Every evening, even after the students at Children’s House of Los Altos had filed out of the door and the sky had darkened, Ella Mayon remained in the building.
Ella spent her nights reorganizing the classrooms to perfection, according to Beth Burton, a two-decade teacher at Children’s House.
Burton’s own classroom had one bin teeming with stuffed animals, which were often hastily thrown back into the box without much order. But Ella, consistently determined to make her students’ experiences the best she could, stayed after hours to adjust the stuffed animals and make them look like they were having a blast at school, according to Burton.
“Those little details did make such a difference, and every time I look at that box of stuffed animals, I’m reminded of her,” Burton said. “That was such a small part of the classroom, but it truly did make a difference.”
This winter, following what her widower Mike Mayon called “a beautiful vacation” in Hawaii, Ella suffered a minor stroke. After recovering, Ella, 77 years old, endured a second stroke, which ultimately took her life May 23.
“She taught to the very end,” Mike said. “I mean, I don’t think we (Ella’s family) ever could have stopped her.”
Ella’s love for teaching began in Hawaii. Or, as Mike surmised, perhaps Ella’s love for teaching was in the genes. Ella’s mother was also a teacher, obtaining her teaching credentials alongside Ella at San Jose State University.
By the time Ella had married Mike in 1968, she was already teaching at Albertan Elementary School. Following their wedding, they both took a year off and then Mike was drafted into the military. As a Navy pilot, Mike said he and Ella moved regularly, but Ella found a way to continue teaching and giving back to communities every step of the way – from Florida to Texas to Hawaii.
It was in Hawaii, after Ella had been guiding low-income high school students who struggled with English, where she was discovered by the Punahou School – the high school Barack Obama graduated from in 1979. Soon after she started at Punahou, the Kamehameha School, a native Hawaiian school, asked Ella to teach kindergarten and first grade.
Upon their return to California, Ella went back to San Jose State University, where she was offered a teaching position in their graduate division and taught on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. During her time at San Jose State, Chris Mayon – her eldest son – was two years old.
Mike said Ella, an educator by nature, could not find any local preschools that met the standards of learning she had for Chris. So, when the Los Altos School District’s Eastbrook Elementary School was closing, Ella snagged a deal which allowed her to lease classrooms by the hour. Given her San Jose State schedule, Ella began to teach preschool students in the leased classrooms on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“She’d fill up with 12 or so (kids) back in those days, all local kids and young families like we were and she just took them all in,” Mike said. “And, she was just a natural teacher. I mean, it was amazing.”
Quickly, Ella’s teaching gig became a success. Mike said that as word of the classes spread, so did demand. That led Ella to leave San Jose State and, in 1978, turn her classroom-based preschool program – Children’s House – into one that operated five days per week. Most integral to Ella was that all students of all abilities were welcome.
“You wanted to be in Children’s House,” Mike said. “(It was) the school you wanted to be into.”
Soon enough, Children’s House became so popular that Ella needed more space. The Los Altos School District began leasing Mike and Ella classrooms, which they did for years until, in 1996, they were offered a grounds lease.
There, Children’s House built its first and primary location, followed in 2008 by a Los Altos Hills facility and in 2024 by a third facility at Springer Elementary School. At these facilities, Mike said everything was educational, including the playground’s water rock that showed children how to transfer volumes.
According to Ella’s son Michael “Mikey” Mayon, Children’s House was not intended to create future Harvard University admits – instead, Ella’s goal was directing people on the path best suited for them. Her extensive knowledge of the local elementary school scene allowed her to point students to education best suited to their talents and abilities.
“She wanted to create experiences that would get people on the right path for where they should be and help you find that path,” Mikey said. “She (dedicated herself) to making the situation such that would allow for you to be successful.”
But, despite her commitment to education and expanding the community’s access, Mike said Ella made ample time to form genuine relationships with the families she helped.
“(Ella) has just been kind of a community cornerstone,” Mike said. “We have children in the school now whose grandparents brought their parents and so we have all of these generational people coming to the school because they just loved Ella so much.”
Count Twinkie Lyman among her fans. She sent her son to Children’s House and her grandson is currently being taught by Ella’s daughter, Courtney Mayon.
“It’s hard to imagine what preschool in Los Altos might have looked like without Ella,” Lyman said. “… The added sense of community it has given to all attendees and families, with participation in the Pet Parade, really gives Children’s House an indelible mark in the town’s history – and memorable fun for the generations of kids fortunate enough to be a part of it.”
In Mike’s estimate, Ella’s accessible education impacted more than 1,000 families across Los Altos, Mountain View and Sunnyvale. For Courtney, the most impressive part was that Ella remembered every student’s name.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and Children’s House was forced to temporarily close, Ella was upset – so upset that every night, she would sit down and read two books, which Mike said he recorded. Then, Mike sent the videos to Chris, who also worked at Children’s House, and would then send them to all of the parents whose kids were forced to stay home.
“I think she read 100 books for these children, which would give the parents a little bit of time, a little bit of freedom, where they could have a little human conversation for an hour,” Mike said. “… Actually, we run into people, you know, (who say) “We still watch those and we still listen to those books by Ella.”
Chris and Courtney returned to help with the Children’s House as adults, with Courtney focusing on the education side and Chris on the administrative side. Chris said he aimed to slowly transition day-to-day work away from his mother, so she felt free to go do “retired people things.”
But, in typical Ella fashion, she found a way to go back to Children’s House every day.
“She really genuinely loved the children at the school and the families and watching this little preschool institution she had created do its thing of getting children and families ready to go off to kindergarten,” Chris said.
Amid her work educating young students, Ella still managed to find time for her own children – actions Mikey said did not go unnoticed.
“The only things that mattered to her were her family, the families at the school and helping those families,” Mikey said.
For Mikey, Courtney and Chris, there was no talk about avoiding college – Mike said Ella made sure that was off the table. Ultimately, Ella’s dedication to education was made evident through her children’s education: all three have advanced degrees.
And, with their extensive knowledge of education – much of which was picked up from their mother – Courtney and Chris intend to maintain Ella’s legacy through continuing to operate Children’s House, with no plans of stopping anytime soon.
“We watched it (Children’s House) as we grew up,” Mike said. “I watched it with her for all the years I was married to her. She was an amazing soul.”
