Joseph and Lydia Mednick
Joseph and Lydia Mednick, residents of Saratoga since 1967, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on March 3 at a luncheon with family and friends at Villa Felice Restaurant in Los Gatos.
Joseph emigrated with his family from a small village near Minsk, Belarus, in 1922. Lydia DeNola Mednick escaped the Nazi and fascist takeover of her native Italy in 1941 on the Manhattan, the last passenger ship to leave the country before war with the United States was declared.
The couple met while they were both students at UC-Berkeley, and they were married at what was then the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on March 3, 1946.
Joseph graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and worked in the aerospace industry at FMC and Lockheed Corp. Later, he pursued business interests. He currently serves on the Republican Party caucus and directs many remodeling and upgrade projects at their Saratoga residence.
Seven years ago, he collapsed with cardiac arrest while jogging at West Valley College, but paramedics revived him. He subsequently underwent cardiac bypass surgery and was able to resume his active lifestyle.
Lydia raised their four children and then returned to school to graduate with her teaching credential from San Jose State University. She taught elementary-school children in the Evergreen School District for 20 years.
She now pursues her many interests, including a passion for watercolor painting of flowers and scenes of Santa Clara Valley historical homes and sites prior to urbanization.
Lydia is a member of the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society and shows her work throughout the western United States and locally at the International Coffee Exchange and in her Saratoga studio.
She is also politically active and regularly expresses her views regarding local, environmental, human rights, women's and foreign policy topics in letters to the local daily newspaper.
The Mednicks maintain an active lifestyle, which includes hiking, swimming and folk dancing. They recently returned from a three-month trip to Europe and the Middle East. In addition to their four children, they have eight grandchildren.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 21, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved