PATTI GUARACHI
Patrice Guarachi, lovingly known as Patti, peacefully passed away on January 1, 2024, after a 2-1/2 year battle with an insidious disease, while at home in Des Moines, Washington.
She was born on January 14, 1952, in San Gabriel, California to William and June Ahrens. Patti was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Wayne Ahrens of Anderson Valley. Also a niece, Erika Ann Ahrens, who died tragically in a car accident at a young age. Patti is survived by her son, Marcel Guarachi, and her grandchildren, Julian and Kiana Norman-Guarachi, all residing in Fort Bragg, California. She is also survived by her loving, dedicated husband, Parker Jones, of Des Moines, Washington. And her sister, Cynthia Hollinger, of Anderson Vally.
She had quite a few friends in Anderson Valley and Fort Bragg. Everyone who knew her in Mendocino County loved her.
Growing up in California, Patti had a deep appreciation for art, music and creativity. She attended Hillsdale High School in San Mateo and graduated Woodside High School in Woodside, California. Patti continued her education at Ca¤ada College in Redwood City, where she studied painting and design. She further honed her artistic skills at the College of the Redwoods in Fort Bragg. She enjoyed playing piano, accordion and ukelele, both at home, and with The Bettys on the North Coast of California. (Betty Will, Betty Can’t, and Betty Won’t)
Patti had a fulfilling career as a Special Education Teacher for Mendocino County Schools. Her dedication to her students and passion for teaching left a lasting impact on the community. Additionally, she pursued her artistic endeavors, becoming a renowned local artist in Mendocino and Fort Bragg.
As an artist, Patti drew inspiration from the natural beauty of Northern California. The ocean’s splendor and the majestic redwood trees with creatures therein captured her heart. Her artwork reflected her love for vibrant colors and a touch of humor. Patti’s talent and creativity shone through her various mediums, including murals, signs, paintings, music and more. Beyond her professional pursuits, Patti cherished her role as a mother and grandmother. She adored spending time with her family, creating lasting memories and sharing her artistic passion with them.
A Celebration of Life will be planned for later this spring to honor Patti’s remarkable life and the joy she brought to those around her. In memory of Patti Guarachi, may her artistic spirit continue to inspire and bring happiness to all who encounter her work.
LARRY BENSKY
May 1st, 1937 ~ May 19th, 2024
Larry Bensky, veteran broadcaster at KPFA, passed away Sunday, May 19th, 2024 at the age of 87 in Berkeley.
Larry was best known as the national affairs correspondent for Pacifica Radio from 1987 to 1998. Larry covered numerous national and international events for Pacifica, including the Iran–Contra hearings in 1987, the confirmation hearings for four Supreme Court justices, the 1990 elections in Nicaragua, and numerous demonstrations and protests in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. He anchored Pacifica’s live coverage of the 9/11 Commission hearings, and co-anchored Pacifica’s coverage of many Democratic and Republican conventions, as well as the Presidential debates. He was anchor for Pacifica’s extensive coverage of the post-2004 election controversy in Ohio, as well as several Congressional hearings about the misuse of executive power in the Bush administration.
Larry was also host of KPFA’s public affairs show Sunday Salon for many years and later came out of retirement to host the classical Sunday morning music program, Piano.
Larry also wrote for Ramparts, The Nation magazine and the Anderson Valley Advertiser, and was a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review. A longtime resident of Berkeley, he was a political writer and columnist for the East Bay Express for fifteen years.
He appeared as a guest journalist on C-SPAN, CNN, The Today Show, and The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, as well as on San Francisco KQED-FM’s “Forum” and KQED-TV’s “This Week in Northern California.” In addition, he was founding managing editor (1999–2000) of the website Mediachannel.org.
Larry won the prestigious George Polk Award for his coverage of Iran–Contra, and won five Gold Reel awards from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. He won a career achievement award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Golden Gadfly award from Media Alliance.
In addition to his work as a journalist, Bensky spent twelve years teaching broadcast journalism classes at Stanford, and courses in mass communication, journalism, broadcasting, and political science at California State University, East Bay (CSUEB) in Hayward, California. He also taught media criticism and analysis at Berkeley City College and political science at CSUEB.
Bensky was a political activist since the 1960s, working with nuclear disarmament and anti-war groups in New York City, Paris, and San Francisco during the Vietnam War. In 1968, he signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. He co-designed and wrote numerous successful direct mail appeals for Modern progressive organizations, including Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and the United Farm Workers. He was a devout pacifist and an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.
Click here to listen to a Larry Bensky Retrospective, a two-hour look at Larry’s career and after his initial retirement in 2007. Hosted by Aileen Alfandary and produced by Aaron Glantz.
Larry’s funeral was on Monday, May 20th. We will announce any plans for a memorial when those arrangements are made and update them here.
