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Published on 01/26/1998 All articles from this issue

Pages of the Past

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25 years ago in the Town Crier

According to the Feb. 7, 1973, issue of the Town Crier, a new organization, with the provocative name of "O'Hara's Beggars," was in a formative stage in Los Altos. It was the brainchild of Los Altan George O'Hara, who was seeking volunteers to help with the paperwork involved in collecting funds and medical supplies for the children of South Vietnam.

Since just before Christmas 1972, the O'Hara family garage had been converted into a makeshift depot for donated supplies for the war-injured youngsters.

O'Hara, paying his own way, took leave from his responsibilities as a publisher and accompanied the cartons of medical supplies to Saigon, where they were channeled to relief groups working in Vietnam. For two weeks, O'Hara stayed on and worked in a shelter with 27 paraplegic children whose families were unknown. The attitude of the children and their joy in survival made a big impression on O'Hara.

Events ranging from bubble gum blowing contests to the 40-yard backward dash drew throngs of competitors when Blach School raised funds for the Community Association for the Retarded through a penny Olympics. The Jan. 26, 1973 event, organized by the student; council, involved the entire student body.

50 years ago in the Los Altos News

As reported in the Feb. 5, 1948, issue of the Los Altos News, Boy Scouts throughout the nation were celebrating their 38th birthday during the week of Feb. 6-12, 1948.

Locally, the climax of the observances was a court of honor for Los Altos Scout troops, held on the evening of Feb. 11 at the American Legion Hall. The public was invited.

The Institute of Aeronautical Sciences presented Los Altan Lawrence Clousing with the Octave Chanute award for 1947. He was honored for two and one-half years of dramatic engineering test pilot work, during which he had flown faster than any other living person. To Clousing, the engineering aspects of the flight were all-important. A reserved, soft-spoken man, he tended to minimize the dramatic experiences associated with his achievements, many of which were never publicized for security reasons.

An impressive memorial service was held Feb. 1, 1948 at Stanford Memorial Church for Stanford President Donald Bertrand Tresidder, who died Jan. 28 of a heart attack in New York.

- Ellen Shaw of the Los Altos History House Association