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.jpg) John N Pope, Jr (2-27-1930 to 6-29-2008)
After a long, valiant battle against lung disease and congestive heart failure, my father, John Pope, died Sunday, June 29th at Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara. This was somewhat unexpected as recently he had been improving and was downgraded out of the ICU and was awaiting a bed in a yet lower level of the hospital when it seems he got a severe stroke late on Saturday. Prior to his seven weeks there, mostly in the ICU, he had lived at Belmont Village in San Jose, where he had many friends.
John grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, and graduated from Princeton University in 1952 with a BA in history. He married Patricia Buckley in Santa Clara County in August 1954. They were married for 42 years, until her death in 1996. After serving in the US Army in South Korea for nearly two years, he studied at Santa Clara University School of Law and received a license to practice law in January 1959.
He had a private practice in San Jose, doing family law, wills, trusts, estates, and employment law. His law practice included "pro bono" work and he served as a "Judge Pro Tem" as well.
John and Pat raised three children in Santa Clara and Saratoga. John was very supportive of Pat’s real estate career, which she began in 1956 (when very few women were selling real estate).
John was a creative person who enjoyed delighting young children, particularly with cartooning or doing “magic tricks” involving chocolate coins. He painted a myriad of toy soldiers and enjoyed an extensive collection the sale of which helped to support him in his retirement. He was known within the family for the villages and train sets he set up under the tree at Christmas, which looked amazingly similar to his hometown of Morristown in winter.
Spirituality and his Catholic faith were of utmost importance to him, and it infused the way he worked, raised his family, and met challenges in his life. He had been a very active member of Alcoholic Anonymous, and he credited the support of the group and the grace of God for his 29 years of sobriety.
John’s passions were travel, history, politics, family and faith. When the family was young, John and Pat made many frequent trips to the east coast to see the Pope relatives. The travels later expanded to include Europe, Great Britain, central America, the Virgin Islands, and elsewhere.
 John leaves behind 3 children: Stephen Pope (Patti) of Boston, MA, Mary Pope-Handy (Jim) of Los Gatos, CA, and Barbara Pope (Tom) of Greenfield, MA and 7 grandchildren Michael Pope, Kathleen Pope, Stephen Pope, Brian Handy, Clair Handy, Daniel Morse and Taryn Rose Morse. He is survived also by his sister, Helen Holly (Bo) of Dover, NJ, her children Joan Guarino and John Holly (Meredith) and Joan's two children, Alexandre and Gabriella. He is also mourned by his brothers-in-law, Fr. Michael Buckley, SJ, and Fr. Thomas Buckley, SJ, as well as by numerous other relatives, friends, and neighbors.
There will be a funeral Mass at St. Lucy’s Catholic Church in Campbell on July 9th at 11am, followed by burial at the Santa Clara Mission Cemetary and a reception afterwards. A memorial Mass was held in his hometown of Morristown, New Jersey, on July 1st as his only sibling, Helen, and her family live nearby and many other relatives were assembled in Cape May, NJ, for a family reunion, when he died.
Donations in John’s honor can be made to ARH Recovery Homes, Inc.
1101 S. Winchester Blvd.,Suite J-220 San Jose, CA 95128 Phone: 408-236-6657 info@arhinc.org. He had been very involved with this alcohol recovery home, at one time serving on its board, and would love to have its good work furthered on his behalf.
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Last Sunday afternoon, Jewish Family Services (based out of the Jewish Community Center on Oka Road in Los Gatos) hosted the first Silicon Valley Duck Race to benefit the many charities it supports countywide. Ten thousand ducks were available for adoption in the race - and it was a sellout! They raised fifty thousand dollars through this race. Congratulations and good job!!!
I was unable to attend as I was hosting an open house, but you can read about it online and see who won what, and which charities benefit, at www.SiliconValleyDuckRace.com.
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Tonight we will have the opportunity to enjoy the Solstice Moon Illusion as the moon rises at 9:02pm or so (sunset at 8:31pm) in the San Jose - Saratoga - Los Gatos area. Apparently because of the solstice, the moon will appear to be unnaturally large at moonrise, according to NASA.
Read all about it on the NASA website.
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Tonight another fire, this one smaller but more local, darkened the skies over the western part of the Santa Clara Valley with smoke. At about 3pm, a grass fire broke out close to the onramp from San Tomas Expressway in Campbell onto Highway 17 southbound toward Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. By 4:30 or so, when I drove through, the plume of smoke rising was quite substantial. And by evening, the air was positively eerie in Los Gatos with strange tints coloring the sky and the landscape.
