Los Gatos Weekly-Times file photograph

This aerial shot of Los Gatos High School was taken in the 1960s. When given a choice in the 1930s, many Willow Glen teens chose to go to LGHS.

Picture from the Past

'30s Los Gatos High adopted by many Willow Glen students

By John S. Baggerly

A star athlete, a phantom blond and a future bride were among a streetcar load of Willow Glen students who chose to enter Los Gatos High School in the 1930s.

An increase of high-school students in cozy Willow Glen made building a larger high school necessary and while that structure was under way, students were given their choice of which school they would attend. Some chose San Jose High in downtown San Jose while others picked Santa Clara High and one or two selected Campbell High.

The biggest block of Willow Glen high students selected Los Gatos High. They rode on the big red interurban line that ran alongside the two-lane road as the cars' right sides rushed past the orchards that dominated the valley floor.

Los Gatos High was a popular pick because drop off and pick up were directly in front of the school on Main Street, and those students could participate in after- school events. One of those students was Harold Sonntag who bolstered Coach Doug Helm's basketball and baseball teams.

Sonntag, which means Sunday in German, went on to San Jose State, became a commissioner in area basketball and principal at Del Mar High School.

Other transplanted students of note were Ray Lester of a prominent orchard family in the Willow Glen area; Virginia Cottle of Cottle Road, and Francis Cantue, a fine trumpet player whose name was prominent in Santa Clara Valley long after his graduation from Los Gatos High.

The Hill brothers, Bob and Orlo, became known as the best dancers at LGHS, and conspicuous were Harriet and Wesley Hancock, Class of '38, who drove to school from Willow Glen in a big black auto.

Speaking of schools, Mary Ann Sasaki of Los Gatos read here recently about the grammar schools that dotted the mountains above Los Gatos. She informs us that the old Burrell School, near the summit and the old Los Gatos-Santa Cruz Road, still stands and serves as headquarters for a winery and a store.

A highly visible Willow Glen girl was Lucille Wood, who preferred Santa Clara University football players to high school boys.

The Phantom Blond, mentioned above was Barbara Fletcher, who caught the eye of every resident male in the student body. Her coterie of local males was disappointed when she no longer appeared on campus. Nosy types learned that Miss Fletcher already had a trail of male followers and when Los Gatos males showed up at the Fletcher front door, her parents relocated their daughter.

When Dorothy and Lucille Gruber graduated in 1938, Dorothy promptly married local architect and widower Gifford Sobey and adopted his daughter Joan.

Fellow golfer Jack Phelps and this writer thought that two Willow Glen girls were worthy of our company and therefore an auto trip to downtown San Jose was agreed upon. This was long before "Tooling the Main" became popular but "walking First Street" in San Jose and window shopping was popular, particularly among females of all ages.

This we did, careful not to go past the most expensive dining spots like O'Briens. We turned into a lesser establishment. Horrors, the girls ordered sandwiches, coffee and pie. Without a word Jack and I knew we were in trouble and settled for small glasses of root beer.

Los Gatos girls and dime cokes began to look better.

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