Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorials

Mary Foster left mark on Los Gatos history

When Mary Foster passed away last week, Los Gatos lost more than a dedicated community volunteer; the town lost its historian, poet and storyteller, its Mother Goose, Santa Claus and Easter Bunny.

Foster was a tireless volunteer with a passion for preserving the community's history, something she did as volunteer curator of Forbes Mill History Museum and as the host for Los Gatos Then & Now. This was the program that featured Foster's interviews with local old-timers for KCAT-Channel 6, the local cable-access station.

She contributed to the local historical archives by doing 100 of these interviews. The tapes are available for viewing at Forbes Mill.

Foster also loved poetry and was determined to topple it from its pretentious heights to make it accessible to real people. That's why she founded Poetry for Everyone.

An amazing cross-section of Los Gatans were touched by this group, gaining the courage and confidence to put their words on paper and to share them with the rest of the group.

Foster also was the driving force behind the Poet Laureate of Los Gatos competition, which was renamed for her dear friend, Bob Aldrich, the longtime Los Gatos Weekly-Times columnist who died just over a year ago. Aldrich twice held the Poet Laureate title.

In the past few years, Foster created a new Los Gatos tradition with a series of music programs at Forbes Mill in the days leading up to Christmas.

It was the annual Children's Christmas and Holiday Parade that first inspired Foster to don her Mother Goose garb, a role she played with relish for some 20 years.

While this year's parade will go on without Mother Goose, let's hope that other traditions inspired by Foster--particularly her passion for preserving the community's history--will continue.

Election Fever

What's going on in Monte Sereno? Although the nine residents who've taken out papers for the City Council election might not all file, there's still time for even more to consider throwing their hats in the ring.

What could inspire such political activism in a community of 3,360 residents, a community often described as "sleepy"?

It's possible that the local political scene has become so invigorating that everyone wants to participate.

On the other hand, it could be that everyone's so upset about the local political scene that they want to try their hand at changing it.

Whatever the case, it looks as if it's going to be another lively election season in Monte Sereno.

And isn't that the democratic way?

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