The San Jose Mercury News ran a nice piece about a Los Gatos resident who's doing some big sharing during these difficult times in Silicon Valley. Have a read about Jennifer Krach and how she's helping - and how you can, too:
After a long, valiant battle against lung disease and congestive heart failure, my father, John Pope, died Sunday, June 29th at Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara. This was somewhat unexpected as recently he had been improving and was downgraded out of the ICU and was awaiting a bed in a yet lower level of the hospital when it seems he got a severe stroke late on Saturday. Prior to his seven weeks there, mostly in the ICU, he had lived at Belmont Village in San Jose, where he had many friends.
John grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, and graduated from Princeton University in 1952 with a BA in history. He married Patricia Buckley in Santa Clara County in August 1954. They were married for 42 years, until her death in 1996. After serving in the US Army in South Korea for nearly two years, he studied at Santa Clara University School of Law and received a license to practice law in January 1959.
He had a private practice in San Jose, doing family law, wills, trusts, estates, and employment law. His law practice included "pro bono" work and he served as a "Judge Pro Tem" as well.
John and Pat raised three children in Santa Clara and Saratoga. John was very supportive of Pat’s real estate career, which she began in 1956 (when very few women were selling real estate).
John was a creative person who enjoyed delighting young children, particularly with cartooning or doing “magic tricks” involving chocolate coins. He painted a myriad of toy soldiers and enjoyed an extensive collection the sale of which helped to support him in his retirement. He was known within the family for the villages and train sets he set up under the tree at Christmas, which looked amazingly similar to his hometown of Morristown in winter.
Spirituality and his Catholic faith were of utmost importance to him, and it infused the way he worked, raised his family, and met challenges in his life. He had been a very active member of Alcoholic Anonymous, and he credited the support of the group and the grace of God for his 29 years of sobriety.
John’s passions were travel, history, politics, family and faith. When the family was young, John and Pat made many frequent trips to the east coast to see the Pope relatives. The travels later expanded to include Europe, Great Britain, central America, the Virgin Islands, and elsewhere.
John leaves behind 3 children: Stephen Pope (Patti) of Boston, MA, Mary Pope-Handy (Jim) of Los Gatos, CA, and Barbara Pope (Tom) of Greenfield, MA and 7 grandchildren: Michael Pope, Kathleen Pope, Stephen Pope, Brian Handy, Clair Handy, Daniel Morse and Taryn Rose Morse. He is survived also by his sister, Helen Holly (Bo) of Dover, NJ, her children Joan Guarino and John Holly (Meredith) and Joan's two children, Alexandre and Gabriella. He is also mourned by his brothers-in-law, Fr. Michael Buckley, SJ, and Fr. Thomas Buckley, SJ, as well as by numerous other relatives, friends, and neighbors.
There will be a funeral Mass at St. Lucy’s Catholic Church in Campbell on July 9th at 11am, followed by burial at the Santa Clara Mission Cemetary and a reception afterwards. A memorial Mass was held in his hometown of Morristown, New Jersey, on July 2nd as his only sibling, Helen, and her family live nearby and many other relatives were assembled in Cape May, NJ, for a family reunion, when he died.
Donations in John’s honor can be made to ARH Recovery Homes, Inc. 1101 S. Winchester Blvd.,Suite J-220 San Jose, CA 95128 Phone: 408-236-6657 info@arhinc.org. He had been very involved with this alcohol recovery home, at one time serving on its board, and would love to have its good work furthered on his behalf.
Today's San Jose Mercury News reports that Los Gatos resident Steve Poizner, currently the Insurance Commissioner for California, is lining up to run for governor in 2010. He has an impressive background, academically and professionally, and made his mark in high tech before moving into politics.
Folks who enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series will find many things to like in this book as well, as it shares some of the hallmarks: the use of enchantment and the element of "another world" being among them.
Best of all in this tome is character development. The individuals we meet are complex and intriguing, all with several dimensions to them. In Child of the Shadows, the main players are not always what they seem at first glance - or second, or third.
A month or two ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Jack in person and talking with him about his book, about Los Gatos, ghosts and some neat history of the town. He has a wonderful "sense of story" that he's putting onto paper and I expect to see his current work become a series in a short period of time.
I promised Jack I would read his book and write about it in my Live in Los Gatos blog. At the current time, I'm only halfway through the very long (500 + page) novel. With several open books on my nightstand at once, nothing is consumed too fast, but this one is worthy of a mention for your holiday gift list - well before the end of the year, by which time I'll have finished it!
Where to find the book? It's available at the Los Gatos Public Library and online at Amazon.
There are a lot of cool people in Los Gatos, and some of them are actually famous. You can go to Wikipedia or other places to get a partial list of the high-profile people who live here or have lived here. I tend to avoid naming names on this blog because I figure most of those folks would rather just try to live a normal life and be somewhat incognito.
Yes, most of the famous people - I believe - really just want to be treated like regular folks (at least most of the time). Fame can be a great thing, but it can also be a terrible thing. It's terrible when you cannot enjoy a restaurant meal or just go shopping "like a normal person" because people won't leave you alone. It's also a downer when you aren't really sure who your friends are because so many just want to hang on your coattails because you're doing well and in the spotlight. It is a nightmare when paparazzi have you in their sites and microanalyze your every move or people follow you in your car because they're curious or who knows what.
