Notre Dame High School in downtown San Jose was the first all girls private high school in California. It officially opened August 4,1851, by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, founded by Saint Julie Billiart. Its original location was on Santa Clara Street but it has since moved to Second and Reed. Notre Dame continues to teach young women "what they need to know for life."

Alicia Aguirre was recently elected Mayor of Redwood City. She is the first Latina (or Latino) to be elected to the position. Alicia has been a professor at Canada College for 23 years. She was first elected to the Redwood City Council in 2005 and also served as Vice Mayor. We are so proud of Alicia for her commitment to her community and for being a role model to her students and aspiring public servants.

In 1973, the City of Campbell formed a Citizens Goals Committee who recommended "to fund and equip a new paramedic vehicle." Campbell Firefighters worked with several local hospitals to educate and train themselves to become paramedics - that in 1974 became the first formal paramedic program in northern California. In 2009, the City Council authorized the Friends of Rescue 25 to collect donations and restore the original vehicle to be housed at the Campbell Museum. The truck is currently being renovated and will be unveiled in April 2012. The program became the model for many municipal programs that followed years later.

Broccoli was virtually unknown in America until the 1920's due to the successful marketing of the D'Arrigo Brothers Company (which farmed broccoli). It was the first company to introduce broccoli to the United States. By the 1930's it was a staple vegetable of the American diet. This was a first for The Valley of Hearts Delight. The Andy Boy label was, and still is known the world over. As many businesses went out of business or left the area, the family moved to Salinas, where they still farm today.

Stan's Skindiving Shop, owned by Stan Sheley, a World War II Air Force pilot and Scuba diving pioneer. Stan, who came to San Jose in the early 1920s, liked Scuba Diving and Aeronautics. In 1958, Stan's Skindiving shop opened, offering the only apparatus of its type in Santa Clara County. People no longer had to order from a catalog. Unfortunately, Stan is now gone and so is his shop. His memory will live on forever.

The Burger Bar has been serving up great food to San Joseans since 1953. There were three original locations. Now sadly, there is only one left. The Burger Bar and Burger Pit restaurants are still owned and operated by the Burger family. While others such as Johns, Kings, Tinys, etcetera are now gone, we still have a nostalgic place to take our children and grandchildren to.

I would like to nominate Sarah Winchester. She was born in Connecticut in 1839 and in 1862, she married William Wirt Winchester, the only son of Oliver Winchester, the repeating arms manufacturer/owner. William and Sarah had a daughter, Annie, born 1866, who only lived a few weeks. Her husband died in 1881 of consumption. At this time, her inheritance was $1,000 a day. This amount would be equal to about $24,000 a day in 2011.

Sarah moved to the Santa Clara Valley and bought a farmhouse in what was then Santa Clara. She hired builders and continuously built a 160-room mansion until her death in 1922. Sarah was far ahead of her time. She was an innovator, having indoor plumbing and shower and one of the first elevators in the Valley installed at a time when most landowners were men. Sarah hired only the most capable people. She grew and sold her famous Winchester brand fruit and nuts all over the world.

Santa Clara County Hospital / Valley Medical Center was started in 1876 by Dr. Benjamin Cory. It was the first organized hospital in the entire San Francisco Bay Area. It currently operates in the same location as Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. It operates one of the best trauma centers in Northern California. It is the only local hospital to incorporate pediatric trauma, spinal chord injury, traumatic brain injury, and one of the best burn units anywhere.

Orchard Supply Hardware opened their first store was in San Jose.