AV UNIFIED NEWS
Dear Anderson Valley Community,
Busy times continue!
At the elementary site, a huge shout out to the PTAV members who created some special and thoughtful treats for the staff. It is very much appreciated. We do not have a parent teacher organization at the high school, so I stepped in with some treats, but I cannot tell you how kind and meaningful it is to have our staff celebrated in this way. We appreciate the support.
Thank you to everyone who attended the Narcan training at the elementary site as well. Free supply kits were handed out. Additional free materials are available at the district office upon request. We appreciate the elementary staff organizing and hosting this event.
The elementary staff is preparing to make a final recommendation to the board on the new math curriculum. It speaks a lot that they decided to go with a program that requires quite a bit more teacher effort but is just transformative for student learning. I appreciate that. The easy way isn’t always the right way. That extra effort is really going to benefit students.
On the construction front at the elementary school, we are awaiting DSA approval on the kitchen and staff bathroom, and the elementary parking lot and hallway flooring will be completed June 10-22. Miguel will paint the exterior corridor over the next month or so.
Lots of important dates coming forward. Don’t miss the following:
Preschool District Office Lawn–May 22
All At Gym
6th Grade Promotion–Tuesday, June 4
8th Grade–Wednesday, June 5
High School Graduation–Thursday, June 6
Measure M GroundBreaking–High School Oval–Thursday, June 6 at 12 noon
An exciting week coming up at the high school with the presentations of the required Senior Projects. These service and career building projects are a capstone of the Anderson Valley High School program. Students participated in a variety of things including creating the drunk driving awareness presentation, repainting the letters in the gym that front the stage, self-knowledge projects related to culinary skills, job shadowing, and various other interesting endeavors. I understand from ancient lore that this event was originally designed to stave off “senioritis” and has now become an integral part of our body of work.
Speaking of “senioritis,” I want to be very transparent that next year the handbook includes some very specific language that students must attend in class and in person all day following their schedule unless it is for an excused illness or doctor’s appointment. Post Covid, many students and families have the idea that if you do the work, you do not need to be at school and that is not true. Graduation is tied to attendance and seniors may not post less than a 92 percent attendance rate to graduate. No surprises wanted, so please read the handbook. Saturday schools will also be offered and required to make up the time.
As the high school prepares for the remodel, a piece of student artwork was removed in order to protect it, and also to find someone to restore it as the plywood is splintering. If you know someone that can do mural restoration, we would be interested in talking with them. Please give them my cell. Underneath the plywood, we found a decades-old mosaic that probably is original to the school. It features icons representing the various departments within the school. We are in contact to see if anyone would be able to restore that work as well.
At the high school, chaos reigns a little bit with all of the preparation for Cupples Construction commencing on June 10. We look a little bit ragged right now but hang in with us. Transformation is coming. We are also awaiting DSA comments on the track and field, and we have received the phase 2 outline for the Gym structural report. Good stuff!
For both sites, summer school enrollments are being accepted. Contact your site secretary right away to sign up. High school students that are credit deficient must attend. An Anderson Valley High School diploma means something, and we don’t just give them away. Students have to attend and post passing grades in order to graduate. It is sad to see a student not graduate, but we are not a diploma mill. There needs to be a certain level of commitment and effort shown by both the student and the school. I will take a ding on our state data, if a student doesn’t accept that help and do their part with the many supports that we offer to get them to the finish line. Accountability matters and honors the effort and commitment of the many students that hang in there and finish a diploma even when it is hard.
A note from Coach Toohey that all Fall athletes must report to their teams and to practice no later than August 12th. (this is a week before the start of school - waiting until school starts may make you ineligible to participate). Football players must report on July 29th.
Similarly, please schedule sports physicals to make sure students are eligible to practice and play in the Fall. We confirmed with the clinic that they will see you over the summer, even if your physical has not yet expired. Contact your provider for an appointment early.
We have a few more weeks of school left and it is imperative that your student is on time and at school and ready to learn for the remaining school year. School matters. You can’t learn if you’re not here. Make sure your kid isn’t behind by helping them, supporting them, and requiring that they attend. The students that are at school every day are the ones that are successful and don’t struggle to the extent that our students that are chronically absent do. Do the best for your kid that you can and reach out to us for support as well. Together we can get it done.
This is an important message if your child is playing any sports or participating in the sport of cheer for the coming year:
If it has been close to a year or the sports physical is due before or during the Fall sports season, please schedule the exam with the clinic or your doctor in the summer.
Students that do not have a current sports physical may not practice or play.
Appointments in the Fall are often hard to get. Please call your clinic now to make an appointment for the summer!
We want our kids to play, but they must have a current physical on file. Help them be ready by scheduling your appointment!
