Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Dave Hansen is the pastor at Westhope Presbyterian Church.

Community Briefs

Pastor called to the ministry after chiropractic career

Dave Hansen, the new pastor at Westhope Presbyterian Church, answered the call to the ministry in midlife in 1992, after three previous occupations.

"I'd been a chiropractor for 15 years and before that an Air Force officer and before that a school-teacher," he said. "I felt the Lord calling me to the ministry, and I continued working as a chiropractor while completing seminary."

He obtained his master of divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, and his first assignment was to Libby, Mont., a logging and mining town, population 2,500, where he was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church for 212 years.

Hansen, who described himself as "a city boy," said he is happy to be back in California, where he spent 47 years. His ministry at Westhope will emphasize strong Biblical teaching, he said.

He and his wife, Sheila, have three children: Dane, 13, Sara, 10, and Shawn, 7. He also has three children from a prior marriage: Darlyn, 24, Daneille, 21, and Deveri, 15. A proud moment was in December, when he officiated at daughter Darlyn's wedding. She is following in her father's footsteps and is studying for the ministry at a seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.

The seventh annual 'Lunch with the authors' scheduled for March 13

Six Saratoga women, members of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the Brandeis University National Women's Committee, are planning a seventh annual "Lunch with the Authors" to be held March 13 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos. Tickets are $45.

Four writers will be featured at the luncheon: Frank Andrews, author of The Art and Practice of Living; Walter M. Bortz II, author of Dare to Be 100 and We Live Too Short and Die Too Long; Chitra Banerjee Divarkaruni, author of Arranged Marriage and The Mistress of Spices; and Pamela Gullard, author of Breathe at Every Other Stroke

The books will be available for purchase, and the authors will autograph them at the conclusion of the day's program.

Proceeds from "Lunch with the Authors" will go to Brandeis University's library work-scholar program. For more information, call 867-7716.

Support group for grandparents who are still parenting

A support group for grandparents who are raising their grandchildren will be offered at the Saratoga Senior Center starting March 11. Sessions meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.

"We've had a group of grandparents asking for this," said social worker Nadine Fralick. "It's an overwhelming task for grandparents who find themselves parenting again."

Some of the grandparents are legal guardians of their grandchildren; others are taking care of grandchildren while their parents work, Fralick said.

Anyone interested in joining the support group should call Fralick at 868-1257.

An evening of opera coming to Hakone

The Hakone Foundation is organizing an evening of excerpts from Madame Butterfly by Opera San Jose on May 18 at Hakone Gardens, 21000 Big Basin Way.

The performance will be held outside and it will be limited to about 200 people, with members of the Hakone Foundation getting first chance at $50 tickets. Invitations will go out April 1. The evening of opera and strolling in the garden will raise funds for Hakone Gardens, an authentic Japanese garden owned by the city of Saratoga. The event is expected to get under way about 4 p.m., with the performance at 5 p.m.

"It will be a pleasant evening in the garden, with flute playing, kimono displays, sake, wine and sushi," said Kay Duffy, a Saratoga artist and one of the organizers.

The foundation hopes to make the performance an annual event, Duffy said.

Those interested in getting on the ticket list should call the foundation office at 741-4994.