By Clyde Noel

Town Crier Correspondent

The Los Altos Chamber of Commerce is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a celebration scheduled for 7 p.m., June 1, at the Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel in Palo Alto. Leading up to this special event, the Town Crier is printing a series of articles recalling past Chamber presidents and events. This article, about Walter Chronert, is the third in the series.

Longtime community leader Walter Chronert continually looks to volunteer his services. Few people remember his stint as president of the Los Altos Chamber during the 1970s because of his strong reputation in the Kiwanis Club and as postmaster of Los Altos.

“I had a very inauspicious beginning on the (Chamber) board,” Chronert recalled. “Several chamber members suggested I take over the spot from Dr. Jerry Tossy because we were so poor and didn’t know if we could continue as an organization.”

Two factors made it difficult for the chamber to survive. The Los Altos Village Association (LAVA) was starting up and tried recruiting all the Chamber members. There was also dissension within the Chamber ranks because Chronert was a government employee at the post office, while other members were retailers and business service operators.

“What saved us was the 1976 centennial. We bought flags for the occasion and sold them to the merchants,” Chronert said. “The city helped us by drilling holes in the sidewalk that are there today.”

The Chamber sold 555 flags to merchants and residents, and made a profit. The event made enough money for the Chamber so that the city of Los Altos didn’t have to provide the Chamber with any additional funding.

Photographs taken during the centennial show Main Street aflutter with color during the three-day celebration.

Chronert has lots of experience with organizing such special moments. In 1979, after retiring as postmaster in Los Altos, he started the Kiwanis Special Games at Foothill College and now at De Anza College in Cupertino. The games are for children who are physically limited in some way and don’t qualify for the Special Olympics. This year, more than 1,000 youngsters from 30 schools in two counties will participate. Each year, members from the Los Altos Chamber help in organizing and supervising events.

Chronert was also a torch bearer for the Olympic Torch Relay as the flame made its way to Atlanta for the 1996 Olympic Games.

“People wondered if I could carry that torch (it weighs 3.5 pounds) a half-mile,” Chronert said. “I carried it. But I walked briskly, didn’t jog, and savored the moment.”

Chronert’s term at the chamber helm took more time than he expected because Thelma Dunnett, former Los Altos Mayor Roy Dunnett’s wife, retired as an unpaid volunteer. Chronert had to find a new secretary and could only offer the minimum wage.

“Getting money for a secretary wasn’t easy, but we survived. The only money we made were membership dues and they didn’t compare with today’s fees,” Chronert said.

During the 1970s, the post office moved from lower State Street to First Street.

“On a per capita basis, Los Altos received more mail per residence than any other city in California except one down south,” Chronert said. “Our carriers had to work hard and were responsible to their customers.”

In the 1970s, the Chamber held a midnight run every New Year’s Eve. The Chamber never made any money on the event and later on, liability insurance became so high, members decided to drop it.

During the 1970s the Chamber started to recruit members from the city’s seven retail districts and membership rose to slightly more than 300. Installation dinners were started at Chef Chu’s restaurant.

“Living here in Los Altos has been a wonderful smalltown experience. To locate here was one of the best decisions in my life.” Chronert said. “I can remember driving up San Antonio Road as a postal inspector when it was a country road - all dirt.”