ANYONE NEED HOUSECLEANING HELP?
Our housecleaner, Berta Clark, is looking for more work. She is wonderful and we have had her help for over 20 years. If you are interested, please call her at 925-550-1459.
[Posted: K Sturges, Monday, February 22, 2010] (438)

MORE REASON TO KEEP RUNNING!
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/phys-ed-how-exercising-keeps-your-cells-young/?pagemode=print
[Posted: Maryly Phillips, Sunday, February 07, 2010] (434)

GREAT BAY AREA NATURAL RESOURCES FREE NEWSLETTER
http://community.icontact.com/p/baynature/newsletters/connections/posts/from-cupertino-to-tomales-bay
[Posted: Maryly Phillips, Thursday, February 04, 2010] (433)

SHELTER INC DINNER FRIDAY NIGHT
Like Thursday night, we too brought a bit too much food also. Our meal was made up of meat loaf (Carol Lowitz), mashed potatoes (Therese Gordon), butternut squash (Sue Katibah), salad (Martha Van Orshoven) and M&M cookies (Julia Katibah) for desert. We also served the garlic bread left from Thursday night. We also brought a bunch of paper goods and milk (Martha). Dinner was served at 5:55 to a hungry crowd which we estimated to be about the same as the night before. The serving crew was Carol Lowitz, Therese Gordon, Martha Van Orshoven, Ed and Sue Katibah. Thanks to all who made this happen!
[Posted: Ed Katibah, Saturday, January 09, 2010] (427)

SHELTER INC DINNER THURSDAY NIGHT
Reporting in about Thursday night. We had way too much food, but I understand that since they have no one to cook for them on weekends, leftovers are welcome. Our food was spaghetti and meat sauce, garlic bread, green salad, jell-o salad, cookies and brownies. Also brought a case of Calistoga Juice Squeeze (fruit juice only) which the adults liked. There were approximately 10 adults, 6 babies and 3 kids. More were expected much later. Janet brought a carton of decaf from Starbucks and that went over well. Jackie Ellis made the jell-o salad which the kids big and small enjoyed. No need to bring more milk. There are almost 6 gallons in the refrigerator now. We served food and then sat and ate and chatted with everyone. Most fun was chatting with the lively 10, 7 and 6 year old boys. We finished up about 7:15PM and arrived back home around 7:45PM. My crew was Janet Pease, Jackie Ellis, Jackie Horwitz, Derek Gust, Kim and Jerry Overaa and me. Katre delivered the bread and milk at our meeting place at RiteAid. Many of the crew also brought supplies from the list you sent out Carol. Thanks crew! All in all a fun and enlightening evening - especially talking to Linda, the assistant on duty!
[Posted: K Sturges, Friday, January 08, 2010] (426)

SHELTER INC DINNER WEDNESDAY NIGHT
Kudos to the Wednesday night team who served and cooked at the Mt. View Shelter. We served Tortilla Chip casserole, rice, corn, salad and brownies. The residents loved it and were very appreciative. A big thank you to cooks Linda and Jerry Wendt, Nancy Carol and cooks and servers Linda Daulton, Penny and Barry Gilmore and Bob and Carol Lowitz. We all ate with the residents and got a nice feeling of helping some nice people. There are some very young and adorable kids there. Penny and Linda even brought much needed supplies, paper towels, napkins, toilet paper and other supplies. With so many residents at this time they need lots of supplies like that. Here is an updated list. If you have any extra of these around your house, get them to the Sturges team before Thursday afternoon or the Katibah team before Friday afternoon. Twin size mattress pads, Twin size blankets, New pillows, Diapers sizes 1, 2, 3 and 4, Baby wipes, Baby wash, shampoo, lotion, powder, Shampoo / conditioner, Ready to eat canned soups, Butter, Bottled water/ juices, Country Time lemonade drink mix, Pots and pans, Paper plates, bowls and cups, Plastic utensils, Paper towels and napkins, Plastic wrap and tin foil, Pine sol/ disinfectant spray/ bleach, 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bags, 33 gallon trash bags, Toilet paper.
[Posted: K Sturges, Thursday, January 07, 2010] (425)

