Climate RWC – August 2022

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P u b l i c a t i o n Profile: Ironman Dr. Robert Plant Spotlight: Civil War Round Table MicroClimate: Miracle League/Park Plans

ISSUE EIGHTY FOUR • AUGUST • 2022

Cleaning Lake Tahoe

One Piece at a Time

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•

The final weeks of summer vacation have arrived. In many places, this time of year is called the “dog days” — but not because it’s so hot that people want to lie around like a dog. It’s because Sirius, also known as the dog star, rises beside the sun. The ancient Greeks and Romans rightly equated that phenomenon, beginning in July and carrying into August, with the hottest days of the year.

As the weather heats up, many on the Peninsula head for Lake Tahoe. Summer and winter, “Big Blue” attracts 15 million annual visitors. Alas, a growing number leave behind so much trash that a post-Independence Day cleanup this year netted almost 3,500 pounds from the lake’s beaches. The refuse often blows into the lake, where it sinks to the bottom. That bothered Peninsula residents Jamie, Kathy and Lindsay Kopf so much that they started a foundation to remove rubbish from the lake floor. Their story begins on page 8.

Historians tell us that soldiers in the Civil War’s three-day Battle of Gettysburg fought in hot and humid conditions before the Union Army prevailed on July 3, 1863. For the past 50 years, a discussion group called the Peninsula Civil War Round Table has dissected the five-year conflict and its lasting effects on American life. You can read about this fascinating organization starting on page 16.

No matter the temperature or time of year, Redwood City dentist Bob Plant is out running. And cycling. And swimming. At 79, he’s not only one of the world’s top age-group triathletes. He’s still taking care of teeth. Climate’s Dan Brown caught up with him (for a moment, at least) before Plant’s inauguration this month into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame. Dan’s profile starts on page 24.

Late summer is also a great time to play baseball and hang out in the park. Our MicroClimate department this month reports on the Miracle League, a baseball association for disabled children and adults on the Peninsula. It also reveals plans for a string of new parks that would connect downtown Redwood City with the bay’s cooling breezes.

And let’s not forget the shooting stars we see around this time. In a Hollywood sense, San Carlos had one of its own — Irene Manning, whose film career during World War II was as brief as it was brilliant. Jim Clifford’s monthly Peninsula history column appears on page 30.

When evenings are hot, who wants to spend time cooking? Our new food columnist, Susan Jenkins, offers a refreshing Thai dish called Drunken Noodles, which takes just 30 minutes to prepare. Susan is a much-admired author who loves to create recipes ranging from the exotic to the everyday. She’s currently working on — what else? — a new cookbook.

Last, we have upgraded the beach house. Our “Around Town” feature is now called “In Case You Missed It.” The new name reflects the column’s mission to chronicle memories of Peninsula events.

I thinks that’s as far as I can stretch this summertime theme. Enjoy the August issue!

Scott Dailey, Editor August 2022 ·

CLIMATE · 3

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S •

FEATU RE Cleaning Lake Tahoe

8

SPOTLIGHT Civil War Round Table

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PROFILE Ironman Dr. Robert Plant

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MICROCLIMATE Miracle League/Park Plans

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT .....20 FOOD ............................28 HISTORY .....................30

4 · CLIMATE · August 2022

On the cover: The underwater drone operated by the Restoring the Lake Depths Foundation prepares to dive and retrieve garbage from the bottom of Lake Tahoe.

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NeighborsAugust helping neighbors - since 1938 2022 · CLIMATE ·5

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C L I M AT E •

CLIMATE M A G A Z I N E Publisher

S.F. Bay Media Group Editor

Scott Dailey scott@climaterwc.com Creative Director

Jim Kirkland jim@climaterwc.com Contributing Writers

Scott Dailey Dan Brown Susan Jenkins Janet McGovern Jim Kirkland Jim Clifford Photography

Jim Kirkland Editorial Board

Scott Dailey Jim Kirkland Adam Alberti Advisory Board

Dee Eva Jason Galisatus Connie Guerrero Matt Larsen Dennis Logie Clem Molony Barb Valley CLIMATE magazine is a monthly publication

by S.F. Bay Media Group, a California Corporation.

Entire contents ©2022 by S.F. Bay Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. CLIMATE is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

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C L I M AT E •

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August 2022 ·

CLIMATE · 7

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F E AT U R E •

Cleaning Up Californ

The Restoring the Lake Depths Foundation is racing to remove Tahoe's underwater trash.

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F E AT U R E •

ornia’s Favorite Lake Peninsula residents use high-tech “gripper” to snatch junk from the bottom of Lake Tahoe.

By Scott Dailey

It all started when a gust of wind blew Kathy Kopf’s hat into Lake Tahoe.

Not only did Kopf lose her favorite chapeau, made for her by a friend. She also realized she had inadvertently contributed to the scatter of debris accumulating at the bottom of one of California’s best-loved destinations.

The sting of losing to the breeze gradually wore off. But Kopf still found herself bugged by the deeper issue. How much junk was down there, up to 1,645 feet below Tahoe’s surface? How was it affecting the lake’s ecosystem? And what was anybody doing about it?

August 2022 ·

CLIMATE · 9

• Tons of Trash Like many fellow residents of the Peninsula, Kopf and her husband, Jamie, had been vacationing at Tahoe for decades.

They met there at a family July 4 celebration 48 years ago, just after Kathy graduated from Woodside High School. Fourand-a-half years later, after college and Jamie’s army service, they were married there.

Today, they own a home there.

And they have both become heartsick watching a splendid resource gradually devolve into one big trash heap.

“It’s terrible,” Jamie says. “People come up for the day and leave all this junk on the beach, and it all rolls off into the lake.”

Eventually, their annoyance spurred them to action. In 2020, even as Covid shut down most of the world, they recruited their 31-year-old daughter Lindsay and formed a foundation to clean up the lake bottom. The nonprofit organization, called the Restoring the Lake Depths Foundation, aims to pick up all the debris on Tahoe’s lakebed — for a start. The long-term goal is to do the same with every navigable lake in California and Nevada.

Seed money from Jamie and Kathy bought a 21-foot outboard aluminum cruiser and the core of the operation, a light blue “remotely operated vehicle,” or ROV, equipped with what amounts to an oversized pair of pliers. Operated with a small, handheld device that looks and works just like a video-game controller, the ROV dives below the surface and grabs trash from the lake bottom.

