I recently learned of the passing of Ed and Betty Bates, longtime friends of my family. Ed was superintendent of the Milpitas Unified School District at pretty much the same time that my father was President of the Board of Education, which was most of my growing up years (or so it seemed to me).
Ed and Betty were married for 70 years(!). He left his body just 47 days after she did. What an amazing couple they were.
My Dad and Ed were also UC Berkeley alumni, along with Nobby Nakamura (the school architect), and several school principals. Lasting friendships were forged, which eventually expanded into taking family vacations together at the Lair of the Golden Bear — the UC Berkeley alumni-owned summer camp.
Thinking about all this brought back many memories of the Lair. We stayed in tent cabins and ate all our meals in the big dining hall. There were activities for every age group, so parents could actually relax. I especially remember the evening campfires; the non-chlorinated pool; the grown-ups gathering for happy hour every afternoon; learning how to make copper enamel jewelry — some of which I still have to this day!
I must have been around eleven or twelve years old when we first started going to the Lair. Of course, all the staff members were Cal students. I was so impressed by them, and by how much fun they were having, that I made the decision to attend UC Berkeley myself, just so I could be staff at the Lair (I also planned to integrate the UC Berkeley marching band, which at that time had no blacks and no women)!
Of course, by the time I graduated from high school — poised to pursue a career in music — I understood that spending summers at the Lair and joining the marching band weren’t really the best criteria for determining where to go to college. But the wonderful memories remain.
