When I moved to Palo Alto in 1944, there were only 16,000 residents here. With three daughters and a husband who was sports editor for the Palo Alto Times, I spent my spare time getting involved in local organizations: the Palo Alto Historical Association, the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, the Senior Coordination Council (now called Avenidas), and more.
In 1974, La Comida was founded by the Rotary Club after they had done a year’s study on how local seniors could be better served. At that time, social planning was just becoming part of the government picture. It was the big thing. They determined that a warm meal once a day was what seniors needed most. So, they organized La Comida. It was written about in the papers, and it quickly became the talk of the town.
I was asked to join the La Comida board about six or seven months after it was founded, and I accepted. A year later, I became president.
Over the next few years, La Comida was generally expanding and improving with the support of the state and federal governments. When the federal government undertook a nationwide senior lunch program, we were able to really focus on getting meals out to diners.
We originally operated La Comida from the Episcopal Church downtown, but it was getting too crowded and so we accepted an offer to relocate to the new senior center, Avenidas, in about 1978. That gave us a lot more room and there was plenty of parking for our volunteers — we were really thriving.
The partnership between Avenidas and La Comida meant that everything was under one roof: fresh meals, housing help, bridge sessions, and senior classes to name a few. We had about 175 people coming for meals every day, and many of them would stay for activities.
Four years ago, Avenidas decided to remodel their building and all the senior activities moved to Cubberley Community Center. La Comida managed to get a contract with Stevenson House, which is an assisted living program for seniors in South Palo Alto off East Charleston Road, and we were able to use the kitchen there. With a smaller dining room, we would regularly reset the tables so that everyone got their chance to sit down and enjoy a meal.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we have been delivering meals to seniors’ homes and serving lunches “to go” at Stevenson House and the Masonic Center. If you live somewhere like Lytton Gardens, for instance, you can also order your meal through La Comida for a requested contribution of $3 per meal.
I suppose I participated in so many local groups because it was the norm to do so. The City Council was always appointing people to different committees and my friends were all taking part, so I saw no reason not to. Everybody just pitched in, and things got done. When you’re in a town, you want your town to be well thought of, and you try to make it nice for yourself and everybody else.
Since 1944, Palo Alto has grown by over 50,000 residents, and I still think it is a pretty special place, to tell you the truth. I can’t see too much that’s gone very wrong in Palo Alto, and I think that’s a good thing.
I came back to serve on the La Comida board later on, and even now I still like to stay involved. I’m not on the board anymore — I did just turn 101 — but I get meals delivered to my home and every once in a while, someone comes over and asks if I have any suggestions or advice. If I can be helpful to La Comida, I’m going to be and that’s what I’ll continue to do.