Saratoga News
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Saratoga Sampler
Cooper's family history book is popular in Mexico
By Mary Ann Cook
FAMILY HISTORY: Saratogan Alice Cooper wrote a book about her family history some years back and never expected it to get any attention outside of the family. But when she visited her family home in Alamos, Mexico, during an Elderhostel trip with her daughter Katie, she created quite a stir.
Cooper is descended from a very prominent Spanish family in Mexico--Almada, her mother's maiden name. The family had owned silver mines in Mexico for generations. The first bishop of California was her uncle. It's a very "illustrious and prolific family," Cooper says.
When the Elderhostel trip leader heard about Cooper's memoir, Alamos and the Almada Legacy, she alerted others. One interested soul was a bookstore owner who wanted to reprint portions of the book. Cooper delightedly gave permission for the book to gain wider exposure.
Now there is a spanking-new paperback at Terra Cotta Tienda that tells her family's story, a story receiving considerably wider notice than she ever thought possible. The Saratoga Library's copy of Alamos and the Almada Legacy has been lost, unfortunately.
Cooper is a widow with four children--Katie, Margie, John and Sue--who grew up in Saratoga. Her late husband Robert was one of the original 40 who established Lockheed in the Bay Area. He was program manager of the Polaris Missile.
ANCIENT ARTIFACTS: Members of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga took an overnighter to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to see 56 ancient artifacts, icons and manuscripts on loan from St. Catherine's of Sinai, Egypt, the oldest operating church and monastery in the world.
The group had a private audience with Father Justin, librarian of St. Catherine's, who is a convert to the Orthodox church. He's a former Baptist from Texas, the only American convert to ever be admitted to St. Catherine's.
St. Catherine's houses some of the oldest manuscripts in the world, including a copy of Plato's Republic. The exhibit is itself a wonder, said trip co-organizer Dan Nicholas of St. Nicholas. (Handy name, that.) "We're told these icons and documents rarely travel outside the monastery."
It's a community of 24 monks that has operated for more than 1,700 years. One focus of the trip was to try to understand how Muslims and Christians can live and work together. A special document, signed with the handprint of Mohammed, requires that the monastery continue as an important piece of historic Christianity.
Brooks Szolyga, curator at the San Francisco Asian Museum, and Cherryl Schafer, Nicholas' fiancee, were co-organizers of the trip. Other travelers were Matushka Joan Rhodes, wife of St. Nicholas' priest, The Rev. Basil Rhodes; Carol Grant; Irene Goch; Gail Topp; Adrienne Pendleton; and Kevin and Mildred Becker. Kevin is warden/groundskeeper of the church.
WORLD PREMIERE: The world premiere of Symphony No. 2 by Lee Actor, assistant conductor of the Palo Alto Philharmonic, will be Feb. 24, 8 p.m. at Cubberley Theatre, Palo Alto. This new work runs a wide emotional gamut, from highly dramatic to farcical, an Actor composing trademark.
The Monte Serenan has won numerous honors for his compositions, including from the Kiev Philharmonic and the Slovak Radio Symphony, which released a CD of his works in 2005. A pre-concert discussion with the composer and conductor will be held at 7:10 p.m. Tickets at $7-$16 may be purchased at the door.
Also on the program are Aaron Copland's An Outdoor Overture; Alan Hovhaness' Symphony No. 2 and George Gershwin's An American in Paris.
SOLO CELLIST: Alice Ling, 17, won a solo berth for her performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto in the Senior Soloist Competition of the California Youth Symphony. She will perform her solo March 11, 2:30 p.m., at San Mateo Performing Arts Center and March 18, 2:30 p.m., at Flint Center in Cupertino.
A senior at Saratoga High, Alice is principal cellist of the school orchestra, as well as of CYS. She has received half a dozen awards. She began her cello studies at age 9.
ELECTRIC LIMBS: The Inner Wheel Club of Los Gatos will hold a Founder's Day Brunch Feb. 25, noon-3 p.m., at the Saratoga Foothill Club. Featured speakers will be two recipients of myoelectric limbs--Amanda Navarro, 15, of Hollister and Andrea Alvarez Vasques, 22, of Santa Cruz.
The two will share their life-changing experiences after receiving the limbs through the Inner Wheel's "Give a Child a Hand" project. They will demonstrate how the myoelectric limbs work and how a new world opened up for them. Lydia Norcia, Inner Wheel president, is at 408.757.6336.
PIGGY BANK: Saratoga kindergartner Hayden Dering started a Piggy Bank Drive when he donated his life savings, $33, to replace a stolen classroom computer. Others contributed, too, and now a new computer is in place, but the drive continues to Feb. 28.
Cash donations will go to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, where Hayden receives his medical care. Drop-off points are El Quito School and University Preschool.
