Los Gatos Weekly-Times Sweet Adelines made sweet music in competition Mary Ann Cook SHOWCASE: Bay Area Showcase, a division of Sweet Adelines, placed 10th out of more than 600 choruses in international competition this month. "We're climbing," says Linda Morgan, spokeswoman for the group. This is the fifth year they've competed internationally and their first showing was 17th place. Each time they get a little closer to the top. Saratogan Pat LeVezu is the leader, and members from Los Gatos are Gina Laws, Janis Maurry and Linda Morgan. Others from Saratoga are Judy Hendrickson and Bonnie Klett. There are 140 members from nine counties represented. In conjunction with the Garden City Men's Chorus, the group will present two holiday performances at Spangenberg Theater, Palo Alto on Dec. 5--one at 2 p.m. and one at 8 p.m. The program is called "Seasons Greetings Barbershop Style." SCENES OF MONTALVO: Quite a popular art show at Montalvo, displaying watercolor scenes of the Villa by such as Mary Ann Snedeker and Ann-Marie Mix. These folks are Los Gatans, but are part of the group even though it is called Saratoga Community of Painters. Another member of the group with Los Gatos connections is Don Geoffroys, who owned the popular gift store with that name on Saratoga Avenue for many years. The SCPs painted at Montalvo for about a year and then their paintings hung at Marjolaine's Bakery. When Montalvo's gallery director Theres Rohan caught a whiff of their work at the bakery, she invited them to exhibit at Montalvo. The show will be at the villa until Dec. 6. Judy Puthuff is facilitator of the 20 painters. About a third of the paintings in the exhibit have already been sold. A bin of unframed paintings is for sale, too. AIDS QUILT: Four sections of the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display at Los Gatos High School Nov. 30-Dec. 4. This section has some Los Gatos names on it--Jeff Yontz, '82 grad of Los Gatos High, and three foster children of Lois and Peter Rapp--David, who died as an infant; and Derek and Arianna, who died as toddlers. When the quilt is displayed, sections with names from the region are usually selected, says coordinator Rebecca Herr. If you or your service group would like to help, call her at 354-7256. High schools are targeted for the display because one out of every four people who becomes infected in the U.S. is under age 20. Fastest growing segment of the infected population are females contracting the disease from heterosexual sex. INTERNATIONAL EFFORT: Here's the result of the joint project between Los Gatos Rotary and Chihuahua, Mexico, Rotary: The local chapter has received a grant of $53,572, which will provide dental and vision medical equipment to Chihuahua. The project is under the direction of Rotarian Tracy Miller, an optometrist, who put the package together. Both the local chapter and Rotary International helped with the funding. LIONS' FUNDRAISING: White Cane Day netted $5,184 ,and the town barbecue netted $9,352. Both events are long-time traditions in the Lions' fundraising history. White Cane Day benefits the Silicon Valley Blind Center, and the town barbecue benefits a variety of causes. In other Lion news, a memorial bench dedicated to Andrea Rugani will be placed on Santa Cruz Avenue near where the Rugani's liquor store once was. Larry Rugani is a longtime Lion and Don "Tinker" Davies directed the memorial. A 50TH ANNIVERSARY: George Neukam and wife Jan are just back from a trip to Davenport, Iowa, for a 50th high school reunion. Then on to Virginia Beach, Va., to catch first grandchild Zachary Logan Carpenter's first birthday. Neukam thinks he'll be an astronaut, what with bearing that name. My last report on lifetime Lion George Neukam had a few exaggerations. Since the Lions all have a wee tendency to exaggerate I'm inclined to say I got into the spirit too and gave Neukam two terms as president and expanded his years as a Los Gatos chiropractor. Still, that's no excuse for changing his name to Don. Sounds like I was nipping from a cup of gin instead of coffee when I went to that Lions' meeting. Could Brother Korte have slipped me something? Something strictly sacramental, of course. MAKING A SPLASH: Jeremy Kane, son of pastor Jeff Kane of the Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos set a record for the 500 meter for the Stanford swim team at a meet recently at Notre Dame. FOR CIGAR AFICIONADOS: Los Gatos Cigar, next to Tapestry Restaurant, will hold an Open House Dec. 4, a Macanudo cigar tasting. The store has "the nicest lounge between San Francisco and Los Angeles," claims manager Paul Carufel, formerly a librarian at Stanford. Brian and Sam Araki are the owners, and woodwork was done by Kevin Fernandez, known affectionately as the Mad Woodchuck. CARMAN'S HOURS: In a story about Ed Carman that ran in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times on Nov. 4, we may have misled readers about the hours the nursery is open. Nursery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and Sundays and Mondays by appointment only. Happy Thanksgiving! [ 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.