Walnut Commons

                    Our Community

                           10th Anniversary Celebration

                           *          2014 ~ 2024             *

Diane and Dick

We are looking forward to downsizing, leaving a lighter footprint on our beloved earth, and sharing meals, conversations and events with a fantastic group of Walnut Commoners, our intentional community. We and our three children became permanent residents on our property in the Aptos foothills in 1974. We are failed apple farmers, successful hosts of 16 weddings (no divorces), and now Windy Oaks Estate Winery has a gold medal producing pinot vineyard on our acreage. We have been blessed by the land and the opportunities it has presented. Living in Santa Cruz has also made available life altering experiences in the political arena, social and environmental action and the cultural scene. Included are the Grand Jury (Diane), Democratic Central Committee (Dick), creating (Diane) and chairs of social action at Temple Beth El, board members of Capacitar (local non-profit teaching stress-reducing techniques world-wide), Habitat For Humanity builds and other projects in Latin America with local non-profit IF (Integrities Foundation), board members and president (Dick) of the Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music, board president (Dick) of Camphill Properties (nurturing residential communities for adults with developmental disabilities), and pro bono attorney services (Dick) for Capacitar, Camphill Communities California, and Ecology Action. We are celebrating 60 years of marriage this summer, having met as students at Stanford University. And in closing, we are the proud grandparents of six wonderful grandchildren, the two eldest now attending university (UC Berkeley and Stanford).

Malka and Sheila

Malka joined the Walnut Commons community in 2023, when she married Sheila Namir. She has a condo in Santa Barbara where they also spend time. Malka is a mostly retired rabbi who founded a faith community in Santa Fe and became rabbi emerita in Idyllwild, California. She has written a bunch of books on subjects ranging from baseball, Frida Kahlo, Holocaust, and aging. She is currently working on a mystery, a favorited genre. Her two sons and her four grandchildren give her the comfort of legacy. With Sheila, Malka continues to fight the good fight for a healthy, fair, and caring world. Few know that she owned a worm farm and a steel drum reconditoning plant. Her plans for the future include travel, being a positive force, writing a few words, and spending as much time possible with her lovely wife.

Sheila Namir moved to Santa Cruz in 2001 after 30 years in L.A. She has lived in five countries. She is currently a retired psychoanalyst and psychologist. She worked and published in the areas of psychosocial oncology, AIDS, feminist psychoanalysis, and community psychology. She was married to Helene Moglen until her death in 2018. She found another great love in 2022 with her wife, Rabbi Malka Drucker.

Brett and Tommy

Brett Garrett grew up near Los Angeles and lived in Redwood City for many years prior to becoming one of the first Walnut Commons residents in July 2014. He is passionate about human rights and environmental issues, advocating for innovative transportation, energy justice, and public banking.  Tommy grew up in Vietnam and moved to the United States in 2017. He was welcomed into our community after marrying Brett in 2022. He recently studied biochemistry at UC Santa Barbara. He loves cooking, so he often prepares delicious meals at Walnut Commons.

Susan

I moved from Ossining, NY in May, 2015 following my retirement as a home care nurse in Westchester County. My plan had always been to live near one of my 3 children and I settled on Santa Cruz because it is a small walkable community with beautiful weather and many cultural advantages and it is close to my younger daughter and her family. My other 2 children and their families are in Bozeman, Mt. and Hamburg, Germany.

I have had a deep commitment to the environment since becoming a mother 40 years ago and have recently been involved in groups opposing fracking and the Keystone XL pipeline. I also participated in the Climate March in NYC. I believe climate change is the most important issue facing humanity and many species on earth. Cohousing at Walnut Commons enables me to act on my desire to live more sustainably. My other interests include gardening, cooking, knitting, hiking and reading. I have also become involved with food outreach for the homeless since coming to Santa Cruz.

Carol and Francis

We (Carol and Francis) have lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains for the past 28 years. We met while doing volunteer work with people of the Navajo Nation. We both lived in different intentional communities and have sought to live in community again at the wonderful community of Walnut Commons. Francis was born in Japan and immigrated to the US when he was 13 years old. Tennis and sailing are two of his hobbies in his spare time. He is a retired mechanical engineer. Carol was born in southern California and has worked in the school systems in California, Arizona, and North Carolina as a pediatric physical therapist. Together we have walked the Camino de Santiago from Portugal to Spain. We volunteer with an organization in Ecuador that helps working children and families break the cycle of poverty. We have two grown boys in their thirties.

