Dan O'Hara
I was born in Los Angeles in 1945, the third of five children, three brothers and a sister. We
lived in an apartment over the garage in my Grandparents back yard. In 1951 my family moved
to Burbank, where I attended grammar school and junior high. My Dad worked for Lockheed
and was transferred to Lockheed in Sunnyvale, so the family moved to Saratoga in 1958. At
the end of that summer, I started my freshman year at Campbell high. My two older brothers,
John and Bill, my younger sister Robynne, and I all attended, and graduated from Campbell
High School.
After High School, I went to work for Stanford Research Institute (which later became SRI
International) in the printing department. I started as a bindery worker, then a small printing
press operator, and eventually operated a large two color printing press, I also was the Press
Room Supervisor for the last 13 years of my career. I retired in 2007.
In 1965, the draft board told me to come get a physical, and I did not want to go in the Army,
so I immediately enlisted in the Air Force. I served from September 1965 to February 1969,
and became an aircraft mechanic on large transport planes (the C124,C130, and C141). After
basic training and tech school I was stationed at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina for
the rest of my enlistment. My time in the Air Force was educational and I enjoyed what I was
doing, but I did not want to make a career of the military.
When I returned home after the Air Force, I went back to work at SRI. There I met Linda, who
became my wife in November of 1969. We have two grown children, who have families of their
own, a total of four grandchildren. My wife and I have lived in Winters, California for the last 31
years. Winters is a small farming town just north of Vacaville and east of Lake Berryessa. The
population is around seven thousand, and in less than five minutes in any direction you are in
farm land or orchards, no wall to wall city. Winters is a smaller version of what I remember
Campbell to be like when we went to school there.
After returning from the service, I started waterskiing with my brother in law and that became a
favorite pastime. When my kids were a few years old, we bought our first boat and we spent
many enjoyable days boating and waterskiing. We spent a lot of our weekends at Lake
Berryessa, and in 1981, we decided to sell our home in San Jose and move to the lake and
build a house there. We lived at the lake for eight years and then moved to Winters. For the
last twenty-six years of my working career, I commuted from Berryessa and then Winters to
Menlo Park every day, a one hundred mile trip each way.
Hobbies - Waterskiing, Photography, Horses, and Running
Dan waterskiing -( nice roostertail!)
Photography has been a hobby since the early 80’s. I started shooting with film and then went digital in the early 2000’s. I was fortunate to be able to photograph all of my grandkids in their various youth sports, soccer, football and baseball. Now most of my photography is nature and travel.
We owned two horses for about ten years. It was a lot of fun, a lot of work, and at a great expense since we had to board them. We sold the horses a few years ago.
Dan with daughter Jennifer riding a quad on Thanksgiving Day 2018
I started running in the early 90’s, and still do today. It is a great way to stay in shape and healthy, and I enjoy it. I’ve run several 5K’s, 10K’s, and 6 Disneyland Half Marathons, but, lately I just run for fitness and enjoyment.
I agree with Jeff Arnold from last month's spotlight, about being fortunate to have had the benefit of the school system we had. Campbell High had so much to offer at the time that is just not available today. It was a really good well rounded education, that I really didn’t appreciate at the time, but I do now and it served me well over the years. As I’ve gotten older and have more time, I enjoy reading and learning about history and the world we live in.
Dan O'Hara
Note: Dan took these magnificent photos below. He has quite a talent!
Lynda
