The Sixteenth Guardian of Alhambra
Mr. Patrick R. Gemma was the sixteenth guardian of Alhambra High School serving as its principal from 1986 – 1994. He has the distinction of serving as the third longest tenured principal in Alhambra’s colorful history behind that of Willard Knowles and Glenville Jones.
Patrick was born of John and Becky Gemma in Santa Rosa on March 17, 1949. John was an executive for CBS and Becky a high school teacher. Pat was the second of seven children; John, Patrick, Tom, Mike, Christopher, Mary and Ann. They were a very close knit Catholic family that even in later years made sure that on Sundays they would all gather around the family table for dinner and a recap of each others’ week.
He attended kindergarten through eighth grade at Saint Genevieve Catholic School in Panorama City, CA enjoying sports, especially basketball. He continued on to St. Genevieve high school continuing his love for sports, social interaction and served as the president of the school’s student body in his senior year.
In his spare time Pat worked at a local dairy selling milk saving up enough money to travel to Europe with two class mates for the three summer months after his graduation from high school in 1967. He often commented that he enjoyed his early education. However there was not a lot of diversity being from a small high school of 400 of which many fellow students grew up with him since elementary school days. It was truly a secluded environment until he left for college.
In Patrick’s college freshman year he attended St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California. His goal was to become a parish Priest with an academic major in Philosophy. His second year found him at St. Mary’s college in Moraga, CA, where he graduated in 1971 with a double major in English and Psychology with a minor in History.
While in college he coached sports and ran after school programs at the local school districts. He found that he enjoyed coaching and teaching tremendously and with his mother being a high school teacher for over 25 years he decided to go into the teaching profession as his career.
He joined the army in 1971 as an active reserve and after seven months of active duty was stationed at Fort Ord and the Presido in San Francisco for the remainder of his six years.
After his enlistment in the army Pat went back to college and completed his Masters of School Administration Credential from California State University in 1973 and his doctorate in Education Leadership from the University of La Verne in Los Angeles in 1997.
Pat started his career as a fourth grade teacher for one year at St. Peter’s in Pittsburg, CA. He then taught special education for three years in Antioch.
Patrick began his career as an administrator in 1977 as Vice-Principal of Fairview Intermediate School in Lafayette followed by serving as Vice-Principal and athletic director of the Benicia Middle School.
In 1980 a principal’s position became available in Martinez. He interviewed with then Martinez Unified School District Superintendent John Searles and was hired to oversee the administration of the Martinez Junior High School of which he served until 1985. During his tenure there he facilitated the district’s decision to change the school to a three year middle school consolidating all the sixth graders from all the elementary schools onto the Junior High School campus.
In 1985 in a surprising decision by the MUSD Board of Education the Board passed as resolution swapping the existing Alhambra high school principal Mr. James Watkins with Patrick Gemma the Junior High School principal. Pat, upon acceptance of his new assignment became Alhambra’s 16th guardian. He walked into a school whose morale was in need of some serious uplifting and a facility that was in very poor repair. He served as principal until 1994. At the end of his term he had helped change the climate, morale and rebuilt the entire campus with only the C and H buildings remaining from the old configuration. The new school bears his name on the dedication plaque as principal.
During his tenure in Martinez he was also an active member of the Martinez Kiwanis Club.
Patrick went on to serve as Assistant Superintendent of Schools of the Piedmont Unified School District 1995 – 1998; Superintendent of Schools for the Truckee Unified School District 1998 – 2003; Superintendent of Schools for the Sequoia Union School District 2003 – 2010; and currently serves as Northern California Regional Director for Pivot Learning Partners in Sacramento.
Pat married Susan Bergin in 1971 whom he met while in high school. They divorced in 2002 after having two wonderful daughters; Jennifer who graduated from Alhambra in 1992 lived in Spain for multiple years after graduating from Chico State University. She returned to Northern California, received her Master’s in Education at St. Mary’s and is now an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in the community college system. Daughter Nicole also graduated from Alhambra a few years later. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a major in Italian and Drama. She is married and serves in the nursing profession. Patrick and Susan are still dear friends. Susan continues on in her third decade as the beloved secretary at the Martinez Junior High School.
Patrick holds many honors and multiple publications from his many years as an educator. Even in retirement he continues to be active and enjoys biking, skiing, tennis, golf, reading and cooking, construction, landscaping and travel.
In this thoughts about Martinez he states Martinez was a great place to live and to raise a family. He enjoyed public education and that being principal of Alhambra High School was the highlight of his career.
He has enjoyed so much in making a difference in the lives of children, watching them grow and learn about themselves and the world, and to cultivate and promote the faculty of the schools he has served. He likes to say “important to being a good school leader, is to build relationships and this happens when one seeks to know and be known. The goal is for no child to feel invisible.”
We the Alumni of Alhambra are honored that you came and shared your life with us. We are all a little better as people that you decided to pass our way and spend time with each of us. Thank you Mr. Gemma….
Submitted by,
David A. Rich
Alhambra Alumni Website
November 7, 2012