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JANUARY 2017 • LAFAYETTE TODAY • PAGE 1
JANUARY 2017
GREG MOELLER BRIGHTENS LAFAYETTE
BRENDA OUM, 2017 LAFAYETTE MARQUIS BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR
By Fran Miller
Greg Moeller loves Lafayette and it shows. The thousands and thousands of blooming daffodils that make their appearance in town each spring are his handiwork and, in essence, his love letter to his hometown. He spends his own money on the bulbs and asks for nothing in return. “I just like meeting all the nice people who stop occasionally to comment or to thank me,” says Moeller. “It’s a nice feeling to know that you are making someone’s day a bit brighter.” Moeller, who was selected as ‘Lafayette Citizen of the Year’ in 2013 thanks to his beautification efforts, has now ventured into housing the area’s birds. Those fanciful birdhouses seen on the back of Happy Valley stop signs are his handiwork. (They are easily removable should he be asked to desist, but residents Greg Moeller. Photo by Karleen Kawakami are smitten.) He’s now fielding requests from those in other neighborhoods and is making the creative and highly detailed houses as fast as he can. Each is original and is made with both recycled elements and items sourced from craft supply stores. Moeller knows exactly which types of birds use his houses: House Wren, Oak Titmouse, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, and White-breasted Nuthatch. Like the daffodil bulbs, Moeller solely funds his birdhouse hobby. He makes about 100 each year that he freely gives away to anyone who seems interested, and he plants between 10,000 and 15,000 bulbs annually. Most of the daffodils are centralized at Upper Happy Valley and El Nido roads, but he’s branched out to the area near Lafayette/Orinda Presbyterian Church. The planting work is arduous – an individual hole must be dug for each bulb – and the rewards are brief: blooms appear anywhere from 10 days to three weeks. But for Moeller, the efforts are worth every gaze and every smile. “This is my way to give back to all the volunteers in our community – all of those who give their time to make
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Twenty years ago, Cynthia Murdough, owner of Papillon Gourmet Coffees, was honored as Lafayette’s Business Person of the Year. Now that honor has come full circle as we congratulate Brenda Oum, the 2017 Business Person of the Year. Brenda and her husband Tom are the current owners of Papillon. Brenda received over 40 nominations from her patrons with one of them explaining “Papillon is the Cheers of Lafayette.” Brenda’s life story was the subject of a recently published book, Remember to Remember. Brenda’s story has been a long, strange trip. Her journey started in Cambodia during the rule of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970’s. When Brenda was five, her family was forced from their home which led to her and her family spending years as slave labor subjects to Pol Pot. Brenda came to America after her escape in 1987 from Thailand.
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ACALANES GRAD CROWNED MISS CALIFORNIA
By Fran Miller
Lafayette is proud to claim as its own several notable athletes, a musician or two, and a few Hollywood stars. As of December 4, 2016, the list now includes Miss California. 2014 Acalanes High School grad India Williams was recently crowned Miss California USA® 2017 at the December competition held at the Long Beach Miss California, India Williams Convention Center. Williams is currently a junior at Loyola Marymount University in Los Volume XI - Number 1 Angeles, working on her Bachelor’s 3000F Danville Blvd #117 Degree in Business EntrepreneurA lamo, CA 94507 ship. She is also a part-time model Telephone (925) 405-6397 and was a Cycle 22 cast member on Fax (925) 406-0547 America’s Next Top Model television editor@yourmonthlypaper.com series. Though extremely busy with Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher her current duties, she recently found The opinions expressed herein belong to the time to check-in with her hometown writers, and do not necessarily reflect that of Lafayette Today. Lafayette Today is not responsible newspaper:
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