Day 5
12/07/23 22:23
July 2, 2023—
Post Five:
Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, as their children were getting older, Rhoda was active in politics with the League of Women Voters and the Democratic Party. Her husband Bernie, who worked as a business systems supervisor at Westinghouse in Sunnyvale, became the president of the local Los Gatos Democratic club. Often, volunteers would gather at Rhoda’s and Bernie’s house to stuff envelopes, organize precinct lists, etc. We kids were roped in to help. When the volunteers saw Rhoda and Bernie’s house, they realized that it was a perfect fit for holding political events. One of the biggest fund-raising events at the house was a tea for U.S. Senator Clair Engle. Senator Engle attended, along with many other Democratic political luminaries from the era.
Our parents’ political activities led to quite a few friendships, many of which endured throughout the turbulent 1960s. And the connections they made might be called “networking” today. One such connection and friendship was with Norman and Phyllis Dolloff who lived up off of Bohlman Road in Saratoga. In early 1961, at a dinner at the Dolloff house, Rhoda asked Phyllis if she knew of any part-time secretarial opportunities. Phyllis knew someone who worked at Saratoga High School, and that person told her that the principal’s secretary, Mrs. Huff, was retiring along with her husband who taught Math at the school. Rhoda went to the school immediately and inquired. After recounting her years of secretarial experience both in the City and in Alaska during the War, she was told that she would be hired “temporarily” until they could find a full-time person. That hire ending up being an 18-year career as the secretary for Vernon Trimble and Don Brand, the principal who replaced Dr. Trimble when he retired.
Almost every year that she worked at Saratoga High School, and even after she retired, Rhoda and her husband Bernie hosted the annual, year-end Saratoga High Faculty Party in their owner-built home overlooking the Santa Clara Valley. In those days, the school cafeteria made lasagna for the party and the custodians brought up tables and chairs. And it wasn’t just the teachers who attended. Every employee was invited.
We Porter kids got to see a side of the school employees that was quite appealing and human to our young eyes. At the parties, there was always “Dr. Trimble’s Punch”, a mysterious concoction that would make any fraternity college boy jealous. When I was in high school, I was called upon to park cars along the narrow Cañon Drive that led to my parents’ house. Teachers would occasionally arrive at the adobe pillars at the bottom of my parents’ driveway, say “Hi Kent”, offer their car keys to me, and ask me to “go ahead and park it” somewhere. That happened even before I got my driver's license!
We know from many accounts that our mother Rhoda was a well-liked employee. The teachers felt that she “had their backs”. And she was quite skilled as a secretary, not only for the traditional typing and dictation needs, but also because of her trustworthiness, her writing skills, her pleasant demeanor, and her worldliness. Nevertheless, as a high school student there myself, I was sometimes embarrassed to hear her say over the loudspeaker at 5 o’clock when my mother was ready to leave for home, “Kent Porter, please come to the main office”. My basketball playing friends would yell out to me, “Mommy’s calling”. Kids can be brutal!
Karen’s and Dave’s wedding, another large event of many held at the house (1968)
A patio celebration of life for Helen Oreb who had died that year. Helen and Genevieve taught at Saratoga High School and were great friends of my parents. Rhoda and Bernie were "honored to be able to honor" Helen at their home
Los Gatos house—-second wing/with dining room, living room, upstairs bedroom and bath, and Rhoda and Bernie’s bedroom and bath--had just been completed. They needed space for their growing family in 1953
In this picture (1953), Kent had the whole living room floor to himself —talk about space! The photo shown below was taken just after the final building step for the addition, laying and sealing the tile floor. Bernie and Rhoda didn't have much help on their Los Gatos building project. However, for the living room tile floor, Vince Garrod and his brother-in-law George Cooper brought over their cement mixer from the Garrod property on Mt. Eden Road when Bernie was setting that tile floor. Both George and Vince attended Rhoda's and Bernie's 50th anniversary in December of 1995 in the Los Gatos house, and they reminisced with Bernie while admiring that floor on which they helped.
1962 yearbook photo of Rhoda in her relatively new job
Adlai Stevensen at the San Francisco Labor Temple with Karen and Susie Porter (Rhoda’s daughters). The photo appeared in the San Francisco Call Bulletin. The lapel's hand-made signs on paper plates read, “I’m Adlai’s Boss”!