35TH ANNIVERSARY PHOTOS
Check out the photos taken by Karen Sturges of our 35th anniversary picnic celebration. Can you name everyone there?
[Posted: The Coach, Monday, October 05, 2009] (384)

KEN CRAIN'S BIO REDUX
Our Awesome Octogenarian The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates). Pen and pad in hand, I sat down to coffee with Ken Crain (his treat!) wondering how in the world I was going to do justice to a man who, in spite of eighty years gone by, still greets each new day with joy and anticipation of something yet undone. I decided to start with the thing that ties us all together: running. Like many of us, Ken didn’t begin running until well into adulthood. In fact, it wasn’t until he was forty-two and about to go into business with a roofing contractor, that he realized he wasn’t ready to take on the new challenge, which would require him to do a fair amount of physical activity. Although he had been doing the Canadian Air Force exercises, it was Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s book on aerobics that intrigued Ken enough to take the fitness test. Discovering that he could barely run 100 feet, with new resolve, Ken donned his Keds after dinner every day and went for a run around the block. Right away he knew he felt good and that running would become a part of his life, just like shaving. In 1972 at age forty-nine, Ken trained for his first race, Bay to Breakers. From his house on Lambath Lane in Concord, he would run down Oak Grove to Ygnacio Valley Road and back for a six mile run. It was also in the early 70’s that Ken joined the Orinda Roadrunners. He recalls so many runs and so many races that it would take forever to list them all, but two of his favorites, no surprise, were a race in Hayward sponsored by Miller Beer, and a race in Berkeley sponsored by a sake company. He said he even got Randy to run in that one. His inspiration was Walt Stack and his wish is to be like Jack Kirk. He’s run six marathons: London, Athens, Oakland (twice), San Francisco, and Avenue of the Giants. He feels especially wonderful that he was able to do the original Greek marathon with the Roadrunners. His one dream left unfulfilled is a Boston Marathon. He’s run races across every Bay Area bridge, at least six Dipseas, The Relay, Lafayette Reservoir, Farsides, Devil Mountain, Fifty-Plus, half of Big Sur, and the Christmas Relays. I first met Ken on The Relay from Napa to Santa Cruz. At age 75, he was the oldest runner in the race and our team anchor, and he endeared himself to me (and the others in our van, I’m sure), by smearing himself with liniment and stressing about which shoes to wear before he jumped out to do his legs. Getting lost on his last leg in Santa Cruz, Ken took a shortcut and ran straight for the Boardwalk. Only trouble is that when we all crossed the finish line, we had to add ten minutes to his recorded time; otherwise, he would have set a world record! Ken has also received innumerable age group awards—he says you don’t have to be the swiftest guy on the block if you just eliminate the competition [by getting older and showing up]. Did I mention that his favorite post-race beverage is beer, cold and wet? As a third generation Northern Californian, Ken is a rare native. He was born at Saint Francis Hospital in San Francisco on January 2, 1923 to a German Jewish father and an Irish Catholic mother who were also California natives, born into families who had immigrated after the gold rush. Ken’s grandfather had a store on Market Street that was destroyed along with his parents’ home in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Ken’s parents owned a chain of women’s dress stores, called “The Betty Shop”, named for Ken’s mom. Unfortunately, they lost all of their stores in the 1929 stock market crash. Four years later, Ken’s parents moved the family to L.A. to manage a new store. They arrived in LaLa land just in time for the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake. Ken attended several elementary schools both in Northern and Southern California. Following his promotion from Whittier Gardens Grammar School in East Los Angeles, Ken moved on to Montebello High School, where he was very popular and very happy in spite of the Depression. He had his own car –a 1936 Ford three-window coupe—which was his pride and joy, and he spent a lot of time cruising and necking in Whittier Hills, Long Beach, Huntington Beach and Laguna. He played football and basketball; he was politically active and president of the Boys Progressive Club. Named the “silver-tongued orator”, Ken was also president of the Toastmasters Club, and a wildly successful campaign manager for his friend Ray Jones who was running for student body president. He was having a grand old time. With an interest in geography and history and a concentration in girls, Ken graduated in the winter of 1941. On Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941 