952 results found. Records searched: 952

1. Oral History of Dennis Fisco - Oral History

   In this oral history, longtime Mill Valley resident, real estate developer, and former mayor Dennis Fisco discusses his life and work in the community. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Dennis moved to Mill Valley in the 1980s with his wife Pam, with whom he raised three children. Dennis recounts his path into community involvement. Dennis first served on the planning commission for a number of years, then the city council, and finally became m...

   Record Type: Archive

   
2. Oral History of Dennis Young - Oral History

   Record Type: Archive

   
3. Oral History of Dick Spotswood - Oral History

   In this oral history, former Mill Valley City Council member Dick Spotswood gives an engaging account of a life in politics. Born in 1947, Dick situates his story within a larger family history and network of relations that stretch back to colonial Virginia on his father’s side and northwest Italy on his mother’s side. A San Francisco native, Dick first got into politics as president of the Young Democrats at the University of San Francisco, wher...

   Record Type: Archive

   
4. Oral History of Don Hunter - Oral History

   In this oral history, former Mill Valley City Manager Don Hunter recounts a life deeply committed to the community. Born in San Jose, Don moved to Mill Valley at the age of three. He recollects his childhood in Mill Valley, his schooling at all levels, including many unforgettable teachers at Tamalpais High, his enthusiastic participation in sports, the local music scene during the 1960s, his family life, and his work. Don began working for the c...

   Record Type: Archive

   
5. Oral History of Don Oman - Oral History

   Don Oman was born in Seattle on June 7, 1915. His parents were Levi C. and Laurie Oman. After graduating from the University of Washington, Don took a job at Miller Freeman Publications in San Francisco and rented a small room on Lovell Ave. In 1939, he married Agnes and the couple moved into a cottage at 333 Molino. During World War II Don served as a Navy combat correspondent in the Pacific. After the war Don and Agnes moved to Larkspur, then b...

   Record Type: Archive

   
6. Oral History of Dore Coller - Oral History

   In this oral history, musician and songwriter Dore Coller recounts a life that brought him from the Hudson River Valley, where he grew up, to Mill Valley, where he found his home. Hailing from a musical and theatrical family with Eastern European-Jewish roots, Dore describes the centrality of music in his life as he was growing up. As a teenager in 1969, he came out to California for the first time on a spring break trip with his cousin's family ...

   Record Type: Archive

   
7. Oral History of Doris Bloom - Oral History

   In this oral history, Mill Valley native and lifelong resident Doris Bloom presents a view of a beloved and evolving Mill Valley over the course of many decades. Doris recalls the Mill Valley of her childhood, including the Locust neighborhood stores to which her mother took her as well as the devastating fire of 1929 that her father participated in fighting. Doris recalls the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and how she walked across it on...

   Record Type: Archive

   
8. Oral History of Dorothy Killion - Oral History

   In this oral history, California native and longtime Mill Valley resident Dorothy Killion recounts with laughter and depth some of her wide-ranging life experiences, along with her memories of the wilder, less-developed Mill Valley of the mid-20th century. Born in Oakland, California in 1920, Dorothy grew up in the East Bay and completed a degree in political science at the University of California, Berkeley in 1941, the year of the attack on Pea...

   Record Type: Archive

   
9. Oral History of Doug Ferguson - Oral History

   In this energetic oral history, attorney, activist and arch-storyteller Doug Ferguson recounts a remarkable life of political and cultural engagement. Born in Oakland in 1939, Doug attended public schools in Berkeley before attending Harvard as an undergrad and then going to Stanford Law School. Initially drawn to Marin by its rural character, he moved to Sausalito with his wife Jane in the late 1960s, and soon after to Mill Valley where they sta...

   Record Type: Archive

   
10. Oral History of Ebrahim Nana - Oral History

    Recorded at the Islamic Center of Mill Valley, Ebrahim Nana, one of the original Board members of Mill Valley's first mosque (or masjid), recounts a life devoted to family, community, and religion. Born in 1951 in Mumbai, India, Ebrahim grew up in Thailand where one branch of his transnational merchant family has been living for two centuries. Ebrahim describes coming to California in 1969 to study industrial engineering at U.C. Berkeley and late...

    Record Type: Archive

    
11. Oral History of Ed Addeo - Oral History

    In this oral history, author, editor and local history docent Ed Addeo recounts his experiences living in Mill Valley and being part of the community for over half a century. Born in 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, Ed moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1954 where he began studying engineering at UCLA. After graduating from college he worked for the federal space program for a few years before abandoning engineering to pursue a career as a writer...

