FARRINGTON HISTORICAL FOUNDATION - Key Persons
Al joined the Farrington board in 1999, filling the seat vacated by his wife. Al quips that he was invited on board "because they wanted a male," but in truth he was selected because of his strong character and can-do spirit. He knew Dorothy Farrington personally and was one of her favorite people.
Al brings a long history of volunteer service to Farrington. He loves kids, so his early volunteer work centered on children's causes. When his own children were young, he served on the board of Dover Elementary School and was board president of Oak Street Elementary. He also sat on the board of Boy's City Boys Club (now Boys and Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley) and continues to support that group to this day. As for public service, he is a past president and former board member of Saratoga Men's Club and was active in the Rotary Club of San Jose for many years. These groups bring men together to provide volunteer and financial support to the local community. An avid golfer, Al sat on the board of San Jose Country Club for 5 years, and was club president for 2 years.
Al attended high school and junior college at New Mexico Military Institute, and Texas Christian University in Ft. Wort.
Job Titles:
- Director and JLSJ Representative
- Director and Junior League Representative
Anne is this year's Junior League representative on the Farrington Board. She is currently President-elect of JLSJ and serves on the Farrington board for a two-year term.
Cheryl became acquainted with the foundation when she was appointed to serve as the Junior League representative on the Farrington board. She felt a connection with our mission, historic home, and garden, so she was delighted when asked in 2008 to continue on as a permanent board member.
A volunteer extraordinaire, Cheryl was an active member of the Junior League of San Jose for 7 years, and served on its board as Admin VP for one term. Since 2014, she has been active in her church's Life Group, which leads all events and fundraisers within the parish. In addition, she volunteers at her kids' schools, chairing extracurricular fund-raising activities and community events including carnivals, auctions, BBQ's and fun runs. Recently she accepted the position of Development Director at a private school, where she oversees fundraising and public relations activities. Cheryl is also a Commissioner for the City of Los Altos where she sits on the Joint Volunteer Service Awards Committee.
Cheryl has a B.A. in Public Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and an M.A. in Psychology from Southern Methodist University.
Job Titles:
- Curator
- Director and Curator
Dianne is the curator of the Farrington House. She joined the board after serving as the Farrington House Committee chairman of the Junior League of San Jose. Over a period of five or so years, Dianne, an interior designer, worked methodically with committee members to organize, photograph, preserve, and document every item in the house.
In addition to her work on the Farrington board, Dianne sat on the board of the Junior League and was one of three Junior League co-chairs for the LOC of the 1996 Figure Skating Championships that were held in San Jose and netted a substantial sum of money to the JLSJ.
Dianne has been active in The Summit League and participated in various other Silicon Valley fundraisers such as the Valle Monte League and ACS Cattle Baron's Ball. In addition, Dianne serves on the board of The D.O.V.E. Fund, a non-profit that works to help rebuild infrastructure in the poorest areas of Vietnam that were the most devastated by the Vietnam War. The D.O.V.E. Fund provides funds for the building of schools, scholarships, donates solar lighting to remote villages, and supports microfinance projects. Dianne has traveled with the D.O.V.E. Fund to Vietnam a number of times since 2001 to see those projects.
Dianne has a degree in interior design from San Jose State University and has worked professionally in the Bay Area since 1975.
Gary is a San Jose native and Willow Glen neighbor who has lived just around the corner from the Farrington house for more than 50 years. He and his wife were friends of Mrs. Farrington's when she was still living in the Farrington house, so his association with the estate goes back many years. Gary joined the Farrington board in 2017.
Gary has a long history serving on non-profit boards for organizations that improve life for the citizens of Santa Clara Valley. For many years, he served on the board of regents for both Bellarmine College Preparatory and Presentation High School. He has been a decades-long member of the San Jose Rotary club and served as its president. He was also on the board of directors of the San Jose Rotary Club Foundation.
Gary graduated from the University of Oregon with a BA degree, then went on to pursue legal studies at the Santa Clara University Law School, where he earned his JD degree. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1965 and worked as an attorney in private practice for many years.
The moment she walked in the door of the Farrington House, it was love at first sight. Lured by the beauty of the home and grounds, Joselle joined the Farrington board in 2003. She served two terms as Farrington board president from 2006-2008 and was elected president in 2021 for a third term. She explains "To this day, working on projects here is always such a pleasure."
Joselle has been involved in volunteerism for much of her life. Through her volunteer work at the American Cancer Society and Hospice Respite services, she brought comfort to others during difficult times. She served our community as an active and sustaining JLSJ member for over 30 years. She has hammered, sanded and painted more homes than she can count in her 28 years as volunteer and board member at Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley. She satisfied her love of art through her work as a volunteer docent at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford, and led Friday tours of the beautiful Stanford Memorial Chapel. With her husband, she fills in as sous chef for the gourmet feasts that he donates to local fundraisers.
Joselle holds a degree in Pharmacy from Washington State University and worked as a registered pharmacist until she retired from the field.
