April 16, 2024
Speaker: Nora Mason
A Short History of Ukraine
Nora Mason is a Survivor of World War II and an Activist: She was only 3½ years old when her family was captured by the Germans while fleeing from Lviv, Ukraine, in 1943. They were sent to a slave labor camp for one year in Germany. After the war ended, they were liberated by the French army and placed in a displaced persons camp for 5 years under the Marshal Plan. Nora immigrated to the US when she was 9 and moved to California when she was 18. She is part of the Northern California chapter of the Ukrainian Women’s League of America, which sends aid to Ukraine, especially during the ongoing conflict with Russia.
A flat land with rich, fertile soil and plentiful water is prime real estate for habitation as well as invasion. We start with the Huns, go to the Vikings, and then the Kyivan state. We cover its glories, its battles, its kings and its trade with the great nations of the time. We touch on famous generals, battles and treaties. We talk about occupation by other nations that lasted centuries while all the time remaining a nation, steeped in culture, tradition and language. We talk about Holodomor, a genocide yet to be recognized. We touch on our famous poets and composers and we end with Ukraine becoming an independent country for a short while. Until 2014.
March 20, 2024
Martha Wallace,
Volunteer with Mt. View Rengstorff House
Exploring The Rengstorff House and History
Martha Wallace is a retired middle school teacher. She always wanted to be a docent in a castle in England, but the commute was too long, so she now volunteers at Rengstorff House, the oldest house in Mountain View. She also volunteers at the National Archives in San Bruno. She enjoys studying medieval and American history, connecting her ancestors to actual events, and exploring local history. In 2021, she led the Los Altos DAR to compile and edit The Early Settlers of Old Los Altos/Mountain View, a clickable PDF (free download at http://tinyurl.com/48nfm8td).
Rengstorff House at Shoreline in Mountain View
Did you know that Mountain View was a bustling port in the late 1800s? In 1850 Henry Rengstorff came from Germany looking for fortune in the California Gold Rush. Martha Wallace will share stories of Henry’s family, his success in Santa Clara County, the development of shipping on the Bay, and the port of Mountain View, and take you through the Rengstorff House, now a museum.