Memories of my Father, Justin Duff (Van) Vanderlaan and Stories of Los Gatos, Saratoga, CA - Family Photographs and Emails

One of the things Dad and I loved to do (in his Eighties) was to sit on a bus stop bench and have significant conversations. He always ended the conversation by asking the question. "Did we solve the problems of the world today?" Our favorite place was in "The Heart of the Willows". We sat very close to the school Mom went to as a child. There was an excellent coffee shop (Le Boulanger) and we would get some to go and talk for hours at the corner of Lincoln and Minnesota Ave. It was a warm and sunny place. Willow Glen is a part of Our Family for Generations. Especially Mom's side. I lived there, too. 

Justin Duff Vanderlaan
and my sister in law Beth Deahl

Another place we liked to sit on a park bench was overlooking The Mouth of the Mad River near Arcata, California. We sat on the top of the cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and could hear the seals bark. It is actually quite difficult to find The Mouth of the Mad as the location changes constantly. Victoria, Dad and I took a short level hike and she left us to sit on the park bench to "Solve the problems of the World." 

Gregory, Vanessa, Nicole and Justin Vanderlaan

During the last decade of his life we communicated using email about 3 times a week. Often it was about the weather or the Goddamn Computer but it was some contact. We would have debates, recommend books, choose winners on the stock market... I remember recommending that he buy Varian and it went up. Playing the Stock Market with Dad was fun.

Nicole, Vanessa and Martin Vanderlaan

Justin Vanderlaan, Bonita Post and Nicole Vanderlaan

Justin and Martin Vanderlaan

Hi all,

Vanessa and Patti have been working on a hoop skirt, petticoat and supporting hoops for "appropriate attire" for the Dickens Faire at the Cow Palace yesterday.  It all came together as you can see in the dressing photos.

Marty

Vanessa and Patti Post Vanderlaan

Vanessa Vanderlaan at the Dicken's Faire at the Cow Palace in San Francisco Modeling a Home Made Hoop Skirt made by Patti Post Vanderlaan

EMAILS Written by My Father:

Dear Martin & Patti & Greg:

      The other day I noticed on the blue table in the kitchen a hand  

held fire extinguisher.  I went down to the fire house on Winchester,  

and asked if they thought it needed to be recharged, since it has been  

in the house for 50 years.  They said absolutely!,  but had no  

recommendations as to where it could be done. (they are not allowed to  

recommend private companies}.  I went to the hardware and bought  

another for less than 15 Dollars.  They said to call the County about  

safe disposal.  I looked them up in the phone book, and the only place  

is in Sunnyvale, along the  bay, so I made a reservation for Today at  

10 am.  I talked to someone at Rotary on Tuesday, and they advised me  

that the County charges $20 for disposal of hazardous materials.  

Friday, I called and cancelled my appointment.  Later that day I  

received an unsolicited letter saying that the hazardous materials  

section of the County was having a free disposal in Los Gatos on  

Saturday morning, so I went down this morning and gave them the  

extinguisher.  No problem!  Dad

Dear Greg:

      I have now completed giving to you 20,000 dollars worth of 

General Electric Stock.  These shares are yours.  You can do with them 

as you please.  If you wanted to sell them etc, contact Edward Jones & 

co.  They hold the stock certificates for you.  The dividends will be 

mailed directly to you from the Jones office in New York.  My feeling 

was 1. to reduce my taxable estate, 2. give you some dividend paying 

stock, which is sure to continue paying dividends no matter what the 

state of the U.S. economy.  Happy New Year.  Dad

Greg: (about his trip to Eureka)

      While there I went on two bus trips with local guides.  The one 

after we left company toured all the old houses in town, and the guide 

explained who had lived there and why the architecture was unique. 