Barbara and Will

We were married in the late 1960s while serving with the Peace Corps as English teachers in Thailand. This experience introduced us to new cultural and social ways of seeing the world. After returning to the United States to further our own educations (Will with a M.A. in Linguistics and Barbara with a Teaching Credential), we went overseas again to teach and live on Saipan, an island in the Pacific Ocean. After the birth of our first child, we decided that we wanted to raise our children closer to our families so we came back to California and settled in Santa Cruz County. Will’s professional career has included being a teacher, real estate broker, and a computer programmer while Barbara’s has been in education as a Montessori teacher, owner of a small Montessori preschool, and as a first grade teacher in Watsonville. Now as retirees with two grown sons, we enjoy being grandparents and having the time to engage in personally meaningful activities.

Larry

I was born and raised in Chicago, but a lot of my life I've focused on Africa. This began with two years in the Peace Corps, when I taught in two high schools in Lesotho. Later, after graduate school in New York, I taught at three universities in Africa (in Nigeria, in Egypt and later back in Lesotho). I also worked at several colleges in the US. The last being Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago where I served as Provost for a decade. During that time, my priority was improving outcomes for first generation students. I remain concerned about urban higher education and about development in Africa. I retired in 2012 and moved to the Santa Cruz area, which I found to be a great place to live.

Sue

I’m originally from the Chicago area but have lived in Northern California for four decades. Currently I live in a magnificent windowed home overlooking the Pacific Ocean in La Selva Beach south of Santa Cruz, but I’m looking to downsize and Walnut Commons’ intentional community seems just the right thing. My career was in sales and marketing. I’m retired now, a mother of 4, grandmother of 6, who loves to spend time and energy with my family. By family I include my dog "Buddy". I love cooking, entertaining, reading, sewing, knitting and attending my UCC church.

Gail G

I grew up in Sacramento and spent many hours visiting my grandparents who lived in Santa Cruz in the 1950’s. I retired from 34 years of community college history teaching a few years ago and have been rattling around in my big, beach house in Rio Del Mar where I’ve lived for twenty years. It’s a wonderful place to live and entertain, but with neither husband nor children to share it, I think a smaller place with community friends would be an ideal environment for the next stage of my life.

I have written two books for Al-Anon, some articles and stories and have a half done memoir in the proverbial “drawer”. While at American River College in Sacramento, I created the first courses in women’s history in the 70’s. Of course if it was to be done, I had to do it as the social science faculty consisted of 34 guys and me.

Currently I’m enjoying a lot of grandbaby sitting as I have 3 grands under 7 in the area and hopes for one more. I’m very blessed that my two children, Monica and Kevin live within about 30 minutes drive, though in opposite directions. Among the many things I love are ballroom dancing, travel (especially outside the country), life long learners, reading, walking, and meditating, having written (not the actual sitting down and doing it) and just about anything with fur or feathers. I have an adorable wave-surfing, bird-chasing mutt, Mari, who will be coming with me on this new adventure.

Jennie and Bill

I grew up In Los Angeles & moved to Santa Cruz in 1996. I studied Philosophy at UCSC and worked at a plant nursery before finally pursuing a Nursing degree at Cabrillo College. I’m inspired by Nature and love living in Santa Cruz with its unique location between the ocean and the redwoods. I like to be active, playful, and have as many adventures as possible.  Bill (bio under construction).

Philip

I have been a college educator for a number of years and my teaching has been in the fields of psychology, gerontology, mental health, educational psychology, and English as a second language. More recently, I’ve become licensed as a Marriage & Family Therapist (MFT) and I have a therapy practice here in Santa Cruz. I tend to work with individuals and my specialties include the many aspects of aging: from the transition to retirement, spiritual and personal growth in midlife and beyond, managing chronic health conditions & pain, and grieving, death & dying. I also see college students struggling with personal and academic adjustments and younger adults encountering career and relationship challenges. Time spent in the wilderness camping and hiking is very important to me, as is spiritual growth and development which I believe goes hand in hand with the pursuit of our own psychological and emotional health. I have experienced several types of community living and look forward to becoming integrated with my Walnut Commons neighbors. A favorite quote which speaks to me goes like this: “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is.” –– Frederick Buechner

Pam

In 2018 while studying to become a certified yoga instructor at Mount Madonna Yoga Institute in the hills above Santa Cruz I learned of Walnut Commons and found a golden opportunity to become a part of our community in the winter of 2019. I moved from Visalia CA where I had been an owner/manager in a family retail business, Mike’s Quality Cameras named for my dad Mike, the founder. When in college and again after marriage I lived in community and loved it. So after my husband passed in 2015 and after both parents for whom I cared for in my home for five years also passed, I looked again for an intentional community to join. At Walnut Commons I enjoy the casual interactions with the other residents throughout the day, thrive on a variety of weekly shared meals, participate with various teams and engage in planning fun activities. My interests include photography, native plant studies, archaeology, hiking, camping and travel. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park provided my second community with other docent volunteers. As a docent, I get to gather plants in the Sandhills then refresh the live plant display weekly in the Visitor Center, where I also get to greet visitors and answer their questions.