Post Five:
Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, as their children were getting older, Rhoda was active in politics with the League of Women Voters and the Democratic Party. Her husband Bernie, who worked as a business systems supervisor at Westinghouse in Sunnyvale, became the president of the local Los Gatos Democratic club. Often, volunteers would gather at Rhoda’s and Bernie’s house to stuff envelopes, organize precinct lists, etc. We kids were roped in to help. When the volunteers saw Rhoda and Bernie’s house, they realized that it was a perfect fit for holding political events. One of the biggest fund-raising events at the house was a tea for U.S. Senator Clair Engle. Senator Engle attended, along with many other Democratic political luminaries from the era.
Our parents’ political activities led to quite a few friendships, many of which endured throughout the turbulent 1960s. And the connections they made might be called “networking” today. One such connection and friendship was with Norman and Phyllis Dolloff who lived up off of Bohlman Road in Saratoga. In early 1961, at a dinner at the Dolloff house, Rhoda asked Phyllis if she knew of any part-time secretarial opportunities. Phyllis knew someone who worked at Saratoga High School, and that person told her that the principal’s secretary, Mrs. Huff, was retiring along with her husband who taught Math at the school. Rhoda went to the school immediately and inquired. After recounting her years of secretarial experience both in the City and in Alaska during the War, she was told that she would be hired “temporarily” until they could find a full-time person. That hire ending up being an 18-year career as the secretary for Vernon Trimble and Don Brand, the principal who replaced Dr. Trimble when he retired.
Almost every year that she worked at Saratoga High School, and even after she retired, Rhoda and her husband Bernie hosted the annual, year-end Saratoga High Faculty Party in their owner-built home overlooking the Santa Clara Valley. In those days, the school cafeteria made lasagna for the party and the custodians brought up tables and chairs. And it wasn’t just the teachers who attended. Every employee was invited.
We Porter kids got to see a side of the school employees that was quite appealing and human to our young eyes. At the parties, there was always “Dr. Trimble’s Punch”, a mysterious concoction that would make any fraternity college boy jealous. When I was in high school, I was called upon to park cars along the narrow Cañon Drive that led to my parents’ house. Teachers would occasionally arrive at the adobe pillars at the bottom of my parents’ driveway, say “Hi Kent”, offer their car keys to me, and ask me to “go ahead and park it” somewhere. That happened even before I got my driver's license!
We know from many accounts that our mother Rhoda was a well-liked employee. The teachers felt that she “had their backs”. And she was quite skilled as a secretary, not only for the traditional typing and dictation needs, but also because of her trustworthiness, her writing skills, her pleasant demeanor, and her worldliness. Nevertheless, as a high school student there myself, I was sometimes embarrassed to hear her say over the loudspeaker at 5 o’clock when my mother was ready to leave for home, “Kent Porter, please come to the main office”. My basketball playing friends would yell out to me, “Mommy’s calling”. Kids can be brutal!
Karen’s and Dave’s wedding, another large event of many held at the house (1968)
A patio celebration of life for Helen Oreb who had died that year. Helen and Genevieve taught at Saratoga High School and were great friends of my parents. Rhoda and Bernie were "honored to be able to honor" Helen at their home
Los Gatos house—-second wing/with dining room, living room, upstairs bedroom and bath, and Rhoda and Bernie’s bedroom and bath--had just been completed. They needed space for their growing family in 1953
In this picture (1953), Kent had the whole living room floor to himself —talk about space! The photo shown below was taken just after the final building step for the addition, laying and sealing the tile floor. Bernie and Rhoda didn't have much help on their Los Gatos building project. However, for the living room tile floor, Vince Garrod and his brother-in-law George Cooper brought over their cement mixer from the Garrod property on Mt. Eden Road when Bernie was setting that tile floor. Both George and Vince attended Rhoda's and Bernie's 50th anniversary in December of 1995 in the Los Gatos house, and they reminisced with Bernie while admiring that floor on which they helped.
1962 yearbook photo of Rhoda in her relatively new job
Adlai Stevensen at the San Francisco Labor Temple with Karen and Susie Porter (Rhoda’s daughters). The photo appeared in the San Francisco Call Bulletin. The lapel's hand-made signs on paper plates read, “I’m Adlai’s Boss”!
