Susan Elizabeth "Betty" McClendon, a 1931 graduate of Los Gatos High School and longtime resident of the town, died last July 21 at the age of 88 from complications of emphysema. In her will, she designated 10 percent of her estate—or $80,000—to go to the Los Gatos High School New Millennium Foundation.

The foundation is a nonprofit organization founded by parents, teachers and administrators for the purpose of raising funds to enhance the educational environment for students in every area of campus life. NMF member Barry Bakken said McClendon's contribution is by far the foundation's largest single donation.

He added that McClendon's generosity would not have taken place without the friendship that existed between her and Los Gatos residents Joe and Joanne Rodgers. McClendon even gave lessons in manners to the Rodgers' children when they were growing up. Joanne Rodgers, the NMF chairwoman, later coaxed McClendon to come out of retirement to teach ballroom dancing and social graces to a younger generation.

McClendon did not have any children of her own, but she devoted the majority of her life to students. McClendon came to Los Gatos as a child. She was a graduate of the former University Avenue School and worked—while still a student—as a reporter for the old Los Gatos Times. As a high school senior, she began an apprenticeship with Vivian Amet Johnston, one of the area's most respected dance teachers of that time.

For more than a half century, McClendon taught tap, ballet and ballroom dancing to youth in Los Gatos and at the Saratoga Foothill Club, also including the social graces of dance and deportment. Boys learned to behave like gentlemen, and girls wore white gloves when they danced with young gentlemen.

McClendon left Los Gatos for 10 years when she was involved in the dance world in New York and New Jersey. But when she returned, she continued to teach dance. She was responsible for teaching generations of Los Gatos and Saratoga students the art of social dancing and etiquette.

Joe Rodgers, the executor of McClendon's estate, handed over a check for $80,000 to NMF Treasurer Eric Childs at the foundation's Jan. 12 meeting. Childs said about $15,000 of the $80,000 has already been committed to improving the school's technology, leaving a net of $65,000 left over.

Rodgers added that 10 percent of the estate is being given to the town library children's department, while another 40 percent is being contributed to an endowment/scholarship fund in McClendon's name for Los Gatos High School graduates who plan to continue an education in performing arts. The remaining 40 percent of the estate will go to her surviving nephew.

McClendon's fondness for the children's department at the library came because her mother once worked at the town library, recalled McClendon's close friend Patti Hughes, a Los Gatos resident and former assistant principal at Los Gatos High School.

Hughes emphasized McClendon's sizable contribution to further assist Los Gatos students, who she never even knew, for years to come, through the endowment/scholarship fund.

"Betty was a truly unique lady—one of a kind," Hughes said.

At the Jan. 12 meeting, Joe Rodgers informed the board members that McClendon did not specify in her will how the $80,000 should be spent. But since she was a dance teacher, he said she would have been pleased to see some of the money go toward performing arts.