Saratoga News

Saratoga Sampler

Mary Ann Cook

They garden, travel and enjoy separate TVs

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY: Here's a straightforward couple who don't believe in spin. Bert and Jan Martel have been married 50 years as of July 16. And here's how they explain their success story, their recipe for marital longevity.

"Separate TV sets. And I'm not kidding," says Bert. Says his mate, "We were too cowardly to get divorced, so we just stayed married." Sounds like they both enjoy a well-toned sense of humor. Two hobbies they share an enthusiasm for are travel and gardening.

They've participated in the Santa Clara County Fair for years, winning ribbons for their entries such as elephant garlic and larger-than-life walnuts, the product of a triple-grafted tree they bought from a grower in Yuba City years ago.

The walnuts this tree produces are larger than those seen anywhere else, Bert reports. Another tree in their garden that you don't often see is a loofah tree. It's the one that produces loofah sponges.

As for the travel bug, they're planning a trip to Belize in Central America to commemorate their 50th. The last time they started to plan for Belize 10 years ago, their travel agent talked them out of it. But this time the situation is vastly different: Fabulous ruins have been uncovered and accommodations have improved, so off they'll go.

The two have lived in Saratoga since 1963. Bert worked at Lockheed for 25 years; Jan operated the computer lab at West Valley College for 14 years. She also earned a degree there. His degree was in physics and math from Wayne State in Detroit. "I worked his way through school," says Jan, "along with the GI Bill." Now retired, they say they are busier than ever. But at least they can eye the travel agenda more often these days. The gardening is never ending, of course.

SIBLINGS OR SPOUSES: Here's yet another couple's story. These two have such a decided physical resemblance that they are often taken for siblings, says Mary Ferris, married to Todd Ferris. The two grew up in Saratoga, and attended local schools, but didn't become aware of each other until their high school years.

But that contact definitely took: They've been doing things in tandem ever since. "We were pretty committed even in high school. We've never broken up," Mary says. Both went to UC-Davis for undergraduate degrees, married after that, then went on to med school at the University of Michigan.

Their degrees were completed this spring, and now they are serving their respective residencies at Mercy Hospital in Redding. They both intend to be family practitioners, but it's too early to predict just where. Mary's parents are Bobbie and Stephen Young and Todd is the son of Olivia and Bill Ferris.

NEW HAT: Marcia Adams was the featured reader at this week's Monday Night Poetry at the Willow Glen Book Store. Her poetry is often a tongue-in-cheek take on pop culture or an ironic look at relationships and place. She's lived in such diverse locales--from a lumber camp to downtown Los Angeles--that place is a prominent feature of her poetry.

Having marketed Harker Academy for eight years, Marcia is now marketing herself--as Marcia Adams Consulting. Her first client is the recently renamed Blind Center, now dubbed the Lion's Silicon Valley Center for the Sight Impaired.

With her volunteer hat firmly in place, she is vice president of marketing for the National Society for Fundraising Executives and on the Literary Arts Committee of Montalvo. Next up at Montalvo is an evening with Santa Cruz poets Joe Stroud and Dona Stein on Sept. 1.

Marcia Adams is married to Earl Adams, retired administrator with the Campbell Union School District. Earl was the first head football coach at Prospect High from '65 to '82.

HISTORY MUSEUM: Some of the most popular items at the Saratoga History Museum are the books and pamphlets for sale, and Willys Peck's Saratoga Stereopticon: A Magic Lantern of Memory leads the pack, reports Hal Hodges of the museum's board of trustees.

The newly published Peck book is a series of vignettes of yesterday's Saratoga, vintage 1920s to the early 1940s. The pieces have Peck's characteristic droll humor and deftness of touch. Many of the pieces first appeared as Saratoga News columns.

Other sought-after titles are Saratoga's First Hundred Years, Saratoga Story, by R.V. Garrod (father of Vince), Indian Lore of the California Coast, The Browns of Madronia and Images of Long Ago. Pamphlets include "Illustrated Walking Tour" and "Julia Morgan."

The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday afternoons.

REUNION: Saratoga Grammar School will hold its third annual reunion/picnic Aug. 1 in Wildwood Park for those who attended or taught at the Oak Street School. The picnic begins at noon, but tours of the school will be held at 10 a.m. Bring a lunch; drinks are provided. Cost is $10. Call Patti Reschar at 356-8660 or Dorothy Stamper at 867-3752 for reservations.

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