Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Main Street

Mary Ann Cook

Couch potato now runs for others' lives

NO COUCH POTATO: Denise Antonowicz claims she was a couch potato for her first 4712 years, all of which were spent in Los Gatos. But her friend Rumi Portillo, a marathoner, inspired her, as did the thought of raising money for the Leukemia Society and "all those kids having to go through chemotherapy treatments."

Her most recent challenge was the Rock & Roll Marathon in San Diego on June 21. She vowed to raise $2,200 for leukemia, but her actual total turned out to be $3,452.60, thanks to Los Gatos friends and supporters. Even though she twisted her ankle on mile 22 of the 26.2 marathon and is now in a soft cast, she vows to continue fast-walking.

She may have started later, but she's making up for it this year, what with walks in the Great Race, the Mercury News race, the Strawberry Festival Race and the Avon Race in Sacramento. At the San Diego event, 22,000 runners raised $14 million. Joining her in San Diego were mother Marie Antonowicz and sister Germaine, both of Los Gatos; and sister Michelle of Pasadena. Since it was a rock & roll marathon, Elvis was there, too.

QUIZ KIDS: Danya Epstein of Castilleja, Brian Daner of Westmont and David Henbry of Los Gatos were the top three winners in the 10th annual International Affairs Quiz sponsored by the Los Gatos Rotary. The quiz is made up of 100 questions plus a brief essay on foreign events, issues and personalities, with a soupçon of art, history, geography and sports.

That seems to cover the category waterfront. David won third place and $100; Brian took $200 for second place; and Danya won $1,000 for first. Rotary contributed $30,000 for 40 different local charities last year.

TO MONTALVO: Summit League raised $50,000 at its winter fundraiser--Staying Healthy in the '90s, a community forum at the Fairmont Hotel--moneys which were presented to Montalvo's campaign to build more artist residences. One new cottage will be named for the Summit League, said Scott Sherwood, president of the Montalvo Association. Ten additional cottages will be built near the entrance to the villa.

HOME ON THE RANGE: Here's an age range that's hard to top: members of the Gentlemen's Committee for the Cattle Baron's Ball 1998. The oldest is Alan A. Alameda, 95, and the youngest is Max Thomas, one month.

Alameda is grandfather of this year's co-chairwoman, Zoe Alameda, and founder of Alameda Family Saratoga-Cupertino Funeral Home. Max Thomas isn't quite coordinated enough to raise a hand so may not be in on the voting. He's the grandson of Joe and Andrea Thomas.

The committee held a fundraising barbecue at Jim and Sherril Kenny's home in Saratoga. Committee chairmen are David Evjen and Randy Cowherd, whose spouses are heading up this year's ball, to be held Sept. 26 at Moffett Field.

PARTY TIME: The Junior League celebrated its fundraising year with a party for 110 at the Los Gatos home of Jennifer and Keith Krach, whose back yard was transformed into an island setting complete with steel drum band and cigar cabana.

Chairman of the doings was Kristie Driscoll of Monte Sereno. Keith Krach, the CEO of Ariba of Sunnyvale, was named one of the 10 top entrepreneurs of 1998 by Red Herring magazine and was featured in the November issue of Fortune magazine. The league raised $118,000 at its annual rummage sale, a benefit for local charities.

POTTERY MAVEN: Los Gatan Helga Eagle is a potter whose work is on display at the Phoenix Gallery in Willow Glen. She's been a docent at the San Jose Museum of Art for 10 years and last year was president of "Let's Look at Art," the museum program that helps expose and teach students in area schools about art and art classics.

Besides her own work, Eagle, an avid traveler, has treasures from around the world bedecking her home. There are masks and woodcarvings from Africa, beadwork from the Zulus, rugs from Persia, Turkey and Mexico, paintings on gold leaf from Israel.

Other selected artifacts include miniature animals made from palm leaves and fantastically painted wooden animals from Oaxaca, giant ceramic fruit and flowers, and Canadian whalebone. Well, you get the picture.

About her own work she says, "I do wonderful things without heads." Sure enough, most of her current products are torsos or other body parts. But no heads.

DETECTIVE WORK: Lynn Bischoff is trying to track down a '78 Los Gatos classmate, Nancy Graff Horan. This 20th high school reunion will be Bischoff's last stab at locating Nancy before she leaves the state. Lynn can be reached at 354-3520 or emailed at LEBischoff@aol.com.

JUMP START: Jump Start is six months old, has 30 members and is dedicated to raising funds for Next Door, Solutions to Domestic Violence. The fledgling group is eager to expand its numbers and to raise public consciousness to prevent the spread of domestic violence. A garage sale and a garden party featuring the work of 13 painters were recent fundraisers. The person to call is Jump Start's vice president, Susan Wytyshyn, at 446-2527, or email her at: susw@pacbell.net.

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