Photograph by George Sakkestad
Town employee Tony Harding prepares to install a parking limit sign on University Avenue.
By Bob Aldrich
They have one thing in common. Instead of sitting at a work table or behind a desk in some Silicon Valley cubicle, or doing routine indoor work, they work with their hands doing some type of manual labor. Everyone, from engineers and architects to artists and journalists, uses his or her hands, but we don't all get calluses in the process. And unless we work at it, we probably won't keep in as good physical condition as those who do daily physical labor.
There are many kinds of work that could be pictured. Here, at least, is a sampling of those who are unanimous in saying they'd rather be a laborer in life's vineyards than president of General Motors.
Mike Leonard
Garbage collector
Sit at a desk? Not on your life, says Mike Leonard, 36, a garbage collector for Green Valley Disposal Co., who drives his truck on a regular route that includes parts of Los Gatos. "I like what I'm doing," he says. "It gets me outdoors, and it keeps me healthy." Although Leonard says garbage collectors occasionally get some strain in their knees or elbows, they seldom suffer back problems.
Leonard has been on the job for six years. He goes to bed at about 8 p.m., and the alarm awakens him at 3:30 a.m. He's at the Green Valley yard at 5 a.m. and begins his run at 6 a.m. Each work day takes him on a different route: Monday, Almaden; Tuesday, Saratoga; Wednesday, Campbell; Thursday, Los Gatos.
"One advantage to the job," he says, "is that I can set my own pace. I can put in an eight-hour day, or I can speed it up and cut it to six hours if I want to."
The husky collector drives a one-man garbage truck. He has to use his muscles to hoist those garbage cans off the curb, carry them to the truck's dumper, toss in the contents and put the can back. "They can weigh 70 pounds or more, but the average is about 40 pounds," he says. Lifting, he notes, is the hardest part of the job.
"But I'd rather be doing this than sitting in some office." Besides enjoying the outdoor life, he's a friendly fellow who likes meeting people. "I enjoy getting acquainted with the customers."
Leonard grew up in Los Gatos and graduated from Los Gatos High School in 1979.
His favorite part of the job? "Driving in the Almaden hills on Mondays. I like the gorgeous scenery," he says.
On weekends or vacations, he and his wife, Janet, go fishing or sailing off Santa Cruz.
Chris Brown
Painting and wallpapering
Here from England, where he was born and where he learned his trade, Brown, a self-employed painter and paperer, says he's had no difficulty finding work since he came to Los Gatos six years ago.
Brown says he much prefers this kind of work to office or factory work. "I worked for about a year in the audit department of an automobile manufacturer in England, and that was enough for me," he says.
He took a year to see the world and wound up in New Zealand for a while. Romance brought him to Los Gatos. "I met an American girl, came over here and proposed to her," he says. He and his wife, Lynne, have a 2 1/2-year old son, Tommy. His wife does the bookkeeping for his business.
He got into the painting and wallpapering business when he was still a youth. "In England when you get to be about 15, you have to either go to a university or take up a trade. I always had to work. My parents never gave me any money." He apprenticed in Oxfordshire and has spent 30 years at his trade.
The least enjoyable part of his work? "I suppose it's the messiness, getting ready and cleaning up afterward. But that's something you can't avoid." Quickly he adds, "If I didn't like it, I wouldn't do it.
Brown says the affluence in Los Gatos makes it a particularly good place for someone in his business. "People don't mind paying for good work," he says.
Like many young Brits, Chris started playing soccer--which is known as "football" over there--at an early age. He hasn't lost his enthusiasm for the game. In Los Gatos he coaches a team of kids age 11 and under on the Fisher School playground.
That, he says, is his "outdoor" job.
David Tinsley
Deck and fence builder
David Tinsley recently built a deck at the Woodside home of singer Joan Baez. The singer is one of a number of Peninsula people for whom the 34-year-old Los Gatos builder has completed similar projects.
"I believe in learning what the owner wants and giving it to them," he says. A 1981 graduate of Leigh High School, he's had 14 years experience in this type of construction.
"I worked with my father, also a David, for several years," he says. "Dad built hundreds of homes." The younger David joined a union and learned to specialize in decks and fences. Most of his decks are of redwood with an underpinning of treated Douglas fir.
Does he ever wish he had gone in another direction and become, perhaps, an executive? Not for a minute. "I love this work," he says. "I meet very interesting people with wonderful homes. And it keeps me in shape, too." Two friends help him on the job.
"What I enjoy most is cutting the wood at an angle. Finding the right angle is an art."
The worst element of his job is weather. "If it rains, we have to knock off until it clears up. But most of the time, things go smoothly."
Tinsley says he likes to give each job a special touch to please the owner's taste. For Baez, he used peeled tree branches for handrails.
Snow skiing on the north shore of Tahoe, where his father owns a lodge, is a hobby. David and wife, Jennifer, have three children. "My 4-year-old son is already a skier," he says.
Tony Harding
Los Gatos Dept. of Parks, Forestry and Maintenance
Putting new benches in place downtown was only one of many tasks Tony Harding has taken care of for the town. At 45 he's had 22 years with the Department of Parks, Forestry and Maintenance and recently became a maintenance field supervisor. He wouldn't take an office job if it was handed to him. "I much prefer working outside," he says.
Tony moved to Los Gatos with his family when he was 2. He attended Lexington School and graduated from Los Gatos High School in 1969. He joined the town staff in 1973.
"I do anything they ask me to," he says. "Anything" can include making sewer repairs, painting curbs, laying out park roads or parking areas or fulfilling requests from the town's engineering department.
Before joining the town staff, Harding worked in Reno and Sparks laying tartan floors for a school gym, among other jobs. After two years with the U.S. Marines, stationed at Marine headquarters in Washington, D. C., he came home and got a job chauffeuring for Los Gatos Meadows.
On days off and after-hours he's been working on improving his house.
"Do we have any fun on the job? Sure, every day," he says. About 75 percent of the time he's working along with others, and there are always a few jokes exchanged.
"I'll have to work another 10 years to reach retirement age of 55," he says.
Knowlton Shore
Scoutmaster and trails volunteer
When Knowlton Shore was a youngster growing up in Los Gatos, he says, "We had to do everything for ourselves. Nobody provided us with a baseball field. We had to go out and pick up rocks and make one."
Now as longtime scoutmaster of Troop 539, he supervises Boy Scouts working on Eagle projects and pitches in himself to help maintain trails and make needed improvements in town parks. At Belgatos Park, the scout troop put in a retaining wall, making use of discarded telephone poles to strengthen it. Shore, who spent 41 years as a PG&E employee, knows how to lay hands on such things. He's accumulated quite a few tools of his own. In his 31 years with the scouts, he's accomplished many projects.
"We've saved the town a good deal of money," he says.
Shore and the scout troop have improved parts of Los Gatos Creek Trail, clearing brush and digging out obstacles, along the trail from Forbes Mill Museum to Novitiate Hill, as well as the trail that extends from the Scout Hut behind Los Gatos High School.
"Part of what the boys learn is paperwork," he says. "That means getting permission from Town Hall to do a project."
Under Shore's guidance the scouts "saved" the former Pageant Grounds behind the Civic Center by clearing it out and planting redwoods. This was where Los Gatos townspeople presented pageants for years prior to World War II.
Shore has worked alongside other retiree volunteers, such as Vic Collord and former Parks, Forestry and Maintenance employee Jim Sugai.
Like others who work with their hands and do what is sometimes called "honest work," Shore is happy not to be pushing papers around.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 22, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.