Marty and Subhash
Marty is a web designer, author, and publisher. She is the owner of Attitude Works Publishing and Attitude Works Web Design. She has published two books of inspiring quotations: The Attitude Treasury: 101 Inspiring Quotations, and The Athena Treasury: 101 Inspiring Quotations by Women.
When Marty visited Southside Park Cohousing in downtown Sacramento several years ago, she fell in love with the beautiful common green. She says she was inspired by the vision of a friendly community where neighbors know and care about each other. She decided she wanted to live in cohousing. She loves hiking, swimming, traveling, and bird-watching. She has been a member of the Sunrise Center Toastmasters Club for over 30 years, and she has earned her Distinguished Toastmaster Rating (DTM).
Marty has lived most of her life in California. She has lived in Fair Oaks since 1981, and she enjoys attending its festivals, park concerts, and plays in the Amphitheater. Marty is proud of being instrumental in the successful effort to raise money to protect the Fair Oaks Bluff, a 4.5 acre Park/Preserve with a stunning view of the American River.
Subhash was born in India and trained as a mechanical engineer. He came to the United States to attend Purdue, where he earned an M.B.A. He moved to California and ended up working as a Marketing Manager. He has two grown children. Since retiring, he spends his time bird watching, gardening, and traveling. He and Marty love to travel together.
Roz
Roslyn (or Roz, as she likes to be called) is originally from Sacramento. After high school, Roz moved to Sonoma County, where she had a 30 year career as a police officer and District Attorney Investigator. When she retired, she return to Sacramento and began a second career as a real estate agent with Keller Williams.
Roz moved to the Sacramento area to be closer to her family and friends. She was also drawn by home prices that are lower than in the Bay Area. She likes the proximity to the airport, as she makes frequent trips to San Diego to visit her son. She is thrilled to be so close to Lake Tahoe, where she loves to spend time in both summer and winter.
In college, Roz was an Environmental Studies Major. She says she has always been concerned about the environment and our effect on this planet. This was one of the reasons for her interest in Fair Oaks Eco-cohousing. She says: “I always thought there should be some way to share with neighbors that would make things easier for ourselves and the planet.”
For fun, Roz likes to kayak, bird watch, camp, and hike. She says the Central Valley is close to all the outdoor and nature activities she enjoys.
Frank and Linda T.
Frank was born in the city of Sonoma but grew up in San Anselmo, about 18 miles north of San Francisco. He graduated from the College of Engineering, U.C. Berkeley in 1959. The campus employment office said there was a company named Aerojet in Sacramento that was looking for engineers. They made something called rockets and so Frank became a rocket scientist.
After purchasing a cattle ranch in Pleasant Grove, Frank became a cattle rancher. But to help support the ranch, Frank worked for Aerojet, Spreckels Sugar, the Burke Company, and the County of Sacramento.
Since retiring, Frank builds and flies (and frequently repairs) radio controlled model airplanes. Tent camping with Linda (and with their children whenever they are available) is high on Frank’s fun list.
Linda grew up in Vacaville, back when it was a small town with one high school and no traffic lights. Her grandmother lived across the street, and several aunts, uncles and cousins lived in town.
After attending Sacramento City College, Linda worked for a local doctor as a medical secretary. After marriage, Frank and Linda bought a ranch in Pleasant Grove, where she learned about raising cows. The raising of children came naturally. Frank and Linda spent 33 years on the ranch, raising cows and children. Besides ranching, Linda has worked at a variety of jobs over the years, including school secretary, medical transcriber, case manager, and most recently, in the office of the Cal Expo Police Department.
Linda enjoys bike riding and hikes with a hiking group. Tent camping and reading are also favorite activities. Gardening is also a longtime passion. Linda says there is nothing as satisfying as growing tasty tomatoes!
She first learned about cohousing at a talk given at her church. Subsequent reading on the topic and a visit to Nevada City Cohousing reinforced the conviction that this is how she would prefer to live.
Pat
Pat was born in Sacramento but her Dad’s Air Force career meant they moved often, including: Omaha, Nebraska; Arlington, Virginia; Montgomery, Alabama; and Oslo, Norway. She met her future husband at a branch of the University of Maryland in Munich, Germany. They lived for a time in Pacifica (in the Bay Area) and San Diego, before moving to Fair Oaks.