Others at Tahoe, notably a group led by a local scuba diver, are also working to glean trash from the lake. Their efforts, however, are limited to areas close to shore and only up to around 25 feet deep. The Kopfs believe their organization is the only

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F E AT U R E •

The shores of Lake Tahoe after the recent July 4 celebration. Photo courtesy of U.S. Forest Service.

“It’s terrible. People come up for the day and leave all this junk on the beach, and it all rolls off into the lake.” one in the West that’s using an ROV to retrieve lake trash at depths of up to 100 feet.

An Early Start At 7:30 on a cool, cloudless morning, the foundation’s boat and another craft bearing a photographer are the only vessels visible on the vast, deep blue lake. The granite peaks of the surrounding mountains soar about the timberline as the boats race from Tahoe Keys Marina, on the California side, to Nevada waters just beyond the state line. (The foundation is licensed to operate in Nevada, but still must leap a few bureaucratic hurdles in California. The Kopfs hope to be working in the Golden State by next year.)

Driving the lead boat is Scott Fontecchio, a robotics expert and retired Tahoe business owner who is now the foundation’s operations director. While he steers the boat, Operations Assistant James Tisdell prepares the ROV, a model BlueROV2 manufactured by a company called Blue Robotics, to go underwater. His pre-dive

procedure includes using a vacuum pump to check for leaks; if water were to seep into the ROV, it could foul the electrical system and a $20,000 piece of equipment could go belly-up.

Lindsay Kopf, meanwhile, sits opposite Fontecchio and describes how she came to be the foundation’s executive director.

Two years ago, she was working as the compliance officer for various car dealerships, including the Kopf family’s Boardwalk Auto Mall in Redwood City. Her job focused on making sure people observed governmental regulations and other rules covering all aspects of the business. That sometimes led to unwelcome conflict. As Lindsay says, “People don’t like to be told when they’re doing something wrong.”

When Jamie and Kathy approached her, she thought, “Hmm. Work in a stressful job where people hate to see me come around, or live at Tahoe and try to do something good for the world?” She’s glad she chose the obvious. “I don’t have to be rough and tough anymore,” she laughs.

Crew-cut and clad in shorts and a T-shirt, Fontecchio shifts to the back of the boat and carefully slips the ROV into the water. Floating on the surface, it looks for all the world like a very expensive bathtub toy. “In a very big bathtub,” Lindsay quips.

Attached to the ROV is a 300-meter-long yellow cord that contains the eight wires connecting the device both to the controller and a laptop that displays the video images the machine transmits as it descends and then hovers above the lake floor. As Fontecchio pulls the cord from a large spool and feeds it into the water, he looks exactly like the fly fisherman he is. Tisdell sits amidships under the boat’s canopy, facing the stern and gazing at the laptop, whose stiff, gray fabric hood blocks the daylight so he can see the screen.

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F E AT U R E • Left: James Tisdell manuevers the ROV along the lake bottom in search of trash.

Powered by a lithium-ion battery, four small thrusters move the ROV up, down and around as Tisdell manipulates the controller. The underwater apparatus heads straight for the bottom, 73 feet down. There, it will cruise at 1.5 meters per second, a foot or two above the lakebed to avoid stirring up clouds of sediment.

Deepwater Angling Now, the search begins. In a sense, it’s just high-tech fishing, with a light and a video camera instead of a sonar-based fish-finder. (The foundation recently obtained sonar equipment, which will be employed in deeper water too dark for the videocam.)

During the five days a week when the boat is operating, Tisdell logs every “catch” from the 6- or 7-hour voyage. On a recent day, the take included a plastic cup, two pairs of sunglasses, a hair scrunchie, a watch band, scraps of cardboard and a large, red tarp, presumably a boat cover.

Jamie says sunglasses and baseball caps are the items most often found. Perhaps the strangest discovery: A lawn mower.

That led to a joke about fishing for dorado but catching an El Toro.

The team also frequently hauls up small, personal video cameras. Tisdell says they’re his favorite finds, explaining, “We get plastics, batteries and electrical components all at once.”

On this warm Friday morning, with the boat anchored and the ROV sending its video images, the pickings at first appear slim. The machine glides through the deep, displaying only pictures of the sand below. Short, irregular ridges make the lake bottom appear a bit like the surface of the moon. Then, finally, a small dark spot shows up on the computer screen. Tisdell directs the ROV closer, and in this land of towering lakeside casinos, the team anticipates a payoff.

No dice. It’s a pinecone.

On the one hand, it’s disappointing because it isn’t trash. On the other, it’s re-

Below: Scott Fontecchio hauls up the ROV after a catch.

Below left: The prize, a baseball.

On a recent day, the take included a plastic cup, two pairs of sunglasses, a hair scrunchie, a watch band, scraps of cardboard and a large, red tarp, presumably a boat cover. assuring because the cone is part of nature.

It will stay.

The hunt resumes. A minute or two later, the video stream reveals a small, white sphere, settled against a log. There’s just one problem. Beside it lies a jumble of rope that could snare the ROV’s cord.

“Too small – throw it back,” Tisdell says.

“Catch and release,” laughs Fontecchio, the fly fisherman.

Then they reconsider. Tisdell maneuvers the ROV to the other side of the log.

Now the target sits between the log and the rope. Fontecchio encourages Tisdell to try if he thinks it’s safe.

“It’s going to be a tough grab,” Tisdell muses aloud as he lowers the ROV from above the log. Nudging the controls to squeeze the mechanical jaws, he eases the

object from the floor of the lake. When the ROV surfaces, it’s grasping a slashed, rubber-covered baseball.

“I can’t believe I got that,” Tisdell exclaims.

“Nice job,” says Fontecchio, in a genuinely congratulatory tone that nonetheless implies they do it all the time.

And, generally, they do. By Fontecchio’s estimation, they’ve come up empty just once in two years. “But that’s good news,” he says of being skunked. “It means there’s not a plethora of garbage down there.”

Still, there’s enough to bother not just Fontecchio, Tisdell and the Kopfs, but others from the Peninsula who call Lake Tahoe their second home.

August 2022

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F E AT U R E • until the spring, Lindsay will switch into fundraising mode.

She estimates that, ultimately, the foundation’s mission to clean every navigable lake in California and Nevada will cost millions. According to various sources, California holds more than 3,000 lakes.

Nevada has 36, including Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S. (The foundation might get by with a vacuum cleaner on the cracked, muddy bed of Lake Mead, whose shrinking waters have reached a record low.)

