IT'S HARD to realize it's that time of year already. Members of Los Gatos Lions Club gave us a reminder last week as they turned out early to help the Los Gatos Downtown Association's sagging budget by changing the banners along Santa Cruz Avenue to ones with a holiday theme. Lion Gary Schloh led the banner project. Yes, the Children's Christmas and Holiday Parade is coming Dec. 7, and that's not far off.
INQUIRING minds want to know: Is the holiday spirit lagging behind so far this year? Maybe we're just imagining, but there've been several signs. The Los Gatos Methodist Church isn't having its Bethlehem live display this year. The Pygmy Goat Herders decided this year's Christmas parade will be their last. The Angel Store decided not to hold its annual candlelight walk. O.K., so maybe as the days grow frostier and the seasonal displays appear downtown, other traditions will be upheld as usual.
SPEAKING of the Lions Club, members passed the hat at a recent meeting and came up with $360 for the family of Erich Pichler, the young Marine and LGHS grad from Redwood Estates who has been in a coma in an Arizona hospital following a serious auto accident. Here's an example of the generosity of Los Gatans.
IT MAY have helped, and it certainly didn't hurt. Preceding the Los Gatos High football team's thrilling 13-12 win over Saratoga Nov. 8, Doug and Karen Neale hosted 40 members of the Wildcats team at their Whitney Avenue home.
FEATURED in the October issue of Ladies Home Journal, Pamela Aycock of Los Gatos was celebrated as one of five finalists in the 1996 Oil of Olay-LHJ "Why I've Never Looked Better" contest. More than 1,000 entrants were judged by a panel of advertising, media and beauty experts, with emphasis on skin care. Entrants were also asked to answer questions on skin-care tips.
"I take care of myself emotionally physically and spiritually," Aycock said. "When you take care of yourself inside and out, you can't help but feel and look young." With four other finalists, she was treated to a trip to New York, received a professional makeover and $1,000, plus, of course, plenty of a certain product.
HISTORY CLUB of Los Gatos members and guests are meeting Nov. 20 for a guest day tea and bake sale at 2 p.m. Bonnie Stone will present a program, "Apron Strings Past and Present," exploring the lives of 20 women who have pictured their life stories on apron canvases. She'll show a collection of aprons dating back to World War I.
REMINDER for seniors: Don't miss the annual complimentary Thanksgiving dinner at noon Nov. 23 at the Neighborhood Center. Chris Benson of C.B. Hannegan's will be cooking the turkeys and with other restaurants and merchants providing the rest of the fixings. Family Service invites donations of canned foods for the holiday food bank at St. Luke's Church. (Chili, tuna and applesauce are favorites.)
FORGET CDs, treasury notes and high-flying stocks; I have the investment right here. When Christian Steinbach, the sixth-generation German maker of carved nutcrackers, visited Across the Bridge Nov. 9, one nutcracker that sold for $225 three years ago went for $2,000. His visit drew a large turnout. Herr Steinbach has been on tour but interrupted it to fly back to Germany, where his town, Hohenhaneln, threw a big celebration for his 75th birthday. "He is tireless," said Across the Bridge owner Marie Hochman.
FIGHTING jet lag after a trip to Spain, Emerson Shaw said his bus party, visiting a monastery at the top of a mountain in the Pyrenees, ran into 10,000 people. It was the "blessing of the bicyclists," and all the cyclists in Spain were there, Shaw said.
THE DIFFERENCE between an urban, metropolitan university and one with large endowments was outlined for the Los Gatos Rotary Club by Dr. Robert Caret, president of San Jose State University. The city of San Jose and the university must work together to solve urban-core problems, he said. He is trying to keep the ratio of student and state tuition money at 30 percent to 70 percent. Caret took the post in January 1994.
AN EXPERT on stress activities, Dr. Bruce Ogilvie told the Los Gatos Lions Club that his studies of high risk/high stress individuals show that, while there are many components involved, the ability to focus, and be tough-minded and self-confident is essential to peak performance.
MEMBERS of the Los Gatos Museum Association are saddened over the death early this month of Robert (Bob) E. Lee, a former longtime member of the museum board and a conscientious student of Los Gatos history. He always had some insight to offer about the old days.
SUSAN BORELLI, daughter of the late San Francisco newspaper columnist Paul Spiegel, and her husband, Dennis Borelli, bursar at DeAnza College in Cupertino, are looking for an experienced writer for a Spiegel biography. They have lots of material and photos. Interested freelancers can reach them at 864-5308. Spiegel was a contemporary and a friend of Herb Caen, who's still on the job at 80.
WEST VALLEY High Twelve Club, a Masonic luncheon group that meets the second and fourth Mondays each month at the Villa Felice, elected new officers including Wallace Henwood, president; John Lund, first vice president; and Ernest Soderstrom, second vice president.
LOS GATOS Kiwanis Club held Key Club Recognition Day Nov. 7 when LGHS Key Club President Kelly Funston and Vice President Emily Wu spoke about their personal goals and Key Club plans for the year. Kiwanis sponsors the student organization. Key Club plans include a ski trip in late January.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 20, 1996.
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