Fair’s grand marshal's legacy is longer than her resume

Grand marshal leads the parade

Our Glen Ellen Village Fair is set for Sunday, Oct. 12, with the gala parade beginning at noon. The board members of the Glen Ellen Village Fair Association have chosen a most appropriate grand marshal to lead the parade this year. Any guesses for the identity of the prominent Glen Ellen citizen, who hailed originally from San Francisco, where she raised four children and countless flowers? Who once ran a garden remodeling business there?

A few more hints: After moving to Glen Ellen she became an important member of the Glen Ellen Association, which was “the” Glen Ellen voice in the 1980s. She also participated in the Sonoma Valley Garden Club and has been a board member of the Glen Ellen Historical Society almost from its beginning. Not enough information yet? How about one of the clever women who has added creativity to the annual Glen Ellen Village Quilt? Or one of the honored individuals given an award by the Sonoma Ecology Center?

If you haven’t guessed yet, we’ll have to get more specific: Can you name the one woman in Glen Ellen who was an organic farmer long before most of us even considered the concept?

Of course, that local hero could be none other than Anne Teller, widow of the well-known conservationist Otto Teller. As a couple, the Tellers took the first steps of conserving their land, which has led many other local land owners to do the same.

Sharing the drivers seat

This year, at our annual town party, the Glen Ellen Village Fair, Anne Teller, mother of a large and successful family and owner of Oak Hill Ranch, will be honored as our 24th grand marshal. Riding next to sweet Neil Shepard on his wagon, Ann will greet her friends and neighbors in the fashion she always greets everyone, with grace and humility.

I’m hoping that along with Anne in that wagon, we’ll see some of her children, some of her loyal employees, and maybe even a few of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Yes, Anne has two great-grandchildren.

Trailblazer and inspiration

Leslie Vaughn, president of our Glen Ellen Village Fair Association, shared the news of Anne’s selection as grand marshal with the comment, “She asked me why we felt she would be a good candidate for the grand marshal, and it threw me at the time. I’ve never had anyone ask me that.”

The reasons why, however, are abundant. Following her testament to Anne’s modesty, Leslie shared, among other praiseworthy facts, that Anne and her husband were so very far ahead of the times when they started farming organically. Leslie summed up with the endorsement of all of the Glen Ellen Village Fair Committee: “We consider Anne to be a trailblazer and inspiration to others, particularly for women in business.”

Turns out that Anne was nominated by several of the members independently, which isn’t a surprise. Who wouldn’t have affection for someone who grows some of the best produce to be had in this Valley. Coveted by restaurants and connoisseurs in San Francisco, it’s available to us plain folks of Glen Ellen right in our own backyard.

Conversation with her marshalship

Last week on a crisp, green-infused, golden fall morning, following a night of rain, Anne and I sat together in my living room and talked about life, about farming, about kids, and so much more. Though Anne has the beautiful looks of a San Francisco society matron, she is in all ways a down-to-earth Glen Ellen farmer who doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty or her knees bruised as she kneels to tend to her plants. The mixture of the poetic and the practical suits her well.

My first question to Anne was how she happened to come to Sonoma Valley. Turns out that her parents, Adelaide and Harry Perrin, who lived in Palo Alto, had a summer place out on Pythian Road, high on Mt. Hood at the north end of Sonoma Valley. The Perrins had long visited here because they loved to dance, and Little Switzerland was the place to be.

I asked Anne, “Did you love to dance, too?” Her quick response, with a grand smile, “Still do. Yes, dancing is a wonderful pastime, be it jitterbug or rock ’n’ roll.” Her entire and extended family enjoys dancing, which I can easily imagine occurring spontaneously when son Ted breaks out his African drums.

Anne said when her children were young, almost every weekend in summer they would all pile into her old four-wheel-drive Jeep and head north out of the city to the summer place on Mt. Hood. It was on these trips that she first fell in love with Sonoma Valley.

Talking bees and water

But that wasn’t her only love that sprang to life here in this romantic Valley of the Moon. She also fell in love with Otto Teller. While Anne didn’t admit to “love at first sight,” that seemed pretty clearly the case as she described their first meeting at a friend’s dinner party. “We had so much to talk about. We both loved the land, and instantly began talking bees and water.”