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I learned more about my friend Chris Miller III when I attended his memorial service last Friday at Valley Community Church.
One of the best stories among many was told by founding (now retired) pastor Leron Heath. He marveled at how Chris seemed to know everyone in town. One of those people was Warren Harding, president of Community National Bank that his father, Harry, founded.
Leron related Chris put him together with Warren when they were looking for a loan to build the first structure on their site next to Amador Valley High School on Del Valle Parkway 40 years ago. The bank approved the loan that was personally guaranteed by Warren and his wife, Jo.
That speaks volume to Warren’s commitment to improving the community and being willing to put his personal resources on the line to do so. I had similar experiences when I borrowed money from the bank—they were concerned with my situation and the interest rate—not maximizing profits for the bank.
Pleasanton was so blessed to have the Harding family here for two generations as was our church, now GraceWay where the Hardings were mainstays for decades with Warren singing in the choir. We still use the grand piano the family donated back in the late 1970s when we moved from the 100 Neal St. site to the Mirador site.
It’s fitting that Warren’s name came up this week when the 84th annual Rose Show will be held at the Pleasanton Senior Center on Saturday. It will be open to the public from 2-5 p.m. Harding’s bank hosted the Mother’s Day show in its lobby for decades until the bank was sold and eventually became US Bank. The real estate company Compass picked up the sponsorship and kept the show going.
Pleasanton was briefly the growing site for Jackson and Perkins roses after the company moved west from its Newark, NJ founding site. Roses were grown in the area that is now the Rose Pavilion shopping center as well as on the San Francisco property on the southside of Bernal Avenue. Roses flourish in Pleasanton. We have two miniature roses that were growing when my family bought the property in 1958 and are still flourishing.
After Harry and David bought the company in 1966, it was moved to the San Joaquin Valley in Wasco, north of Bakersfield. The company cultivates 5,000 acres of roses there. It also functions as a full-service mail order nursery, shipping more than 2 million roses annually as well as other plants.