“It’s the place that I go to for peace and quiet and nature,” says Susan Kimmel, who with her husband Brian owns Clock Tower Music on Laurel Street in San Carlos along with a house near Tahoe’s North Shore. Kimmel has been going to the lake regularly since her youth in the late 1970s.

Lounging in the water, she says, is “just like being a kid again. You’re out there just splashing around and having fun.”

Dwindling Clarity With that in mind, she’s concerned about Tahoe’s water quality. “It’s incredibly important that the lake stay the way it’s been over all these years,” she says. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that the lake’s clarity has declined by around a third since 1968. According to a recent article on SFGate, scientists mainly blame sediment carried by melting snow from the mountains that ring the lake.

Despite a reported $2.6 billion thrown at the problem over the last 20 years, annual measurements during that time show average visibility leveling off at between 60 and 70 feet below the surface, compared with 100 feet more than a half-century ago.

Even so, San Carlos engineer Fernando Bravo says the Tahoe Basin “feels like paradise.” Bravo enjoys hiking and mountain biking, as well as playing golf on the region’s many courses. He especially likes to swim in the Trans Tahoe Relay, an 11.5mile race from Sand Harbor in Nevada to Dollar Point in California. Sponsored by San Francisco’s Olympic Club, the event last year reportedly drew more than 1,200 competitors.

Bravo says his favorite part is the last leg, where the water gradually becomes shallower and the lake floor emerges into view.

“As you come in, the whole bottom of the lake just becomes clear,” he says. “It’s just such a beautiful transition.”

From time to time, Bravo says, he has seen sunglasses, plastic bottles of sun-

12 · CLIMATE · August 2022

The intrepid crew: Scott Fontecchio, Lindsay Kopf and James Tisdell.

In the lake’s watery underworld, debris settles almost as quickly as the foundation can pick it up. Says Jamie: “This is going to go on forever.” screen and other refuse on the lakebed as he has finished the race. He thinks it detracts from the experience.

“It happens in the forest, as well,” he laments. “Any time I see debris, I just feel so bad because it’s such a beautiful environment that you want to keep it pristine.”

Informed of the foundation’s work, Kimmel and Bravo immediately offered to volunteer. “I love lakes,” Bravo says. “And the Tahoe lake is just one of our world’s most valuable treasures. We want to maintain it for our future generations. It’s wonderful what they’re doing.”

Volunteers — and money — will be needed for the foundation to reach its ambitious goals. Soon, Lindsay wants to acquire an additional two boats and ROVs, and hire two more crews. The foundation’s webpage, www.restoremylake.org, reports $60,000 in recent contributions. Come this November, when operations shut down

Climbing Uphill Just tidying Tahoe is a Sisyphean undertaking. In Greek mythology, a king named Sisyphus (SIS-a-phis) was sentenced by Zeus, the chief god, to roll a boulder up a hill in the underworld, only to watch it tumble back so he could push it up again — for all eternity. Lindsay has divided Tahoe into a huge grid and marks off each square as it’s cleaned. Still, in the lake’s own watery underworld, debris settles almost as quickly as the foundation can pick it up. Says Jamie: “This is going to go on forever.”

No doubt it will, if a sizable number of Tahoe’s 15 million annual visitors keep strewing their garbage. San Francisco television station KRON reported on July 6 that the annual, all-volunteer Keep Tahoe Red, White and Blue Beach Cleanup collected 3,450 pounds of rubbish the day after the Fourth of July.

Last May, another group called Clean Up the Lake said it had finished the initial segment of a planned circumnavigation of shallower waters along Tahoe’s shoreline.

On 189 expeditions covering 72 miles, scuba divers retrieved nearly 25,000 pieces of litter that together weighed approximately the same number of pounds.

The daily breeze helps the trash find the lake. Famed for its calm surface and excellent water skiing in the morning, Tahoe gets windy and choppy by midafternoon.

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F E AT U R E •

Whether it consists of miniscule scraps of plastic or baseballs or flipflops, Lake Tahoe’s growing garbage pile may threaten not only an environmental gem, but also the area’s lucrative tourism economy.

The wind blows articles from boats, beaches and lakeside picnic areas into the water.

Beyond paper plates, napkins and newspapers, plastic items such utensils, cups and bags make for a growing concern.

Unease Over Microplastics Wind, waves and sun all cause plastic to degrade. As they weaken, plastic sunglasses and beer cups, for example, can break into tiny chips called “microplastics.” (Certain microplastics, such as the tiny beads used in cosmetics, are manufactured.)

Microplastics contaminate not only water but also the land and the air. According to the British scientific journal Nature, microplastics have been found in the atmosphere, as well as destinations as diverse as shellfish, beer and rainwater.

In 2021, environmental scientists led by Dr. Albert Koelmans at a university in the Netherlands estimated that, in the worst cases, certain people might be eating and

breathing the equivalent of a plastic credit card every year.

That said, the jury’s out over whether microplastics are harmful to humans. As of 2021, the only widely known published studies involved mice, with artificially high exposures. But with worldwide plastic production expected to double by 2050, Koelmans has described the potential problem as “a plastic time bomb,” adding, “If you ask me about risks, I am not that frightened today. But I am a bit concerned about the future if we do nothing.”

Indeed, doing nothing may prove a poor choice. From Lake Tahoe’s only outlet, the Truckee River rolls northeast and provides 85 percent of the Reno area’s drinking water before emptying into 112,000-acre Pyramid Lake on the nearby Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. In addition, both the river and Pyramid Lake support irrigation. Beyond that, the lake, home to the famed Lahontan cutthroat trout, also

brings considerable revenue from visiting anglers, according to Donna Marie Noel, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe’s natural resources director.

Whether it consists of miniscule scraps of plastic or baseballs or flipflops, Lake Tahoe’s growing garbage pile may threaten not only an environmental gem, but also the area’s lucrative tourism economy. In 2019, U.S. News & World Report ranked the entire lake region as the nation’s third-best small town to visit. That opinion may not last if increasing numbers of tourists double as chronic litterbugs. But even as more people descend on the Tahoe Basin, in many cases leaving their rubbish behind, the Kopfs’ foundation and other volunteers will follow and smarten things up.

And who knows? Kathy Kopf may finally find her hat. C More information about the Restoring the Lake Depths Foundation:

www.restoremylake.org

August 2022

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M I C R O C L I M AT E •

The Miracle League: Where Everyone Gets a Chance to Play Ball

By Jim Kirkland The motto is simple: Everybody deserves to play baseball.

