Santa Clara woman reunited with dog lost since 2014
Santa Clara resident Margo Will was heartbroken when her dog, Auggie, escaped from a neighbor’s house while Will was on a trip in September 2014. She searched and put up fliers, but after 2½ years, she’d given up hope.
Hope, however, didn’t give up on her. It just happened to be in the next city at San Jose’s Presentation High School, where Will and her dachshund mix were reunited on Thursday.
Staff at the Catholic girls school first saw the dog wandering around campus around the beginning of the school year in September, usually in the garden near the school’s theater. It wasn’t the first time an animal had been taken to the Willow Glen school. A cat, christened Panther after the school mascot, lived there for years until it died in 2013. Cary Atkinson, Presentation’s director of buildings and grounds, said his crew put out a dog bed, treats and food for months, hoping to get the little guy to stay put long enough to find out who he was. But he was so evasive they took to calling him “Houdini.”
It wasn’t until Wednesday that he stayed in one place long enough for Facilities Coordinator Adan
Covarrubias to catch him. A trip to a nearby vet found Auggie’s microchip, which led them to Will.
When she came to campus Thursday to pick him up, Auggie snuggled with her and gave her a kiss. “I couldn’t be happier,” said Will, who posed for photos with the buildings and grounds crew. She told them she may bring Auggie back to the Willow Glen campus for a visit soon.
SWEET TIDINGS: San Jose’s Italian-American Heritage Foundation will have Dean Martin impersonator Matt Helm singing love songs to the crowd at its Valentine’s Day-themed scholarship dinner Feb. 17.
The evening at the IAHF Cultural Center at 425 N. Fourth St. includes an Italian buffet dinner, with proceeds benefiting the foundation’s high school scholarship fund. Seats are $55 for members and $60 for nonmembers. Get more information and RSVP at www.iahfsj. org/events or by calling 408-293-7122. REMEMBERING RAY ASH
LEY: The Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara will celebrate the life of South Bay artist and art collector Ray Ashley on Saturday. Ashley, a disabled Vietnam veteran, died Nov. 28.
Ashley was a regular at auctions for a number of South Bay museums and arts groups, including the Triton, the Institute of Contemporary Art and Works/SanJose. As I mentioned in a column when he died, to get into a bidding war with Ashley was often folly but to follow his eye was wise.
CHEERS TO BEER: Here’s hoping the weather gods like beer as some of the South Bay events associated with SF Beer Week are taking place outdoors this weekend. On Saturday, the Beerwalk hits downtown Sunnyvale for the first time, with tasting stations serving up brews at nearly two dozen locations from 2 to 6 p.m. And Sunday, San Jose Walks & Talks is taking a tour of San Jose’s drinking history, finishing with an “interactive” look at what’s brewing these days. That one, I’m sad to say, is already sold out.
And mark your calendars for Feb. 18, when Hermitage Brewing Company hosts its eighth annual Meet the Brewers festival, featuring more than 30 craft breweries as well as craft and clothing vendors from San Jose Made. Get tickets and check out details at www. hermitagebrewing.com.