Pat retired after 19 years as Assistant Director of the Area 4 Agency on Aging, where she oversaw strategic planning and grant making decisions. Prior to the Area Agency on Aging, Pat was the Administrative Director of the Sacramento Science Center. She is an active member of the Friendship Force, a cultural exchange travel club, committed to achieving mutual understanding among citizens of the world through home stay visits.
Pat has been interested in cohousing since working at the Area Agency on Aging. She says it is an ideal housing option for older empty-nesters, seeking a sense of community. Pat is a widow and has three grown children who are very pleased that she is moving into cohousing.
Gina
Gina moved her family to the Sacramento area 14 years ago from the Mendocino North Coast. She says she was drawn by the bluer skies and warmer weather. She also finds the proximity to rivers and mountains makes this area very desirable for easy access to outdoor activities such as biking, kayaking, and hiking.
Gina says that her interest in cohousing was sparked ten years ago when she participated in a dinner at N St cohousing in Davis. Then when her daughter decided to live in a cohousing community while attending college, she became even more interested. The concept of shared spaces and meals, finding consensus over important decisions, and really getting to know, and frequently connecting with her neighbors was very appealing to Gina.
Gina has been a nurse for almost 40 years, predominantly working in geriatrics. Currently, she works in home care part-time and specializes in wound and ostomy patients. Gina owns a six-bed Assisted Living Home in Roseville, with a similar philosophy to cohousing: a commitment to knowing, caring, and helping others.
Bob and Fran
Bob grew up in the Aloha state on the island of Maui as one of 12 siblings. After high school, he joined the Army and served most of three years in Ft. Bliss, Texas. He has a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and has spent over 30 years working in the hi-tech industry. Bob is semi-retired, but he continues to work ten hours a month as a Consultant.
Fran grew up in Southern California. Following her divorce, she moved to Northern California to work in a medical office. When Bob and Fran married in 1981, Bob inherited an instant family of five children.
At an early age, Fran displayed a talent for drawing. She studied art in college and never stopped drawing and painting. Fran and Bob enjoyed many trips to Italy, where they enjoyed the food, beauty, and art. Another passion of Fran’s was dream interpretation, and for many years, she facilitated dream workshops.
About five years ago Fran was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Bob began to look into more suitable housing and living arrangements for Fran and himself. He says it took only a brief introduction to cohousing and a warm reception from Fair Oaks EcoHousing to convince him this was the housing option for them.
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Chris
Chris was born and raised in Sacramento and has lived here his entire life, with the exception of a few years in Taiwan (working for a company that made Harley-Davidson Motorcycle parts) and a year on the beach in the Santa Monica area. Chris graduated from CSU-Sacramento in 1997 with a BS degree in Computer Engineering. Chris worked for Hewlett-Packard for eighteen years doing ASIC (computer chip) design, and now works in Microelectronics for the Department of Defense. He is a geek's nerd. Chris recently purchased a Tesla Model 3 Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) which makes him feel like a teenager again, and he is happy that we have fast charging in our garages. Chris enjoys racketball, chess, sudoku, sushi, and driving his car like he stole it! He is dangerous in the kitchen. He does not take himself seriously, so you should probably not take him seriously, most of the time, either. He is looking forward to living in community.
Al
Al was born in Brooklyn, New York. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was 9 and moved back to New York when he was 12. He claims he speaks both East Coast and West Coast English. After earned a Bachelors and Masters in Electrical Engineering, he worked as an engineer for 44 years. His East Coast firm sent him out to California with his wife and children to start a Division on the West Coast. He later moved to Northern CA to work for a start-up in Silicon Valley.
In the early 1980’s, Al was introduced to A Course In Miracles (ACIM), and his life changed for the better. He has been teaching ACIM for about 30 years. He retired from engineering in 2003 and started Conscious Communication. He now leads seminars in the Bay Area and teaches classes in Parenting, Anger Management, and communication. He volunteers for the Counties of Santa Clara and San Mateo as a mediator & facilitator for the Small Claims Court. He taught mediation at San Jose City College.
Al is a vegan (eats fish), distance walker, biker, yoga practitioner, and dancer. He has a close relationship with both his children (daughter and son), their mates, and four amazing grandchildren. He lives in Santa Clara.
Kathy
Kathy grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, first studying computer programming. Fate took a turn though, and steered her 180 degrees into the field of technical theatre, and she went to CSU Sacramento and later UC Davis for an MFA in Theatre Design. She has designed lights or sets for various theatres in northern California, including Sacramento Theatre Company, Western Stage, and the Fair Oaks Theatre Festival, and currently is the Scenic/Lighting Designer at American River College Theatre Department. Kathy’s husband was also in that field, and they enjoyed many years together working on shows.