The San Francisco Peninsula chapter of the Miracle League, a nonprofit that helps children and adults with mental and physical disabilities take the field, was started by brothers Gary and Scott Morton in 2018. They adopted the concept from the larger Miracle League, which claims more than 240 individual organizations for disabled ballplayers throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In Redwood City, the Mortons’ enterprise was an immediate hit. Then, just two years later, Covid knocked the whole operation out of the park.

The Mortons and members of the board scrambled to adult helpers, and the number of needed keep from losing momentum. volunteers can easily climb to 200 on an Scott and Gary Morton “We held a few virtual activities and did our best to stay afternoon. in touch, with handwritten cards on holidays and sending out cutBut, the Mortons say, it’s become hard to find people out face masks,” Scott says. “But it was a far cry from having in-per- ready to pitch in. Parents are key; they transport their kids to son games.” games and often stick around to help. In talking with other Many of the league’s players have serious physical conditions youth sports associations, however, Scott discovered a broad that make them susceptible to infections such as Covid. Even as other trend: Players far outnumber the parents who are willing to local youth sports started again, the league’s brass chose not to tempt assist. fate and waited until this past April.

“It seems logical when I think about it, that after two years “We were very cautious,” Scott says. “Two of our board mem- of youth not being able to play (because of Covid), the kids are bers have children in the league, so we took our lead from them as to out and ready to tear it up,” he says. “But over those same two when it would be safe to resume playing.” years, adults have become disconnected.”

Enter the Young Men’s Service League of Menlo Park, Searching for a New Field an organization of mothers and sons working together to imEver since starting their Redwood City “franchise,” the Morton prove the local community. The group has become the main brothers have yearned for a field designed specifically for the organi- contributor of buddies who play with the disabled athletes. zation’s athletes, in the same way the Magical Bridge playground at And the league has enjoyed an unexpected bonus. Scott says Red Morton Park serves disabled children and their families. Games that on any given game day, “a good third of the mothers stay are currently played on the grounds of now-closed Hawes Elementa- and help out.” ry School, on Roosevelt Ave. Miracle League supporters recently appeared before the city’s Spreading Across the Continent Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission, which unanThe larger Miracle League’s website says the organizaimously recommended the development of a conceptual plan to build tion represents “more than playing a game,” noting partican inclusive sports facility at Mitchell field in the Red Morton complex. ipants make new friends and gain self-esteem. The league For Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community Services has existed since 2000, when its first field opened in an AtDirector Chris Beth, a suitable field is a high priority. “The Miracle lanta suburb. During the next two years, chapters sprouted League really ties into our desire to provide recreation access to all, in South Carolina, Alabama, West Virginia, Illinois and Caland we recognize the need for a special field like this,” he says. ifornia. The organization says it currently serves more than 200,000 children and adults. It adds that it “has an aggressive Relying on Volunteers plan to help local communities build Miracle League comOn average, 15 players are assigned to each of the league’s four teams plexes around the globe.” (two for youths and two for adults). Each player is paired with an able-bodied “ buddy,” who assists. That’s 60 people per game, half of More information about the San Francisco Peninsula them volunteers. Multiply that by two games per day, then add more Miracle League: www.miracleleaguesfpen.com

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M I C R O C L I M AT E •

Redwood City Plans Parks Connecting Downtown to the Bay

By Janet McGovern Plans are taking shape for transforming a small parking lot next to the main Redwood City Library into the first of three downtown parks. Located on Middlefield Road across from Milagros restaurant, the 1.5-acre site could by next year become the first link in a chain of parks, open space and trails that would lead from downtown out to the bayside east of U.S. 101.

A second park would be created in the parking lot behind City Hall and the post office on Jefferson Avenue, and the third would be in a less-developed area on Bradford Street, along Redwood Creek, which could include a trail with scenic overlooks and interpretive signs. By following the path east, people could ride Library site plan bikes or walk to the bay via the Main Street freeway undercrossing, which opened last year. expressed at a recent meeting of the city and the Redwood City “We’ve never had a true connection to the creek,” says Park Downtown Business Group, is the potential for the parks to attract Landscape Designer Claudia Olalla, who has been gathering homeless people. community comment about the parks and the amenities peoOf the two concerns, Olalla responds, “Those are definite chalple want. The Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community lenges, but there are things the city is doing about them.”

Services Department received more than 1,000 responses to a She and department director Chris Beth told the business survey about the library park in July, and city staff is analyzing group members that a census of downtown parking, both public the responses. and private, revealed more unused spaces than people might realize. About 600 spaces are scheduled to come online as a result Parks for Picnics of two new development projects on Main Street, and Olalla says Development during the last decade has brought thousands of 3,000 additional spaces are projected in the downtown construcresidents downtown, and the city is trying to create a few “neigh- tion pipeline over the next decade, if all projects are built. borhood” parks for people to enjoy. So far, Olalla says, respondents to the survey about the library park strongly favor a water Keeping Watch feature. They also want casual uses such as spending time with Beth contends that park activity and programs, planned lighting friends, sitting and eating, or working with cellphones and lap- and an open-landscaping concept will make goings-on in the parks tops. Another possibility might allow businesses such as restau- visible both to passersby and law enforcement. “Eyes on the parks rants to rent space for food-related events. are so important,” Olalla agrees.

In its current concept, the park by the library would include The city has about $3 million set aside for the Lot A park — an entry plaza on Middlefield Road, a few landscaped areas, and $2.2 million in park impact fees paid by developers and an $800,000 a courtyard and central plaza. Park planners are also working grant stemming from the Stanford Recreation Mitigation Fund, with library staff to investigate combining children’s activities which finances parks, trails and related improvements in areas afindoors with opportunities for kids and families outside. fected by Stanford’s regional expansion. Stanford has around 2,700 A major objection has concerned a loss of parking. Under employees at its Redwood City campus. current plans, all of Lot A’s 51 spaces would go, but some parking Olalla hopes construction drawings will be ready by the end of would remain behind the post office. The other issue, forcefully the year so work on the new parks can begin in 2023. C August 2022

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SPOTLIGHT•

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SPOTLIGHT•

New Lessons from a Long-Ago War The Peninsula Civil War Round Table probes America’s bloodiest conflict.

By Scott Dailey

Ever wonder how money orders got started? Or why dollar bills are sometimes called “greenbacks”? Or how steel ships came to replace wooden vessels?

