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Best of Picture from the Past
Former LGHS classmate still exudes star quality
By John S. Baggerly
It is always a pleasure hearing from a fellow l935 Los Gatos High School classmate. Where the letter contains a story of local interest, it becomes a double pleasure.
Such is a letter from Rhoda (Bensberg) Porter of Los Gatos, who forwards a headline from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat: "Mourning brings US-French closer." Rhoda's son Kent Porter, a French teacher at Ukiah High School, also had something to offer--the following quotation from author James Pinkerton, who was recounting his visit to the memorial service held at the American Cathedral in Paris' Eighth Arondissment:
"The legendary actress Olivia de Havilland--remembered as Melanie in Gone With The Wind--was here and gave a reading from the pulpit. She lives in Paris and is 85 now. She still looks and carries herself like a star. And she still speaks in the resonant timbre of the theater. Moving gracefully to the pulpit, she read from the book of Isaiah, reminding us of the Biblical injunction to beat swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks."
Back to Rhoda Porter: "I am an 84-year-old old-timer, and a LGHS schoolmate of Olivia and about the same age as her sister Joan Fontaine, who did not attend LGHS. Fontaine is noted for her role in the film Rebecca.
"When the author spoke of Olivia's 'resonant timbre' and 'warm tones,' I could not help but remember my mother's comments when Olivia and Joan got out of our car after Vivian Johnson's ballroom dancing class at the History Club of Los Gatos: 'Mark my words; those girls are going to go far with those beautiful voices.' I always remember off the cuff comments, always so appropriate when called upon at our assemblies.
"At the risk of making this too long--I had the joy of a short visit to Paris in early October, visiting our daughter and her husband, Karen and David McQueen, who are 1964 Saratoga High School graduates. David is teaching a computer science course this semester at Ecole Polytechnic in Parks after retirement from Bell Labs-Lucent prior to a professorship at the University of Chicago. My husband Bernard didn't feel up to the trip, but I was accompanied by our friend Genevieve Palace, just retired as an English teacher from Saratoga High School.
Although Marion (Cilker) Armstrong had given me Olivia's address some years ago, we didn't look her up since we didn't want to encroach on her privacy in spite of her graciousness."
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
Olivia de Havilland maintained her ties to Saratoga and Los Gatos long after moving away. Here she is pictured with Los Gatan Betty Jones, wife of Horace Jones.
