By Special to the Town Crier
The California History Center at De Anza College will hold its third annual Vintage Celebration 7-10 p.m., Saturday at Le Petit Trianon, the center’s home on the campus, adjacent to De Anza’s Flint Center for the Performing Arts. The event will feature a benefit wine tasting as well as live and silent auctions. There will also be a dessert buffet.
The guest of honor will be Ken Bruce, retired De Anza history professor, who will make a presentation as California pioneer John Sutter. Bruce graduated from San Jose State University, taught at Los Altos High School for 10 years and joined the history department at De Anza College in 1968. He became professor emeritus of history when he retired from the classrooms of De Anza College in December 1999 after 42 years of teaching.
Bruce, a cheerful man with a self-deprecating wit, said he chose Sutter because “the build fits,” referencing Sutter’s round form.
“(Sutter) is known in history as a dreamer with a gifted tongue - a bull- artist,” he laughed. “He could con you out of anything.”
Sutter made his way from his native Switzerland to St. Louis, then eventually traveled west with a goal to establish a colony in California. In 1840, Sutter talked the Mexican governor, Alvarado, into a piece of land. He eventually settled in what is now Sacramento. Sutter’s quest for the construction of a sawmill on the American River led to the discovery of gold and the famous Gold Rush of 1849.
He eventually lost his land because there were no written records of his holdings and died poor on the East Coast.
Bruce described how Sutter would arrive at a town and urge locals to tell town leaders “that John Sutter is here.” People would ask, “Who is John Sutter?” before deciding he must be someone important. Then he would have access to the town’s most influential people.
Bruce, a lifelong history teacher, taught at Los Altos High from its opening in 1958 to 1968, before joining the De Anza faculty. He shows obvious enthusiasm for storytelling and it soon becomes obvious why he chose his profession.
“A good story is always worth telling,” he said. “My mom said, ‘Find a job you like and you’ll never work another day in your life.’ “
Bruce, who lived 30 years in Los Altos, now makes his home in Moss Landing.
Tickets, available at the center, are $50. For more information, call (408) 864-8712.