    Record Type: Archive

    
12. Oral History of Edmund (Ed) Stiles - Oral History

    In this oral history, Edmund Stiles recounts his more than 50-year residency at Druid Heights. Born in Michigan in 1939, Edmund grew up on the East Coast and attended Dartmouth College. Edmund describes how he first came out to the Bay Area in the early 1960s, just as he was discovering his vocation to make furniture. He recounts the first time he visited Druid Heights and his first impressions of Roger Somers, one of the founders of the communit...

    Record Type: Archive

    
13. Oral History of Edna Foster - Oral History

    Edna Deming Foster was born March 18, 1894, in Ashland, Oregon, and came to Mill Valley in 1923. After graduating from University of California, Berkeley, Edna married Henry Foster in 1921 and the couple moved into a house on Lovell Avenue in Mill Valley on Armistice Day, 1923. Edna quickly became involved in the PTA at Old Mill School, the Outdoor Art Club, and other local community affairs. In this oral history, Edna recounts her time at UC Ber...

    Record Type: Archive

    
14. Oral History of Edward M. and Katharine S. Mills - Oral History

    Edward Meredith "Ned" Mills Jr. was born on November 9th, 1915 in Los Angeles. Katherine Sherwood Mills was born in Omaha, Nebraska on April 7th. Ned attended college at the University of Virginia in Richmond before serving in the Army Air Corps on an anti-submarine base in Trinidad during World War II. Katherine went to Scripps College in Claremont, California, and then returned to Beatrice, Nebraska, where she got a job as a writer for the dail...

    Record Type: Archive

    
15. Oral History of Edward Reichmuth - Oral History

    This oral history interview with longtime Mill Valley resident Edward Reichmuth was conducted at his home at 21 Hilarita Street. Edward evokes daily life in Mill Valley over the decades, recounts his work volunteering for the fire department as well as his work as a lithographer, and shares stories about many local residents and shops. Edward was the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Mill Valley. During World War II he worked as an aut...

    Record Type: Archive

    
16. Oral History of Eleanor "Dolly" Jenkins - Oral History

    In this oral history, Eleanor Jenkins recounts her life in Mill Valley and the many contributions her family has made since the earliest days of the town's history. She discusses her two famous grandfathers: Dr. Cushing, who built the 300 acre Blithedale resort, and John Oscar Eldridge, who built the 11 mile wagon road up Mt. Tamalpais. She also discusses her father, Sidney B. Cushing, who built the Mill Valley and Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway. E...

    Record Type: Archive

    
17. Oral History of Elizabeth Cooper Terwilliger - Oral History

    The legendary "Mrs. Terwilliger", who taught generations of Mill Valley kids about local ecology and inspired the appreciation and protection of nature, was born Sept. 13, 1909 in Honolulu. She went to the prestigious Punahou School and earned her B.S. at the University of Hawaii. She received an M.A. from Columbia and an R.N. from Stanford University. She married Calvin Terwilliger, M.D. and they had two children, Lynn Ellen (1947) and John (194...

    Record Type: Archive

    
18. Oral History of Elizabeth Muller Mielenz - Oral History

    Elizabeth Muller was born in San Francisco on August 30, 1912 and brought directly to the family home at Buena Vista and Oakdale. Her father was William Muller (no middle name), a German immigrant, and her mother was Elizabeth Haste Muller. Her brother was William Haste Muller. She recalls Mill Valley as being "rugged," with muddy streets, and going to Kentfield by train on May Day to celebrate by dancing around a Maypole. She went to Old Mil...

    Record Type: Archive

    
19. Oral History of Ellie Wood - Oral History

    In this oral history, Debra Schwartz sits down with Ellie Wood and her son Tim Wood at Ellie's home in Portola Valley to view old photographs of Mill Valley and discuss her life and family history. 98 years old at the time this interview was recorded, Ellie was born in 1918, and was the great-granddaughter of John Cushing, regarded as the first settler of Blithedale Canyon. Ellie shares memories of growing up on Eldridge Avenue, walking downtown ...

    Record Type: Archive

    
20. Oral History of Elliott & Kent Seymour - Oral History

    Editor's Note: The transcript of this interview differs from the audio interview. The transcript condenses and re-orders the interview. Kent and Elliott Seymour are twins, born July 10, 1902 in San Francisco. They were raised in Mill Valley, and have lived most of their lives in Mill Valley and Marin County. In the interview, they recount their school years in Mill Valley, and then their attendance at, and degrees from, the University of Cal...

