Local Sculpture Honors Veterans
Years ago, I had the fortune to help coordinate the initial Los Altos Glorious Fourth celebrations. Since living in Los Altos, Carol & I have helped to plan and coordinate many community events. The premise of our involvement has always been to strive t0wards a creating stronger sense of community.
Many of the events have been celebrations, while others have been solemn reflections. Veterans Day holds a special place in our hearts, and each year we extend our heartfelt appreciation to the men and women who have selflessly served in uniform.
There are a number of events and parades, in adjoining communities, where you can gather with others. However, if you desire a place to simply reflect on the day, we recommend Shoup Park. At the far end of the park, along the footpath next to the creek bed, you’ll find a sculpture called the Cradle of Liberty.
Recently, Bruce Barton (Editor of the Town Crier) wrote an article about the history of this sculpture. Below is a slightly edited version of his article. Enjoy …
It rests in Shoup Park – the 9-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a soldier holding a baby. The message is not one of violence but of peace and preservation – preserving the freedoms of Americans for generations to come.
It’s been 13 years since “Cradle of Liberty” was dedicated on the Fourth of July in 1998. But it endures as a lasting tribute to those from Los Altos and throughout America who have served in the U.S. armed forces.
The iconic statue continues to welcome park visitors, beckoning them to reflect on freedoms often taken for granted. Situated near the trickling Adobe Creek, the peaceful scene is deceiving – the baby also is a symbol of the country’s vulnerability and the continuous protection required from the military.
It started with the late Bill Henderson, a survivor of both the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor and the sinking of the USS Helena. In 1996, Henderson began recruiting like-minded supporters for the project and found a big ally in fellow vet Jay Brandon.
Brandon felt all servicemen throughout U.S. history should be honored. To this end, the Shoup Park soldier is draped in a flag from the American Revolutionary War.
Organized, driven and relentless, the two led a selection committee and fundraising offensive that netted approximately $126,000 from more than 500 contributors.
Armed with the financial resources and the go-ahead for the Shoup Park location, the duo needed to find an artist with the right sensibility and creative touch. They and the selection committee auditioned approximately 40 artists from around the country, before narrowing the choice to three finalists.
Enter Los Altos artist Rebecca R.J. Truman. A resident of Los Altos since 1994, she began to form an image of a soldier and a baby. She had her next-door neighbor pose with his baby.
“The baby reached out and grabbed his shirt,” said Truman, who incorporated that moment into her sculpture.
Truman dropped off her proposal at Henderson’s house on a Wednesday. By Friday, she received word she had the job.
The process took eight months. Truman’s initial 14-inch model was followed by a 4-foot model, before work began on the 11-foot monument. Shaping the mold was a 29-step process.
The statue was cast in parts and welded together in a Berkeley foundry. Rock for the base was imported from the Sierra. Truman’s father, also a vet, suggested that rocks collected from the scenes of famous battles, from Valley Forge to Gettysburg and Guadalcanal, should be added to the base. Steel support columns 10 feet in length were installed underground. For good luck, Brandon said, four Susan B. Anthony dollars were laid at the bottom of each column.
Each branch of the armed forces had representatives at the elaborate unveiling ceremony, which drew an estimated 1,000 people. On Veterans Day that year, supporters dedicated a plaque near the statue that credited Truman, Brandon and Henderson for their achievement.
“It really is a nice addition to Los Altos,” said Fran Henderson, whose husband died in 2009. “Bill was proud. I’m really proud it’s in Los Altos and what it stands for. And I’m proud of Bill and Jay for having the foresight to put it there.”
An Alternate Path: Waldorf
While the school teaches the children of the Valley’s Tech Titans, they have chosen an alternative path to today’s tech focused schools. This is not to say this is the new “it”, however, it does provide another educational choice for Los Altos families.
This past Saturday, Matt Richtel (New York Times) wrote an article about Waldorf School of the Peninsula. Below, is a slightly edited version of his article. Enjoy …
The chief technology officer of eBay sends his children to a nine-classroom school here. So do employees of Silicon Valley giants like Google, Apple, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard.
But the school’s chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles and, occasionally, mud. Not a computer to be found. No screens at all. They are not allowed in the classroom, and the school even frowns on their use at home.
Schools nationwide have rushed to supply their classrooms with computers, and many policy makers say
it is foolish to do otherwise. But the contrarian point of view can be found at the epicenter of the tech economy, where some parents and educators have a message: computers and schools don’t mix.
This is the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, one of around 160 Waldorf schools in the country that subscribe to a teaching philosophy focused on physical activity and learning through creative, hands-on tasks. Those who endorse this approach say computers inhibit creative thinking, movement, human interaction and attention spans.
The Waldorf method is nearly a century old, but its foothold here among the digerati puts into sharp relief an intensifying debate about the role of computers in education.
While other schools in the region brag about their wired classrooms, the Waldorf school embraces a simple, retro look — blackboards with colorful chalk, bookshelves with encyclopedias, wooden desks filled with workbooks and No. 2 pencils.
Some education experts say that the push to equip classrooms with computers is unwarranted because studies do not clearly show that this leads to better test scores or other measurable gains.
Absent clear evidence, the debate comes down to subjectivity, parental choice and a difference of opinion over a single world: engagement. Advocates for equipping schools with technology say computers can hold students’ attention and, in fact, that young people who have been weaned on electronic devices will not tune in without them.
Ann Flynn, director of education technology for the National School Boards Association, which represents school boards nationwide, said computers were essential. “If schools have access to the tools and can afford them, but are not using the tools, they are cheating our children,” Ms. Flynn said.
Paul Thomas, a former teacher and an associate professor of education at Furman University, who has written 12 books about public educational methods, disagreed, saying that “a spare approach to technology in the classroom will always benefit learning.”
The Waldorf experience does not come cheap: annual tuition at the Silicon Valley schools is $17,750 for kindergarten through eighth grade and $24,400 for high school, though Ms. Wurtz said financial assistance was available.
Ms. Wurtz says the typical Waldorf parent, who has a range of elite private and public schools to choose from, tends to be liberal and highly educated, with strong views about education; they also have a knowledge that when they are ready to teach their children about technology they have ample access and expertise at home.
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