Over 50 guests surprised Fauntleroy resident Calvin (Cal) Bannon, the 90 year-old birthday boy, at Kenyon Hall Tuesday night, Feb. 15. The birthday party was organized by his long-time friend, Flora Belle Key, or Frankie, as she is known. Those who know the very active Cal know he loves to dance, loves tennis, dancing, traveling, and even more dancing. He and Frankie can often be spotted at the Senior Center of West Seattle cutting a rug on its shiny hardwoods till the end of the night.

Lauren Petrie was on keyboards. He was the musical staple at the former Corner Inn and gigs at the Senior Center West Seattle and other area venues now.

West Seattle Herald columnist, and entertainer extraordinaire, Georgie Bright Kunkel, favored Cal and the others with her version of "New York, New York":

"Start spreading the news, to celebrate Cal. I want to be a part of it, this 90 bash. His vagabond shoes, will no longer stray, he's a man about town, who's now turning gray..."

Kunkel was asked by America's Got Talent to audition Saturday at the Tacoma Convention Center.

"He can go on and on," said Frankie of Cal. "He's skied all over the world, still skis. We played tennis this morning. He does it all. It's hard on me to keep up with him, and it was hard to surprise him."

But she did.

"These are active people," said guest Carol Johnson of Cal and Frankie. She would know. Johnston is Activities Coordinator Senior Center West Seattle.

"We just came back from near Manzanillo, Isla Navidad," Cal said of his Mexico trip with Frankie. "Two weeks, dancing every night, played tennis with a bunch of people. We did a lot of walking on the beach.

"I was surprised by this party," he added. "Feels great. I Lived in West Seattle all my life. I grew up near Lowman Beach. I went to UW then joine the Air Force and learned to fly at Wichita Falls, Texas.

"Pretty exciting," he recalled. "We were assigned to a combat cargo outfit supplying troops to Burma, based in Assam, India. I flew a C-47 troop transport. there were no roads down there, so we'd parachute stuff in, or free-dropped or landed on dirt strips.

"I always had a tennis racket with me. In upper Assam all the tea planters had tennis courts, so I got to play tennis with the British.

"I worked as a kid at Boeing, and carried the mail around to all the executive offices. When I came back from the Air Force the secretary to the Boeing president called and asked, 'Would you like to be a deck hand on Mr. (Clairmont) Egtvedt's boat?' We sailed up to British Columbia on his 64-foot ketch. That was a lot of fun. I hauled up the anchor, hoisted the sails, and swabbed the deck."

He later became an electrical engineer for Boeing and City Light.