The shopping center along Foothill Boulevard in the Monta Vista section of Cupertino is on the tail end of a painful transition that began last summer. On July 15, Wesley Marks, the 35-year-old owner of Bruschettas Pizza, died suddenly of an aortic tear and left the fate of his business—and the local community—up in the air. Marks, who opened Bruschettas in 1999, was a soccer coach at Cupertino High School. He opened his restaurant to local youngsters to celebrate the end of their soccer seasons.

Now in the restaurant's place is a Curves franchise—the nationwide gym that tailors to women. Owner Sharon Knox got involved in the business because of a similar tragedy that affected her own family. Her husband, Jimmy, died suddenly in December 2003. And she says she hopes to continue Marks' tradition by playing a role in local women's lives that Curves played for her after her husband's death.

"This is what kept me alive. I have no children, so I needed some form of drive," Knox said. "My husband owned a small business—a hauling service—and I knew I had to figure something out. And Curves helped me lose a lot of weight—80 pounds."

Knox, 44, had previously been working at a Curves owned by a friend, so she decided to try her hand at the business despite a lack of experience. She belongs to a Victory Outreach Church in San Jose, where she works with their drug and alcohol treatment programs. In return, graduates of the program live and work with Knox, who is legally blind due to disease. They also help Knox with the new Curves location and drive her to and from work.

However, it wasn't easy finding an available location. After attending a conference for those interested in opening Curves locations, Knox found that one of the only available markets in the area was west Cupertino. But, as Monta Vista residents are well aware, there are few retail locations open in the area. Knox first spoke to Gordon Beckstrom, owner of the center where Bruschettas was located, last February. Nothing was available until Marks' unexpected death left the future of his restaurant up in the air.

Marks' mother, Susan Palm, recalled the difficulty in clearing out the space where her son had worked for five years. "I was so freaked out about taking down Wesley's life work and passion," she said. "Leaving the restaurant that night was like suffering another major loss." But she attributes her son's dishwasher, Jim Penney, with lifting her spirits. "He said to think about it as a play that was Wesley's life, and we were left to strike the set," Palm said.

She added that she had mixed feelings about the new Curves, but Penney had more words of wisdom—"He said that Wesley had fattened up the community, so they needed Curves to slim back down again," Palm said with a laugh.

Knox said she came by the center in July and saw the sign at Bruschettas that explained the reason for the restaurant's closure. The circumstances hit close to home, but Knox said that the community has so far been very welcoming despite their loss. Marks' sister also came by recently, just to look. "I've heard so many things about Wesley," Knox said. "I want to follow the same legacy."

She gained access to the space on Oct. 23, and began an exhaustive effort to turn what was a restaurant into a gymnasium. The process involved a great deal of painting—in the signature Curves colors of green and purple—and laying down new carpet and linoleum. "We have champagne tastes on a beer budget," she said. "I have a friend who flew up from L.A. and installed the carpet for free."

Knox wasn't the only one hard at work on the space—Beckstrom, the 87-year-old owner, was checking out a leak on the roof of the former Bruschettas on Oct. 25 when he slipped off his ladder and sustained five fractures, including two separate breaks in his right leg. He has been recuperating at a Los Gatos rehabilitation center.

"I feel good. It helped that I was healthy before from playing golf," he said. "But I know I'm very lucky—I could have hit my head and been buried two months ago."

Instead, Beckstrom will be home in time to attend the Curves ribbon cutting on Jan. 10. The location unofficially opened on Dec. 13, and Knox said business has been brisk for a season where many are preoccupied with their families. "For women, this is their 30 minutes," she said. "When women feel good about themselves, they can conquer the world."

The season has also been tough for Marks' family, but Palm said something unexpected came along. Her son had an unusual gumball machine at his restaurant that resembled a roller coaster, but it needed repairs. Penney volunteered to fix it as a gift for a waitress at Bruschettas, but Marks died before that could happen.

On Christmas morning, Penney and Palm took the repaired gumball machine to the waitress's house. "It was such a precious thing to happen on Christmas Day," Palm said. "It was a little bit of Wesley."