On the flip side, fame can offer some perks - it can be fun at times, but perhaps most of all, it can help those who have it to do a world of good when they bring attention to an important cause.
And that's the case with Peggy Fleming, the famous Olympian skater, who resides here with her family here in The Cats. I always smile to see her around town, and I always leave her alone. Our sons went to preschool together, and attended the same high school, though I don't think they really knew each other then (and I'm sure she would not remember me). So over the years, I've seen her here and there and thought it was neat that she was and is a woman with no "airs". Just another nice mom around town, but one I respect a lot.
Obviously, there's a lot more to her than what I've mentioned so far. Just now I read a neat article about Peggy Fleming Jenkins and all of this is just a lead-in to that. The article discusses her battle with breast cancer and the work she does in that arena now (as well as many other things, professional and personal, such as work with her and her husband's wines).
So have a read, and be inspired. There are good people all around us. Sometimes we just need to have the spotlight shine on them a bit so we know about it, and hopefully can be inspired to do some good ourselves as well.
Toady I'm going light on the blogging, because this is a day off. But I wanted to share a nice, restful image with you, one that is straight out of our beautiful Los Gatos.
Thomas Kinkade, the well known painter, lives locally. One of his subjects is North Santa Cruz Avenue in Los Gatos, looking toward the pass to Santa Cruz, with older cars and the Town Theater in view. I can't copy it here, but I can send you to a link on his site to enjoy a view. Hope you like it! Of all his paintings, I like this one best.
Enjoy your Mother's Day. Do something unique and fun!
Los Gatos is home to many great things, many great ideas too, but also home to many fascinating people who are successful in their own fields. The list includes CEOs, sports celebrities, and other famous people. Wikipedia lists several of our Los Gatos contemporaries who are very well known, and if you live here, you do bump into them at Whole Foods, a restaurant, or maybe your child's school. They're just normal people, trying to lead normal lives. I, for one, won't bug them if I see them in public or at some function where we happen to be together. I once spent a year in a body cast and it made me appreciate, deeply, how important it is just to be treated like a "normal person" - no matter what the circumstances are.
But Los Gatos has often been a popular place among those who could choose to live or visit anywhere they wanted - this is not a new experience for our pretty town. John Steinbeck lived here and wrote "Of Mice and Men" in those days. Charlie Chaplin came to visit and was seen a few times at the old Lyndon Hotel in the days when he was filming at Niles Canyon (a district of Fremont). The famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin lived in Los Gatos, up near the Holy Names Sisters convent and the Jesuit Novitiate, for a bit of time in his childhood. It was a treasured time for him.
Want to read up on well-known visitors? Take a look:
In addition to all the famous (and those of us who are not-so-famous) people who have enjoyed making Los Gatos home, there was a time in which ordinary, but very ill, people would pilgrimmage here too. The climate was so favorable it was prescribed. Did you ever wonder about the fact that Los Gatos was so small, but for many years had two mortuaries? Many of these sickly folk did improve here, but many others did not. Read John Baggerly's surprising bit of history as Los Gatos, the health refuge: http://www.losgatos.com/history/climate.html .
Finally, some residents just won't leave, even when their earthly life is over. If you are interested in our (mostly) unseen residents, please visit a page on one of my websites dedicated to Haunted Real Estate. Los Gatos is a featured location and I discuss there the old cemetary (which has shops over it now) and other places where the townsfolk remain in spirit.
A blog about Los Gatos real estate, homes, houses, condos, townhomes, housing market, neightborhoods, history, events, businesses, parks, schools, photos, issues, and lifestyle.
Mary Pope-Handy
Realtor, CRS, ABR, SRES, E-PRO
Luxor Real Estate Group
Mailing Address for Mary: PO Box 440 Los Gatos, CA 95031-0440
877 397-5391 (office/toll-free)
John N Pope, Jr (.jpg)
John and Pat raised three children in 
John’s passions were travel, history, politics, family and faith. When the family was young, John and Pat made many frequent trips to the east coast to see the Pope relatives. The travels later expanded to include .jpg)
There will be a funeral Mass at St. Lucy’s Catholic Church in 
.jpg)
Third Generation Los Gatan.jpg)
There are a lot of cool people in Los Gatos, and some of them are actually famous. You can go to Wikipedia or other places to get a partial list of the high-profile people who live here or have lived here. I tend to avoid naming names on this blog because I figure most of those folks would rather just try to live a normal life and be somewhat incognito. .jpg)
And that's the case with Peggy Fleming, the famous Olympian skater, who resides here with her family here in The Cats. I always smile to see her around town, and I always leave her alone. Our sons went to preschool together, and attended the same high school, though I don't think they really knew each other then (and I'm sure she would not remember me). So over the years, I've seen her here and there and thought it was neat that she was and is a woman with no "airs". Just another nice mom around town, but one I respect a lot.
RSS Blog Feed
