Bob taught and was a principal and an assistant superintendent in the Santa Clara Unified School District. Later he became an investment counselor for Foothill Security.

Joy Weiss worked for the Cupertino Union School District for 40 years. She was principal at Regnart and Garden Gate. She also taught at West Valley for 11 years in a first-and-second-grade combo. Joy was named a woman of achievement in education in '88 by the Women's Fund and the San Jose Mercury News. Also an administrator, she was coordinator for staff development, school improvement and other programs.

Although she retired from the Cupertino Union School District in '97, she is still very involved as an adjunct teacher at both Santa Clara University and San José State University. At Santa Clara University she supervises and evaluates the teaching interns; at San José State University she oversees those earning master's degrees in education and administration.

The third Weiss offspring is Jeri Barnes, who lives in Los Gatos with lawyer husband Doug Barnes and three children. The new superintendent's wife is Teri, and they have four daughters.

Lane and his family are currently house-hunting, and they hope to move from their Sacramento-area home to Saratoga before he starts his new job this summer. Incidentally, the new superintendent is also a musician, playing piano, guitar and saxophone. He hopes to perform at school functions and around the community.

NEW BOOK: Monte Serenan Glynnis Hayward was born and grew up in South Africa and has written a book, A Telling Time, with that country as the setting. The book is set in the apartheid era, in the '70s. Although it deals with police brutality and attempted murder, it is ultimately a novel of hope and reconciliation.

The impetus for her novel came from her brother, who was a lawyer in South Africa and had grim tales to tell of torture and terror from his clients. He is now an Anglican priest. Glynnis teaches English as a second language at Santa Maria Urban Mission and was a teacher in both England and South Africa.

Glynnis Hayward is her pen name; Glynnis Belchers is her day-by-day name. Her husband is Brian Belchers, a vice president at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, management consultants. Their children, Lindsay and Graham, graduated from St. Andrew's School, and Glynnis was active there, too. She was president of the parent's club and was a substitute teacher. Lindsay, 26, is teaching and living in London, having graduated from Los Gatos High School and UCLA. Graham, a junior at Georgetown, is studying in Denmark and South Africa this year.

A Telling Time is available at Main Street Antiques, Los Gatos, and British Food Centre in Campbell, as well as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. The publisher is Publish America, located in Maryland.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Sen. James Phelan held one of his famed dinner parties last week and a half-dozen notables showed up at the dinner table. Paul Masson, Dorothea Johnston, Painless Parker, Grace Richards, Willys Peck and Florence Cunningham, who was there to document the event.

As Willys Peck portrayed Sen. Phelan—in a tuxedo, no less—Don Armstrong portrayed Willys, complete with green eye shade and rumpled clothes. Some licenses were taken in the historic reenactment, obviously, since Willys would have been 9 or younger when the Phelan parties were being held at Montalvo.

Lynne Denman played Dorothea, the woman who first put Olivia de Havilland in the spotlight—in the theater glen as Alice in Alice in Wonderland. Bob Lauden was Paul Masson; Nancy Anderson undertook Florence Cunningham; and Mac McCaughey was dentist Painless Parker.

Betty Peck played Grace Richards, the woman who brought architect Julia Morgan to town. Each player researched his character and spoke accordingly at the dinner. Several of the players have been active in the Saratoga Drama Group. The occasion was a potluck dinner at the North Campus Facility, sponsored by the Saratoga Historical Foundation and the Saratoga Heritage Preservation Commission.

ICE CREAM SOCIAL: Where else can you indulge in an ice cream sundae and hear classical music at the same time? At the El Camino Youth Symphony Talent A La Mode concert May 10 at 6:15 p.m. at Cubberley Auditorium, Palo Alto.

Various ECYS musical ensembles and orchestras will perform at the all-you-can-eat ice cream sundae bar. One fifth of the youth symphony's roster is comprised of Saratogans. For more information, call 650.327.2611.

Got a tip for Saratoga Sampler? Send email to maryanncook@earthlink.net.