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Sometimes a quick exit is easier than a long goodbye … or just the way it happens to work out, at least.
“CRAZY FAST!” is how new Point Ruston resident Nancy Harrington described it to me by email last weekend.
That’s right. For those who haven’t heard, Nancy and husband Gary sold their Ruby Hill home and moved to the Tacoma area in Washington state this summer.
Mainstays in Pleasanton for more than half a century, the Harringtons left a lasting mark on their now-former city through their community service – most visibly by forever changing the course of public art here when they decided to make that a focus in retirement two decades ago.
“When we look at what we have initiated in Pleasanton, it seems impossible we could have done it. It wasn’t our goal,” Nancy said. “We just saw opportunities, shared ideas with key people and supported those ideas through work and funding.”
“All of the ideas that have been implemented have improved the City … from the Veterans Memorial at Pioneer Cemetery, Rotary Park at the North end of Main, to the Nature Pavilion at Shadow Cliffs and the Public Art Walks.” she continued, adding:
“We’ve loved Pleasanton for 53 years and this has been our way of giving back to this city which has given us so much joy and happiness. We never expected to leave … this move is a surprise! We are already missing so many of the people who have supported us over the years.”
The timing was right for the couple to relocate, even if they didn’t know they felt that way – a “funny how things work out” story similar, perhaps poetically, to the tale of how the Harringtons found Pleasanton in the first place.
Nancy recalled, “We were traveling from Portland to LA and stopped in the valley for food. Gary said, ‘I could live here someday.’ Guess what?”
The young couple moved from Oregon to the Bay Area after Gary got a job transfer at Metropolitan Life in 1969. “He found an apartment in San Leandro, but Gary knew I wasn’t a city girl and soon rediscovered the valley and Pleasanton, a lovely rural community of 14,000 people,” she said.
Nancy was teaching in Livermore by that time, and not long after they settled in Pleasanton in 1972, Gary left MetLife to enter teaching too.
Fast forward 50-odd years, after they enjoyed education careers, successful investments and community service — not only with their Harrington Art Partnership Piece for You (H.A.P.P.Y.) initiative that helped lay the foundation for the city’s public art program, including at the Firehouse Arts Center where the fine arts gallery bears the couple’s name, but also with groups like Open Heart Kitchen and the Rotary Club of Pleasanton.
Their involvement in the latter led to a sightseeing trip in Washington in June – on their way to the International Rotary Convention in Calgary. They stopped in Tacoma, explored the natural and manmade amenities, and were hooked.
“So we get back in the car and head north,” Nancy said. “About 15 minutes into driving and Gary says, ‘That would be a great place to live.’ I said, ‘I was just thinking the same thing!’ We asked each other if we were serious and said, ‘Yes.'”
“When we got to Calgary we asked ourselves, again, if we were serious. We agreed we were. (I mean we hadn’t even mentioned moving! We were living in our retirement home in Ruby Hill!) So I went online and asked for Realtors who could help us,” she said.
The Harringtons looked at multiple condos, but all openly on the market were smaller than they wanted.
“By the time we got home, we had a message from that Realtor that a third-floor unit, 1,900 square feet, was going on the market the following weekend. We took a virtual tour and then flew up to see the unit. THAT WAS IT! The view from the condo was spectacular! We bought it that night!” Nancy said.
“They say that Rotary changes lives. Well, Rotary sure has changed our lives!” she told me.
“The good thing is that Gary and I realize we are in our 80s. Although we don’t feel that age, it is a fact. All sorts of health issues can arise at any time,” Nancy added. “Gary was worried about me working in my garden, which I loved. A lot of accidents occur in gardens. Ruby HIll is also far away from amenities. You must use a car to go anywhere. So looking at a one-story condominium at this age is a very good idea.”
Pleasanton’s loss is Point Ruston’s gain.
“We’ve already joined the Tacoma No. 8 Rotary Club and I’ve hooked up with the volunteer coordinator for Pt. Defiance to work in the gardens. And, we’re off to the movies every Tuesday for Discount Tuesdays,” Nancy said.
“Another positive thing about this move to Washington is that we know nothing about the state so we have a lot to discover. We’re very excited about that, and for us it’s an adventure.”
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the associate publisher and editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
Thank you for this story on Gary and Nancy. Their genuine passion for Pleasanton, as well as their vision and commitment to the greater arts community sets an example for all of us of what it means to pay it forward.