VH community memoir

I met Mike and Judy Corbett in 1975 when I had their daughter, Lisa, as a student in my sixth-grade class. As I learned about the community they were building, I realized that the values associated with and goals of the project resonated with my personal beliefs.
Fast forward to 1976 when I was the third person to move into my little house on Elendil Lane. Virginia Thigpen and Betty Longshore were in their houses as well. There was construction and dirt all around. I remember sitting on the lip of the tomato field north of my house looking at what would become my common area.
Mike and Judy were passionate about their vision and spent hours orienting us on organic gardening, fruit tree planting, etc. Our open space would be productive.

Work parties were organized regularly to build bridges over the swales, the wall around the swimming pool, and the planting of trees. Pizza and beer fueled the fun as we became connected as a community.

It helped that many of us were young and healthy twenty-somethings. There were volleyball games in Common Areas, soccer games on Parque Grande, parties, and get-togethers of all sorts. Many of these events still go on.
Board meetings were held in individual homes, and everyone attended. We knew everyone at that point because the Village was still small.

I enjoyed talking to and singing with Rob Thayer during these early days, but it took a couple of years for us to really find each other. We married and moved into a beautiful home built by Virginia Thigpen. In 1980 we started a family and thought we were the only pregnant ones around until we talked to the Halprin Jacksons, the Schneider’s, the Colombanos, the Morses, and countless others. Thus began the second generation of Village Homies.
It’s especially gratifying to find that, nearly fifty years later, this community is still a wonderful place to live, even enjoying an infusion of energy and new ideas from people who have moved in since the beginning.