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May 2018 • ALAMO TODAY & DANVILLE TODAY NEWS • PAGE 1
& M AY 2018
DANVILLE’S NEW FRIEND By Linda Summers Pirkle
Craggy coastline, magnificent views, lush green hills, good food and cozy pubs: Ireland is calling! Five thousand miles apart, the inland port city New Ross, County Wexford in Southeast Ireland and Danville, California share a common bond with a connection to the Irish actor James O’Neill and his son Eugene O’Neill. Tao House located in the Las Trampas hills above Danville, was the home to playwright Eugene and his wife Carlotta O’Neill from 1938 to 1944. Eugene is the only American playwright to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature. While living at Tao House, he wrote some of his most famous plays. Eugene’s father, James, emigrated from New Ross, Ireland in the 1850’s. In celebration and recognition of the tie between the two municipalities, a new relationship has been formed. Danville and New Ross are now officially Friendship Cities. The inaugural event, “One Festival, Two Countries,” will be held this fall in both New Ross, Ireland and Danville. The alliance between Danville and New Ross came about with hard work by many, impeccable timing, and as the Irish say a “wee bit of luck.” Dan McGovern, President of the board of the Eugene O’Neill Foundation Tao House, shared the genesis of the partnership. “In July of 2017, I delivered a paper at the International Conference of the Eugene O'Neill Society in Galway, Ireland. Afterwards, my wife Carolyn and I went South Street New Ross with traditional shop fronts and family businesses. to New Ross at the invitation of Richard Hayes, the Vice President for Strategic Planning at the Waterford Institute of Technology. Richard Hayes is an O'Neill scholar
See Friend continued on page 18 MOUNT DIABLO ROSE SOCIETY: OPEN TO ALL ROSE JOIN WHITE PONY EXPRESS IN $250,000 ADMIRERS MATCHING FUND CHALLENGE By Steve Spraitzar
By Jody Morgan
As White Pony Express (WPE) moves closer to meeting its mission goals, it needs more support than ever before. In 2018, White Pony Express increased its financial needs due to the capacity-building its done in the past two years. Its budget in 2018 is triple what it was in 2016—with more and more lives uplifted.
Most Americans appreciate seeing the rose, our National Floral Emblem, in bloom. Few are adept at coaxing a variety of roses into award-winning displays. Among the members of the Mount Diablo Rose MDRS volunteer Sandy Barclay tends roses at Dublin's Emerald Glen Park (Photo courtesy of Kathy Knabke). Society (MDRS), there are experts who enjoy sharing their knowledge of growing and showing roses. Nevertheless, individuals who have trouble getting a single specimen to survive are equally welcome to attend meetings. You don’t need sufficient space to establish your own rose garden to join. All you need to embrace the camaraderie of MDRS is an interest in learning about roses. Many of the 26 original devotees of roses who came together to create MDRS already belonged to the East Bay Rose Society (EBRS). They wanted a gathering place in the Tri-Valley. Theo Kahle, President of EBRS presided at the first official meeting held on Through our new School Pantry Program, we are in the process of doubling October 8, 1986, in the Activities Room of Trinity Lutheran Church in Dublin, CA. our food distribution to 10,000 pounds a day over the next two years, reaching Today, MDRS is one of the area’s fastest growing rose societies. Asked why, MDRS 12,000—15,000 of those suffering from hunger that we are not reaching today. President Barbara Norkus replies, “Foremost among the reasons why MDRS is so See White Pony continued on page 26 successful at attracting new members and retaining current members are excellent
See Rose continued on page 16
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