Paying Tribute to Dr. Hardy Jones

May 2018

by Gary Hedden

For the second year, GreenTown Los Altos led a bike ride in memory of the late Dr. Hardy Jones of Los Altos. Hardy collected scrap metal and turned it into what he liked to call “found art.” As an orthopedic surgeon, he also called it “orthopedic art,” turning broken pieces of metal into artwork. Most of the schools in town have his artwork depicting their mascot.

Sixteen of us were on the memorial ride and we saw Bobcats at Santa Rita, an Eagle at the High School, another eagle at Almond, a Lion at Loyola and Coyotes at Covington. At each stop, Hardy’s good friend Sam Harding would tell us a story. He told us that Hardy checked books out of the library to research the animals and make sure he got the look just right. Sam told us that the eagle at Almond has individually cut and welded feathers and the whole piece took a year to produce. There were good stories at each stop.

About half of us finished up with lunch at Urfa Bistro on State Street; that’s becoming a fun part of the tradition as well.

When asked if GreenTown will be back for a ride next year, Sam said without hesitation, “Yes.”

Sounds good to me.