Mission College has dedicated its three-story fire-training tower in honor of the Von Raesfeld family, a perfect choice given the familys history in both Santa Clara and the Bay Area firefighting scene.
“The Von Raesfeld Family has been committed to service in Santa Clara and the region for generations,” Mission College President Daniel Peck said at the Thursday dedication ceremony. “Their dedication to saving lives truly inspires future generations of first responders.”
The onetime owner of the Coast to Coast hardware store, Don Von Raesfeld Sr. had a five-decade record of public service with the Mission City, starting in the public works department before he served as city manager from 1960 to 1985. He followed that up with a four-year term on the city council that ended in 1992. Recent arrivals to Silicon Valley may not be familiar with his name, but youre probably familiar with some of the places that sprouted in Santa Clara north of 101 during Von Raesfelds tenure: the Santa Clara Convention Center, Californias Great America and Mission College itself.
Three of the familys nine children had an even stronger connection to Mission College: sons Darryl, Myron and Marty all went through the fire-training program there. The fire tower is the only one in the state used for a college fire-tech program between Santa Rosa and Monterey.
Darryl Von Raesfeld spent 33 years with the San Jose Fire Department, including serving as chief from 2006 to 2010, when he retired. Marty Von Raesfeld, who worked in the Redwood City Fire Department for a time, retired in 2015 after nearly 20 years as Santa Claras fire marshal. And today Myron Von Raesfeld is best known for his real estate business, but he also served with the Oakland Fire Department in the 1980s.
Many family members flew in from Arizona for the ceremony, which was attended by both Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor and her father, former Mayor Gary Gillmor, who gave an impromptu speech about his longtime friend, Don Sr. Given the pairs long history in Santa Clara, its seems fitting that the Von Raesfeld Family Fire Tower is on campus not far from the Gillmor Center classroom building.
CONVERSATION BETWEEN FRIENDS: The Commonwealth Club is featuring former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the Santa Clara Convention Center on Sept. 18, and Commonwealth Club CEO Gloria Duffy will have more material to draw on for the conversation than just the two womens shared expertise in international relations.
Rice and Duffys friendship goes back more than 30 years to when they shared a house while they were fellows in Stanfords arms control program in the early 1980s. “There were only four women in the program, so we called ourselves the fellow-ettes, ” said Duffy, who remembers tickling the ivories on a piano that Rice rented and dueling it out on the tennis courts.
They were frequently in contact over the years, staying friends despite their divergent political views: Duffy served in the Clinton White House, while Rices stint as Secretary of State was under President George W. Bush. They also both remained close with Chip Blacker, who was the programs assistant director at the time and just retired from Stanford.
Attendees at the talk shouldnt expect to hear a lot of campus tales, but Duffy said, “I will bring out some stories that I think people will find interesting. For an audience, what I try to do is share a bit of what I know and draw them out in some ways they might not be expecting.”
Tickets to the 7 p.m. event, “Condoleezza Rice: To Build a Better World” are $10-$55 and can be purchased at www.commonwealthclub.org.
CLIMATE FOR READING: Jonathan Franzens essay in The New Yorker about climate change has been catching a lot of heat in some corners for the author of “The End of the End of the Earth.” So itll be interesting to see if he addresses the topic Sept. 20 when he is the featured speaker at the launch party for San Jose States “Reed Magazine: Issue 152” at the Hammer Theatre Center. The 7 p.m. event, hosted by the Center for Literary Arts, is free to attend, but admission to a VIP reception afterward is $5 for students and $10 for everyone else. Go to www.litart.org/jonathan-franzen for details.
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