News & Notes
President ’ s Message
By Pamela Baird MVHA President
What ’ s behind us and what ’ s next ? As the city , the county , and the country start to emerge from the pandemic one can ’ t help but wonder — what ’ s next ?
This newsletter is published four times a year by the MOUNTAIN VIEW HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION P . O . Box 252 , Mountain View , CA 94042 www . mountainviewhistorical . org
MVHA Board of Directors
President : Pamela Baird Vice-President : Robert Cox Secretary : Jamil Shaikh Treasurer : Emily Ramos Past President : Nicholas Perry Historical Data : Candace Bowers Publicity : Marina Marinovich Membership : IdaRose Sylvester Newsletter : John Cortez Ways & Means : Mark Perry Director-at-Large : Lisa Garcia Director-at-Large : Gil Lane
Newsletter Copy Editor : Cynthia Hanson Newsletter Graphic Designer : Nicholas Perry
MVHA Board of Directors Email : info @ mountainviewhistorical . org Voicemail : ( 650 ) 903-6890
Pamela Baird
As we look forward , it ’ s also easy to look back as well . When the pandemic first started to spread rapidly , so much was unknown about the disease and how it spread . Could you get it from touching a surface ? Put on gloves and wash your hands repeatedly . Does it spread through the air ? Wear a mask . What kind of distance should I keep from people ? Six feet or better yet , stay home , and don ’ t go anywhere .
Several weeks into the pandemic I awoke at 2 a . m . with a panic attack , which I had never experienced before ( and thankfully haven ’ t since ). My husband and I talked about having a feeling of impending doom . He described it as the same feeling he sometimes felt when serving in the rural jungles of Vietnam .
A few months ago the MVHA received a copy of the 1919 Mountain View Union High School yearbook . There is a paragraph in the yearbook that states “ The terrible wave of Spanish influenza , which swept the country recently , closed our school for all but five weeks of our first semester . This put us far behind in our school work and , in fact , in all of our activities . Everyone came back to school on the 6th of January , however , inspired with the determination to make up the time lost . Since then the school has been pervaded with a feeling of business-like activity lacking in other years . We have been able to make up for time lost , thanks to our teachers ’ earnest endeavors and our own hard work .”
While still being careful , many of us are experiencing the need to make up for lost time , just like those students over one hundred years ago . Meals with friends and family , meeting with others outside your “ bubble ,” and traveling , both near and far , have been experienced with a profound new appreciation .
There is still much to be determined ahead . How or when will people go back to the workplace ? What lifestyle adjustments will be made in the near future and further out ? How will people conduct business and civic activities ? Will a hybrid model of meetings be adopted ? There are many advantages of conducting meetings in a virtual format . It will take much time for things to be sorted out and the best practices recognized . Like many organizations , MVHA will be trying to determine the best ways to engage our Board members and to conduct fun and interesting general meetings for our members .
Our first “ in-person ” general membership meeting will be Sunday , August 1 . The Board is excited to host a chance for our members to get together in person for the first time in almost 18 months . It ’ s a beginning step as we work to determine the best ways for us to gather and learn more about the past and present . See you soon !
— Pamela
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