Katie was born in San Jose and has lived Willow Glen all of her life. Truth is, without realizing it, she grew up on a piece of the original Kirk Ranch. Her family home, located on Park Royal Drive, is situated on a tract of land once owned by Edith Kirk Dorrance, daughter of Theophilus Kirk. As a girl playing in the neighborhood, Katie often gazed up at the Kirk-Farrington house. Katie also has farming in her roots. Her father and his parents and grandparents farmed in the Salinas Valley since the 1850's. It seems very fitting that this local girl has returned to the Dry Creek Road neighborhood as a member of the Farrington board.
Throughout her life, Katie has devoted herself to helping her San Jose neighbors. When her kids were young, she served as a member of the Presentation High School board of Trustees and later on Presentation's Board of Directors. She was an active volunteer in many aspects at St. Christopher's School and Parish. Katie has also served as a member of Martha's Kitchen board of directors for over 10 years. Martha's Kitchen volunteers work tirelessly to bring nourishing meals to the needy in our community, serving more than 250,000 meals each month through their hot meals and groceries programs.
Katie holds a degree in Business with a concentration in accounting from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and she is a certified public accountant in California. She has been employed for over 35 years by Ernst & Young, a global financial management firm. To the Farrington board, she brings a deep understanding of economic issues, investments, governance, and financial management.
Katie and her husband are parents to three young adults. Now that her daughter is newly graduated from college and her two boys are away at school, Katie has more spare time to devote to passions and hobbies that include recreational running, gardening, catching up on her reading, and spectator sports. She's particularly passionate about basketball. Whenever possible, Katie gets out to cheer for her favorite Bay Area professional teams, especially the Golden State Warriors, the 49ers and the San Francisco Giants.
Lance joined the Farrington board in 2019 and brings a wealth of community, volunteer, and grant-making experience to our board table. He served as Director, Community Marketing at NBC Bay Area from 2002 to 2021 and comes to us with a long list of volunteer accomplishments and deep understanding of local community affairs.
His many professional and volunteer accomplishments include: co-founding the Asian Pacific Fund's "Growing Up Asian in American" essay and art contest, the largest educational youth program in the country celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage month, a program that has distributed over $250,000 in awards to 700+ students in the past twenty years; serving on California State University Chico Foundation's Board of Governors; receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award representing the College of Education and Communications from Cal State Chico; establishing the Outstanding College of Communications Student Award in honor of his late father, Norman W. Lew; and supervising NBC Bay Area's Project Innovation grant program, which each year distributes twelve community grants totaling $325,000.
Lance holds a B.A. in Speech Pathology and Audiology from California State University Chico.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Farrington 's Executive Director
Pam has been Farrington's Executive Director since 2009. She lives near the Farrington House and had admired the house and grounds for many years on walks through the neighborhood. When she came across the foundation's recruiting ad for a new director, she jumped at the chance to join such an inspiring group of people committed to helping our local community. She is a longtime supporter of historic preservation, human services and animal care groups. To the job, she brings a strong professional background combined with a love of local history, gardening, and antiques.
Pam first worked as an educator, then moved into high tech. She taught at the university level for seven years, then elected to leave academia for new challenges in Silicon Valley. She first served as Director of Training and Publications for a firm that provided online order entry and billing services to cable television franchises throughout the U.S. From there, she moved into IT market research, first at Dataquest where she headed analysis of software market dynamics, and later at Gartner, an IT consulting firm, where she served as Senior Director of Product Marketing for their software division.
Pam holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in English from San Jose State University.
Patty joined the Farrington board in 2018, inspired by Farrington's mission to give generously to local non-profit agencies. She has embraced her role on the board with enthusiasm and currently serves as treasurer of the Farrington Historical Foundation.
Patty has a keen eye for numbers and brings a life-long career background in finance. She has held positions including VP of Finance, CFO, controller, and senior auditor at some of the Silicon Valley giants including Altos Computer Systems, 3 Com, Silicon Graphics, Arthur Young, and Intuit. She's also an entrepreneur who co-founded and was president of Five Wire Telecommunications.
On the non-profit side, Patty volunteered for six years on the board of JW House and served as treasurer. She is also a long-time supporter of Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley. For fun, Patty and her dog Mia are comfort animal volunteers through Furry Friends pet-assisted therapy services.
Patty holds an B.S. in Sociology and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.
Sharon was very active in the Junior League of San Jose and served as the Farrington House Committee chair before becoming a Farrington board member in 1996. When the foundation took over care of the house and grounds, the garden desperately needed attention. Sharon worked with a landscape designer and crew to plan and install the lovely landscape of the Farrington house grounds you see today. She has been instrumental in revitalizing and preserving Mrs. Farrington's heritage peony garden.
As a creative professional florist for many years, Sharon provided beautiful floral arrangements for many occasions and events, but is now retired from her wedding/event career.
Sharon is a lifelong volunteer. In addition to her commitment to the Junior League and the Farrington Foundation, she has been active in Summit League and The Grandview League, serving on their boards, numerous committees and fundraising events. She was an active volunteer for her children's schools and served on the UC Berkeley Cal Parents board.
Sharon grew up in Santa Clara County and attended San Jose State University.