Kathy’s likes include traveling to the mountains or cruising, visiting museums, fixing up houses, and seeing lots of shows.
Kathy comes from a big family. Her fondness for cohousing came from family vacations at her grandmother’s farm in Mississippi where the farmhouse became the “common house” at holiday time for returning family members who slept in every building on the farm, and brought food galore to common meals. She remembers the craziness and warmth and kids running around and old folks rocking on the porch. She’s looking forward to establishing that sense of extended family with new neighbors here at Fair Oaks EcoHousing!
Karen
Karen is a fourth generation Californian who grew up in Eureka. She spent her summers in the redwoods along the Eel River, as well as camping and hiking in the Trinity Alps and Klamath Mountains. After graduating from UC Berkeley, she went to work on environmental issues in the office of State Senator Peter Behr – a leader in the creation of Point Reyes National Seashore and author of California’s Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. When his term ended, she joined the first Jerry Brown administration, leading to an appointment to the California Energy Commission where she served until early 1984.
At the end of her term, she married, traveled for a year around the world (literally), and then founded a small consulting firm that represented renewable energy producers, industrial firms with combined heat and power, and electric vehicle interests. After a respite from consulting, she joined the California Independent System Operator in 2005 as Vice-President of Policy and Client Services. Karen retired in 2016 and is devoting time to her hobbies (quilting and kayaking), service on a national non-profit board, and a new puppy. She is an empty nester with two wonderful grown sons, one of whom lives in Sacramento.
Linda B
Linda was born in Long Beach. Her parents moved to Avenal, CA, near the oilfields around Avenal, Taft, and Bakersfield. She came to UC Berkeley in 1960 and has lived and worked there since then. After graduating from the UC School of Public Health, she worked for the state Department of Public Health for decades, first as a microbiologist in the Microbial Diseases Lab, and later as a Clinical Laboratory Inspector for the state and federal governments.
She has two daughters: Jen, who lives in Chico with her husband and two college-age daughters, and Rebecca, who lives in Long Beach where she and her husband teach modern dance and music at Cal State University at Long Beach.
Before retiring, Linda traveled to Russia and Australia and participated in Earth Watch archaeology projects in England (Hadrian's Wall) and Italy (Pompeii).
After retiring, she overcommitted with volunteer activities, but now she has settled down to observing the world around her...casual bird-watching, walking, gardening, puzzles, knitting, cooking, and lots of reading about everything.
Linda says she’s delighted to start an adventure with her new extended family.
John and Jan
Jan has been a teacher most of her career, starting in Peace Corps in Nigeria and then in a “free school” in England. For 25 years, she was a Montessori teacher in New York and Chicago. In Chicago, she was promoted to Admissions Director and then Diversity Director. Jan is passionate about raising awareness of the need for all students to be honored and included in the school environment and curriculum. Other interests include cooking (especially Italian food in honor of Jan’s large Italian-American family), gardening, meditating, and reading.
John has had jobs ranging from dishwasher to steelworker, but theatre is his passion. John is an Emmy Award-winning actor, director, theatre teacher, and a proud member of Actor’s Equity. His theatre masks have been exhibited in two museums and he was given the Kennedy Center Award for his commedia dell’ arte mask designs. He restored the oldest train station in Evanston and turned it into a theatre and cultural center. John has experience as a cook in several restaurants and as a head chef in a Sri Chimnoy vegetarian restaurant. He looks forward to community meals at Fair Oaks. Most of all, John likes meditation, taking walks, cooking with Jan, and being with their daughter.
Jan and John have studied tai chi for decades and more recently have taught tai chi together in Evanston, Illinois, where they now live. They look forward to continuing teaching in Fair Oaks. John currently serves as president of the board of the international Tai Chi Foundation. They look forward to living closer to their daughter and to enjoying the weather, natural environment, and people of Northern California.
Al and Joan
The opportunity to join a small village community may be the siren’s call to Joan and Al to re-experience their childhood homes. Al grew up in small town Emeryville when neighborhood kids hopped on slow moving trains, relieved small fruits from local factories as workers looked the other way, and spent most of their free moments playing baseball or sneaking into the Oakland Oaks’ stadium only a few blocks away. Joan’s childhood home was a small farm in Plainville, Kansas, where a family gathering meant at least 50 people.