Ken was playing pool at the Rathskeller on Whittier Blvd in East L.A. With the war looming overhead, like many young men his age, Ken followed his high school graduation with a half-hearted attempt at community college, knowing full well that he soon would be called to serve his country. Pursuing a lifelong desire to be in the Navy and fly airplanes, he was selected for pre-flight school at Saint Mary’s College, but at the last minute he was turned away because of an overbite (!) Heartbroken and angry, he kicked back and waited until he was drafted into the Army in 1943 at age 20. Marking time before going off to war, Ken lived the young and fancy- free life. He worked several jobs that included selling shoes, working for U.S. Rubber making gasoline tanks for B-17 bombers, and working in a defense plant in Las Vegas where he and a buddy “raised hell” faking draft cards and drinking all the time. It was during the summer of ’42, between high school and the army, that he met Al (don’t call me Almeda) Sayre, the sweetheart of his life. Through a mutual friend, he was introduced to this sophisticated beauty five years his senior. She worked at JJ Haggerty’s, a high-class department store. “ALNKEN” were an item from the get-go. Al knew how to live it up, and the two young lovers partied their way through West L.A and Hollywood, enjoying the likes of Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, and other Hollywood legends. On January 23, 1943 in Arlington, California Ken was inducted into the Army. He did his basic training at Camp Polk, Louisiana, with subsequent assignments at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas (where Elvis Presley did his basic training) and Camp Livingston, Louisiana. As a member of the Quartermaster Corps, Ken drove a truck in addition to receiving his basic infantry training. On April 30, 1944 on his last leave before going overseas, Ken and Al got married at the Wilshire Methodist Church in Hollywood. Shipping out from Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on the Queen Elizabeth on May 30, 1944, Ken arrived in Glasgow, Scotland on June 5, just one day before D-Day. Proud of the fact that he never got seasick, Ken notes that the voyage was quick, only five days. From Glasgow they took the train to Southampton, England, where they sailed for Normandy, arriving on Omaha Beach on D-Day+14. They unloaded the Landing Craft Infantry and set up to begin supplying the troops with provisions. Although the beaches had been secured, Ken recalls the chaos and the fighting all around. Quartermaster soldiers were not technically trained to fight on the front lines. But casualties were so high that Ken’s company commander asked for volunteers to replace men who were on rest period, or who had been killed. Without hesitation, Ken volunteered, and when he was told he could change his mind, he did not. He joined the 26th Infantry Division 328th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Company F, 2nd Platoon, 1st Squad. Within two days, in the middle of the night, they shoved off to go find Germans. They were taken by truck into Luxembourg on Christmas Eve, 1944. They attacked the crossroads village of Eschdorf, relieving the 101st Airborne Division at this strategic point. It was freezing cold. Ken’s recounting of the unfolding events is as chilling. “All hell broke loose, machine guns, tanks, artillery” as the men lay freezing in the snow. By the time the firing ceased, Ken managed to find “E” Company, but it was all chaos; there was no leadership to be had. At daybreak, Ken and the remaining men of E Company sought shelter in a nearby building. Unfortunately, they also saw a whole regiment of SS troops, who began firing into the building. Ken knew from his earthquake experience to get inside a doorway while the Germans shot the building down. He then crawled down the wreckage of the stairs, and found a half dozen GIs hiding in the basement. His hands were frozen and bleeding from mortar wounds. After two hours, they suddenly noticed a group of German soldiers passing by in a tank, threatening to blow up the basement where they lay in hiding. Crawling out of the back door, they ran to a farmhouse where they discovered more GIs, including the “E” Company Commander, Captain Vaughn Swift, who took command of approximately twenty shell-shocked GIs and led them to safety on Christmas Day. Captain Swift was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his leadership actions on that day. Returning to the front lines, Ken went to the battalion aid station, and then to a hospital in Luxembourg City. From there he was sent to a Paris hospital, and on New Year’ Eve, 1944 to an American hospital ship with American nurses who took care of him until he was admitted to a GI hospital in Southampton, where he stayed for two months. By the time he returned to the front lines, the war was almost