Quite enlightening.  Then the guide dropped off in town.  This might 

be something you and Vic would find interesting.  I sure the Chamber 

of Commerce knows when trips are available for locals.  The other went 

to Lolita, and basically told me what you had already commented on, 

with some additional comments on a flood a few winters ago.  Then it 

went on to the Redwoods , with a good lecture  on the trees.  The 

guide dropped off in some small town just South of there.  Dad

I told the family... 
We met at the Bear River Casino where he was staying at their hotel. It is on a hill overlooking the Eel River Valley. Home of many dairy farms... Mild climate and plenty of rain makes this an Ideal place to live if you are a cow or a Dairy Farmer. We drove around the Eel River Valley looking at the cows, mountains and Victorian Ferndale. My new Ford Winstar Van is a great place to sit and view the world passing by. BIG windows in front and warm. It's too cold outside to walk around comfortably.

Then we visited the Loleta Cheese Factory. The vast majority of out time was spent talking. We went out to lunch at Eureka's Village Pantry, my favorite restaurant. Then viewed some construction sites. Federal funding has allowed the city to build many new buildings on the waterfront. Then we met up with the bus and he re-joined his tour. 

They went to The Trucker's Christmas Parade... Lights on 18 wheeler trucks...

Greg:

       I am home safe & sound.  Everything we went well.  We saw the parade across from the Safeway parking lot.  Safeway full, but, our bus driver persuaded to gas station owner to let us see it  from the bus, (good view)  Were we ever lucky that you saw the bus at the bay front parking lot.  We might have  hell of a time finding it, because they left shortly thereafter and roamed around Eureka looking at the old houses.  You might have ended taking me back to the hotel.  God guys get the breaks sometime.  At 93 (the 19th), one never knows how long we have together.  Enjoyed my visit with you.   Dad

Email written by Cousin Dian Combs of Baltimore. 

Hi Marty & Patti,

Good to hear from you. Adorable picture of Cadence with her Aunt Vanessa!! Nice to catch up on the family news. Glad to hear Nicole and Brodie are having another child, I've always enjoyed having a brother. Speaking of my brother George, he now has a great grandson and soon to have a great granddaughter!! How about that! I had wanted my sons to marry and have children, but it wasn't in the cards, at least I have my stepson and his family (wife, 11 yr. old daughter & 3.5 yr old son) and my stepdaughter (who is not married anymore, but has 2 daughters, one about to turn 11 and the other 6) These are my grandchildren and I love them as much as if they were from my sons.

I've been very busy with real estate and may never retire!! Because I like to go on vacations with my friends. This year we flew to Boston, then cruised up to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, then spent 2 days in Boston. This coming April we are going to Cabo San Lucas on the Baja coast, then I am flying up to California and if you folks are in town in early May, maybe I can visit?

Your Dad is amazing! He has good genes! Hopefully you and Greg got those genes!! Would love to visit with him too.

Got to run, have an appt for my 'fun job', I'm with a small theatre group in my neighborhood and we are putting on another play which starts 12/14 and runs through 1/13/13, this time I'm just helping out with the lobby area. Last show in October I did all the props, moving them on and off stage in between acts, etc. It was exhausting but rewarding.

Hope to see you soon, Love, Dian

Martin Wrote:

Hi Dad, Nicole, and Greg,

 

As per our usual habbit, Vanessa and I celebrated my birthday by going to a Cal Bears football game.  This time it happened to be a night game (the TV Gods decide that) against Oregon, probably the best team in the nation.  The new stadium is great.  A very nice improvement.  We went early enough to walk around Berkeley a bit and explore the new stadium.  Then we watched the game and boy was it COLD.  We both had thermal underwear on under our jeans and ski jackets, hand hats and gloves.  Still cold.  We eventually left early in the 4th quarter, with Cal behind 45-17. 

 

Vanessa has a long time friend from the Lair, who is now a sophomore at Cal, and plays trombone in the band.  They were able to meet up during the 3rd quarter.  She looked very good in her band uniform. 