Al graduated from the University of San Francisco, and after a year at the University of Strasbourg in France, returned to USF for graduate classes. His first teaching position was in the Elk Grove Unified School District, and it is from there he retired after many years teaching the subjects he loved.
Joan is a graduate of Marymount College in Kansas, and after a year teaching in a small town, joined a group of friends on their way to California for the summer. She never left. No humidity –how wonderful! After spending a year in public relations, she returned to teaching and there she met Al. Over the years she has taught all classes, 1st through 12th grades. In the early 80’s she was the first mother to establish a Home School in Nevada County when it became apparent that the transfer from the Fair Oaks Waldorf School to the three different elementary schools in Nevada City was causing too much stress. At the time, the family was living in tents while building their house. More stress they didn’t need!
Al and Joan have four children who all live within an hour’s drive. Last count, there are nine grandkids. They enjoy spending time with family, traveling, talking politics (both are history majors), playing board games, and watching sports.
Kim
Kim grew up in Fresno, with a father who can fix anything, a mother who is a terrific cook and a brother and sister with multiple creative talents between them. She owes her love of project-oriented work to her parents, who always had their kids working on summer projects, from building green houses to learning bronze casting in the back yard.
After earning a degree in Biology from UC San Diego, Kim enjoyed a brief career in academic research before changing focus to finance and accounting. Kim recently retired from 30 years in corporate accounting, most recently as Controller overseeing accounting operations in twelve countries in the Asia Pacific region. She’s currently working part time as an accountant and spending time with her parents, who still live in Fresno. She thinks she’s got one more career change in her future, and she enjoys learning and exploring what that might be.
About five years ago Kim started researching alternative living arrangements because she was seeking more community connection. She’s really happy to have found the perfect combination of welcoming people and the beautiful natural setting that is Fair Oaks EcoHousing.
Kathryn
Kathryn was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Iowa and Minnesota. After earning her MFA in Stage Design at the University of Iowa she worked for almost a decade as a theatrical costume cutter/tailor for various regional performing arts groups, including the Minnesota Opera, the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre, the San Diego Old Globe, the Manitoba (Canada) Theatre Centre, and the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival. Most recently for the past six years she has built costumes as a volunteer tailor for the Livermore Shakespeare Festival.
After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1991 she changed careers. For the past 23 years she has been employed as an AutoCAD drafter/technical illustrator for an environmental remediation firm with offices in the Bay Area.
With retirement in view, Kathryn is looking forward to being an enthusiastic member of the gardening and cooking teams at Fair Oaks EcoHousing, and possibly re-integrating into Sacramento’s professional theatre community. Her favorite hobbies are quilting, knitting and sewing for charity, and traveling in Europe. Most recently, she took up brewing beer and mead – and looks forward to hosting beer and mead tasting parties!
Sylvia and Anabel
Sylvia and Anabel are a mother and daughter who currently live in Orange County, California. Hopefully, Sylvia’s 25-year old son, Ira, will be a frequent visitor to Fair Oaks EcoHousing. Ira currently lives in Taiwan, where he teaches English. The move to Fair Oaks will bring the family much closer to Marcia, Sylvia’s 91-year old mother, who lives on her own in rural Chico.
Sylvia grew up in San Diego and Chico, CA, and attended St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in San Francisco. She has lived in many places, including Chicago, New York City, and Gainesville, Florida, where she earned her master’s degree in a women’s health nurse practitioner program. As a nurse practitioner, Sylvia spent most of her career working with immigrants and other low-income women. She retired recently from Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, where she was the student health center administrator.
Sylvia’s prior experiences with community life include several years in the family housing apartments at the University of Florida, and shared meals and activities while living on a rainforest research station in rural Costa Rica when her son was a preschooler.
Anabel was born in Yue Yang, in the Hunan Province of China. Sylvia adopted Anabel in 2000 at the age of 17 months, and brought her son Ira on the adoption trip to China. Anabel has overcome many difficulties in her life, but still faces some disabilities. She is currently attending a work training program through her school district. Anabel’s dog, Baby, is a certified service dog.
Here are some fun facts about Sylvia and Anabel: Sylvia took a 2-year mid-career break from nursing and worked as a flight attendant for an international airline. She studies Chinese language and culture and can make tea according to Chinese tradition. Anabel loves to ride horses and she attends a horse-themed summer camp every summer. She loves music—her Chinese name is Jia Yin, which means “beautiful music.”
