Summary: Rick and Janet Cronk were interviewed by Nancie Sherman on March 27, 2009. Rick grew up in Montclair and Janet in Palo Alto. They met when they were both students at Berkeley. Later they moved to Lafayette and raised their family here, and Rick spent thirty years growing Dreyers into the largest ice cream […]
Oral History: Robi Duncan — April 3rd, 2009
Summary: Robi Duncan, Senior Clerk at the old Lafayette Library, was interviewed by Mary McCosker on April 3, 2009. Robi grew up in Concord, but she had spent three months living with her grandmother in Lafayette, and going to school here, while her family was building a new home. She returned to serve the Lafayette […]
Oral History: Dorothy Walker — October 13th, 2009
Summary: Dorothy Walker was interviewed by Brenda Hepler on October 13, 2009. She had grown up in San Rafael, where libraries played an important role in her childhood. After her family moved to Lafayette in 1956 Dorothy went to Acalanes High School and then to UC Berkeley, where she became a teacher and stayed on […]
Oral History: Sally Bellenger — January 22nd, 2008
Summary: Sally Bellenger was interviewed by Nancy Sherman on January 22, 2008, during the time that construction of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center was under way. She arrived in Lafayette in 1971, choosing the community for its good schools and its values. In this interview Sally describes how a group of dedicated and hard […]
Oral History: Ann Meredith — November 5th, 2008
Summary: Ann was interviewed by Brenda Hepler on November 5, 2008. As the City of Lafayette’s Community Development Director, she was closely involved with the Library Project from 2001 onward. She played a major role in the selection and acquisition of the building site, the selection of the architect, creation of the consortium, development of […]
Oral History: Diane Kisner — May 14th, 2008
Summary: Diane Kisner was interviewed by Pat Riegg on May 14, 2008. As the co-founder and head of the Merriewood Children’s Center, which offered a variety of pre-school and after school programs, Diane was an important figure in the field of early childhood education in Lafayette. From the start she was an enthusiastic supporter of […]
Lafayette Library Display – A Farmer’s Journey: Elam Brown’s Path to California
We all know about Elam and Margaret (Allen then) Brown taking a wagon train to California in 1846, but do we really know what that was like? The display in the library is about their specific journey, the route, the hardships, the successes. It answers questions that may have occurred such as, “Why do we […]
Oral History: Anna Koch — May 27th, 2008
Summary: Anna Koch was interviewed by Brenda Hepler on May 27, 2008. She was born and raised in San Francisco, and became interested in reading and in going to the library at a very young age. After high school she enrolled in a library technology program and worked in a library part-time instead of pursuing […]
Oral History: Marge Dubbs — May 9th, 2024
Summary: Marge Dubbs was interviewed by Andree Hurst on May 9, 2024. Now at age 100, Marge has spent just over half of her life as a Lafayette resident. Her husband was a mechanical and safety engineer who traveled for work most of the time. Marge worked also, but always locally. She made use of […]
From The Archives: Millicent Hamburger: When I Dance — Acalanes Dance Group, Sandra Bagnall 2002
In 1941, the principal of the new Acalanes High School hired Millicent Hamburger, a trained and talented dance instructor from New York City, to be an English teacher and to establish a dance program for interested students. She would go to inspire and direct the Acalanes Dance Group for 30 years, after which she returned […]