 

Took BART both ways - standing room only both ways.  Lots of riders with Green and Gold "O"s and Blue and Gold, too.  All and all a good evening, but I went to bed in my thermal underwear and sweatshirt to try to get warm. 

 

Go Bears,

M

Vanderlaan Family Collage for Dad's Coffee Cup.
Gregory, Marguerite, Justin, Vanessa, Nicole, Martin, Patty, Victoria, Brodie and Patty's Mom, Bonita.

Vanderlaan Family Chart
Click on the Picture to See it Bigger.

Dad told me that it's pretty easy to predict which horse will win the race, but then you spend your whole life at Bay Meadows. Not a great way to live. 

Brodie Smith, Nicole Vanderlaan Smith, Cadence and Reese

I remember Dad bought a book on Amazon and had it shipped to me called "Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America" by Senator James Webb. An insightful book about our ancestors. He also bought "The Kite Runner" by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. An autobiography. Part of the book takes place at the San Jose Flea Market where the Author met his wife. 

****** (~);-} ******

I remember that the Swings at Oak Meadow Park were Taller than Standard Swings. There was a Metal Bar in the shape of an Arc that held the Chains. I would crawl over That Bar. I also swung as High as I Could and then JUMPED! Hurt to land but I did not break any Bones... so I did it again. 

I remember The Slot Car Racetrack on Main Street Near the High School. 1970. It was as large as a Basketball court. You rented a Car and Put it on the slot and there was a controller that regulated how fast the car went. Go too fast and the Car Flipped... 

When I went to West Valley Junior College I Took a Class in Architectural Scale Model Building. I took Blueprints of a Cabin my Father was having built on North Shore, Lake Tahoe and Built an Accurate Scale Model of it. Dad showed it to his friends and clients... Just to explain what he was having Built... In Retrospect, THAT would have been an EPIC Career... Building Models... Mostly the Professional Career Path was building Models of Oil Refineries... as a way to CHECK if the design was accurate... much cheaper to find errors on a Model than actually build the real thing and find out, OOPS! ---- During the Free time I Had Between Classes I went to the Library and Drew Pictures, Cartoons, Designs ART... while wearing Headphones... My Favorite was 'Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin... Astonishing on Headphones because of a lot of Left-Right Ping Ponging and Phase-Shifter Effects on the Drums... Try it!

Fred Capp: I also took that class and another one when I was studying at UA Fairbanks. This came in handy when I was working for a company that was supposed to build a parking garage and we couldn't quite make out where what was supposed to be. The thing simply had no level floors and no one had ever seen that design before. I was able to build the model (a rough one as I was both out of practice and lacking in certain materials) and we could see just what the designer wanted.

I did build a Scale Model at work when I was at Analytics Communications Systems in McLean Virginia. We were selling a Computer that Did Not Exist yet and so the Advertising Department took a Photo of my model and we pretended to have a Product..  Sadly, the glue came apart and a corner of the model separated... and the Photo in the Ad Looked like a Fake Scale Model... OOPS... We didn't get that contract. However, I did get to go visit a Giant scale model factory when we were selecting if we wanted to do the work in house or hire professionals to make the model. That Company did Models for the Smithsonian. EPIC Dioramas...  

I remember buying a slice of Redwood Burl at That Store/Gallery on Highway 9 directly across the Street from San Lorenzo High School. We were taking a Stained Glass Window Making Class at West Valley Junior College Night School. I made a Red Rose Framed by that Burl... and it hung in the Window of my Father's House for decades... and... I noticed the ERROR I made in the construction of that window... and it bugged me for about 10 seconds every time I saw it... I also made a Clock from a slice of Burl... and It hung in the Living Room... The School was right next door to a drive in Movie Theater and at Night we could walk over and see the movies without paying. Saw "Carrie" there... My Father Bought a Stained Glass Window for His Office from Mike Coolie... a Business Expense and Fully Tax Deductible because it Had the Name J.D.Vanderlaan - Realtor Etched into the window...