Community Corner
Who's Who in Foster City: Marcia Cohn-Lyle
Marcia Cohn-Lyle is a retired teacher and member of the San Mateo Union High School District's Board of Trustees
Name: Marcia Cohn-Lyle
Age: 74
Occupation: A retired teacher of English as a Foreign Language for 25 years, having started the ongoing program in Foster City in 1974.
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What brought you to Foster City? I read a newspaper article about housing in Foster City that showed an Asian couple buying and immediately knew that it was the way I wanted to raise my children, who had only known a white culture.
What is your best Foster City memory? The most exciting thing that happened to me in Foster City was being the first ever elected official from Foster City to the San Mateo Union High School District Board of Trustees, and being returned to my seat on the Governing Board for a total of 12 years until I retired.
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How have you been involved in the local education system? As you can see, I have been VERY involved personally in the Foster City school system and my three kids went through the Foster City system and all graduated from San Mateo High School. Then my granddaughter did the same, but graduated from Hillsdale High School/Middle College at CSM. Two grandsons worked their way through, one now in college and the other in his senior year by online Kava, a computer alternative.
How has Foster City changed over time? When I moved into Foster City we bought a ten-room house for $39,000, and there were 10,000 people here. The population has hovered around 30,000 ever since. The biggest change, and I mean BIGGEST, was when it was determined that it was safe to tear down two-story buildings and put up seven, nine, and 15-story ones instead.
If you could change one thing about Foster City, what would it be? My wish is for the Mirabella Senior Residence to be built on the vacant 15 acres because my husband and I want very much to end our years in Foster City.
What is more beautiful, the Golden Gate or the Bay Bridge? I was born and raised in San Francisco and definitely choose the Golden Gate Bridge, not just for its beauty, but for the gorgeous land it connects.