Sincerely yours,
Louise Simson, Superintendent
Anderson Valley Unified School District
LIFE ON THE NAVARRO
by Bill Kimberlin
The air still cuts and the wind is ringing every tree leaf in The Valley, but before you know it, we will all be back at our favorite swimming holes, looking for shade trees.
My favorite place to swim, as a kid, was what we called, the "Tie Chute". At one time, this was a place on the Navarro where railroad ties were skidded down a steep bank (or chute) to the river, and then floated out to the ocean.
It was really just a small natural pool of deep water next to a huge rock outcropping. This swimming hole was on my Aunt's Summer Resort and could be accessed by a foot path that ran right by an old Indian camp where we sometimes found arrow heads.
After swimming, in the late afternoon, we would race to "the hot sands" to warm up. This little patch of sand was slightly higher than the rest of the little beach, and for some reason, the rich white sand here became much warmer than the rest.
Our skinny wet bodies raced for this warm dune, in hope of smothering our shivers. Soon, we were dulled by the heat and barely able to move. But now an even more fundamental craving struck us: sodas.
How could we possibly obtain sodas down here on the beach? Except for the main house kitchen, the resort relied exclusively on ice chipped from blocks in a big wooden ice house that sat under a huge oak tree. A portable ice chest was unthinkable, a distant luxury unfamiliar to us.
It may not seem like much now, but this quandary grew in our minds to exaggerated proportions. Should we stay here in this heavenly place, half anesthetized by the hot sands, or leave for what we knew were the riches of an open soda fountain, filled with every imaginable treat?
There was case upon case of Coca Cola, root beer, cream soda, Squirt, and Orange Crush cooling in a huge commercial refrigerator up at the Resort, but that was ten minutes away, up a hot steep path. This had to be carefully considered.
There was also an ice cream refrigerator up there with six black lids. Each exposed a five gallon tub of vanilla, chocolate, rocky road, or strawberry (the only flavors we knew).
But it didn't end there. There were restaurant sized carafes of chocolate, raspberry, or strawberry syrup and a whole gallon jar of walnut halves with a grinding mill for making sundae toppings.
Then there was the three-stem milk shake machine. Scoop in all the ice cream the silver chalice would hold… add syrup and milk… mount your concoction… and grind to order.
All of this was free to us, and we considered it our birthright, the spoils of having a summer resort in the family.
After much deliberation, we always made the same decision, and headed up to the big resort kitchen to claim our prize. We almost never returned to the beach until the next day. Instinctively, we must have felt that these two great pleasures were not meant to be combined. Still, we always pondered what it might be like to have sodas, at the beach.
I still swim there from time to time, but that soda fountain? It's gone forever.
BOOK SALE AT THE KELLEY HOUSE
by Katy Tahja
Save the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend for a visit to the Historic Book Sale at the Kelley House Museum in Mendocino. From 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on May 26th a great display of books will be available on the east porch. The museum will offer beautiful art and history books received as a donation, plus a number of century-old books we have been given.
Leather-bound volumes on Mexico’s history written by H. Bancroft in the 1880s are among the treasures. For California history fans, we have two large volumes containing histories of all the coastal counties in California in 1904. In addition to the histories, there are biographical items on prominent local citizens in each county with an etching of their images. Also not to be missed on the history table is the century-old three-volume chronicle of freemasonry.
People who enjoy food will gravitate toward the set of Culinary Arts Institute’s “cookbooklets.” Twenty cover everything from anchovies to zucchini. If something flew in the sky, walked on earth, swam in the sea, or grew from dirt, there is a recipe for how to cook it. Can’t wait for someone to make Prune Ice Cream!
Love architecture? A slipcovered two-volume set on the plan of St. Gall from the University of California Press scrupulously reproduces the medieval architectural drawing of a monastic compound in Switzerland dating from 820–830 CE. It depicts an entire Benedictine monastic compound, including church, houses, stables, kitchens, workshops, brewery, infirmary, and a special building for bloodletting. The complex was meant to house about 110 monks, 115 lay visitors, and 150 craftsmen and agricultural workers. Though it was never built, the original drawings survived for 12 centuries.
Also on offer at the sale will be beautiful editions of "The Book of Kells", the "Tres Riches Heures du Duke de Barry" first printed in 1410, volumes of Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings, and a volume on the history of stained glass.
"Orbit" contains photos taken from space by NASA astronauts and published by National Geographic. Donated binders of “First Day Covers” will interest readers of postmarks and stamp collectors. The focus of the sale is history, biography, fine arts, travel, philosophy, nature, and cooking. Visitors will not find much fiction, but since I am a retired librarian, I couldn’t help slipping in some historical fiction.
If you have books in the categories mentioned above that you would like to donate, it’s not too late. To do that, or for more information, please contact Katy Tahja at 707-937-5854 or ktahja@mcn.org
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