Meylans:

Northgate Originals since 1966

By Kara Navolio, Resident since 1991 |

Photos provided by Meylan Family

Imagine a time in Walnut Creek when the only traffic signal was at Main St. and Mt. Diablo Blvd., when the Ygnacio Valley was filled with pear and walnut orchards, and when the commute to San Francisco was an easy 30-40 car ride before BART even existed. This is the Walnut Creek that Lou and Carole Meylan discovered when they were re-locating from Southern California to the Bay Area for Lou’s job in San Francisco in 1966.

They became the first owners of their home on Cafeto Drive, which cost $36,000, and have been there for 57 years now.

Lou and Carole both grew up in the Los Angeles area. Lou went to college at the University of Southern California (USC), and Carole went to Mt. St. Mary’s, a small Catholic college. They met at a social gathering with the Newman Club and became friends. He was 20, and she was 19. A few months later Lou invited a group of friends to his parents’ second home a Lake Arrowhead for a party. The group was snowed in, and the roads were closed, so Lou and Carole got to know each other pretty well over the next few days. After that weekend, they began dating and married in 1958.

Lou was drafted after college and joined the Navy as a civil engineer. They were first stationed in Coronado (near San Diego), and then in Yokosuka, Japan where they spent 22 months. By now the young couple had three children. When they returned to the U.S., Lou began working for the phone company in L.A., however, he stayed in the Navy Reserves, logging 31 years of service in total.

His company transferred him to San Francisco; it was supposed to be for two years. But the Meylans loved this area so much that they didn’t want to return to L.A.. By now they had three more children, for a total of six. Lou retired from the phone company at the end of 1984 and became a general contractor in San Francisco. In 1994 he was invited by the SF Opera and SF Ballet to join their “Committee to Restore the Opera House” to be their Director of Construction. In this role he coordinated $38 million worth of improvements to the SF Opera house. Carole taught school for 13 years while raising her family.

All six of the Meylan kids went to Walnut Acres, Foothill Middle School, and Northgate High School. Their eldest son, Joe, lives in Marin and is a general contractor. Kathy lives in the Northgate neighborhood and is a retired nurse. Mary lives in the Tahoe area and is a homemaker. Phil and Jackie are both teachers; Phil in Clayton and Jackie in Alameda. The youngest, Sue, lives in the family home with Carole and Lou. They have 13 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren with another one on the way!

This large family makes it a point to all be together every other Thanksgiving at a rented home in Arnold or Oregon. During the years when the Meylan kids were growing up, they played a variety of sports, participated in scouts, and the family spent 23 years as part of the Walnut Creek Swim Club. Swimming at Larkey Park became their family’s summer activity. They also had a family tradition of a weeklong camping trip at Lake Shasta where all the kids learned to water ski.

Frequents trips to Lake Tahoe in the winter for snow skiing also led the Meylans to buy a Tahoe cabin that the whole family still enjoys. Nowadays, in addition to spending time with their family, Lou is a member of SIRS and a Navy Veterans group. He still roots for the USC football team. Carole is in a book club with friends she met swimming.

“We have had many great neighbors that we became friends with and stayed friends with. We loved this area because the kids could walk to all three schools, and they got a great education,” says Lou.

Carole adds, “All the families on this street had kids and they all played together. Now we are the last of the original owners on the street. Young families are moving in, and we have lots of new great neighbors.” And the circle continues, with Lou and Carole, watching on as kids ride bikes, play outside and form friendships. Even though there are now plenty of traffic signals, no more pear or walnut orchards, and lots of commute traffic, they still love calling Northgate home.

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