Longtime Los Altos Hills resident Dan Alexander isn’t what you would call the loquacious type. But when it comes to making an impact on the town he’s called home for 40 years, Alexander’s actions speak loud and clear.
As town officials prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Los Altos Hills’ incorporation Friday, they can thank residents like Alexander, who has worked steadily and diligently as a volunteer. Although he has never run for a town council seat, Alexander has worked long and hard with such groups as the Purissima Hills Water District, the Los Altos Hills Historical Society and Friends of Westwind Barn. His diplomatic, disarming approach, sprinkled with a sense of humor, has helped resolve more than a few conflicts over the years.
“He is the ultimate statesman,” said former town councilwoman Elayne Dauber, who first worked with Dan on an open space petition effort in the late 1980s. “No matter how controversial an issue might be, Dan always approaches it (and everyone) with a smile and with good will that manages to diffuse the issues and create harmony.
“During the 1990s, for example, there were several contentious issues, first with the (water district) over a lease renewal and then with Westwind over both their lease renewal and then construction of the lower riding ring,” Dauber recalled. “During these times, it was Dan who kept everyone talking, smiling, friendly and continuously reminded everyone – not with words, but with his wonderful good humor and easygoing personality – that we are all Hills residents, that we all want the best for the town and that we can all work together.”
Leadership seems a natural quality for this Salt Lake City native. A lieutenant colonel in the Air Force during World War II, Alexander was awarded the Bronze Star. He played a major role in the evacuation of 300,000 allied prisoners of war.
Alexander, who joined PG&E in 1939 as a door-to-door lighting equipment salesman, moved to Los Altos Hills in 1966 when he transferred to the PG&E office in San Jose.
“PG&E and horses,” he said of his reasons for moving to Los Altos Hills. Alexander, who received a cavalry commission with the New Mexico Military Institute before World War II, found the young town with its horse-riding opportunities a perfect place with wife Margaret to raise their three children. He has always owned at least one horse, and he currently has two on his property.
Alexander first turned his attention to community involvement when he saw that he and his neighbors were not getting their water needs met through the then-Robleda Mutual Water District. That district eventually merged with Purissima Hills in the late 1960s. Alexander joined the Purissima Hills Water District Board of Directors, serving on it some 30 years, including 18 as board president, before leaving the board in 2003.
“He’s had a significant role to play in the district,” board member Ernie Solomon said of Alexander’s impact at Purissima Hills. “He was there a long time, so he brought a lot of history with him. He had a good sense of what the district was there for.”
Alexander said Purissima Hills was the highlight of his town volunteer work. Purissima has since grown to more than 6,400 customers, serving two-thirds of the town’s residents with water from the Hetch Hetchy supply.
Then came work with the town’s historical society, where his wife first got involved. Alexander took a lead role with the group, driving a bus on field trips and organizing two or three trips a year with society members.
Poor health, including his current battle with cancer, isn’t keeping this trim 89-year-old resident down. Alexander continues serving in Friends of Westwind, the historical society and Mountain View Rotary, where he has been a member since 1970.
Most recently, Alexander lent his input on the Los Altos Hills anniversary efforts, culminating in Friday’s planned celebration at the Los Altos Golf & Country Club and the 50-year retrospective of town history in a multipanel display at town hall. In fact, Alexander and the historical society contributed $2,000 toward the project’s creation.
He is a longtime member of the Los Altos Hills Horsemen’s Association. He was president of Friends of Westwind Barn, which runs the barn’s horse-riding programs.
He’s not happy about the latest power struggle between Friends of Westwind and town officials for control of barn programs. “I think it’s sad,” Alexander said. “I think people should let us run the barn the way we have run it for 28 years – things will work out just fine.”
As a resident keenly aware of the town’s rural history, with its pathways, horse trails and commitment to 1-acre-minimum properties to thwart the encroachment of suburbia, Alexander acknowledged that the town’s transition to larger homes and fewer horses was bound to happen as the once-orchard-laden “Valley of Heart’s Delight” gave way to Silicon Valley.
“Change is inevitable, but you hate to see it,” he lamented. “This is such a beautiful place. It draws people who have the money to buy into it.”
Alexander added, “The town has done as good a job as they can do” in controlling growth and keeping the town rural.
Still, he thinks town officials can do better in the treatment of Los Altos Hills’ history.
“Here we have this big, beautiful town hall and no place for historical (materials),” Alexander said. “That’s sad. When I first joined the historical society, we had a museum and a library.” That museum, which occupied Heritage House on the town hall property, now houses sheriff’s deputies and the town’s emergency communications. The materials from the museum now occupy a small space in a locked room at the new town hall. However, town officials are looking for a more suitable location to host the collections.
Alexander also noted that early town residents “were willing to give some of their time to volunteer work.” He doesn’t see that commitment as much among new residents.
Ever modest to the end, Alexander offered no grandiose legacy on his life’s contributions to the town.
“I just want to be remembered as a guy who tried to do his best,” he said.
