I thought my birthday celebration last week was pretty spiffy: my favorite people around me, and my favorite double-stuffed potato at Max's Opera Cafe in Palo Alto. (What, you were expecting Spago? Even a food editor can admit to a more mainstream palate.)My day, though, couldn't hold a candle -- or a hundred -- to Marianne Crowder, who just celebrated reaching the century mark. A birthday tea was held in her honor last Saturday at the Burgess rec center in Menlo Park, which was appropriate considering she taught about 57,000 girls to dance there over the years (perhaps a slight exaggeration).
Marianne started teaching dance in Menlo Park in 1949. In 1961, the city built her a dance room at the rec center. She taught at Stanford and led her "Forever Fit" class in Menlo Park for more than 50 years, until her daughter, Sue Chiappone, took over a few years ago. When I interviewed her in 2004, she was elegant, good-humored and remarkably graceful.
I heard Marianne's birthday party was packed with her former students, students who continued with Sue, and relatives including grandchildren and great-grandchildren. That might even beat out a double-stuffed potato.
Congratulations. My hat's off to you, Marianne.
Pictured: Marianne Crowder (right) and her daughter, Sue Chiappone
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