The Cupertino Courier

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

Reader remembers
leaders of the past

As I wondered about what to write about for the Cupertino Courier, per Michael Cronk's request that we citizens offer some letters to the editor, the very first thought I had was to write about a friend who is no longer with us. Wally Dean.

Wally was an easy person to understand. He told you what he thought. He loved his family and Cupertino. He was not a man who had very many friends in the developers' or Realtors' world, but I suggest that we all gained from that.

I offer the following for your consideration. Besides Wally's civic leadership as a commissioner, council member and mayor, we enjoyed his other contributions such as the Battle of The Bands for our high schools, De Anza Cupertino Aquatics, City Net and so very much more.

Along with Wally, I would include other names out of the past. I do remember Larry Curb, Joe Hamilton, Mary Stone, Dennis Whitter, Don Brown and Bert Viskovich . There are others whose names I've forgotten who gave us honesty and pride in civic service, which seems to have been misplaced by some.

If your vote and my vote count for anything, the people we elect should represent us, our wishes and our desires, whether or not they personally agree with us. They were not elected to make decisions based on their bias or any non-Cupertino resident's input or feelings.

So, I offer Wally and the others listed as the caliber of people who I and many other citizens look up to.

Bob Hendrickson

Cupertino