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The late afternoon and early evening sky was a taupe color in places. Light coming in through the windows of our home was tinted a tungsten type of hue. This photo taken by Clair Handy from Bacigalupi Drive in Los Gatos (in Belwood of Los Gatos).
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Another neighborhood view in Belwood.
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View from the Handy Family backyard in Los Gatos - the wind made the smoke-filled areas very distinct from the cleaner sections of sky.
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A (non-enhanced) view of nearby palm trees. The whole sky was just creepy looking.All of these pictures are unedited except for cropping, of course.
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My sister, Barb, is visiting for a few days and she commented that the sky reminded of of when Mt St. Helen's blew in 1980. I was not around for that, but heard plenty about it from my many friends in Washington and Oregon. I don't think it was quite so dark, but it was certainly odd looking tonight.
Mary Pope-Handy
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This is a photo of the hills over Los Gatos at about 5:45pm this evening. The smoke is from the "Martin Fire" (so named for Martin Road, close to the fire), which began a little before 3pm near Bonny Doon.
Currently, it's burned through about 300 acres and caused 1400 people to evacuate, but because of the hot, dry weather and winds, it could easy grow to 1000 or 2000 acres.
Firefighters do not yet know what caused this fire.
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Recently I listed a great home that's in an ideal Los Gatos location - close to award-winning, highly acclaimed Los Gatos Schools: Van Meter Elementary School, Blossom Hill School, and Fisher Middle School. It's also a quick jaunt to the wonderful shops, banks, grocery stores and restaurants at the intersection of Blossom Hill Road and Los Gatos Boulevard.
With approximately 1800 square feet of comfortable ranch-style living on an 8700 square foot cul-de--sac lot, it's a great amount of space inside & out. The updated house features hardwood floors throughout (except in the bathrooms), a flexible floorplan that includes a good-sized step-down living room, large dining room, and extra room to boot, which can be used as a den, library, music room, play room or sitting area. There are huge windows overlooking the park-like setting. It's a wonderful retreat.
Folks who should consider this home include those wanting:
"Walk to Schools" or "Bike To Schools" or "Two minute drive to schools"
As well as those who want to be close to buslines, close enough to shops, banks, grocery stores, and restaurants that they could get there without a car.
Details:
120 Magneson Terrace (off Magneson Loop and Los Gatos Blvd or Shannon Road)
MLS # 814262 or # 80814262*
3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Bathrooms
On MLS June 9th at $1,395,000
New List Price $1,359,000 (changed late 6/23)
New Roof on the home by July 1st!
For more details, please visit www.PopeHandy.com and click on Mary's Featured Properties.
Click this link to see a Virtual Tour of 120 Magneson Terrace, Los Gatos, CA
Best regards,
Mary
* Last Tuesday we got a new numbering system for our MLS with two more digits, so some sites are using the old system and some the new.
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One of the benchmarks realty professionals use in determining the answer to the ever-present question of "how's the market?" is the absorption rate, or months (or days or weeks) of inventory. The question is this: if no new inventory were to come on the market, how long would it take for the current number of listings to be absorbed by buyers?
A look at the single family home situation in the town of Los Gatos reveals an improvement over recent months. Is it possible that we're near the bottom of the market? Maybe.
This graph presents broad strokes in a market comprised of many micro-markets. What is happening in Blossom Manor may not be the same thing happening in the Edelen District or what's going up in the Aztec or Maya areas, in the Sierra Azule section of town or Belwood or Bicknell Road areas. The home offered at $950,000 in the Union School District is not really "the same market" as one worth $2 million with Los Gatos schools - there are nuances that can totally change the picture!
For more information on the overall Los Gatos real estate or the market in other Silicon Valley areas such as Saratoga, Campbell, San Jose, or the many districts within San Jose such as Cambrian Park, Almaden Valley and Willow Glen, please visit my Real Estate Report online. From there you can get market statistics and trends as well as an analysis of your own home or another in the area.
To learn about your own home or area, please contact me. Or if you'd like a complimentary market analysis, request one from me at www.SiliconValleyHomeValue.com or simply call or email me with the details of your home. Please allow 24-48 hours for me to run the numbers for you.
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Live in Los Gatos:
A blog about Los Gatos real estate, homes, houses, condos, townhomes, housing market, neightborhoods, history, events, businesses, parks, schools, photos, issues, and lifestyle.
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