    Record Type: Archive

    
21. Oral History of Ernie Bergman - Oral History

    In this oral history, Vietnam veteran Ernie Bergman discusses his life in Mill Valley and his experience serving in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Ernie was born in San Francisco in 1948, and his family moved to Mill Valley one year later. His father was a sea captain from Sweden, and his mother was a registered nurse from Iowa. Ernie discusses fond memories of growing up in Mill Valley, including his time as a student at Tamalpais High Sc...

    Record Type: Archive

    
22. Oral History of Fabrice Florin - Druid Heights Oral History

    In this oral history, multimedia innovator and social entrepreneur Fabrice Florin discusses Druid Heights where he lived for two years in the late 1970s. Fabrice recounts how he moved to California from Switzerland in 1975, drawn by the hippie counterculture, but found that he had come too late. Working as a radio producer, Fabrice first visited the bohemian community on Mt. Tam at the suggestion of a friend and soon after moved into a small hous...

    Record Type: Archive

    
23. Oral History of Florence Garvie - Oral History

    Florence Garvie was born on Mother's Day in 1924 at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Her father served in the Army, so Florence's family moved often in her early childhood, spending several years in Hawaii, Salt Lake City, and California. Florence attended high school in Pennsylvania and received a degree in botany from Pomona College in Claremont, CA. Her first job was as a nursery plant inspector for the Los Angeles County Agriculture ...

    Record Type: Archive

    
24. Oral History of Frank Canepa - Oral History

    Frank Canepa was born January 1, 1896, in Varazze, Italy, between Genoa and the French Riviera. He came to America in 1913 at 16 years old, speaking no English, and worked for two uncles in San Francisco and Oakland. He soon took odd jobs at various farms, specializing in produce, and eventually owned a produce store in San Francisco with a partner. A difference of opinion resulted in his partner buying him out for $1,000, and Frank decided he di...

    Record Type: Archive

    
25. Oral History of Frank and Frances Dittle - Oral History

    In this oral history, longtime Mill Valley residents Frank and Frances Dittle discuss their lives in Mill Valley, including raising five sons together. Frank was drafted in April of 1941 and served four years in the Aleutian Islands. Before and after the draft Frank worked for General Time Corporation in San Francisco, spending 40 years total with the company. In this oral history, Frank and Frances touch upon the great Mill Valley fire of 1929, ...

    Record Type: Archive

    
26. Oral History of Fred Mack - Oral History

    In this oral history, retired high school teacher and athletic coach Fred Mack recounts his life in Mill Valley. Born in San Francisco in 1945, Fred's family moved to Mill Valley when he was 5 years old, settling into the formerly unincorporated Alto neighborhood. Fred describes his father's love of baseball and how both father and son became involved in Little League. Additionally, he vividly evokes Mill Valley's blue collar baseball culture dur...

    Record Type: Archive

    
27. Oral History of Frederick LeRoy Martin - Oral History

    In this oral history interview, old-timer Fred Martin brims with memories of daily life in Mill Valley - from school, to groceries, to regular hikes down to Muir Beach - during the first half of the twentieth century. Fred describes living in Tam Valley when there were maybe "ten automobiles" and still people travelling by horse and buggy. Without wheels, he and his brothers walked into town from Tam Valley every day of the 1929 fire to help figh...

    Record Type: Archive

    
28. Oral History of Fredrik Cassee - Oral History

    In this oral history, Fredrik "Frits" Cassée recounts his life as a postwar wanderer and cosmopolitan baker who ended up rooting himself firmly in the community of Mill Valley. Born in Haarlem, Holland, in 1936, Frits came to the United States in 1957 as a trained and certified baker. Initially settling in Coalinga in the San Joaquin Valley, he soon moved north to San Francisco for better employment opportunities. After getting married in 1963 an...

    Record Type: Archive

    
29. Oral History of Gary Fisher - Oral History

    In this oral history, mountain bike pioneer Gary Fisher recounts his participation in the development of the sport and the industry for which Marin County has become world famous. Gary describes how he got into racing bicycles at the age of 12 while living in Burlingame. His passion for bicycles initially set him apart from his peers, he recalls, making him something of an "outcast." After two years at Burlingame High School, his family moved to ...

    Record Type: Archive

    
30. Oral History of Gary Yost - Oral History

    In this oral history, filmmaker and visual storyteller Gary Yost recounts a life of openness to the opportunities that arise, devotion to Mount Tamalpais as his spiritual home and creative muse, and commitment to a place-based though temporally-extended sense of community. Born in 1959 in Bergen County, New Jersey, Gary left the East Coast at the age of 19, driven westward by an especially intense winter spent in Boston. He settled in San Francis...

