I moved to Palo Alto, CA, in 1979 to join Diablo Systems as VP of Sales and Marketing. I bought an Eichler House on Alister Street and went to an outdoor fair in San Francisco looking for a hot tub. I found a supplier based in Palo Alto, Pacific Hot Baths owned by Brian Jobe, got carried away and bought 2 redwood tubs, one for hot water with Jacuzzi, the other smaller one as an “icy plunge”. This splurge might have been a result of Sally’s opposition to our getting a hot sublate oil our marriage.
After the tubs were installed in the late spring, David Currie came out to spend the summer from his junior year at The Cambridge School in Lexington, MA. I asked David to pick up an air switch for the Jacuzzi at Pacific Hot Bath. He walked into the office and listened to an interview. The woman on his end was asking questions directed to a potential handyman worker. When she hung up, David told her that he was the perfect man for the job! She liked his moxie and hired him.
He spoke fondly all summer of his boss, Trish Johnson. I was unimpressed. During a Saturday in the late summer, David, I and Carley Scott, a local friend, were going to the Palo Alto Airport for Carley to take us up to look the area over. On the way, we ran into 3 people trying to hoist a hot tuber a fence. David yelled: “that’s Trish”! We stopped and helped get the tub over the fence. I must have had an important glimpse TRish during that transaction but don’t recall it.
Soon afterward, Steve came home from summer school at Florida State. We immediately flew off to Idaho to raft the XXX River and then visit the Hendersons in Dubois. When we got back to Palo Alto, David returned to school, Steve settled in for a term and I wondered whom I was going to date! I had moved away from all of the local women I had dated earlier. Trish popped into my mind and i called her and asked of a date that night.
Trish replied that she was busy, so Mr. Cool (me) suggested tomorrow night. She said OK.
The next day was the hottest day of the year so I dressed to be cool in my seersucker pants and a loose white shirt. We had pleasant meal at one of the best restaurants in downtown Palo Alto and went back to her place.
It was a memorable evening. I did not leave until daylight. We’ve been together ever since! I asked Trish to marry me very soon thereafter , allegedly so she could go to a big Xerox convention in Palm Beach (wives only). We got married by Bill Jacobson, pastor of the Palo Alto Unitarian Church on Dec. 22nd (and got married again for Uncle Sam on January 2).
That was the best ill-considered, too-soon decision that I ever made….
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