Los Gatos Weekly-Times Dorothea Bamford Dorothea Bamford concludes her council career in hospital By Jeff Kearns After 16 years on the Monte Sereno City Council, Dorothea Bamford finished her last term in the hospital Nov. 17. Bamford, who has been suffering complications from pneumonia since late August, last attended a council meeting on July 21. According to Bamford's daughter, Barbara Holden, Bamford started getting sick after going on a cruise in Norway this summer. "She was in perfect health in June, then something happened in July, and in August she was on the brink of death," Holden said. Bamford was admitted to Community Hospital of Los Gatos on Aug. 27 and placed in coronary care. Since then, Bamford has stabilized, and was recently upgraded to intensive care, but Holden is keeping her fingers crossed. "She's doing OK now, but that's happened before, and then something just comes out of left field and knocks her down again," she said. Bamford has had three cases of pneumonia, and the most recent, pseudomonas, is particularly problematic because it's resistant to antibiotics. Bamford and her late husband, Harry, first moved to Monte Sereno in 1960. They built a home on Withey Road that was a replica of their previous Eichler home in Palo Alto. She has three children--Holden, a Los Gatos resident, Laura Thomas and Roger Bamford--and nine grandchildren. Bamford was first elected to the council in 1982. Jack Lucas, who has served alongside Bamford on the council for 14 years, says he learned from her when he was a rookie, and hopes he'll be able to get her advice on issues in the future."We had a very close relationship, but we didn't always agree," Lucas said. He remembers one of the first controversies they faced in the mid-1980s. "We had to put a nine-month moratorium on new building until we could get a handle on it." In addition to her seat on the council, Bamford also represented the city on regional committees, including the Santa Clara Valley Water District Advisory Committee, Santa Clara County Cities Association and the county library's Joint Powers Board. Before she became ill, Bamford had already decided not to seek another term on the council. But even though she was laid up in the hospital, Bamford still followed the elections. She endorsed Barbara Nesbet, who sailed to victory with the largest number of votes. Bamford was friends with Nesbet's mother, Helen Nesbet, a former Monte Sereno councilmember who recently died of cancer. "She was really happy Barbara won," Holden said about her mother, a staunch Democrat, "But she was even more happy Gray Davis won." Nesbet will be sworn in at the beginning of the Dec. 1 meeting, when the council will also elect a new mayor. Interim city manager Brian Loventhal says Bamford has received commendations for her long tenure on the council from Sen. Barbara Boxer, Rep. Tom Campbell, State Sen. Byron Scher and Assemblyman Jim Cunneen. "She's been a very dedicated councilmember and she's spent a tremendous amount of energy for the betterment of the city," Loventhal said. Except for immediate family, Bamford is not seeing visitors. Cards may be sent to her care of Community Hospital of Los Gatos, 815 Pollard Road, Los Gatos, CA, 95032. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 25, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.