In her third book about California, “The Valley of Heart’s Delight: True Tales from Around the Bay,” Robin Chapman has written a love letter to her hometown and environs. A native of Los Altos, she traveled the world as a TV journalist, then came home to immerse herself in the region’s history and delight readers with her tales.
Weaving personal memoirs with stories of local residents – and some famous personalities who sojourned through the region – Chapman has written a book that enlightens as it entertains. Who knew 1940s movie star Esther Williams was married in a Los Altos church, or Steve Jobs had a soft spot for apricots?
A gifted storyteller, Chapman, author of the Town Crier’s “Santa Clara Valley Lives” column, writes with warmth and intimacy, drawing you in as if she were chatting with you over coffee or a glass of wine.
As a historian, she dug deep into the archives to uncover details and photos of faces and places from long ago: a young Queen Elizabeth touring Hewlett-Packard with David Packard, Rancho Shopping Center circa 1950 abutting the now- defunct railroad tracks.
As a journalist, she knows history is written in the memories of people who lived it. Her interviews give firsthand accounts of time and place that are far more fascinating than anything found in history books. Consider her conversation with 98-year-old Hank Cole, who played pingpong with astronauts at NASA, where he was asked to test two of Wernher von Braun’s proposed Apollo Saturn launch vehicles. He told Chapman, “It’s a good thing we did that. … One of the rockets … had a flaw and would have blown up.”
She also interviewed Timothy Chew, ex-CIA agent and last surviving son of Thomas Foon Chew, the “Asparagus King” who perfected the canning process for green asparagus. Timothy revealed they were the first Chinese family to buy a home in Los Gatos, hoping the clear air would help his father’s asthma. He confided the benefit was offset by his father chain-smoking cigars.
Past meets present
In many of Chapman’s tales, you can’t help but note how the present reflects the past. During the 1918 influenza pandemic, 8,000 soldiers fell ill at Camp Fremont in Palo Alto/Menlo Park. (If you’ve ever had a burger or beer at the old Oasis, you were in one of the camp buildings.) A photo shows troops celebrating the World War I armistice wearing masks.
And under a recent Palo Alto development agreement, Thomas Foon Chew’s 1918 cannery, most recently occupied by Fry’s Electronics, will be preserved with a plaque extolling its historical significance.
Although you can open this book at any page and find a captivating tale, I recommend you start at the beginning, where Chapman’s great-great-grandmother – a widow with 11 children – confronts a Crow Indian standing in her doorway and hands him a loaf of bread! That story so beguiled me I couldn’t stop reading.
“The Valley of Heart’s Delight” is a gift to all who love the Bay Area for its apricots, its tech and the amazing people who lived its past. If you ever thought history was a boring exercise in memorization, this book will disabuse you of that notion. Chapman has done all the hard work, researching dusty archives, tracking down remarkable individuals – many now deceased – to bring you these intriguing stories. Immerse yourself in this book and you’ll know what to say when friends ask, “Have you read any good love letters lately?”
“The Valley of Heart’s Delight” was published last week by The History Press. Chapman is scheduled to appear for book talks and signings 5:30-7 p.m. Friday at Feldman’s Books, 1075 Curtis St., Menlo Park; and 7 p.m. Aug. 11 at Books Inc., 317 Castro St., Mountain View.
Pat Marriott is a Los Altos resident and self-proclaimed “lifelong bookaholic.” Since retiring from a career in software development and marketing, she has focused on feeding her reading habit.
