Main Street

Where, oh, where have the windows gone?

By Mary Ann Cook

WINDOWS '90 ... 1890, THAT IS: These windows aren't part of a computer program--they're made of silicone, not silicon. Los Gatan Jerry Estruth is researching the whereabouts of two glass sunburst windows that once hung in the sanctuary of the Los Gatos United Methodist Church.

They were there from the 1890s until the church was remodeled around 1970, he's learned. The windows commemorated Lemuel Morris Hancock and his wife, Eliza Ann Gould. Hancock was the pastor of the church in the early 1880s and is Estruth's great-great-grandfather. He died in 1883.

His children, Estruth's great-grandmother and great-uncles, donated the money for the windows. Eliza is his great-great-grandmother, but that name was unfamiliar to his family because Eliza had died in Kansas in 1869, and therefore never made it to Los Gatos.

Estruth actually laid eyes on the windows in the Gazebo Bar and Restaurant in Old Town in the early 1980s. At that time his mother recognized the Hancock name, but not that of Eliza. Some 10 years later Estruth began doing family genealogy and discovered how she fit into the family tree.

In the Gazebo days he had taken a picture of Lemuel's window, but not Eliza's. When he went back to photograph them, armed with more information, they were gone. He would like to have photos of the historic windows for the family album he is creating but has no idea where they are.

He has been delving for 10 years now and is hoping a Weekly-Times reader will be able to tell him their whereabouts and how he can photograph them. Estruth's email address is mayfly1254@yahoo.com.

What intrigued me about this request, besides the poignancy and the mystery itself, is that Estruth addressed the Weekly as "gentlepersons," a title we don't often encounter in this business.

BOWLED OVER: Shirley Henderson was bowled over at her recent 70th birthday party, given, oddly enough, at the 4th Street Bowl in San Jose. A contingent of 21 contributors and town fathers and mothers had bought a downtown bench in her honor.

The bench may be in place by now near her store, the Antiquarium. It was awaiting only the plaque with her name on it. Henderson, as you may know, is the head honcho and guiding light of the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce's Beautification Committee. Daffodils nodding their golden heads downtown are courtesy of her committee--plus a volunteer group from the Meadows.

The bench is part of the Adopt-a-Bench program the committee sponsors and was a total surprise. Her family invited 60 people to the birthday bowling party. Greg Stowers of the Chamber of Commerce was there to give her the news. Henderson is no bowler, but came up with a strike on that date. That was exciting, but nothing beat the thrill of a bench in her honor.

VOLUNTEERS RECOGNIZED: Los Gatan Barb Tobias Chappell was named a Woman of Distinction and honored recently for her volunteer work with Congregation Shir Hadash at a special dinner at the Fairmont given by the Jewish Federation of Greater San Jose.

She has been vice president of the board of directors at Shir Hadash and has served in leadership and development roles, co-chairing the 20th anniversary gala, an unqualified success.

TO OXFORD: Bella Gaspich, 15, a sophomore at LGHS, has been accepted to the Oxford Tradition, a month-long summer study program at the English university. She's continuing a family tradition: Her mother, Chris Owens Gaspich, attended summer classes in England when she was 14.

Bella is one of the 350 students who will be part of Oxford this summer, with its faculty of Oxford dons, 10 Rhodes Scholars and three Marshall Scholars, plus writers, filmmakers and directors. Field trips to the Globe Theatre, to Stratford and to Broughton Castle are in the offing.

The program can be life-transforming. Mother Chris' classes were at the University of Nottingham and the University in Redding. Bella's grandparents are Lee and Byron Owens.

BALLET GALA: Phyllis Romaine of Los Gatos is one of the quartet of women who will stage the gala fundraiser for Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley on April 6 at the Levey Center Gym of Santa Clara University. Romaine, a ballet board member, is in charge of the live auction.

Kathy Tuttle of Los Gatos designs all the printed matter, signage and stationery, and Linda Covell heads the Hospitality Committee. Other Los Gatos board members are Linda Sarles, Robert Wallace, Anita Del Grande and Gale England.

Also on the board: Mary Allan, Monte Sereno; and Zoe Alameda, Lewis Franklin, Joan Hackworth, Robert Lanz, Marie Low and Charmaine Warmenhoven, Saratoga.

CLOSE AT HAND: The Travel Company carries Moon Handbooks: Silicon Valley, The Cure for the Common Trip, mentioned some weeks back. The book covers entertainment tips and day trips from Palo Alto to Gilroy. Author Martin Cheek once worked for the Weekly-Times.

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