Village Chat for June 15, 2019

Ann Q. Peters

The graduation season has come and gone, and we have news of our recent high school grads. Keep in mind that these kids were juniors in high school when the fires hit us in October 2017, and they've all been through a lot, several of them losing their homes or being forced to live somewhere else until their houses were habitable. They're all pretty special people.

Liam Duryea graduated from Santa Rosa High School ArtQuest and will be attending UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television in the fall.

Max Bohlke-Slater graduated early. He took the California High School Proficiency Exam early last year and is currently attending Santa Rosa Junior College.

Dejon Austin graduated from Maria Carrillo High School on May 31 and is planning on attending Santa Rosa Junior College in the fall with an interest in culinary and the police force. Her mom Jennifer said, “We are very proud of her, especially after the fire; it was difficult for her but she persevered.”

Chloe Cramer graduated from Maria Carrillo and is going to San Jose State. (Chloe is our former KP summer intern, so we're very proud of her!)

Frances O'Donnell graduated summa cum laude from Maria Carrillo where she was also named Female Athlete of the Year. She'll be attending the University of Vermont to play soccer and study exercise science (with as many minors as they'll let her, according to her mom, Cory).

Garrett Jepson graduated from Maria Carrillo and will be attending Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He plans to be a Business major.

Congratulations to all of you, and good luck going forward!

I have a Bohlke-Slater family update (Guy, Joy, Samantha and Max). The family moved to Santa Rosa after they lost their home on Treehaven, and Guy said that they've recently found a beautiful home in the Sebastopol hills after a year of renting and hunting in the area.

“The end of our fire family chapter has officially closed for us. We are very happy. Sam and Max are still with us, and thriving. Sam's further along at SRJC and doing lots of theater work. Last year she was cast as Fiona in SRJCs amazing production of Shrek the Musical. She performed as Caliban in a student-produced Redwood Theater Company production of The Tempest earlier this year in Healdsburg. She's got the theater bug pretty bad. Max seems to be following in her footsteps, with an emphasis on music as well. He made high marks his first semester at the JC and seems pretty motivated.” In addition to the kids, this spring Guy graduated from Sonoma State with distinction, receiving a B.A. in English-Creative Writing with an emphasis on education. He's thinking about teaching in Ecuador in the fall, and plans to start an M.A. in 2020.

Montgomery High School Key Club grads and Kiwanis Club of Oakmont scholarship recipients (L-R) Natalie Goldstone, Annaleigh Nguyen, Lisa Liff, Danayeat Abraha, Katie Gu, and Julie Kwan. Not pictured: Thea Zalunardo.

Charlie Ensley reports that the Kiwanis Club of Oakmont gave out seven scholarships to members of the Montgomery High School Key Club, who graduated on May 30. They are Natalie Goldstone - $2,000, University of the Pacific; Annaleigh Nguyen - $3,000, Sonoma State University; Lisa Liff - $3,000, Cornell University; Danayeat Abraha - $3,000, Howard University; Katie Gu - $2,000, Brown University, Julie Kwan - $2,000, U.C. Davis; and Thea Zalunardo - $2,000, U.C. Santa Barbara. That's a total of $17,000, for a very impressive group of high school grads!

Meanwhile, Kenwood Elementary School had its graduation ceremony on May 30, with Kenwood School Board trustee Robin Stoecker giving the graduation remarks. The Scholastic Achievement award went to Rowan Fender. In addition, at the end of the school year the Kiwanis Club of Oakmont gave its Hope of America Awards to fifth graders Neal Sullivan and Dahlia Laganiere-Melendez, and sixth graders Joshua Stocks and Mona Almasri. Congratulations to all the graduates!

On the Press Democrat website there's a list of the Best Outdoor Bars in Sonoma County, and Palooza Gastropub here in Kenwood made the list. The review sums it up thus: “Tasty pub grub, lots of beers on tap, live music and comedy nights. A lively outdoor patio gets hopping in the warm Sonoma Valley evenings.” We already knew that!

So many people are traveling to fabulous places and sending us photos and news. I don't have room for them all in this issue, but here are a few:

At 1,373 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is nine times saltier than the ocean, creating unbelievable buoyancy. Chuck and Sallie Wood are slathered in medicinal mud that they then washed off while floating in the warm water.

In late March and April, Chuck and Sallie Wood took a trip to Israel, and came home marveling at the cultural diversity, archeology, history, and as Chuck said, “the celebration of three major religions and learning how things actually work today in a really complex society.” They sent a couple of photos, one of them at the Dome of the Rock, but I couldn't resist the one from the Dead Sea (page 23).

Brno Rotary Club President Matek exchanging club flags with Catherine Jefferson of the Rotary Club of Glen Ellen-Kenwood.

In May, Catherine and Dave Jefferson were in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, and decided to attend a Rotary meeting, as Catherine is a member of the Rotary Club of Glen Ellen-Kenwood. They asked the concierge at their hotel to call the hotel where the club meets to confirm the date and time, which the other hotel did. When they got there, they found the designated room, with a couple of long tables set with cutlery, glasses and napkins, but no people.

Catherine writes, “After waiting an hour, and beginning to think we should leave, a really nice man, Jan Pistelak, appeared, and apologized profusely. He, too, wondered where everybody was. Then incoming President Matek arrived. Then Jako joined us along with Sasha, the club's Russian high school student, who the club sponsors for a year in Czechia.

“After about 10 minutes of them being embarrassed that nobody else was there, we decided to order dinner and enjoy ourselves. We had such a wonderful time getting to know them, their club and exchanging knowledge of our respective countries. These men were so taken with the fact that we had joined them, and that all were able to enjoy a couple of hours of extremely convivial time together, speaking English. So after a pretty rocky start, it all worked out.” Just one more good reason to join a Rotary Club!

Len and Charlotte Woolard, touring the vineyards in Burgundy, entertain a group of Norwegian cyclists with recent news from the Kenwood Press.

Also in May, Len and Charlotte Woolard went to Burgundy on a wine odyssey, visiting vineyards and wineries, speaking with winemakers, and comparing notes on growing practices (the Woolards have vineyards in Kenwood). They stayed at a “Gite” in Semur-en-Auxois, a 16th century cottage, one of the newer homes in the village. Len said, “After all was said and done, we still prefer our full-bodied Sonoma reds.”

That's all for now. Thanks to everyone for sending in your news and photos. It's easy to do; just email ann@kenwoodpres.com, or call 833-5155 and chat me up! - AQP