The trailblazer of Los Gatos, Collord has devoted much of his life to maintaining park trails and gardens and served on the town's trails and bikeways committee for two decades.

Today, as Collord continues to recover from a stroke that has left him bedridden the past several months, a group of citizens are heightening their efforts to find ways of honoring the longtime Los Gatos resident. Three individuals in particular have laid out plans to have a mountain just behind the Los Gatos hills named Collord's Peak.

"The idea was germinating before the stroke. However, because of the stroke, things have been moving along," said Los Gatos High School teacher Les Kishler.

Five local organizations have already pledged their sponsorship to having a plaque made bearing the name of the peak. These groups are the Los Gatos Community Gardens, Los Gatos Rotary Club, the Los Gatos High School scholarship program, Los Gatos Youth Park and Boy Scout Troop 539.

One possible location for the plaque is the high school lawn, where the sign would be more visible than on the mountain itself, Kishler said. Organizers are, for the time being, entertaining other suggestions.

Kishler befriended Collord about six years ago when the latter approached the town to request the establishment of a community garden at the school.

"Now the garden is reality," Kishler said.

Thirty-five gardens, each measuring 50 square feet, a greenhouse and a common area lie adjacent to the high school's tennis courts. It was here that Collord would manage the adopt-a-garden program each summer when students weren't available to tend to the land.

Always a lover of the outdoors, Collord helped clear brush between Miles Avenue and Roberts Road in the early '90s to make way for the last link to the Los Gatos Creek Trail. He also cleared a trail running through Los Gatos Youth Park.

"The trails were just a part of his being," said Los Gatos Mayor Sandy Decker.

Decker recently approached the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District with a request that it name a geological site after Collord, but that request was denied. According to a letter from the district, the policy for memorializing a person requires the person to have been a "significant supporter" of the district and that they be deceased.

"Am I disappointed? Yes," Decker said. "But it's an opportunity for this community to look for other ways to honor Vic."

"It was Vic that you went to because he could get the job done," she added. "Vic was not the sort of man to pass the buck."

Echoing similar sentiments, Bob Jones, treasurer of Los Gatos Youth Park, said one could always be sure to find Collord out in the field, doing the dirty work.

"He always had his sleeves rolled up," Jones said.

Jones became acquainted with Collord through both men's involvement with Boy Scout troops in the area. For 29 years, Collord served as a scoutmaster for Troop 539 and helped repair the troop's facilities.

Settling in the area in 1946 after surviving Pearl Harbor, Collord fell in love with the town that he not only calls home but also insists is "paradise found." A sign that hangs outside his house announces the entry point to "Paradise Found," and his answering machine greets callers with the message, "You have reached Paradise Found."

"He truly felt Los Gatos was paradise found. Everyone he talked to, he wanted them to feel that way as well," said friend Nicki Nicol Huber. "His delight in where he lived made me want to become a part of town. He was a terrific spokesman."

Though discussion is still in the preliminary stages and Huber has not formally approached officials with her request, she said she is considering asking the town to adopt a Vic Collord Day.

In the meantime, Kishler and others are moving forward with plans to have a plaque made for Collord's Peak. They are working to have a Collord's Peak trust fund established through the Los Gatos Community Foundation.

"The mountain deserves a nice name, and Vic deserves a nice honor," Kishler said.