Ken Churchill

Posted on: Jan 26, 2024 at 9:27 AM

This is taken from my back yard in Todos Santos, Baja Sur. We call 9:00 PM here Baja Midnight. We will be on our roof with Champaign tomorrow night toasting the sunset. Happy New Year everyone. Hope we all make it through another year.

There was a wonderful retirement party recently for Lola Danielli who taught Spanish when we were at Campolindo and believe it or not was there for 59 years as she started teaching there when the school opened in 1963. Here is a great story about her and the party. When I worked on our 40th year reunion I saw on the Campolindo website that she was still there so I sent her an email and she remembered me and we ended up getting together on many occasions because she spent weekends on her family home in Santa Rosa where I lived. Here is a link to a story about her and the retirement party.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/after-58-years-at-the-same-school-moraga-teacher-celebrated-for-her-illustrious-career?fbclid=IwAR1lb3Lm0pEtTt4Bt84ml9i2zzl4ZehzwfwA3SaVa9ApTVCYMBsB121hU8k

Sixty Years at Campolindo

Lola Danielli started teaching Spanish at Campolindo when the school opened in 1963.
She was my Spanish teacher my sophomore year. When I was organizing our 40th class reunion I went to the Campolindo website and saw list of the faculty and I scrolled down figuring I would not find any teachers still there, but there she was. This was in 2011. Her email was also there so I sent her a message telling her she was my teacher in 1969 and told her she probably did not remember me. She wrote back and said she remembered me as if it was yesterday.

In my email to her, I told her I was living in Santa Rosa and she said she grew up there on a small grape farm and still went there on the weekends. She worked in the family vineyard as a little girl. She said they were paid $50 per ton for their fruit. Since at the time I was also farming some grapes I told her today their grapes would sell for 80 times that amount or $4,000 a ton.
She invited me to visit her ranch and we have stayed in touch ever since, occasionally meeting for lunch or dinner. She is such character.

Sadly, about 5 years ago the small ranch and home her father built himself was destroyed by one of the fires that swept through Sonoma. It was devastating for her.
Even worse, for the past 10 years she has suffered from terrible back pain that surgery could not repair. The stiletto heals where probably not the best long-term shoe selection. It is amazing to me she continued to teach through the pain until last year because I know how difficult it must have been for her.

During our conversations I suggested it might be time to rest her back and retire but she asked, “what would I do?” “I just love teaching and being with the kids.”

A couple things you should know about Lola. She refused to wear a seat belt while driving and she just about lived on candy.

Now to cheer her up, there is a former student are asking former students to send a video clip of themselves and they will put together and send to her.

I know she will love getting the video and being remembered and thanked by her many former students who probably remember her as if it was yesterday.

If you are interested in sending a clip here is video information:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/39658928441/?multi_permalinks=10161123817303442&ref=share

Hi Dede:

Teresa's dad was Sam. He and my mother dated when I was in high school so I got to know him. He was a very nice very tall man.  

Hi Tom:

I sat next to Dave at Camino Pablo when it was used as the junior high school. He loved the show Get Smart and could almost word for word remember all the jokes. He was a great guy.

Do you know if he stayed at Campolindo through his senior year? Did not see him in the class photos or the list of people wlio did not have their photo taken.

Ken