Features

Steve Pomeroy/Rotary Club of Los Altos
Dick Henning, second from right, is feted by Rotarians Marlene Cowan, from left, Allan Varni, Suzanne Small and Lina Broydo for his 50 years of community service. The retired Foothill College dean received a pair of boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali, a nod to Henning’s early days as a boxer. He won a boxing scholarship to San Jose State.

The Rotary Club of Los Altos honored Rotarian Dick Henning, founder of the Foothill College Celebrity Forum Speaker Series, for his 50 years of outstanding community service in the club.

The Oct. 18 surprise party drew the anticipated response from Henning: “What a shock!”

Courtesy of City of Los Altos
Members of the Los Altos Amateur Radio Emergency Service test their newly acquired communications equipment.

New equipment and the work of members of the Los Altos Amateur Radio Emergency Service (LAARES) has strengthened amateur radio emergency communications capabilities in Los Altos.

Funded by the city’s Los Altos PREPARES program, the Rotary Club of Los Altos Endowment Fund and LAARES members, LAARES acquired a repeater system with battery backup and installed the equipment at the Los Altos Police Department building Oct. 14. The repeater system improves amateur radio coverage across the city, enabling emergency volunteers to receive and broadcast information and assure citywide reliable communications capabilities during a disaster.

Courtesy of Viewpoints Gallery
Jan Grady’s “Copper and Flowers” exhibition of watercolors is scheduled to premiere Tuesday.

Gallery 9

Gallery 9 in Los Altos has scheduled an extended exhibition for the holiday season. Opening Tuesday and running through Dec. 23, the all-gallery show will feature members’ work in an array of media, from paintings to jewelry, photography, woodwork, mixed media, sculptures and ceramics.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the gallery has scheduled artists receptions 5-8 p.m. Nov. 2 and 5-8 p.m. Dec. 7. The gallery also will open for two additional evenings: 5-8 p.m. Nov. 9 during the annual Holiday Stroll and 5-8 p.m. Nov. 30 during the Los Altos Downtown Tree Lighting event.

Steve Pomeroy/Rotary Club of Los Altos
Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Angela Alvarado speaks last month before the Rotary Club of Los Altos.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Angela Alvarado, who teaches safety in digital behavior, especially among adolescents, outlined the most dangerous social media trends in a presentation last month before members of the Rotary Club of Los Altos.

“We are seeing a trend that links increasing digital use and crime,” said the 19-year criminal prosecutor at the Rotary Club’s Sept. 6 meeting. “In court, we now see a digital component in many of our cases.”

Image courtesy of Robin Chapman
Robin Chapman’s new book, “Historic Bay Area Visionaries,” has just been released.

Los Altos author Robin Chapman’s latest book, “Historic Bay Area Visionaries,” published this month by The History Press, chronicles the history of California through the stories of six people.

The story of the state is told through the eyes of Lope Inigo, an indigenous man; Juana Briones, a compassionate businesswoman; Robert Louis Stevenson, the poet and writer; Sarah Winchester, the heiress to the rifle fortune; Thomas Foon Chew, a Chinese immigrant; and Charlie Chaplin, who came to Niles in 1914 and became a movie star.

Courtesy of Jesuit Retreat Center
Dennis Young of Los Altos donated the sculpture “Homeless Jesus,” installed in the gardens of the Jesuit Retreat Center.

Bishop Patrick J. McGrath of the Diocese of San Jose blessed the sculpture “Homeless Jesus” Sept. 29, the centerpiece of the newly renovated Loyola Gardens at the Jesuit Retreat Center of Los Altos.

“Homeless Jesus,” created by Timothy Schmalz, a Canadian sculptor, depicts Jesus as a homeless man sleeping on a park bench. His face and hands are obscured, hidden under a blanket, but crucifixion wounds on his feet reveal his identity.