Feeling thankful for those who make a difference in Silicon Valley

Thanksgiving gives us a reason every year to step back and think about the people and things in our lives that make things better.

But sometimes we realize that we missed our chance to show gratitude to people who deserved it. I knew that would be the case this year as I contemplated my annual Thanksgiving list, putting an emphasis on people who made San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley better places to live, work and play.

• That list must start with Chris Esparza and Rick Holden, two men who constantly pushed San Jose to be better and its residents to expect more of their city. Their examples of civic engagement should be models to everyone — no matter where you live — and I wish I’d thanked them more often during their lifetimes.

Ironically, they lived less than a block apart in San Jose’s Naglee Park neighborhood, but their collective impact cast a much, much larger footprint.

• Cindy Chavez, who left San Jose for a new job in New Mexico this month after 11 years on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and eight on the San Jose City Council. She helped pass the Measure A affordable housing bond, helped secure federal funding for BART to downtown San Jose, but her best work was in making sure kids in the valley grew up healthy.

• Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, who is terming out this year after a dedicated 41 years in public service that started when he was elected to the Palo Alto School Board in 1983. He’s probably best known for his brilliant “There Oughta Be a Law” campaign that resulted in 21 new laws, including the state’s hands-free cell phone driving law.

• Heather Lerner, who as president of the San Jose Rotary Club is putting her energies — and significant arm-twisting abilities — to raise money to support the city’s restoration of the Japanese Friendship Garden at Kelley Park. The park and its koi ponds are still damaged following the Coyote Creek floods in 2017, and Lerner’s pushing to get everything beautiful again before a sister-city delegation from Okayama, Japan, visits in 2027.

• Greg Kepferle, who is retiring this year after 35 years of working for Catholic Charities in three different locations — including the past 19 years as CEO in Santa Clara County. He’s never been a guy to seek credit, but he was always there with a helping hand on projects to help keep people out of poverty, poor health and hunger.

• Symphony San Jose Executive Artistic Director Robert Massey, who has re-energized the city’s classical music scene with an injection of popular programs that are making for fun times at the California Theatre.

• San Jose City Councilmember Dev Davis, who wraps up her eight years in office next month. On paper she represented District 6, but she also stood for the valley’s nerd constituency. It was good to have someone in City Hall who got how cool it was to have people like Steve Wozniak and William Shatner in town.

• Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini, who has brought excitement back to the Shark Tank and given everyone a reason to dust off those teal jerseys.

• Everyone who had a hand in making sure San Jose’s 106-year Veterans Day tradition continued uninterrupted, with Col. Ray Watts Jr., former City Councilmember Raul Peralez, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Mike Hennessy, Catherine Tompkison, Chuck Toeniskoetter and Diane Brandenburg leading a cast of hundreds.

• George Lahlouh, Dan Phan and Johnny Wang, who — with operating partner Ron Bonifacio, chef Nicko Moulinos and beverage director Ryan Ota — have brought another level of cool to downtown San Jose with their restaurant, Eos & Nyx. That it’s their fourth venture downtown shows how much faith they have in the city.

• The Trash Punx, the San Jose group led by Justin Imamura that’s on a mission to keep our city clean and environmentally healthy. They recently hit a milestone of collecting more than 1 million pounds of trash since their founding in 2017, logging 210 events and 20,000 volunteer hours.

• And, finally, thank you to all of our readers in print and online. After all, you’re the ones making our communities better places to live. We just get to tell your stories.