over. On this tour he recalls plowing through Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and the Sudatenland with practically no opposition. They even had some fun discovering a cellar full of champagne free for the taking as they crossed the Rhine. In Lindz, Austria they spent their time guarding prisoners and watching refugees. On V-E Day they were treated like conquering heroes. On November 22, 1945 Ken set sail on the Queen Mary, arriving in New York City on November 27thto a real hero’s welcome. He was back home in sunny, warm Los Angeles in time for Christmas. It only took seventeen hours to fly from New York to L.A, where his mother, father and Al were waiting. He kissed them, and he kissed the ground. If you’ve been in Ken’s home you’ve probably noticed some of the decorations and medals he received for his heroic wartime efforts. They include: the American Campaign Medal; the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal; the Good Conduct Medal (he says it was lucky that he never got caught); the Victory Medal, the Combat Infantry Badge; and, as a result of being wounded in action in Luxembourg on Christmas Eve, 1944, he received a Purple Heart. On December 9, 1945, Ken mustered out of the Army at Fort McArthur, California. Ken resumed his civilian life in a $35/month furnished apartment where he and Al set up housekeeping. Ken spent the next year and a half doing a variety of different jobs as he tried to figure out what he wanted to do about a career. He got a real estate license, but never sold anything. He sold housewares to the retail trade and he sold shoes to movie stars at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. (He even held Elizabeth Taylor’s right foot in his hand!) Al also worked at Saks in the men’s department waiting on people like Clark Gable and Robert Taylor. In 1947 Ken went into business with an old high school friend who was a salesman for a roofing and siding company in Oregon. After a disappointing trial run California, Ken and Al decided to move to Oregon, where business was better. With a brand new car (and everything they owned in that car), the Crains moved to Eugene, where they lived in a converted tractor shed. Within three years, they had bought a new home, adopted two kids (Rod and Jennifer) and a dog (Smidgen) and had money in the bank. Of course, Ken is very careful to acknowledge his wife’s financial, social and emotional support, without which none of this success would have been possible. In the roofing and siding business, Ken traveled all over the state. In 1955, disenchanted with the industry, Ken took a job selling building materials in San Francisco for Pabco, a division of Fibreboard Paper Products. Eventually, he was assigned the East Bay as his territory, and he settled his family on Lambath Lane in Concord, where they lived for eighteen years until they built their house in Orinda in 1972. He developed his business relationships and received his technical training at Pabco, but he realized that if he was going to be really successful, it would be with his own company. In 1966 Ken became a partner in Mastercraft Tile & Roofing Co., where he worked until he retired in 1987. While Ken was busy becoming a successful businessman, Al started the “Crain Modeling and Finishing School” in Walnut Creek and Concord. Her success at putting on local beauty pageants not only paid a lot of bills, but it also gave Ken an opportunity to rub shoulders with models and movie stars like Miss Universe, Debbie Reynolds, and as we have all witnessed in the flesh, to judge the Miss Nude California contest. To quote Ken, “it was a tough job, but someone had to do it”. Ken and Al’s retirement has been far from boring. They’ve been all over the world, acquiring art and chachkes from everywhere. For the record, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs come from Simon’s Hardware in Walnut Creek. Ken’s favorite trips include their African Safari, South America, trips with the Roadrunners, and escorting beauty queens to places like Thailand. In June, they are going on a Scandinavian cruise. Ken also does volunteer work, driving cancer patients to their hospital visits. Al has received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the City of Walnut Creek for her work as president of the Walnut Creek Arts Alliance. As for Ken’s hobbies, we all know Ken is an avid deep sea fisherman—remember, he was one of few who didn’t get seasick on the Transatlantic crossing in 1944. And, last but not least, Ken is especially dear to me as my first personal trainer at 24-Hour Fitness, where everyone loves the guy with the shock of white hair and twinkle in his eyes. As a soldier, businessman, traveler, party animal, runner, husband and father, Ken has always embraced the “can do” spirit to which we all aspire. What a great role model for all of us!
[Posted: Debi Miller, Wednesday, March 25, 2009] (284)