VIGNETTE > ART FONTES

Art Fontes, a 1939 graduate of Tamalpais High School was an outstanding all-round athlete.  Walter Filippi, commander of the Muir Woods Post 6741 Veterans of Foreign Wars of Mill Valley, dedicated the flagpole in the baseball field at Boyle Park to the memory of Arthur W. Fontes who lost his life in World War 2.  While at Tam High, Art excelled in football and baseball. He held the all-time high school record for the highest batting average in the North Bay league.  In fact, his baseball record was so outstanding that he received an offer to play professional baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He had to turn down the offer, because his mother felt he was not old enough.  Art Fontes later joined the navy.   As part of his service, he was stationed in the Marianas in the mid-Pacific for 22 months.  He was then transferred to a base near Chicago.  He served as an aviation metalsmith.  It was on a routine training flight that he lost his life.  He had been stationed at the Illinois base for seven months. He was one of the Mill Valley servicemen who lost their lives in World War 2.