They all date to the Civil War. When people think of the devastating conflict of 18611865, they may picture blue-and-gray-uniformed soldiers charging one another with long-barreled guns and bayonets. They know the war ended slavery in the U.S. They may remember the names of famous battle sites like Gettysburg, Fredericksburg and Vicksburg.

But few people may realize the war's wider effects on American society and even warfare itself.

W

ithout doubt, the most immediate results were the abolition of slavery and the reunification of the country. But consider something as routine (but also potentially hazardous) as sending money through the mail. According to the U.S. Postal Service, money orders were established in November 1864 so Union soldiers and ordinary citizens could send funds more securely than if they used easily stolen cash.

These days, that cash typically comes in “greenbacks” — a common nickname for U.S. paper money. The Federal Reserve Board’s U.S. Currency Education Program recalls that, in 1861, the Treasury Department began issuing “non-interest-bearing demand notes” to finance the war. They came in denominations of $5, $10, and $20, and represented loans to the government that could be redeemed at any time for face value. They served as money, and are still valid currency (although today they’re worth more to collectors). On the back,

they were printed in green ink – hence, “greenbacks.”

Next, steel ships. The French navy is credited with the first iron-covered battleship, launched in 1859. But the “ironclads” gained prominence during the Civil War, when they proved superior to wooden vessels, which could more easily be blown apart by artillery shells. Eventually, iron gave way to steel for the hulls of modern ships.

Such are the many everyday products of the Civil War. And for the past half-cenAugust 2022

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SPOTLIGHT•

estimated at 750,000. As Hofmann puts it, “There were a lot of sitting ducks out there.”

It’s those kinds of issues that dominate the Peninsula Civil War Round Table’s lunchtime conversations. For examA Long Legacy ple, how much did the The group’s exact origins are, Civil War affect global well, lost to history. But curhistory? Eller's husband rent members agree that the Left to right: Joan Larrabee, Magnus Akerblom, Dave and Abby Eller.

Dave believes the impact organization came into being was huge, particularly around 1972 or 1973. (The first inasmuch as it spurred Civil War Round Table met humanity’s ever-growing in Chicago in 1941.) The local ability to spill blood since association once convened at the mid-19th Century. now long-gone Salvatore’s ConAs Dave observes, ironclad ships tinental Restaurant on El Camino Real in overturning of Roe v. Wade this past June.

San Carlos, a popular meeting spot for Alexander Hofmann, a Civil War scholar weren’t the Civil War’s only developments civic groups. Today, its membership gath- at the University of Chicago, notes Roe’s to become broadly adopted. Machine guns ers on the third Tuesday of each month at reliance on the Reconstruction-era Four- also advanced (the hand-cranked Gatling Harry’s Hofbrau in Redwood City to eat teenth Amendment, whose guarantee gun was invented in 1861). Though emlunch, take in historical presentations and of due process underpinned the right to ployed relatively little during the Civil consider everything from 19th-century privacy described in the Supreme Court’s War, machine guns were used more commilitary tactics to the Civil War’s lasting 1973 decision. The court’s recent ruling monly by World War I and were a staple of imprint on American life. potentially casts doubt on that reasoning; World War II. Dave also points to the widely un“The Civil War is a historian’s de- as a consequence, Hofmann says, “Reconlight,” says current president Abby Eller, struction amendments are literally being derstood connections among economic dominance, technological innovation and adding, “It was the first large-scale, mod- litigated through to the present.” military success. (A strong economy can ern total war in history.” (Many historians lead to inventions such as the telegraph — agree; others consider World War I the first Overwhelming Advantages “modern” conflict and view the Civil War In military terms, the Union’s victory vital to the North’s triumph — and turn as an important precursor.) demonstrated the importance of econom- commercial manufacturing into wartime That said, Eller continues: “It’s not ic, industrial and technological superior- production.)

“What became modern war was demuch of an exaggeration to say that, ulti- ity, at least in conventional warfare. The mately, there was no corner of America, Civil War also introduced new weaponry, veloped from the United States Civil War,” no household that was totally untouched including “rifled muskets” whose grooved Dave says. “The whole world’s history by the Civil War and all the change that it bores let soldiers fire up to 10 times farther since the Civil War is based on what happened in all these different ways.” brought about. It was really the transfor- than before, with much greater accuracy. mative event in our country’s history.”

Historians disagree about whether Quite a statement. But think about those guns, along with the first repeating Freedom at Last it. Today, nearly 160 years after the South rifles, significantly influenced the out- Fellow member Joan Larrabee often fosurrendered in 1865, resentment lingers comes on Civil War battlefields. Hofmann cuses on the war’s social consequences, in many parts of the former Confederacy. sides with those who believe the new especially the end of slavery and the ofAnd debates over states’ rights and federal weapons prevailed over old, Napoleonic ficial recognition of former slaves’ status power are as fresh as the Supreme Court’s tactics and contributed to a death toll now as human beings, rather than property. tury, they and other related subjects have propelled spirited discussions among the amateur history enthusiasts who meet every month under the banner of the Peninsula Civil War Round Table.

“The Civil War is a historian’s delight. It was the first large-scale, modern total war in history.”

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Larrabee, whose extended family resided on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, tells of a distant relative who, according to lore, lost his Louisiana plantation in a card game. His opponent’s winnings included eight slaves. (The transaction, she says, is documented in government records found by her son.)

“To think that you could do that,” ponders Larrabee, her soft, calm voice conveying a combination of incredulity and indignation. “You could just transfer eight people, including a few babies, and they now have a new owner.

It’s appalling, and I often wonder what happened to them.”

Another member, Magnus Akerblom, came to the U.S. from Sweden as a child in 1957. His interest in the Civil War stems largely from his desire to understand his adopted country. He estimates he has nearly 100 books about the conflict, and enjoys combing through them to obtain differing perspectives.

“Sometimes I find myself studying and looking at a specific topic like, maybe, the Battle of Gettysburg,” Akerblom says.

“I’m looking something up, and then I get another book and I’m cross-referencing and checking things out. I just found that at Gettysburg there were 72,000 horses and they drank something like 3 million gallons of water. The logistics of that are fascinating.”

Round Table member Howard Jones’s ancestors fought for both sides. Jones has long been interested in history, and especially military history. On the oft-considered question of whether the Civil War could have been prevented, he believes the secession of 11 states shortly after President Abraham Lincoln’s election gave the new commander-in-chief little choice.

“Any president who takes the oath to

SPOTLIGHT• Constitution’s acceptance of slavery, and spoke of his imperative “to withdraw from a government … (that) threatens to be destructive of our rights.”