Mary

I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was adopted and grew up in Idaho. After attending Boise Jr. College, I had the opportunity to attend the University of Exeter in England. I completed my degree and earned my teaching credential at San Jose State University.

I taught grades first through third at Rio del Mar Elementary School in Aptos for 33 years. I subsequently earned an administrative credential which I exercised among several schools in that same school district, Pajaro Valley Unified.

I met my husband, Harry, when he was living on a sailboat in the Santa Cruz Harbor. We lived on the boat for the first seven years of our forty year marriage. We moved off the boat after we had fulfilled Harry's dream of sailing to Mexico and to Hawaii. Not only did Harry teach me to sail: he taught me to pack-pack, bike ride and love opera. He, also shared with me his three children and six grandchildren whom I consider as my own.

I love to travel, read, stitch go to plays, operas and any other kind of live performance. I collect cross stitch art with messages on them.

I am on the board of my church preschool and participate through my church with feeding the homeless. My additional community involvement includes working with the Literacy Project of Santa Cruz.

Ann and Dobie

Dobie has campaigned for Democrats since 1956 (Wayne Morris’ re-election campaign for U.S. Senate in Oregon). Born in Connecticut in 1936 and raised largely in Louisiana and Alabama, he is a graduate of University of Alabama and U.C. Berkeley. His favorite summers were spent clearing trails for the Appalachian Mountain Club in New Hampshire. During his Army days, he studied Korean at the Monterey Army Language School and was posted to Korea. He has been a frequent campaign volunteer on behalf of many candidates in Monterey and Santa Cruz County. He has been a consultant to the Democratic caucus in the California State Assembly, and he also served as field rep for Alan Cranston, our California U.S. Senator in the early 1970’s. Dobie was also a lobbyist for the Statewide UC system. During our years in the Pajaro Valley, Dobie has been active on City of Watsonville commissions, including those for libraries, parks, personnel and planning. He is a board member of Watsonville Wetlands Watch, and the Monterey Bay Birding Festival. As an active birder, he and wife Ann have traveled to Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto Rico and many states in pursuit of new birds that don’t appear in the Monterey Bay region. They have 2 sons in their 50’s, Tony and Stewart. His passions are tennis, birding, travel, hiking, reading everything in sight, and his grandchildren.

From the time she was 3 onward, Ann loved visiting her Grandma Ann in a typical Seabright redwood cottage—summers. Ann is a Berkeley native. She attended Stanford University and later the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Journalism. She missed her college graduation in 1958 to accept a college editorship at MADEMOISELLE MAGAZINE in New York City. From there, she went directly to the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR in Boston as a “Kopy Kid”. While Dobie was in law school at the U. of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia (early 60’s), they both worked with the NAACP to register voters and march. They worked in civil rights activities in Tuscaloosa, Alabama during “Civil Rights summer (1964). Later while Dobie worked for the California Legislature, Ann worked as a feature reporter for the Sacramento Observer, an African-American newspaper. Before that, she was an editorial assistant and outreach speaker for Cry California, an early environmental review. She has worked as a volunteer chaplain in both the Federal Correctional Institution in Pleasanton, and in the Alameda county prison system in the 1970’s. She is a ‘founding mother’ of the National Women’s Political Caucus in Contra Costa county. And similar to her husband, has worked on Democratic political campaigns since the 1960’s including working for the George McGovern Presidential campaign (remember, Watergate). Ann’s passions are writing, spiritual study, historic preservation, travel, birding, and grandchildren.

David

David bio .......

Josie

Josie bio .......

Jeff

Jeff has a life long interest in alternative forms of housing and has developed housing as both an architect and non profit developer—With a speciality in sustainable, affordable housing. Jeff was born and raised in NYC and has lived in Boston/Cambridge and Ohio. He worked his way through college as a short order cook. He currently works as a Construction Consultant. He has three grown children and two granddaughters.

Reed and Arnie

Reed and Arnie bio .......

Jan

Jan bio .......

Bob

Bob bio .......