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The baubles in Wing York Jue’s “community garden museum” dot the front yard of his home at 2232 McKinley St. which he and his wife Dorothy have shared for 61 years. Each of the treasures has a very unique history. 

Photos of the 87-year-old neighborhood conversationalist with President Bill Clinton and past Wimbledon champ Bobby Riggs stand pasted to posts in one corner, while a five-foot shrine to “Peanuts” comic-strip author Charles Schultz stands in another. 

Nine timeworn cameras that he says “just appeared one day,” beachballs, an old lamp with a toy windmill sticking out of it, a ceramic lion in a birdcage, Berkeley High School memorabilia, and his dog tag that he wore for three years during World War II all sit together with the makeshift towers like a cacophony of keepsakes he says he began to collect two years ago when he got too weak to cut the small, square lawn. 

“I had to do something with the space,” he joked. 

“Some things just show up,” he said, pointing to a porcelain frog with another plastic frog glued on its back. “They are all neighborhood contributions and have their own stories.” 

The Berkeley High School Hall of Famer, former ranked senior tennis champion, harmonica player, war veteran and retired accountant for the state of California is still springy after surviving cancer of the lymph nodes, bones and prostate. 

“I’m making a comeback,” he said gallantly. 

The garden museum is a testament to that comeback made by the spry little gentleman the neighbors simply call York. 

“York is famous around here,” said neighbor Morgan Fichter. “He’s someone who demands that everyone slow down in the neighborhood. There’s not many people like him.” 

Too humble to accept all of Fichter’s praise, he defers the attention to her and says that she’s an acclaimed violinist and has made appearances on Letterman and the Tonight Show. 

“I’ve seen the tapes, she’s not pulling my leg,” he says. “We live in a very talented neighborhood.” 

Now that York has bounced back from cancer, he spends most of his time chatting with the neighbors and passers-by, and playing his harmonica. 

He said he walks up to Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way where he plays his harmonica for donations for the homeless. 

“It gives me a chance to practice and to help,” he said. 

York was forced to give up his beloved tennis two years ago after he was stricken with cancer. But during his playing days, he was ranked fourth nationally in the 80-year-old division, and won the state championship as a 75 year old. 

He was once challenged to play by Riggs for $500. 

“That was in Seattle in ‘81. He was such a hustler,” he said, pointing to the photo with Riggs. “I told him that he would have to play with his left hand.” 

York still carries a card that reads: “W. York Jue, tennis player and conversationalist extraordinaire.” 

Except for his stint in the U.S. Army, when he was a truck driver in New Caledonia – a small island off of Australia he said was a naval depot – during World War II, York has lived his entire life in Berkeley. 

He was elected into the Berkeley High School Hall of Fame in 1999. He recalls talking to the students about finding equilibrium. 

“I’ve learned balance,” he told them. “And I think that’s part of the reason I have lived such a long, happy, enjoyable life.”