The Ellers acknowledge slavery’s role, also noting that — at least in the beginning — Lincoln aimed primarily to maintain national unity. Dave mentions Lincoln’s August 1862 letter to newspaper publisher and Republican Party co-founder Horace Greeley, in which the President wrote, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.” Even so, less than five months later Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in the Confederate states and made freedom for slaves the centerpiece of the North’s purpose for prosecuting the war.

Nearly 120 years ago, the American philosopher George Santayana famously proposed that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” If the Civil War was America’s most transformative event, it was also the most painful.

In another era when, too, “everyone is in everyone else’s face,” the Peninsula Civil War Round Table offers a compelling forum for recalling the lessons of history.

The war ended slavery and led to official recognition of former slaves' status as human beings, rather than property. preserve and protect the country, I think, is obligated to take action in a situation like that,” Jones says. “Politics then were pretty much like politics now. Everyone was in everyone else’s face. It doesn’t take much to set it off, (and) that one was a long time coming.”

What Started the War? Along those lines, another frequent question: Was the war fought over slavery or union? Hofmann says historians “universally agree” on slavery as the cause, with the proviso that “from a northern standpoint, the conflict grew from a war for union to a war for emancipation.”

To the slavery argument, Akerblom emphasizes the Confederate states’ declarations of secession; along with “trial-balloon” correspondence among southern leaders, many of the formal statements directly or indirectly mentioned preserving enslavement. Akerblom also cites the January 1861 farewell speech of then-U.S. Senator Jefferson Davis, who became President of the Confederacy a month later. In his address to the Senate, Davis specifically referred to what he considered the U.S.

C

More information about the Civil War Round Table: www.peninsulacivilwarroundtable.org Climate thanks Dr. Alexander Hofmann of the University of Chicago history department for his perspectives on the information in this article.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•

The 4th Makes a Prideful Return to Redwood City Fourth of July festivities returned to Redwood City in a big way after a twoyear pandemic hiatus.

A day filled with free events featured a pancake breakfast with the city’s Fire Department, chalk art on Courthouse Square, a downtown festival, the annual parade, and a pre-fireworks concert at the Port of Redwood City. The night ended with the traditional fireworks celebration at the port.

Grand Marshal, 105-year-old Louise "Auntie Lou" Prado

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•

August 2022 ·

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•

San Carlos Loves a Block Party San Carlos is famous for social events, and block parties lead the way in both neighborhoods and the commercial district. On June 17, residents headed downtown to the 600 block of Laurel Street, where they dined in surrounding restaurants, enjoyed food outdoors, played games, and danced to the tunes of a disc jockey.

“Block parties are some of my favorite events,” says Recreation Coordinator Lauren Schneider of the city’s parks and recreation department. “They’re the best, especially since we haven’t been able to have them for so long.”

The city encourages residents to call Parks and Recreation at 650-802-4382 for help in arranging block parties of their own.

Redwood City Folks Enjoy Magical Music and Motion The Magical Bridge Playground at Redwood City’s Red Morton Park now offers its “Magical Music and Motion” series, which combines yoga, movement, meditation, dance, and fitness for people of all ages, led by two instructors from Cañada College and Notre Dame de Namur University.

“This is meant to be very adaptive,” says Lori Hart, a volunteer with the Redwood City Parks and Arts Foundation. “We’ve had people who have brought chairs. It’s a feel-good movement kind of thing.”

22 · CLIMATE · August 2022

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•

Hall of Fame Athletes Honored The San Mateo County Historical Association on June 23 inducted six new athletes into the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame. This year's honorees: Donovan Blythe, a globe-trotting basketball ambassador and coach whose dominant Eastside College Prep girls’ teams became state champions.

Liz Bruno, a basketball star at Mercy High School and Santa Clara University early in the Title IX era. Many of her scoring/rebounding records still stand.

Ron DiMaggio, a longtime track and field coach who has mentored thousands of young athletes Inductees left to right: Ron DiMaggio, Mike Jameson accepting for Helen Lengfeld, Chris Dorst, Liz Bruno, Scott Feldman and Donovan Blythe. in Daly City and the North County.

Chris Dorst, a Menlo-Atherton High School and Stanford University water polo standout who became an Olympic medalist.

Scott Feldman, a Major League Baseball pitcher who honed his craft at Burlingame High School and the College of San Mateo early in his career.

Helen Lengfeld, a stellar golfer and dedicated advocate for women on the links whose influence lives on at the Peninsula Golf & Country Club and beyond.

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August 2022

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PROFILE •

“The Fastest D

24 · CLIMATE · August 2022

•

PROFILE •

t Dentist Alive” Dr. Robert Plant earns a place in the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame.

By Dan Brown

One of the perks of being an age-group warrior, as Dr. Robert Plant has been described, is that the calendar resets every few years. Next year, Plant will turn 80. As a triathlete, he can hardly wait to feel young again.

I

"

'm going to be the baby in the group,” he says with a laugh. It will be an advantage.

At Plant’s age, it’s the younger athletes who typically gain the edge, particularly in a sport that requires a combined 139 miles of swimming, cycling and running.

For now, he’s having a heck of a time fending off a few of the plucky youngsters at the low end of his 75-79 age group. Sheesh — kids these days.

Still, Plant remains tough to catch for just about anyone. The longtime Redwood City dentist is constantly on the move, whether swim-

ming, cycling and running, or brushing, flossing and drilling. In both cases, his endurance is staggering (this is his 51st year as a dentist).

In all, he’s wound up with a career for the ages, especially in his sport. Plant, who got a late start as a triathlete, will be enshrined in the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame during a gala in Milwaukee on Aug. 4.

Plant’s career age-group résumé includes seven national triathlon championships. He also won a pair of titles in 2018: The famed Ironman Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii, and the Triathlon World Championship in Australia.

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• Finding it Hard to Believe “I was not quite accepting of it at first,” the unassuming Plant says of his Hall of Fame selection. “But then all my buddies were saying, ‘You deserve it, blah, blah, blah.’

“So, I finally accepted it. And I finally have kind of embraced it. I'm just happy that it’s not a posthumous award.”

This year’s four-member induction class includes two multi-time Olympians (Gwen Jorgensen and Laura Bennett) and two athletes who did their best work after getting their AARP cards (Plant and 76-year-old Lesley Cens-McDowelllof Pennsylvania). But the coronation should not be mistaken for a finish line. Plant is probably out training at this moment.

