Our History from the Beginning
The Roy House, originally on a knoll by the duck pond on today’s San Geronimo Golf Course, served as the first school of the San Geronimo School District. The house was moved to Nicasio and featured in the 1982 film, “Shoot the Moon.” It remains today as a private residence. (Photo by Harlan Floyd) Halloween on Meadow Way, 1985 by Barbara S. Brauer We’d lived ten years in Fairfax when my husband and I found a small house on Meadow Way in San Geronimo for ourselves, our small son Gordon, and fledgling home business, Wordsworth. The first winter was a steep learning curve in Valley life, with only a woodstove for heat and infrequent buses to my job in the City. But good things happened, too. Neighbors became friends and playmates, and we joined the Babysitting Co-op. In preparation for our first Halloween, I bought four times as much candy as we’d ever handed out in Fairfax. But it didn’t last long. Group after group of trick-or-treaters came up the walk, and the candy was gone in no time. Oh no! Embarrassed, hoping to escape notice, we turned out the lights and stepped out to join the throngs of children and parents streaming up and down the street. A few steps out of our gate, I overheard a voice, “Let’s go in there!” “Naw,” I said. “I think they’re out of candy.” This was our awkward introduction to the phenomenon of Halloween on Meadow Way. Over the years at Terry Garthwaite’s home, Barbara Stevenson greeted children, inviting them in for a visit with the Talking Pumpkin. Next door, Open Classroom teacher Judy Voets, dressed as a baby, handed out treats. Valley Family Preschool director Judy Kuever came to her door at 352 Meadow in a witch’s costume. Other neighbors joined in. Year after year, each Halloween, the street became a boisterous river of revelers. On the center of the block, our home was in the thick of it. Our annual supply of candy now filled a grocery bag. Neighbors Tody and Gary counted more than 200 trick-or-treaters in one night. Then suddenly, it seemed, the annual party was over. Now each October 31 an eerie quiet reigns. But what better introduction to the Valley’s children and family-centered community? Only here and nowhere else could a family find such a neighborhood!
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50 th Anniversary
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