    Record Type: Archive

    
31. Oral History of George Cagwin - Oral History

    In this oral history, Mill Valley native George Cagwin brings into view a significant stretch of town history as he recounts his long and spirited life. Born in 1936, George begins his story a few decades earlier, around 1910, when his grandparents on his mother's side - Swiss nationals expatriated in Peru - moved their family to Mill Valley. George's paternal grandparents, meanwhile, were settled in Larkspur, having moved west in the 19th centur...

    Record Type: Archive

    
32. Oral History of George Omi - Oral History

    In this oral history, longtime Mill Valley resident, retired landscape architect, and memoirist George Omi shares the story of his life. George begins with the immigration story of his Japanese parents who came to America in the early 20th century and subsequently became naturalized citizens. George himself was born in San Francisco in 1930, a second-generation Japanese American. George describes his experience growing up in two languages - two d...

    Record Type: Archive

    
33. Oral History of George R. Pimlott - Oral History

    George R. Pimlott was born September 1, 1905 in San Francisco. Shortly after the Great San Francisco Earthquake hit in 1906, George's family moved to Mill Valley. He attended Summit School, was in the first graduating class of Old Mill School, and graduated from Tamalpais High School. George became an electrician and worked together with his father at their family business, Electricians Inc. in Mill Valley until the Depression. After a few stints...

    Record Type: Archive

    
34. Oral History of Gerald Kott - Oral History

    Gerry Kott was born February 7th, 1925 in Yonkers, New York. His mother was born in San Francisco but her father's promotion moved them to New York, where they stayed until just after WWII. Gerry and his wife towed a trailer and parked it in the Alto area. During the war Gerry was with the 877th Airborne Engineers, drafted when he was 18. He was sent to Europe and eventually was sent to the front after the famous "Battle of the Bulge" on the day...

    Record Type: Archive

    
35. Oral History of Glenda Sharp - Oral History

    Mill Valley native and resident Glenda Sharp recounts her love of hiking, pioneering career in computer science, and experiences as a transgender woman in this conversation. Glenda attended Tamalpais High School and recalls exploring the beautiful wilderness surrounding their home in Tam Valley at a young age. After graduation, she joined the Navy, and through her military service studied advanced technologies that would form the foundation of a ...

    Record Type: Archive

    
36. Oral History of Gordon Foster - Oral History

    The Reverend Gordon Foster was born August 28, 1914 in Detroit. His father was dean of Springfield College in Massachusetts, and while the family lived there young Gordon contracted polio and lost the use of one arm. While being treated in Warm Springs, Georgia, the family became friends with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family. Gordon's family subsequently moved to southern California, where he met his wife Marjorie while in college. After ...

    Record Type: Archive

    
37. Oral History of Greg Moore - Oral History

    Greg Moore retired in 2011 as Mill Valley Fire Chief after 37 years in the Fire Department. Greg moved to Mill Valley from San Francisco at a young age and attended Tamalpais Valley Elementary School, Edna Maguire, and then Tamalpais High School, where he explored his love of automobile mechanics and racing. After high school, Greg got a job working at Marin Auto Body in Mill Valley and married his high school sweetheart, Kathy Reynolds. While wo...

    Record Type: Archive

    
38. Oral History of Greg Sarris - Oral History

    In this oral history, author, scholar, and chairmen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria Greg Sarris tells the story of his life as a journey of self-discovery and social commitment. Raised in adoptive family in Santa Rosa, Greg did not know about his Coast Miwok/Pomo ancestry until adulthood. Greg recounts how he recovered his tribal identity and, in the process, became a successful author and academic. Greg explains that the historical ...

    Record Type: Archive

    
39. Oral History of Hallie Iglehart Austen - Oral History

    Drawn to Mill Valley's beautiful nature and history of spiritual practice, Hallie Iglehart Austen shares their love for the land. A noted leader of both the spiritual feminist movement and ocean conservancy efforts, Hallie finds an innate connection between environmental activism and spiritual worship. From an early childhood studying Greek myth, Hallie's dedication to Goddess studies led them throughout the world, including an extended stay in T...

    Record Type: Archive

    
40. Oral History of Helen Russell - Oral History

    In this oral history, CEO of Equator Coffees & Teas Helen Russell shares both the story of her life and the story of the successful company she co-founded with her wife Brooke McDonnell. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Helen recounts how she grew up dreaming of being an entrepreneur. She then went on to study marketing and business at Northeastern University. In 1989 she visited Mill Valley for the first time and immediately fell in love with t...

