Senior stories by Cogir: Marge

Transcript

Dave: Hello Marge

Marge: Hi how are you

Dave: Good how are you

Marge: I’m just fine

Dave: How is beautiful Sonoma?

Marge: It is beautiful and it is Sonoma.

Dave: Send me some of that good wine

Marge: Oh sure

Dave: For a guy that grew up on Boone’s Farm, I’ll take some of that nice Sonoma wine. Why Sonoma for you Marge?

Marge: Well my husband and I retired to Sonoma more than 20 years ago. We lived in the East Bay and loved Sonoma, came up all the time, had friends here.

Dave: And where are you originally from?

Marge: We were in Oakland, California.

Dave: Okay

Marge: Originally I’m from North Carolina.

Dave: Okay. But once you got to the Bay Area you just loved it and that was home?

Marge: Yes. I went to school in the Bay Area—graduate school—and lived in Berkeley for a long time. So it was a good place to be.

Dave: So I was just reading a little bit about you—that you had a bookstore.

Marge: Yes. 

Dave: I love bookstores. I love the smell of them. I love picking up books and looking through them, deciding what I want to read. And some bookstores you can even sit down and relax for a little while. Was that—

Marge: That was ours. And I’ll tell you, when you unlock the door of a bookstore you own and you smell the books for the first time, you’re happy.

Dave: You know, I’m so glad you understand that Marge, because when I said “I love the smell of a bookstore,” I didn’t want you to go “What is this guy talking about?” There is that comforting smell of a bookstore.

Marge: Yes, absolutely.

Dave: Alright, so what kind of books does Marge love?

Marge: I used to read a lot of fiction. I read poetry. I started not reading so much fiction. I read historical stuff more. I don’t know, I’m into the factual I guess. But I still pick up a good mystery once in a while.

Dave: Now you mentioned your husband—did he have the bookstore with you?

Marge: Oh yes, we bought it together.

Dave: And what year did you buy the bookstore?

Marge: Oh my Lord, that’s too far away to know. It was at least 30 years ago.

Dave: Alright, so why did you buy the bookstore?

Marge: Because we had good friends who owned it and they needed partners and they offered to sell us half the store and we would do half the work. Bill and I continued with the jobs we had and owned the bookstore. 

Dave: There’s a lot of work in a bookstore. 

Marge: A lot of work. But it was—the people you meet in a bookstore are usually pretty interesting people.

Dave: Is it what you expected?

Marge: Very much so.

Dave: On the business side as well?

Marge: Well fortunately I did not have to do any of that paperwork stuff. My job was being on the floor and writing a newsletter and keeping track of—we had a membership list.

Dave: Did you have to have a pretty good understanding of all the different categories of books? Like you mentioned that you love history, but there has to be certain things that you’re not that interested in—whatever it is, auto repair—and somebody comes in and you’re the owner of the store and they ask you, “Hey where can I find this?” and “What do you recommend?” Did you have to be pretty well-versed?

Marge: Yes, and I had to know the merchandise too—where it was and what it was and what was new in stock and what was bestselling and all that sort of thing. But that was fun. That wasn’t things like studying algebra.

Dave: And at Cogir  in Sonoma do you still do a lot of reading?

Marge: I do. I do as much as I have time for.

Dave: What are you reading right now?

Marge: I’m reading two things. I’m reading a—Dorothy Karn… last name I can’t remember. She’s written a lot of histories. This is called An Uncommon Life and it’s the story of the Roosevelts during the—family Roosevelt during World War II—leading up to and during World War II.

Dave: So are you an American history fan?

Marge: Yeah, American and British history.

Dave: Can you believe we’re coming up on our 250th? Seems like the Bicentennial was yesterday. I remember—I was, you know, a kid but I still remember all the red, white and blue trains coming through my small town and the Bicentennial coins and all the programming and pageantry and what a huge deal that was. And now we’re sitting on 250.

Marge: Yep, yep, it’s true. 

Dave: So Marge, you mentioned living in the Bay Area for quite some time. It’s changed a lot. Tell me about Berkeley—what was it like living in Berkeley?

Marge: Well I lived in Berkeley in the ’60s and ’70s. 

Dave: That’s why I asked because that had to be— So for those of you that aren’t familiar watching—Berkeley in the ’60s and ’70s was a big part of culture change in America. And there was so much activity going on and I did not mean to interrupt you, Marge. Tell me about that era.

Marge: It was a time of a lot of movement, both of ideas and people. It was a time of many protests, many marches. There was difficulty. People were angry about the war. They were angry about public spaces. They were worried—even at that time we had something called People’s Park and it was understood that people who didn’t quite have a place to live at the moment—this was long before the big problems with homelessness—could be in that park. And when the university decided to change that, there were protests about that. So a lot of that kind of activity. And a lot of coffee houses and wine bars and such that people could gather and talk—and also drink—so that was good too. 