Ellen
Ellen lives near Santa Barbara, CA. She is retired from a career of trust and estate administration. She is a passionate gardener who particularly loves flowers. Continuing to garden during the drought has been challenging and interesting. The installation of supplemental rainwater storage tanks has helped, as well as continuing to plant less water-thirsty plants such as succulents, natives and Mediterranean plants. Her other major passion is line dancing, especially teaching beginning line dancing at a local retirement community and also at a senior center.
She has one daughter who is married with two small children – they have lived near Fair Oaks Village for the past 7 years. Ellen is passionate about environmental issues and eco-friendly solutions. She is semi-vegetarian, semi-vegan, but definitely drawn toward all things organic and healthy as well as tasty! And she looks forward to being in a space where local, organic, sometimes communal, cooking is valued.
Ellen has been feeling drawn toward more community, and was thrilled to discover Fair Oak EcoHousing, its environmentally friendly construction and values, and its proximity to her family. She especially appreciates the concept of living in a community which values both public and private space. She originally read about Fair Oaks EcoHousing several years ago in the back of the UU World magazine. She enjoys being a member of the Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Goleta, CA.
Stephen and Cynthia
Cynthia cofounded the international arts based community practice, InterPlay. As a theologian, teacher, executive director, artist and mentor, she’s authored books on somatic spirituality and creativity, was featured in the book, Beauty as Experience: Dancing Beyond Fifty and has a visual art practice she calls “Shrine Making.” She’s been faculty at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, the Sophia Center in Oakland and in conferences around the world. In the last few years, she implemented Changing the Race Dance trainings with her collaborator Soyinka Rahim and built up a practice as a spiritual companion and teacher at The Hidden Monastery, her website at cynthiawinton-henry.com .
Stephen is a grief educator and retired hospice chaplain. When he lost a parent at a young age, he was initiated in the need for spiritual companionship through life. He is a graduate of Fuller Seminary, did doctoral work at Claremont School of Theology, and studied acting at Foothill Theater Conservatory. He is an InterPlay leader, avid reader, and amateur ukulele and guitar player.
Together Stephen and Cynthia collaborate in life and learning. They are parents to Katie Winton-Henry, family to her partner Brendan Wheat and grandparents to Lydian Lee-Marie Wheat. Coming from Alameda and the Bay Area, the fact that they are growing as a family group set in motion their move to Sacramento and cohousing. They are excited about this new chapter in life. They expect Katie, Brendan and Lydian to be around quite a bit, as they will also moving to Sacramento. Cynthia and Stephen both love to travel, read, play and lead the Dying to Live Tour and Cabaret. They engage the arts as we acknowledge four wisdoms: Death’s role at the sacred center of life, Death is not a solo dance, Dying requires a herd of angels, and the obligation to die wise.
Rachel and Andrew
Their story begins in Stockton fair
Where Andrew grew up and Rachel lived too.
They met in high school, and it was there
Their lyrical love of language did bloom.
They both studied English as undergrads
And much chagrin from their families did make.
Finding post-college work through recessions was bad,
So briefly overseas their path did take.
Rachel’s since Mastered Information Science,
Organizing anything for edification;
Andrew’s a teacher pondering Waldorf’s quintessence
And Mastering the practice of a healing education.
Their daughters are recent additions to the clan,
And grandma’s moving in with their fine, lively band!
Andrew is a Humanities Teacher at Sacramento Waldorf High School. Rachel has a Master’s Degree in Library Sciences. She has worked as an archivist for the Hoover Institute at Stanford and also for the California State Archives. She’s currently a full time Mom to Joanna, 4, and Freya, 2. They are excited about moving into Fair Oaks EcoHousing.
Suzanne
Always a learner, Suzanne is currently finishing her PhD in life experience. She feels like she has lived nine lives, and the best is yet to be!
Born in Wyandotte, MI, she moved with her family every few years, living in Colorado, Missouri, Germany, and Maryland. She attended the University of Maryland before becoming a stewardess for United Air Lines. From Chicago she moved to San Francisco, married a pilot, moved to a 40-acre almond and walnut ranch in Guinda, CA, and had two daughters.
Suzanne was 40 when she graduated from CSUS with a BA in Communications. She became insurance licensed, selling pre-need funeral arrangements and long-term care insurance. This eventually led to marketing for in-home care services and a start-up company to benefit seniors. She is about to retire from the CA State Treasury after 10 years of employment as an executive assistant.
