Middletons celebrate 50th anniversary Middletons celebrate 50th anniversary (May 05, 2004)

On May 1, longtime Portola Valley residents Arla and Howard Middleton celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

The couple met in the early 1950s after Mr. Middleton, who was raised in the Bay Area, had gone back East in the service and found himself in New York City without a date. A friend fixed him up with his sister, Arla, who was in nursing school there. After Howard and Arla were married in New Hartford, New York, in 1954, they moved back to the Bay Area.

The young couple's first home was in Atascadero, but Mr. Middleton's job selling earth-moving equipment for General Motors required frequent moves. After living in Southern California and Ohio, as well as Northern California, they settled in Portola Valley in 1967, where they built their dream house on a new street called Cheyenne Point.

After their three children, who all graduated from Woodside High School, were raised, Mrs. Middleton returned to nursing, working for the Red Cross and volunteering for a local hospice. Both the Middletons have been active in Christ Church in Portola Valley.

The Middletons have three children: Hilary Wills of Oakland, Craig Middleton of San Francisco, and Debbie Hamilton of Belfry, Montana; and four grandchildren.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.