Dave: And the music culture, Marge, was changing so fast then and Berkeley in the Bay Area was setting a new stage for music all across the nation. Were you part of that music movement?

Marge: Not really. I went to concerts. That was about it.

Dave: What did you go to? Entertain me.

Marge: Oh dear—I went to a Grateful Dead concert. That was probably the major one. I remember that you could—you didn’t have to have any marijuana with you, you just had to breathe the air. And the music we thought was wonderful.

Dave: So Marge, let me try to paint the picture. It’s 1967. There’s Marge—she’s got her bell bottoms on, she’s got the plaid shirt on, she’s got beads in her hair. You’re in Golden Gate Park watching the Grateful Dead with marijuana floating through the air. Is that pretty close?

Marge: That’s close enough. My hair was down to my waist and it wasn’t in Golden Gate Park—it was actually at a major auditorium concert hall there

Dave: Probably like the Fillmore?

Marge: Yes it was. You know the area well.

Dave: That whole area really set the stage—as I mentioned—for an entire generation. The groups that came out of the Bay Area during that time and even shortly after—from Jefferson Airplane to Santana doing early big shows there and the Grateful Dead and Asbury Park and the Fillmore and the culture that was coming out of the Bay Area really set the scene for the entire nation. So yeah, pretty familiar with it. Bill Graham Presents up in that area. And then even after that with Huey Lewis and the News and Journey and all the great bands that have come out of the Bay Area. It’s always had a big play in the music arena.

Marge: Remember in the ’60s though, we also had all the folk singers. You know—Kingston Trio and people like that. So that was a whole different musical experience.

Dave: And Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez. That folk music was big and again, a lot of it was planted in the Bay Area.

Marge: That’s right.

Dave: Marge, tell me about Cogir in Sonoma.

Marge: I’ve been here a little more than three years. I think that this is an incredibly good community. The people here—both the people who live with us and the people who work for and with us—are really kind of nice. They’re kind. They’re funny. They’re smart. So I think of all the things that happen here at Cogir, it’s the people who make it.

Dave: And you’ve made some wonderful friendships. What do you do for fun? I know that Cogir offers a ton of activities.

Marge: I go on some of the trips. I went on a scenic trip just yesterday. Karen took a busload of us up to the top of the observatory and we went on little mountain roads. They do wine tasting trips and things like that, using the culture of the area. I play blackjack. One of our residents—a woman who is an actors’ guild member, was a producer and director and actor—has produced some readers’ theater and I got involved with that for the first time in my life and that has been really fun.

Dave: So when you played blackjack, did Cogir have a road trip to a casino or did you play blackjack right there at Cogir?

Marge: Right here at Cogir. They have done a road trip to casinos, but that’s not my gig.

Dave: Marge, are you running a gambling operation out of Cogir?

Marge: It’s a thought—but you can lose a lot of money. I lost 20 cents one day.

Dave: Oh. Alright, so the stakes are big. What’s your favorite thing in the dining room?

Marge: The servers.

Dave: Oh, that’s interesting.

Marge: The food changes and it’s pretty good, but I like the teenagers who serve us.

Dave: Does Cogir have a book club?

Marge: Yes, they do have a book club. And I’m not good at book clubs because I don’t want to read—I just want to read what I want to read. So I’m not a part of that, but I think Barbara is.

Dave: So when you talk to Barbara, ask her about that. Your friend Barbara—a friend that you made at Cogir, correct?

Marge: Oh, absolutely.

Dave: Well I’ve really enjoyed this, Marge. And now I just want to have a bottle of wine and go to a show at the Fillmore with you.

Marge: I’m ready—sounds like a deal. Come on out.

Dave: I’ve enjoyed this, Marge. Thank you.

Marge: Thank you so much. Take care.

Summary

Marge is a warm and thoughtful woman who retired to Sonoma over 20 years ago with her husband after falling in love with the area during her time living in the East Bay and attending graduate school in Berkeley. Originally from North Carolina, she lived in Berkeley during the 1960s and ’70s and vividly recalls the era’s protests, activism, and music scene. She attended concerts like the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore and witnessed the cultural shift that made the Bay Area a national symbol of change. One major chapter of her life was owning a bookstore with her husband, where she cherished the smell of books, wrote newsletters, managed memberships, and stayed deeply engaged with the shop’s inventory and community.

Now living at Cogir in Sonoma, Marge remains active and social. She enjoys scenic outings, wine tastings, blackjack games, and even participates in readers’ theater—a new hobby sparked by a fellow resident. Though she’s not part of the community’s book club, Marge is an avid reader who prefers history and biography, especially American and British topics like the Roosevelts during WWII. She praises the Cogir community for its kind, funny, and intelligent people, and finds joy in the everyday—especially the teens who serve in the dining room. Her life reflects a deep appreciation for learning, culture, and genuine human connection.