Saratoga News Saratoga Sampler Mary Ann Cook Dinner setting was next best thing to Tuscany VILLA TO VILLA: Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, spoke at Montalvo one recent Saturday night about the trials and delights of restoring a neglected and decaying Italian villa. Mayes is an enchanting and accessible celebrity, as those who heard her can attest. Bestseller-list fame evidently hasn't turned her down-to-earth head. Those who can most vouch for her attributes are the couples who dined beforehand with Mayes and her husband, Ed Kleinschmidt, and Marilyn and Frank Dorsa at their Tuscan-style home in the Los Gatos hills. This galaxy included Mary Lou and Jack Taylor (she headed the sponsoring committee), Marcia and Earl Adams, Trish and Steve Brock (event co-chairs), Pat and Jim Compton, Sandra and Ray Farris, and Gery Yearout and her husband, Floyd Yearout, manager of Oakville Grocery in Old Town. "I kept expecting Robin Leach to show up," quipped Earl Adams about the enchanted evening. FOR THE BLIND: Joann Dunn is retired, but the amount of time she spends translating books into Braille for the blind sounds like a full-time job to me. She spends Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Blind Center's library, sending out books that have been requested by individuals and schools throughout the country. Other days she works 6 to 8 hours at home translating books into Braille. People send the center books they want translated, and volunteers translate them into Braille via a computer program. The center has about 15 volunteers who do translating. The center could use volunteer help staffing the library. "I love doing this," Dunn says about her translating chores. Since she worked for the phone company for 32 years, she's one of those fortunate people with an easy phone number: it's her last name. UPDATE: Laura Frost Smith was a nurse during WW I whose story made the national news last fall because of a story her granddaughter, Carol Smith, a newspaper reporter, had written about her in the Seattle Post. Now the story has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Laura Smith lived at the Meadows for eight years before her death at 105 last year and was a powerhouse at the Meadows, too, having set up the ceramics program. Highlights of this remarkable woman's story were recounted in this column, thanks to the eagle eye of avid reader Frances Boden, who spotted a reprint in the Chronicle. Another local connection is the fact that Saratogan Mary Lou Kissel is the reporter's mother, and the daughter of Laura Smith. ON NATIONAL BROCHURE: Didja know that Saratogan Marjorie Foote was a poster girl for the American Association of University Women? Neither did we until we spotted her picture on a national brochure for the organization at a recent meeting. "I love that picture," Foote says. "It doesn't look a thing like me." After several photos she had sent were summarily rejected by the national organization, Foote finally relented and hied herself to local professional photographer Arthur Mintz. AAUW had threatened to send a professional from Los Angeles, and Foote didn't want them to spend money on something that wasn't directly tied to education. She and her husband, Jack, had endowed an international AAUW scholarship to be used by women from abroad seeking advanced degrees in this country. The scholarship will be awarded for the first time this year. Marjorie Foote is a biochemist who did biomedical research prior to her retirement. Her husband, who died recently, was a dean at San Jose State University, headed institutional studies among other titles. The Footes named the endowed scholarship after their parents, so it comes with a lengthy title: the Grace and Robert Underhill Margaret and Francis Foote Foundation scholarship. DESIGN RESPONSE: Design Response has two new board members--Karen Florence and Debra Yoffie, both of Saratoga. Design Response was founded by Saratogan Helen Carreker. Using donated furniture, this agency helps spruce up centers that serve the homeless, seniors, or those with emotional problems. Schools and other nonprofits have also been outfitted by Design Response. Ann Wright has recently been hired as the agency's executive director. Wright was operations analyst with LSI Logic. The Design Response office is in Campbell, and the number is 871-0861. SCREENING ARTISTS: Some 400 artists brought forth their wares last week to be screened for the annual Rotary Art Show. That number was whittled down to 175 by judges Carol Hutchinson, Saratoga artist; Charles Escott, former instructor at West Valley College and Lissa Jones, art expert from the Peninsula. This trio has judged the show for the past five years. LEAGUE TALK: Affordable housing is the topic at the League of Women Voters meeting Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Campbell Community Center. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 10, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.