Chris Smith: Healdsburg Marine John Saini had a shiny, new half-dollar on him when he died

PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE had left the post-funeral reception in Healdsburg on Saturday when Mark Noah asked for a moment with a niece and nephew of fallen World War II Marine John Saini.

Noah founded History Flight, Inc., the nonprofit that just a year ago found the battlefield trench on Tarawa Atoll in which Saini and more than 30 other Marines were buried following a two-sided massacre of a battle in November of 1943. The discovery resulted in last week's return of Saini's remains to his hometown.

Noah handed to the Marine's nephew and namesake, Healdsburg winegrower John Saini, and his sister, Liz McDowell, three items the History Flight recovery team found that their uncle had taken with him to his hastily dug grave.

They were his dog tags and the 1943 half-dollar he'd had in the pocket of his combat uniform.

Think of it. All their lives, the Healdsburg siblings knew the uncle who'd died a decade or so before they were born only from family photos and the stories told sparingly because of the pain that accompanied them.

Now, thanks to the caring of others, they and the rest of the Saini family have touched his casket, buried him properly and inherited three small treasures that he carried when he died for his country almost 73 years ago.

Said the 65-year-old nephew, never prouder to have been named John Saini, “We never thought we would see the day.”

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BARBIE, COME HOME: Three days after her garage sale, Sarah Keefer nurses an acute case of seller's remorse.

As she selected the items she'd put in the driveway of her family's home near the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery last Saturday, she internally debated letting go of her late mother's 1950s Barbie case, with its two Barbie dolls, a Ken doll and a selection of B&K clothing and shoes.

Sarah had kept it for years, thinking she'd one day pass it to her daughters, now 4 and 7. But, as happens on the build-up to a yard sale, she felt the urge to purge.

“I was so on the fence,” she said. “Then I went into my daughters' rooms and saw all their toys and thought, ‘We are busting at the seams; I need to start getting rid of stuff.'”

With that, she stuck a $15 tag on the Barbie case and set it out for sale.

A 60-ish gentleman inquired about “guy things” but noticed the vintage doll case and was drawn to it. He looked it over and offered Sarah ten bucks for it.

She politely insisted on the full asking price, which he paid. But at 3:00 the following morning she lay awake full of regret and replaying the tape of her elder daughter asking why she'd sold Grandma's doll case.

If you have it and would consider selling it back to Sarah, let me know.

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EAT WITH YOUR HANDS on Saturday at a culinary and cultural event that's rare in these parts, a Filipino feast called Kamayan.

You sit at a community table and with your fingers enjoy a heavenly, exotic meal. Hosts with the Center for Babaylan Studies will share insights into Filipino indigenous cultures - and also tips on how to eat Kamayan hygienically.

Check out babaylan.net and you'll see the Filipino celebration happens Saturday afternoon at Santa Rosa's Odd Fellows Hall.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.