Polly Hoover Taylor was honored with the first Pioneer Award from the San Mateo Area Chamber of Commerce at its annual awards dinner last week. It’s in recognition of her five decades of involvement in the Coyote Point Museum, now CuriOdyssey.
Taylor said she isn’t a pioneer and came to California with her family when she was 2 years old. She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her dad left high school when he was drafted in World War I. He returned home, a sergeant major, and soon became a bank examiner. In that role, he traveled all over the country examining banks and met his future wife who was a secretary to a chief bank examiner. But Paul Hoover had big plans for the future and decided he would move to California and start his own bank. He was befriended by Herbert Fleishhacker, San Francisco philanthropist, whose bank soon became the Anglo-California National Bank. It eventually became Crocker National Bank and Hoover became president and chairman of the board. Taylor, who is very proud of her dad, said he did this without formal education.
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Taylor grew up in Hillsborough on Roblar Avenue. She attended Burlingame High School and graduated from Stanford University. There she met her husband, Ted a returning veteran (ROTC) and a Stanford football player. Their first date was watching a Milton Berle TV show. They married in 1953 at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Burlingame. Their first house was in Menlo Park near Sunset Magazine and then they found their perfect home in San Mateo. “We couldn’t afford Hillsborough,” Taylor explained. They raised two children there. Ted Taylor died last year and their son was killed in a climbing accident when he was in college. Their daughter Kathryn has joined her mother in supporting environmental education for children at the Coyote Point facility.
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The children’s museum was a project of the Junior League where Polly Taylor was an active member. In 1959, she helped start the auxiliary for the San Mateo County Junior Museum, which was located in Quonset huts next to San Mateo Junior College. Taylor took care of the museum’s rabbits, skunks and turtles, and started a program in which children could take a pet home for a week. It was a very popular program. The group started an annual Decorator’s Showhouse to raise funds for a better facility. The well-attended fundraisers ended when the town of Hillsborough would no longer allow the event because of traffic concerns. Despite this, Taylor remained vigilant in her support of the museum which she helped evolve into CuriOdyssey.
She and Ted celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at CuriOdyssey to raise funds for the museum and she recently donated the sculpture of two bears in Central Park to honor the memory of her husband and son.
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Today, Polly Taylor lives in the same San Mateo house. Her daughter is married to Tom Steyer, a leading environmentalist and often mentioned candidate for governor. The family has long been Republican so I asked Taylor what her late father would think about herself and four grandchildren as Democrats. She said her dad thought Tom was great and Kathryn walked on water.
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Dr. Al Landucci, longtime San Mateo orthodontist and philanthropist, received the coveted Francis Bohannon Award for his support for education scholarships for children in the community. Landucci is a wonderful man, much beloved by all who know him.
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Charles Dreschsler, San Mateo planning commissioner, has decided not to run for City Council. Pamela O’Leary, a fellow commissioner will.
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Congratulations to the San Mateo Planning Commission for turning down the $8 million offer from Bridgepointe owner, SPI, to demolish the ice rink. It doesn’t look as if a regional rink in Burlingame is going anywhere. It would cost at least $18 million to build a new rink excluding the cost of land. Where would that be? Plus the two commissioners who voted for approval said the $8 million should remain in city limits. SPI is being short-sighted. The future of shopping centers with the rise of online retail is dicey. Smart centers are using recreational uses to attract shoppers. An updated regional ice rink could help. Let’s hope the City Council backs up the commission’s wise decision.
Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com
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