Maybe he’s pounding out hilly miles at Sawyer Camp, cycling along Cañada Road or swimming at one of the three fitness clubs to which he belongs. Triathletes in the 80-84 category should consider themselves warned.

Earning Respect from Other Athletes On a flight back from an Ironman championship in Kona one year, Plant sat next to another competitor with longtime Peninsula ties, someone also known for his day job. But Plant didn’t know that when he saw his hyperkinetic fellow passenger jiggling his foot up and down, stretching from his seat and propping his foot up on the armrest.

Plant finally introduced himself and learned it was Redwood City native Eric Byrnes, the former Oakland A’s outfielder turned endurance athlete. And just like that, a mutual admiration society was born.

“Bob is a GREAT guy and an incredible triathlete,” Byrnes replied via email when asked to confirm the story. “He’s the fastest dentist alive.”

Born in 1943, Plant grew up in Redwood City and went to grammar school at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and high school at Serra in San Mateo. Back then,

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PROFILE •

Dr. Robert Plant

His true introduction to triathlon competition came in 1989, when Plant volunteered as a timekeeper at the 1989 Ironman World Championships in Kona. It turned out to be the ultimate gateway race — an epic duel between two of the sport’s all-time greats. his hometown endured the derisive nickname, “Deadwood City.” Plant says there was little for bored teens to do besides “cruise up and down El Camino in your hot rod, when gas was 25 cents a gallon.”

Over time, Plant discovered he didn’t need a sports car to go fast. He competed in track and field at San Jose State during the so-called “Speed City” era under coach Bud Winters.

Plant ran alongside future Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos, best known for their Black Power salute on the medal stand at the 1968 Games in Mexico

City. Plant recalls a fun bit of trivia; he says the reason Smith and Carlos raised one gloved fist apiece is that they’d forgotten the second pair of gloves back at the hotel and had to share.

Plant started at SJSU as a long-jumper (the event was called the broad jump in those days) before shin splints forced him to convert to the quarter-mile (now the 400 meters).

“And I wasn't that very high-ranked on the team,” he says. Even so, Plant once got to replace Smith at the anchor position for the mile relay.

“It shocked me,” he says. “I was so hyped up, man, because Tommie had an ingrown toenail, and he couldn't run. So, the coach came to me and said, ‘Hey, Bob!’ Are you kidding me? I had not practiced passing the baton, ever.

“And when the third guy came around, I just blasted out. I almost went over the boundary line, the passing zone.

And it was the fastest I ran in my life, and we won.”

Discovering a New Sport Plant just kept going. After college, he competed in recreational 10Ks and ran marathons. In his early forties, he clocked a personal-best 2 hours, 41 minutes at the Boston Marathon. That’s an impressive 6-minute, 9-second pace for every mile.

His true introduction to triathlon competition came in 1989, when Plant volunteered as a timekeeper at the 1989 Ironman World Championships in Kona. It turned out to be the ultimate gateway race — an epic duel between two of the sport’s alltime greats.

The battle between longtime rivals Dave Scott and Mark Allen became known as the “Iron War.” For more than eight hours, the pair raced side-by-side at a record pace. After 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and 26.2 miles of running (a full marathon), Allen snapped the

• tape just 58 seconds ahead of Scott.

“I was at the finish line, and I was so excited,” Plant says. “I thought, ‘Wow, I gotta’ do this race.’”

Getting the hang of it took work. Yes, he could run. Yes, that cardiovascular training and leg strength carried over into cycling.

But Plant did not take like a fish to water.

“Basically, with swimming,” he says, “I was like a rock with arms.”

In that discipline, he had to learn that technical precision with each stroke was at least as important as fitness. It became clear as Plant watched much older, much larger, swimmers glide past him during his training laps.

“I was looking at these ladies and thinking, ‘Man, they're just kicking my butt,’” Plant says with a laugh. “It was all technique, right? If you have lousy technique, you're not going anywhere!”

Eventually he figured it out, although swimming still ranks last on his list of triathlon skills. Nonetheless, he says he generally finishes near the top of his age group in all three stages.

When he won the Ironman World Championship for his age group in 2018, he set a record for the 75-79 category by finishing in 13 hours, 6 minutes and 3 seconds.

How dominant was that? Fidel Rotondaro of Venezuela, his closest competitor, finished 30 minutes and 52 seconds behind.

“It comes down to just hanging in there mentally, just breaking through the barriers and trying to just persevere,” he says. “It’s just having that ‘don't-quit’ attitude, even when the body says, ‘Oh, sorry, I know you don't want to quit, but we're not going anyplace.’”

PROFILE •

Above: Plant's medals commemorate national and international championships.

“I think what really drives the sport is your inner passion. It’s not the hype. I think it's your inner drive.”

Going, Going and Going It should be known to competitors everywhere that Plant has no plans to stop running — ever. His best triathlon advice — his “tri” tip — is simply to love it as much as he does.

“I think what really drives the sport is your inner passion,” he says. “It’s not the hype. I think it's your inner drive.”

He's running in Abu Dhabi later this year before heading to Egypt for another race.

“I get around a little bit,’’ Plant says, chuckling. “That's part of the fun, too. I go, ‘Oh, where's the World Championship?’

Well, I'm going to see if I qualify for that.

And I want to go to such-and-such place.’”

About the only place he will not travel is on an ego trip. At his dentistry office on Arch Street in Redwood City, his staff had to trick him into bringing in his medals and jerseys, which they framed without asking his permission.

In planning his acceptance speech for the Hall of Fame, he notes that he wanted to thank the volunteers and race directors. “Because triathlon is like a family,” he says.

But his modesty won't help him escape the highest honor his sport can bestow. The fastest dentist alive is about to get his brush with greatness. C

The office staff presented this custom-made bobblehead to the dentist and triathlete.

August 2022

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FOOD by Susan Jenkins•

Midsummer Thai Dream I lived in China for 15 amazing years, falling in love with the people, the culture and the food. Living there made it easy to hop onto planes and jet off to nearby places, such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

The last was my favorite, for two initial reasons: Visas weren’t required and the modest costs fit my teacher's budget.

As I kept returning to this land of smiles, making 12 trips in all, I found many more reasons to love it. Most were because of Koh Samui, the small, rocky island just a short flight from Bangkok. There, I found a favorite seaside resort that boasted the best in everything: Quietude, massage, wellness and — well, the most gorgeous, delectable food I've ever seen or tasted.

