James Thatcher
Obituary
James Thatcher
By Jim Aquino
James "Old Deep" Thatcher, best known in Willow Glen for having his family build sandcastles in their driveway for the Fairglen Art Fair, died April 18 in Palo Alto, after an extended illness. He was 74.
James' wife, Anne, 73, says her husband would have a truck dump a ton of sand outside their house each year so they could build sandcastles. The castles were the Thatcher family's annual signature contribution to the neighborhood fair, which lasted in Fairglen for 33 years until 1996, when organizers closed it down due to insurance liability issues.
Anne adds that one of their castles once appeared in a Sunset magazine article about how to build sandcastles.
"We built sandcastles everywhere," Anne recalls.
James was born in Omaha, Neb., on May 27, 1926. He served in the military in France and Germany during World War II and attended his dream university, UC-Berkeley, where he first met Anne, who was a UCLA student at the time, on a blind date.
A Bay Area resident for 50 years, James lived in San Jose for 32 years. He and Anne later moved to Los Gatos, where they lived for eight years.
James' regular day job was working in the pension consulting business. In his free time, James played golf and tennis and was an avid gardener and fly fisher who helped build and maintain fish ponds in Los Gatos Creek Park. He spent many of his later years teaching people how to fly-fish.
"He introduced people to many things he loved," says James' eldest son, Jeff, listing his father's activities with the Kiwanis Club and the San Jose YMCA as examples. With the help of the Kiwanis Club, James arranged for "The President's Own," the U.S. Marine Band, to fly over from Washington D.C. to perform at Foothill College in the '60s.
"His love for life and sampling of everything were what he gave to our five children," Anne says. "He was learning to play the banjo when he passed away."
James is survived by his wife, Anne; their five adult children, Jeff Thatcher of Vista, Steven Thatcher of Willow Glen, Thrasher skateboarding magazine publisher Kevin Thatcher of San Francisco, Becky Thatcher of Redwood City and Jennifer Firth of Saratoga; and seven grandchildren.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
