Main Street

Everything's coming up pink primroses

By Mary Ann Cook

PINK FIELD: Viewfield Road in Monte Sereno lives up to its name this month when it is awash in pink Mexican primroses. Viewfield is just off Highway 9 near the Monte Sereno post office. After turning off the highway onto Viewfield, you should begin to spot some pink on the left.

Trees leading to the Hulme house block some of the vista, but you can get a good view after turning around in the cul de sac at the end of Viewfield and looking up the hill. The primrose garden is the result of several years worth of work by the Hulmes--Joy and Mel-- and various other members of the family, including a plethora of grandchildren.

This spring the weeds threatened to take over until Joy Hulme called out the troops. Weeds were hand plucked by John, Lorraine, Joshua, Jared, Debbie and Laurel Hulme, all of Los Gatos and Kathy Hulme Stephens, visiting from Utah.

The glory of the pink primrose display should last through June. Nearly half an acre is covered with the progeny of one prolific plant, says Joy, who has considerable progeny in her own right. Wonder when she'll use this meadow as the setting for one of her children's books?

BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTS: In another form of planting, Los Gatans Barbara and Ed Kelly can testify that bone marrow transplants really work. Their son, Tom Kelly, is living proof. Two years ago it was discovered that Tom had aplastic anemia, a disease that destroys the immune system. However, bone marrow transplants can knock out the disease.

Tom's sister, Maryann McGee, was found to be a bone marrow match for him and so the operation was done. Tom had to have transfusions almost every day and received 220 units of platelets and blood over a period of six months or more. One year after his July 17 birthday he was pronounced cured.

Today he is moving into a new house and planning a July wedding to Kim Landrum. Meanwhile, Mom Barbara Kelly has become a platelet/bone marrow transplant advocate, volunteering as a platelet donor recruiter, working out of the Stanford Medical School Blood Center.

She recruits and thanks platelet donors. And she spreads the good news about the successes of bone marrow transplants. For the donor in a bone marrow transplant it's an overnight stay in the hospital.

EXPEDITION: John Lane, 1982 Los Gatos High School grad, was the leader of an expedition that explored one of the world's largest unexplored caves--in Borneo. The expedition was featured in the September issue of National Geographic.

New species of fish, frogs, snakes, and hundreds of insects were uncovered in the process, as well as the mapping of 22 miles of hitherto uncharted passages. This is the second expedition led by Lane's Subterranean Explorers group.

The group is working with the Malaysian government to establish Malaysia's newest national park. John and his wife live in Chico and he works for Dames and Moore Environmental Engineering Group.

Evelyn Lane is his mother.

GILBERT & SULLIVAN: Garrett Brown will play the male lead, Ludwig, in the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society's opera "The Grand Duke," to be performed in Seattle in July. In August the G & S Society will take this production to Buxton, England to compete in the 47th annual International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival.

The Seattle troupe is the only U.S. company to compete in the festival. Brown, the son of Mike and Ellen Brown, is a 1993 grad of LGHS. He played Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" that year. He graduated from the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Wash.

He has performed with the well-known Tacoma Symphony Chorus and regional theater. This week he got a call from an agent, all unsolicited, says his dad, so here's another LGHS light to keep an eye on.

YALE GLEE CLUB: The 30 members of the Yale Glee Club were in town recently and Sharon and Michael Blasgen hosted them one night during their stay. They were in the area for a concert in Oakland, and Alexandra Blasgen is a member of the group.

Which is why sleeping bags were all over the Blasgen living room and family room and lots of jollity emitting from the family swimming pool, which action lasted through most of the night. The Blasgens invited the neighbors in for a concert, which was wonderful, as the group sang for its supper.

HOW DOES HE DO IT?: Chris Miller is a senior at LGHS with a perfect attendance record. Besides that, he's been a volunteer at Chris Jenkins' Fisher Middle School fifth-grade classroom for the past few years and he's never missed an assignment there, either. Sounds almost unreal, such dedication.

BUY A BRICK: A Place for Teens, a.k.a. the Outhouse, is again sponsoring the "buy a brick or plaque" program to raise money for programs. Bricks cost $300, plaques $1,000. To name an entire room, the price is $5,000. Call Carol Garnett at 358-3254.

Bricks may contain names of individual students or businesses, or serve as a memorial. The bricks will be placed in the sitting wall at the entrance to the Outhouse, and the brass plaques will be displayed in the entry.

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