Drunken Noodles 8 ounces dried rice noodles ¼ cup oyster sauce ¼ cup soy sauce 1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 teaspoon white sugar 2 tablespoons cold water 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 cup shallots, thinly sliced 6 teaspoons chili (bird's eye chilis), thinly sliced (I order mine from Amazon; you might need to remove the seeds — they're hot) 4 cloves garlic, minced 2½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips 1 pound Chinese broccoli or bok choy ½ red bell pepper, chopped ½ green bell pepper, chopped 4 stalks green onions, thinly sliced 1 cup fresh basil leaves

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One early morning, a taxi picked me up to transport me to the tiny island airport, where I planned to catch a flight back to Bangkok. In the wee hours of the morning, before the sun rose, we came to a stop while a herd of 10 wild elephants plodded ahead of us. In the darkness, they seemed like moving mountains. The sheer force of their footsteps caused the ground to tremble, literally, and I found it unforgettably thrilling to share the morning with such gentle, hulking creatures.

And the food on Koh Samui. So fresh, perfectly seasoned and cheap. Drunken Noodles were one of my favorite dishes — at once sweet, salty and savory, as well

as just a bit fatty and pleasingly acidic. I always found them both satisfying and refreshing on a long summer evening.

Now that I've returned to California, I have found it necessary to learn to make my own Thai dishes. I don't know how Drunken Noodles came to have their name, because they contain no alcohol. But I don't think anybody will mind if I sip a glass of chilled Chardonnay while I cook them, especially in the summer. At least, it works for me.

Note: The list of ingredients may suggest a lengthy cooking time. Fear not: From first chop to final sizzle should take only about 30 minutes. C

1. Soak rice noodles in hot water until they’re flexible, 10 to 15 minutes. Occasionally move the noodles around to separate them. Drain the water and cover noodles with a wet paper towel.

2. Combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, Asian fish sauce, maple syrup, sugar and water in a small bowl. These ingredients form the drunken-noodle sauce.

3. Heat vegetable oil and sesame oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Stir-fry shallots, chili peppers and garlic until shallots are soft, about two minutes. Move the mixture around the outside of the pan to create a space and add chicken. Sear chicken for one minute, then combine it with shallot mixture. Add bell peppers and Chinese broccoli or bok choy and stir-fry them until they’re tender, about two minutes.

4. Add drunken-noodle sauce and sliced green onions and mix. Cook until sauce begins to simmer. Add soaked rice noodles and toss to coat until noodles have absorbed the sauce and are cooked through, about two minutes. Remove from heat.

5. Stir in basil leaves until they’re wilted. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. Serve.

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H I S T O•R YC LbI M y A J iTmE • Clifford•

Irene Manning: A Star Who Settled in San Carlos I watched “Yankee Doodle Dandy” on July 4, and, inspired by Jimmy Cagney’s legendary performance, did some research. I learned that the iconic 1942 patriotic film also featured Irene Manning, who retired to San Carlos following what the New York Times called a “fleeting but stellar” career as a Hollywood leading lady during the war years of the 1940s.

The Times’ assessment came in its obituary for Manning, who was 91 when she died in San Carlos in 2004. Beyond the Cagney classic, Manning’s other films included “Shine on Harvest Moon,” the 1940s version of “The Desert Song” and “Hollywood Canteen,” 1944’s top money-maker for Warner Bros.

Born Inez Harvuot in Cincinnati in 1912, Manning also appeared on Broadway and the London stage. She entertained troops in the U.K. during World War II, and had a stint with the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. Fluent in German, she cut four songs in that language with Miller; they were among the last recordings Miller made before his military plane disappeared between the U.K. and France on December 15, 1944. Manning also appeared on the cover of Yank magazine, a weekly wartime military publication, gazing seductively into the camera and clad in what appeared to be a two-piece negligee.

“The Desert Song,” a musical in which Manning was paired with actor and singer Dennis Morgan, deserves special attention, if only for a 1983 showing at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City. Manning attended the event, saying she hadn’t seen the movie since it debuted in 1943. The Fox screening of the all-but-forgotten film was sponsored by the now-defunct Center for the American Musical at Cañada College in Redwood City. Wrote one observer: “If it never does

30 · CLIMATE · August 2022

anything more than enable movie buffs and operetta fans to see this one lost version of ‘The Desert Song,’ the Center will have performed quite a service.”

In his hefty book, “The Warner Bros.

Story,” movie critic Clive Hirschhorn was less than kind to the film. Still, he praised Manning and Morgan, concluding that “together they made beautiful music.”

(The film, based on an operetta by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II, couldn’t have been all that bad. It inspired a 1953 remake that starred Kathryn Grayson and Gordon MacRae.) In the words of one critic, “Shine on Harvest Moon,” which again featured Morgan, was “little more than a platitudinous backstage musical.” But, like Hirschhorn, the reviewer found the songs pleasant and added, “So was the singing of Irene Manning.”

After the war, Manning returned to the U.K. for a BBC television show called “An American in England.” She also appeared onstage in the U.K. before coming back to the States, where she performed in regional theater productions as well as on television, notably with the Australian ac-

tor Cyril Ritchard in “The King and Mrs. Candle,” which aired on NBC’s “Producers’ Showcase” series in 1955. (Ritchard is perhaps better-known for playing Captain Hook in the 1960 NBC production of “Peter Pan,” with Mary Martin.)

In 1964, Manning married Maxwell W. Hunter II, a rocket engineer and space-flight manager famous for his work during the Cold War. The couple lived in San Carlos to be near Hunter’s work in Silicon Valley.

“I was living a new life as Mrs. Maxwell Hunter II,” she said in Gene Arceri’s excellent biography, “Irene Manning: The Rebellious Prima Donna.” She said her professional life “did not exist anymore,” although she tried to fill the void by teaching drama and voice. She also took up painting and appeared in a few Bay Area stage shows, among them “Mame” and “Pal Joey.” The marriage to Hunter, who was honored in 1995 by the National Space Society for his lifelong contributions to space-flight technology, lasted until Hunter's death in 2001.

Hunter wasn’t the only one who adored Manning. Her biographer appeared smitten, as well.

“I fell in love,” Arceri wrote in his book about Manning. “She was just so beautiful and vivacious.”

Sometimes, stars burn seemingly forever. Other times, they flame out in the summer sky. In the 1940s and on one memorable night in 1983, Irene Manning brightened the U.S., the U.K. and the Peninsula, with film, television and stage performances that should never be forgotten. C

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