Milton K. Callas

Milton Callas, teacher and father of four, passed away July 30 surrounded by his children at his home in Pacific Grove, where he had lived since 1962. He was born July 8, 1921, into a Greek and Sicilian family in Pittsburg, California. His father, from Constantinople, was named Tom Callas, aka Anastasios Miltiades Kalegeropoulos.

Milton served as a machine-gunner in the Marines during WWII and saw action on Eniwetok and the Pacific islands. He graduated from the College of the Pacific (now UOP), where he met his wife, Constance. The story told is that they met on a bus in Stockton while he was on leave.

In his long career as an English teacher at Salinas Union High School, he most enjoyed teaching Steinbeck and film classics including Dracula and Ben-Hur. He spent a lifetime struggling as a novelist, working with stories from his early years as a teacher at Soledad prison, and completed a book, Castle in the Sky, about his years working as a guide at Hearst Castle during summers and school vacations.

He was an avid gardener and reader, a docent at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and volunteered at local historical adobes.

He is survived by a sister, Barbara Allenbaugh of Benicia, and two sons and a daughter: Brian Callas of Pacific Grove, Kendall Callas of San Francisco, and Lynette Callas Webber of Phoenix. He is pre-deceased by his wife, Constance, who died in 2013 after 67 years of marriage, and his eldest son, Craig, who passed away in 1978.

Donations in remembrance of Milton may be made to: The Sally Griffin Active Living Center in Pacific Grove, (831) 375-4454.

A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, August 29, 1:00 pm., in Grantham Hall at the First United Methodist Church, 915 Sunset Drive (at the corner of 17 Mile Drive), Pacific Grove, CA 93950.