Alumni News
Cooper-Garrod Wine Tasting
By Arthur Walenta
On May 21st the USCA hosted a wine-tasting and barbecue for alumni at the Cooper-Garrod Winery in Saratoga. More than 50 alumni attended, including many old friends from the South Bay. USCA alumni George Cooper (Sheridan, 1935-40) and his wife Louise and Vince and Jane Garrod (Sherman, Sheridan, Stebbins: 1940-42), welcomed us and poured the fine Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon wines that they produce.
On a beautiful sunny day, they took us on a tour of their vineyards, winery, and horse stables.
We learned how the grapes are pressed, how the juice is processed into wine, and how the barrels are stored and rotated during aging. Several of us bought cases of their fine wines to take home.
The tour was followed by a festive barbecue at the winery, highlighted by the award of a $1,000 Pioneer Scholarship that was given in the name of Hal Norton (Sheridan, 1934-39) to Oron Frenkel. Oron is a graduate student in medicine who resides at the Northside Co-op Apartments. He developed a program for Co-op houses to obtain farmers’ market produce, thus saving money and encouraging the students to maintain healthy eating habits. The late Warren Michael (Sheridan, 1941-43) also gave a heartfelt tribute to Hal Norton in which he described the early days of the USCA.
A large gathering of former co-opers had a fine time at this wine-tasting and barbecue. They were able to meet old friends and to make new friends. We look forward to more USCA alumni activities in the South Bay Area and elsewhere.