The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Don and Jeanne Yeager volunteer for six groups, including Sunnyvale Community Services, where Jeanne works full time.

Couple shares the city's distinguished citizen award

By Justin Berton

After 46 years of marriage, Don and Jeanne Yeager have learned to share a lot.

Now they can add to the list of shared items the Sunnyvale Distinguished Citizen of the Year award, which will be presented during the State of the City address April 29 at the Palace restaurant.

But the Yeagers, who are committed to at least six volunteer groups, also wanted to share the award with others.

"It's a matter of the whole community," said Jeanne, who works full time at Sunnyvale Community Services. "The whole community is distinguished in their own right."

"We were the ones who got it, but we really got it for all the organizations we represent," Don said.

The Yeagers are also widely known for their involvement with the award-winning Able Cable Productions, a weekly cable program that covers issues within the disabled community.

Their daughter, Donna, who is a congenital quadruple amputee, created the show 10 years ago with the help of volunteers, including her parents.

"I'm so proud of them," Donna said of her parents' award. "They've worked very hard for so many years."

Jeanne Yeager began volunteer work with the Navy Officers Wives while her husband flew planes for the Navy. Jeanne stayed at home while her husband worked, enabling her to become an active volunteer. "It was a natural thing to provide services with the Navy wives," she said.

Don's job called for a lot of moving around, and with it came repetitious barrier breaking.

"When Donna was born, the world wasn't ready for that kind of person--someone who was intelligent but with disabilities," Don said.

He said the couple was continually struggling with school officials who wanted to pass Donna off as someone who needed baby-sitting, not an education.

"We became persons who, again and again, whenever we saw a problem--particularly in schools--we would learn to fix it," he said.

After a principal told the Yeagers Donna couldn't graduate onstage with her peers, the couple suggested that a janitor could build a ramp to accommodate Donna's wheelchair.

Donna graduated onstage.

She attended De Anza Community College and graduated from George Mason University and now works for Hewlett-Packard.

Even though she's a newlywed, she still spends Monday nights with her parents and other volunteers in an editing studio preparing the next week's show.

"You meet so many interesting people, it just widens your horizons," Donna said of the cable program.

The program, which broadcasts a variety of features, informative interviews and news stories, has collected five Bay Area Cable Excellence awards and a mountain of other honors.

Jeanne, who also sits on the board of directors of the Salvation Army, currently helps clients who need special services at SCC. "Donna has taught me what is needed," she said.

But that doesn't limit her other projects, she added.

"I work with anybody, whoever, whatever," she said with her arms wide open. "I'll do whatever needs to be done."

Other distinguished citizens...

Citizens to be honored at the State of the City include:

Outstanding Community Volunteers --Gary Faules and Nellie Durand

Faules has worked with youth athletic teams in Sunnyvale for 25 years. This past Christmas, he provided assistance to a family after their home was destroyed by fire.

Durand is the Sunnyvale Garden Club president and has been working with elementary students at Bishop Elementary since 1991 to create a garden.

Outstanding High School Senior--Steven Sloan

Sloan, a student at Bellarmine College Preparatory, has logged more than 1,100 hours of community service and spent eight weeks in Ecuador to help with vaccinations. Last summer he helped build houses for the poor in Costa Rica.

Outstanding Businessperson-- Marilyn Crosby

Crosby has been with the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce since 1995 and has served as a mentor to new business owners and women entrepreneurs through programs at San Jose State University and the Palo Alto YMCA.

Public Safety Awards of Merit-- Art Barr and Robert Vega

Barr was recognized for his heroics when his neighbor's house caught fire; Barr was able to turn off the gas and electricity and extinguish the flames.

Vega stopped an elderly customer at the bank where he works from pulling out a large amount of cash for a repair scam.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 22, 1998.
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