Born in 1917 — in a house that her grandfather built in San Jose’s Naglee Park neighborhood — Betty Ann Chandler’s life spanned San Jose’s evolution from a small, agricultural city to the biggest city in the Bay Area and home to tech companies that would have been science fiction in her youth. Chandler, most likely San Jose’s oldest resident, died Jan. 9 at age 108.
“I really cannot think of someone who had had a more positive outlook on life and had been more intimately related to San Jose,” said Lynda Sereno, a longtime friend and past president of the San Jose Woman’s Club, which Chandler joined in 1940.
She graduated from San Jose High in 1935 and received her bachelor’s degree in education from San Jose State in 1939, the same year she married Elliott Stuart Chandler. She taught first grade in the Campbell Union district for a year before settling down to raise five children (who, in turn, led to nine grandchildren and at least 10 great-grandchildren). She was the granddaughter of Joseph Desimone, a prominent San Jose businessman who owned Desimone’s Cycles and Toy Shop, which the Chandlers took over and ran until about 1990.
I was fortunate to meet her a few times, mostly at San Jose Woman’s Club events. When I visited the front yard of her house for an outdoor 105th birthday party in 2022, I marveled at the thought that Chandler had lived through two World Wars and survived two pandemics, not to mention depressions, recessions and a parade of politicians at every level. What was her secret?
“Keep moving, keep your friends and have a big family,” she said. “I was born smiling. And I love to smile. Give a smile and you get a smile, I say.”
A celebration of her life is in being planned and will be held at the San Jose Woman’s Club. I’ll follow up with a date and more details when they’re decided.
CELEBRATING MLK DAY: If you’re still looking for a good way to spend the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday Monday, there are a few events taking place in San Jose.
Our City Forest will have its annual tree planting event at Rainbow Park in West San Jose, starting at 8:45 a.m. You can reserve a spot at tinyurl.com/OCFMLK2026. The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy also is offering a service opportunity, partnering with the Muwekma Ohlone Preservation Foundation to plant a new native forage garden near Taylor Street and close to the Rotary PlayGarden. That one starts at 10 a.m., and you can find out more at linktr.ee/guadaluperiverpark.
Two other events are worth noting, but both are sold out: The African American Community Service Agency’s 46th annual MLK Day Luncheon at San Jose State, featuring keynote speaker Angela Rye, a social justice advocate and self-described “empowermenteur,” and the Caltrain Celebration Train that departs from Diridon Station in downtown San Jose at 9:20 a.m. to take people to MLK events in San Francisco. If you already have reserved your commemorative ticket, you’re all set.
And if you’re looking for a little adventure for your day, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that all state parks will be free to enter on Monday, a response to President Trump removing MLK Day from the list of free days for national parks.
SINGING WITH FRIENDS: SJ Friends — you might know them as the Quakers — are organizing a trio of events to raise money for a wheelchair ramp that will make their historic 1885 Quaker meetinghouse on Morse Street, the oldest west of Iowa, accessible. The Quakers are known as the Religious Society of Friends, but none of the performers are members, so they’re calling the series “Friends of Friends.”
It kicks off at 1 p.m. Jan. 25 with Karenna Slade, a performer and creativity coach from Sonoma County, who plays the ukulele. The programs are considered Community Sings, so audience participation is encouraged, especially with handheld percussion instruments — think tambourines and maracas — or with songs. The Feb. 22 show features Scott T. Miller and his guitar, and the series closes out March 22 with Jody Yeary and Nathan Ladyzhensky. You can get more information and tickets at www.sanjosefriends.org/friends-perform.
SPEAKING OUT: Terry Downing normally boosts other people’s voices as a vice president of PRx Digital in San Jose. But she’ll be telling her own story next month at Tilt: Stories on the Edge at the Marsh Arts Center in Berkeley. The Feb. 21 event is a fundraiser for the Alex Manfull Fund, which raises awareness and money for PANDAS/PANS, an autoimmune disease that Downing’s adult daughter, Tessa, is afflicted with. Downing will be speaking with Paul Murphy, a longtime Santa Clara County employee, who now serves on the board of the Alex Manfull Fund. You can get more information at givebutter.com/TILT-BERKELEY.
GET FURRY: If you’ve been in downtown San Jose this weekend, you probably noticed that the furries are back in town. That’s right, it’s the annual return of Further Confusion, the convention of fans of anthropomorphic, fictional animals that’s been going on here since 1999. Some Furcon attendees put on ears or a tail, while others walk around in a full fursuit. That may be a little less comfy thanks to our unseasonably warm January weather, but at least this year’s convention has a beach theme.
I spotted a few furries Friday while talking to Jeremiah Davis, the new executive director of the San Jose Museum of Art. He just arrived in October, so he had no idea what was going on at first. Furries are welcome at the Museum of Art, of course. Just watch out for those tails.
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