By Town Crier Staff Report

Mr. Anderson

Franz Anderson, a banker and accountant who found his true calling late in life by working with children, died Nov. 11 after a 10-month battle with cancer. The Los Altos resident was 72.

Born in St. Paul, Minn., Mr. Anderson attended the University of Colorado at Boulder before moving to California in the 1960s. He was in banking for 25 years. At one point he was manager of Home Savings & Loan on San Antonio Road.

Only one month after his 1998 retirement, Mr. Anderson began volunteering in elementary school classrooms. Springer School Principal Bob Celeste hired Mr. Anderson to work as a teacher’s aide in the kindergarten classes. He ended up performing a variety of tasks, from working with children with learning disabilities and teaching small reading groups to helping with curriculum materials and even singing songs in class.

Celeste paid tribute to Mr. Anderson, known to his young friends as “Mr. A.,” in last week’s school newsletter. “A friend who will be missed,” Celeste wrote, “but we are all better off for knowing and working with Franz over the years.

“Children enjoyed his caring qualities, his friendship and his pleasant manner,” Celeste wrote. “I think I enjoyed Franz as much as the students. So, when an opening occurred for a classroom aide, he was the gentleman I wanted to assist our young readers in grade one. Franz consistently and carefully helped children develop their reading skills. From my perspective, I think the first-graders looked forward to reading with this wonderful man; a grandfather to each child in many ways.”

“He was an excellent team player with all the teachers and the aides at school,” said third-grade teacher Marie Smith. “He was always willing to stop what he was doing to assist anyone who was having a problem. It was amazing that even when he did this, he always got his work done, too.”

“He really liked working with the greatest number of kids,” said his daughter Suzanne Virga. “He loved noontime yard duty.”

Mr. Anderson’s duties spread to Covington School as well, and even though he was on the payroll for part-time work, Virga said Anderson often put in full-time hours because his work with children had become a labor of love.

“He knew the names of almost every child on campus,” Smith said. “Even when he was hurting from all the cancer, he would continue his yard duty using his walker, because being with the kids was his lifeline.”

“He had a very positive outlook, despite being in a huge amount of pain,” Virga said. “He never complained.”

A longtime member of the Los Altos Rotary Club, Mr. Anderson also volunteered in local community events such as the Rotary Club’s annual Fine Art in the Park. He also loved what Virga called “garage sale-ing.” Mr. Anderson was constantly on the lookout for good games and books to be found at such sales.

“He had an incredible amount of patience,” Virga said of her father’s qualities. “He loved to teach and he knew a little about everything. He was my best friend.”

Mr. Anderson is survived by Nannette, his wife of 32 years; sisters Betty Baker and Mary Juell; daughter Suzanne Virga; and grandchildren Katy and Isabel.

Services were held last Friday at St. Nicholas Church. The family prefers donations made in Mr. Anderson’s memory to the American Cancer Society.