Photograph by Robert Scheer
Representatives are (from left) Beverly Myers, Jim Katzman, Marilyn White, Bob Clayton and Paul Wesling.
By Tim Persyn
What has 10 legs, an Olympic torch, a collective resume filled with community volunteer work and a collective heart filled with gold? Well, that's an easy one: the five Saratogans nominated to help carry the Olympic torch this May as it makes its way to Atlanta for the Summer Games. These five are Bob Clayton, Jim Katzman, Beverly Myers, Paul Wesling and Marilyn White.
Each one has a special story to tell.
Bob Clayton
With compassion and understanding, Bob Clayton, who works in home support services for Santa Clara County, has for the last 15 years donated his time to assist those living with HIV or AIDS. He described how his first contact with someone coping with the virus hooked him into his community work.
"The first person I contacted in 1981 or 1982 had developed retinitis when I met him--he woke up blind one morning," Clayton said. "He ended up killing himself. That was a grabber for me."
He and several others founded the ARIS Project in 1985 to provide services for those living with the virus. Through this organization, Clayton has provided both emotional and physical care for people with HIV and AIDS.
His work has included accepting numerous roommates living with HIV or AIDS because they had no other living arrangements. "They had no place else to go. They had no support system," Clayton explained.
He described the experience of becoming close to someone who is coming to the realization of what having HIV or AIDS can mean. "It's hard to come home from a doctor's appointment with someone who is 24 and they ask, 'Am I dying?'" he said. "But someone needs to be there for them. I know that there have been young men and women who I've been able to give support to."
Jim Katzman
With a value system that emphasizes giving back to the community, Jim Katzman, a founder of Tandem Computers, serves as president of Hospice of the Valley. Hospice is a nonprofit agency that cares for the ill and bereaved in the end stage of a terminal disease.
"The hospice provides a way for people to leave the hospital and spend their final days in dignity with loved ones," said Katzman. He explained that the hospice team includes doctors, psychologists, bereavement workers and respite workers, who provide relief for those who give primary care.
Katzman's desire to be involved with hospice arose from personal experience. His father and mother-in-law both died of cancer.
"Knowing how much a family needs to be supported to help handle death is a motivator to provide these services," he said. "When people are helped, they are incredibly grateful. It's very satisfying."
Beverly Myers
Richard Simmons has nothing on Beverly Myers, who every week teaches seven aerobics classes to seniors, at least one to children, and also participates in two or three aerobics demonstrations. Myer's work involves promoting not only physical fitness, but also the formation of bonds between people. Each week, Myers' "Sizzling Seniors" group performs aerobic demonstrations everywhere from nursing homes to senior expos, encouraging seniors to exercise in whatever way they can.
In addition, Myers and a group of energetic, aerobicizing seniors work intergenerationally with children, breaking down misconceptions the young may have about the old. "I'm completely sold on the benefits of exercise. When you have physical capacity, you are free," she said.
The intergenerational work that Myers' facilitates can be especially magical.
"We tend to tuck seniors away and not tap them as resources," she explained. "There's nothing like music and movement to bring people together. We can touch each other's souls."
Paul Wesling
He has rescued neighbors from a burning house, radioed for help when people were struck by lightning on Mt. Whitney, and, while on a one-week backpacking trip, summoned a helicopter to evacuate an adult who had suffered a heart attack.
Sounds like a superhero from an action-adventure movie?
No, it's Paul Wesling, who, when not otherwise occupied with saving lives, leads a troop of Boy Scouts, has led Cub Scouts and YMCA Indian Guides, and has served on the board of regents for California Lutheran University. He is an Eagle Scout.
"I like working with young people," said Wesling, an electrical engineer at Tandem Computers. "I can mold their values, affect how they treat people, and make a difference in their lives."
He described the values he wants to instill in the young people he works with: "I want them to learn to be participating adults, to be courteous and helpful, and to learn that small successes lead to big successes."
Marilyn White
Marilyn White's resume of service is so long that to try to include it all would be to ensure that something would be left out. This 70-year-old Saratoga activist serves on the Saratoga Business Council, drums for the Saratoga Sister City Taiko Group, and is the vice president and program chair of Los Gatos-Saratoga Soroptimists.
The Soroptimists, who nominated White for torchbearing honors, have recognized her as a "Woman of Distinction". As a Soroptimist, White recently participated in a fundraiser for battered women and children.
"I got very involved with Saratoga as I raised my children," said this mother of five. "When my children moved away, I continued my involvement."
When she's not busy with her community work, White runs her carpet cleaning business. She uses the profits from her business to help support the organizations she's involved with.
"I'm happily busy," said White of a schedule that would exhaust most mortal creatures.
About 40 torchbearers from Santa Clara County will participate in the relay. Torchbearers were nominated by fellow members of the community, who had to describe in 100 words why the nominee should be in the relay. The nomination process was facilitated by the United Way.
The Olympic Torch will arrive in San Jose May 2 by train from San Luis Obispo. On May 3, the relay team will take the torch north from San Jose, traveling up The Alameda and El Camino, eventually passing through cities like Sunnyvale and Palo Alto before stopping at Stanford.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, April 24, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved