Our History
Live Oak Adult Day Services first opened its day care program for frail elderly residents in Los Gatos, California in 1983. At that time there were only eight clients and it operated only two days a week, under the auspices of the First United Methodist Church of Los Gatos.
In 1985, the agency was incorporated as an independent, nonsectarian institution and by 1986 was open every weekday, serving up to one hundred clients each week. A third site was opened in Gilroy in 1993. That site has been thriving ever since and is the only Adult Day Care in the South County.
Our third location – which is the first agency-owned site – is at 1147 Minnesota Avenue in San Jose, where our main office is located. This Center opened in October, 1999. In addition to the new construction for the adult day care center, Live Oak undertook the restoration of a historic San Jose home, known as the Paul and May Clark House – built in 1913. The exterior of the original building is exactly as it was designed by architect Frank Delos Wolfe, an associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Clark House was declared a Historical Landmark of the City of San Jose in November, 1999 and we love to give tours! Maybe you’ll see our ghost! Both the original building and the new Center are connected with an interior hallway.
Finally, on July 1, 2003, Live Oak Adult Day Services merged with the former Cupertino Senior Day Services located on the St. Jude’s Episcopal Church campus in Cupertino. This center serves primarily residents of the cities of Cupertino and Sunnyvale.
Live Oak survived the Covid-19 pandemic by switching to remote services. We reached out to our families via phone calls and face to face connections via computers. We operated a 2-hour ‘mini’ program via Zoom each day. We are happy to be open again and welcome everyone in-person or on Zoom.
Live Oak is a 501 (c) 3 organization, tax ID #77-0069106.
I was hired as the new Program Director in March, 2016 following an 11 year hiatus from work. During that time, my family moved back to California from New York City and I raised my two boys from youngsters to teenagers. I am happy to be back working! I have many years experience working with older adults including as a staff psychologist/neuropsychologist at the Jewish Home and Hospital in the Bronx and as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. Before my doctoral training in New York, I worked as an art therapist in San Jose at a sub-acute residental program for older adults.