Saratoga Sampler

Necklace makes case for week of kindness

By Mary Ann Cook

WEAVING A WEBB OR TWO: It's almost time for the citywide Random Acts of Kindness week, that yearly event that the city council instituted at the urging of Louise Webb. RAK week takes place the second week of February. Let's let Webb herself set the mood with a couple of personal vignettes wherein she illustrates being both a giver and a receiver.

The ever-active Webb teaches a memoir writing class at the Saratoga Senior Center and sometimes she takes home one of the non-driving members of the class, Elinor Vaughan, who lives in Los Gatos. Recently, when she was dropped off, Vaughan said, "Wait a minute. I have something for you."

What she returned with was a beautiful hat, "a hat fit for a queen," as Webb describes it. Pink, with pearls, roses and netting. Vaughan had bought it for a tea and hadn't had the nerve to wear it. Made too much of a statement, perhaps?

At any rate, she knew Webb was a hat aficionado and wanted to thank her for the transportation services rendered, so voila! The veiled beauty was transferred. Webb was overwhelmed.

The other event occurred when Dianne Guisinger admired a holiday -type necklace Webb was wearing. Though she had just bought it, Webb promptly took if off and gave it to the admirer. The necklace looks like a string of tiny jewel-colored lights.

Sometime later the necklace was again admired, this time by a child of perhaps 9 or 10 in a store. The child and her grandmother had been looking for something similar and wondered where they could buy it. When Guisinger said she didn't know where to get it, the child teared up.

Again the wearer of the necklace (Mrs. G.) was of a generous spirit, took the necklace off and put it around the child's neck. The gesture brought tears to the eyes of both child and grandmother. "You have no idea how much this means to us," said the grandmother. "You've made our Christmas."

The child's mother had recently succumbed to cancer. The necklace--and the random acts of kindness--had come full circle, Guisinger thought. It made her Christmas, too.

AUTHORS LUNCHEON: The three authors featured at the annual American Association of University Women Authors Luncheon will be Jonnie Jacobs, Dr. Lillian Rubin and Terry Ryan. The luncheon, a benefit for the AAUW Educational Foundation, will be held Jan. 31, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the Saratoga Country Club.

Jacobs is the author of Murder Among Strangers; Rubin wrote Tangled Lives: Daughters, Mothers & the Crucible of Aging; and Ryan's book is titled The Prize of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less. Reservations are $45.

Checks payable to AAUW EF may be sent to Mary Henderson, 14830 Vickery Ave., Saratoga. For more information, call Nancy Hobbs at 408.395.4045 or Mary Henderson at 408.867.1928. The clubhouse is at 21990 Prospect Rd., Saratoga.

BOOK NEWS: The Book-Go-Round is going strong, reports Mary Jeanne Fenn, BGR director. Sales for the past six months were 15 percent higher than last year's total for that period. Part of this rise may be attributed to the shrinking of the city library, but not very much, because Library Director Dolly Barnes reports higher than expected circulation figures for the temporary library.

So, more people reading more books seems to be the answer. What with the terrorist attacks and the economic slump, people may be staying home more, engrossed in things that don't require much money.

More male volunteers, mostly retirees, have been showing up at the Book-Go-Round over the past five years or so, Fenn notes. Don Wilson, George Lundquist and John McCartney volunteer weekly as book movers. McCartney's wife, Margaret, volunteers at the store too.

Others include: Don Aanestad, Alan King, Jim MacDonald and Ken Witthaus of Saratoga and Peter Buzanski of Monte Sereno. Some male members help price books, thanks to their specialized knowledge in their fields.

Several retired couples work together behind the counter, including Tom and Jane Blaisdell, Bill and Nancy Daniher, Jay and Sondra Geddes, Merv and Jean Moyles and Don and Lexie Reichel. Not everyone is a retiree: Esfandiar Lohrasbpour works after hours or on weekends to keep the store stocked with math books.

And Chia Chao works on Sundays, either with his daughter or wife, Wha-Gi. "What can I say?--if people like books, they like the Book-Go-Round," Fenn sums up.

TODAY SHOW: Kerstin and Anne Stone caught glimpses of Karen McVoy, their daughter-in-law and sister-in-law, respectively on the Today Show shortly before Christmas. McVoy, wife of oldest Stone sibling Rick Stone, is a member of the New York Riverside Church Choir, featured on the show. McVoy's career includes stints with Opera San Jose in the '80s.

CHURCH GROUNDBREAKING: Sacred Heart Church broke ground last week for its school expansion.

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