Suzanne is a seeker of truth, a student of the Way of Mastery. She enjoys reading, practices meditation, chi gong, likes to knit and crochet, make jewelry, and spend time with her extensive succulent collection. She loves to walk and is looking forward to getting a bike and maybe a kayak. She is currently the board president of the Bereavement Network Resources of Sacramento. She has two daughters, Eva who lives in Placerville with her family; and Liz, who lives in Athens, GA.
Suzanne’s driving force is seeing the absurdity in most everything, especially her life. Laughter is therapeutic, making it much easier to accept what she cannot change, and to accept others. She thinks she is hilarious, and if you are like-minded, you will be her best friend!
Paula
Paula grew up on an apple farm, forty miles from Cape Town, South Africa. She has wonderful memories of gatherings with family and friends in the close-knit farming community. She graduated from the University of Cape Town with a BA in English. It was there she first joined in political protests against apartheid. After graduation, she worked as a legal secretary, then traveled in England, Europe, and the United States for eighteen months, staying with family and friends and visiting as many art museums and galleries she could. Whenever she ran out of money, she walked into a temporary secretarial agency and found enough work to carry on.
Paula moved to Seattle, married, and had two wonderful children. The family moved to Port Angeles, another close-knit community in the Pacific Northwest, where she volunteered in local schools, joined friends to start the Juan de Fuca Festival, and raised money for South African children affected by AIDS. After owning a graphic design firm, she became activities director at an assisted living community, which she loved.
Paula’s son and his wife live in Sacramento, and her daughter and her partner live in Seattle. Paula moved to Sacramento to help take care of her two grandchildren. Her parents actually met at UC Davis, so she feels she has come full circle. Paula enjoys getting together with family and friends, being in nature, reading, and the arts, and cares deeply about the environment and social justice. She is currently writing her memoirs on growing up in South Africa.
Paula is excited to be a member of the Fair Oaks EcoHousing neighborhood, and return to the sense of community she treasured as a child.
Andy and Linda
Andy and Linda both are indentured servants to an English Springer Spaniel named Barney. Andy’s outside job is working as a representative for Clearesult, an energy management company. He acts as a liaison between refrigeration and lighting contractors and grocery store owners. The goal is to reduce energy usage and carbon footprints in the state.
Prior to being solely indentured to Barney, Linda retired at the end of 2019 after 33.5 years as a federal bank examiner for Farm Credit Administration. She traveled to rural areas of the United States, focusing on agricultural lending institutions in the Farm Credit System. During her career, she learned a lot about the different crops and livestock grown/raised around the country. Now her days are spent catering to Barney, be it taking him to the dog park, walking him, feeding, him, letting him out, and so on.
Both Andy and Linda enjoy bicycle riding and traveling. Their last big trip was to France and England with a brief stop in Ireland. Andy is a WWII history bluff and also operates a ham radio. Linda also enjoys cooking and needlecrafts. Her current interest is in knitting hats for charities. The last knitting projects she participated in were the Little Hats, Big Hearts and Christmas At Sea.
Since Andy’s dad traveled around the states as his job dictated, Andy has lived in a few states – New York, Missouri, and finally California. He attended CSU Chico and majored in energy management. Linda is a California native, hailing from Stockton, and attended CSU Sacramento, getting a business degree.
Barney formerly belonged to Lawrence, one of Linda’s brothers. When he passed away, Barney came to live with Linda and Andy. He likes visiting vegetable gardens, hoping to score a broccoli head or two or maybe a couple of squashes and carrots. He absolutely loves walking, even if it means going out late at night. He enjoys going to the dog parks too. Everybody is a friend of his, as far as he’s concerned.
Nina
Nina has lived in Sacramento for almost 39 years. She was born in Tacoma, Washington and spent her childhood there. She attended college in Bellingham, and Olympia, where she got a BA in Social Science in 1973.
After college, she decided to pursue her love for numbers and became an accountant. She retired from the State of California in 2005, after working in several state Accounting Offices.
Nina’s passion is playing music. Her parents bought her a small guitar and a year of music lessons for her tenth birthday. She’s been playing some kind of string instrument ever since. She has been playing blues with the Bluez Houndz for nearly 25 years. She is currently learning to play the ukulele. Music is a strong uniter; she believes we need a lot of that.
Her interest in living in cohousing was sparked by a longtime friend who moved into Fair Oaks EcoHousing a year ago. She was attracted by the opportunity to live in a community with support and genuine caring. As a single woman with only Fur Children (three cats), Fair Oaks EcoHousing is like the big family she never had.