecting bricks and bricklaying. He helped with the new Blacksmith Shop at the New Almaden Quicksilver Museum. He knows where to find the old objects and wood, so we could replicate the time.”

Pantiga’s love of history in New Almaden led to the discovery of old bricks marked with the company names in the creeks and hills of the area. Bulldozed once the Quicksilver Mine ceased production, he and Boulland would collect the marked bricks and noticed some of the same were in the old pathway where children walked to school on Almaden Road. Restoration of some of New Almaden’s historic homes led Pantiga to brick lay the old blocks in driveways and repair of the original sidewalk. When the International Brick Collectors Association visited, it resulted in 39 different names of bricks, 10 of which had never been reported. Both men are now members of the organization.

Boulland described how Pantiga’s gardening and tree trimming efforts at Bulmore Park turned a once blighted area into a utilized recreation area. And how he took it upon himself to pick up trash from McKean Road all the way into New Almaden. And how he has worked at maintaining Casa Grande, the 150-year old mine manager’s building, throughout the years.

“Damion has a huge heart,” Terri Sanislo-Williams, park interpreter at the New Almaden Quicksilver Museum said about her friend “He’s a good man and I’ve never seen anyone who works so hard at helping people in the neighborhood. And he is a champion of safety.”

Distraught as everyone else in New Almaden about Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan, Pantiga purchased 40 American flags from an Army surplus store and suspended them on telephone poles on Almaden Road. He has returned many times since to attend to straightening the folds in tribute to his friend Tillman.

“Damion always helped people,” Cecyle Pantiga said about her second youngest child. “He’d see someone moving in or out of the area and he would help. When there is a flood he puts on his rain gear and goes to lend a hand. And he loves nature.”

“Damion has an unwavering dedication and a fearless commitment to protecting the history of the area and the wildlife habitat of New Almaden,” Liz Maleck said about her friend and neighbor. “He is deeply concerned about preserving New Almaden and has spent many hours in meetings trying to solve the problems that occur.”

Whether it is a small bird or a neighbor in need or an old growth tree, Pantiga is there to assist.

“I don’t consider myself an environmentalist. I help because I like to do things like that,” Pantiga said modestly.

“It’s something I just do.”

“I look at Damion as a lesson in surviving adversity.” Boulland said of Pantiga. “I respect him and am honored to call him my friend. He turned his life around to become an asset.”

—Photo by Jeanne C. Lewis