Remembrance of Ed Pelkey, some Vince Lombardi connections and more suggestions for street names

Posted By: David Fortier February 17, 2024

By Bob Montgomery

Pelkey was genuinely sweet

There are a lot of great folks in Bristol who do good things, but rare are those as genuinely sweet as Ed Pelkey. I just got off the phone with Linda DiMatteo, who was on her way to Ed’s wake at O’Brien’s Funeral Home early Wednesday evening.

“Oh, my God,” Linda said to me. “He was the photographer for us (at the Chamber of Commerce). He did a great job, and I enjoyed working with him.”

Ed, a Korean War veteran, was a Bristol High graduate who stood out in distance running. He was a volunteer as an adult, and I’m sure he had no enemies whatsoever. I concur with Linda, “God Bless, Ed Pelkey!”

This and that

I spotted retired Bristol educator Bonnie Pelletier on TV in the audience at UConn’s recent 73-62 victory over the Villanova men’s basketball team at the XL Center

Hank Lodge has been doing a fine job in maintaining and adding to the Bristol Sports Hall of Fame’s Scrapbook pages. Go to “bshof.org – scrapbook” to read these interesting biographies of different Bristol sport’s categories.

George Sobestanovich, man about town, celebrates yet another birthday on Wednesday.

My Super Bowl predictions were — Chiefs 22 and 49ers 19.

Bristol received 6.8 inches of snow in the first snowstorm in 2023; Burlington had 7.0 inches. A “Good job” to Public Works for its roadway snow removal Tuesday. They also handled trash pick-up that day in my area; I recall the late George Johnson when he was the head of the department on Vincent P. Kelly Road. He was a good man.

Vince Lombardi

The name of the late Green Bay Packers coach is on the Super Bowl trophy. Lombardi’s first coaching job ever came when Bristol’s Andy Palau gave him a job at St. Cecilia’s High in New Jersey. The two had been football teammates and friends at Fordham University in the mid-to-late 1930’s when the college team was among the best in the country, Palau earned something like third team All-American honors as the Rams’ quarterback.

Lombardi was in Andy’s wedding party when he got married, and the bridegroom would visit Vince from time-to-time when he coached Green Bay. Albie Gurske, a Bristol High teammate with Palau, was also on the Fordham squad as an award-winning, ground-gaining runner. Solid all-around athletes, Palau and Gurske also attended spring training with the New York Yankees in the late 1930’s.

Street name changes

Last week’s column included street name changes that I put together for entertainment purposes. Here are some more:

Zipp Avenue could be named after downtown property owner Tom Zipp, who used to pop into the Bristol Press office on Main Street in earlier years; Rowe Place could have been named after the late and longtime popular Bristol City Clerk Rolph Rowe; Joe Salvatore could be a reason for Salvatore Street. That includes his brother, Bob.

Silo Road could be for the Santorso family which owned the former Silo Restaurant in Farmington; I’m going to name Warren Street after me, my middle name; Terry Burke, Bristol Eastern’s first all-state basketball player, now residing in upper New York State, gets this nod for Terry Road. Developer Terry Rock, who was in Mr. Burke’s high school class here also gets a vote.

Contact Bob Montgomery at BobMontgomeryNews@BristolEdition.org, or by calling 860-583-5132.

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