    Record Type: Archive

    
41. Oral History of Howard Harker - Oral History

    Howard Harker was born in Santa Cruz on July 14, 1933. At the beginning of his oral history, Howard traces the immigration of his Harker ancestors to the United States from England, then follows them on their route to the Bay Area and ultimately to Mill Valley during the 1890s. Howard moved with his parents to several Army bases during World War II, and then came to Mill Valley after the war to settle on family property. After graduating from Ta...

    Record Type: Archive

    
42. Oral History of Huey Johnson - Oral History

    In this oral history, environmentalist Huey Johnson recounts his lifelong work to preserve open spaces and wilderness areas throughout the United States and beyond. Born in Michigan in 1933, Huey moved out to California with his wife after graduate school to take a dream job as the Western Regional Director of the Nature Conservancy. He recalls how they spent their first few nights in California camping on Muir Beach, which "captured his soul," a...

    Record Type: Archive

    
43. Oral History of Huey Lewis - Oral History

    In this oral history, singer Huey Lewis recounts his life in Marin and his career in music. Born in Manhattan in 1950, Huey's parents Hugh and Magda moved to Marin when he was five years old and the family settled in Strawberry Point. Huey evokes the distinctive character of Mill Valley in the 1950s and '60s. With a musical father and a bohemian mother, Huey first started playing music at the age of 11. Huey attended Strawberry Point School and t...

    Record Type: Archive

    
44. Oral History of Hugh Fullerton - Oral History

    In this oral history, "Ambassador" Hugh Fullerton provides an insider's perspective on the community of backgammon and chess players who meet daily at the Depot Plaza. Born and raised in Ohio, Hugh moved to the Bay Area with his family in 1969 for a job in San Francisco. Originally touching down in San Rafael, they settled in Mill Valley in 1971. After a few years working as a "corporado," he became self-employed and found his way into the downto...

    Record Type: Archive

    
45. Oral History of Inez Sollom Mills Purser - Oral History

    Inez Sollom Mills Purser is a great-granddaughter of John Reed, who in 1843 received the first land grant to the southern Marin area. Inez was born in the family home at 90 Locust in 1903, inherited the house upon her mother's death in 1958, and lived there until 1989. In this oral history, titled "Remembrances," Inez recalls stories about her relatives. She discusses her mother, Jesse Deffebach Sollom, her uncle, John T. Reed, her great-aunt, Hi...

    Record Type: Archive

    
46. Oral History of Jacquie Phelan - Oral History

    In this oral history, road racer and mountain bike pioneer Jacquie Phelan recounts her life on two wheels. Born in San Francisco in 1955, Jacquie grew up in Rhode Island, Kansas, and finally Los Angeles, where she first developed her love of bicycles and her loathing of cars. Jacquie attended college at Middlebury in Vermont, and then moved to the Bay Area in the late 1970s, settling in San Francisco. She recounts her introduction to the Marin Co...

    Record Type: Archive

    
47. Oral History of Jane Futcher - Oral History

    In this oral history, Jane Futcher recounts their extensive writing career intertwined with Mill Valley and Marin County communities. Relocating from the East Coast as part of Harper and Row, Jane researched Marin County as part of their travelogue book, "Marin: The Place, The People: Profile of a California County." Through their involvement in spirituality groups and the Feminist Writers Guild, they were introduced to Elsa Gidlow and her encl...

    Record Type: Archive

    
48. Oral History of Janet Daijogo - Oral History

    In this oral history, beloved kindergarten teacher and proud aikido black belt Janet Daijogo recounts a happy life despite a traumatic childhood experience of being among the 120,000 Japanese Americans interred by the federal government during World War II. Born in San Francisco in 1937 to second-generation Japanese American parents, Janet grew up on a farm in Pescadero until the age of five, when her family was detained and relocated to an inter...

    Record Type: Archive

    
49. Oral History of Janet Upham - Oral History

    Janet Upham was born in San Francisco in 1927. Her father was Elmer Michael Shapiro, a Russian immigrant who came to San Francisco in 1893. Her mother was Ethel Margare Willis, a native San Franciscan whose mother came from Ireland. Janet's parents met on a blind date at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. Janet's grandfather owned properties in Mill Valley near the Blithedale Hotel, where the young family settled. They eventually moved to a h...

    Record Type: Archive

    
50. Oral History of Jean Barnard - Oral History

    Jean Barnard was born in New York on October 30th, 1918 and graduated from Vassar College in 1940. Jean was a summer visitor in Mill Valley from 1919 to 1930, her family traveling from the East Coast by train to visit her Aunt Ruth Boericke and Ruth's husband, Ralston White, at their "Garden of Allah" estate. During her visits to Mill Valley, Jean's family would take the train up the winding mountain railroad and enjoy Mill Valley's scenic outdoo...

    Record Type: Archive