Nancy Couperus Resident and Activist of Los Altos Hills
Nancy Couperus was a long-time resident of Los Altos Hills, who together with her husband Jitze, were active in a number of aspects regarding how the Town was run. In particular she was known for her strong advocacy of Public Open Spaces and their preservation for the communal good. Around the time of her passing in late 2025, The Town Council saw fit to recognize her and her husband with a special award.
Award recognition soon after Nancy passed in late 2025
Her involvement in Town affairs started by chance in 1973 when Nancy and her husband had recently moved into Town, and happened to speak up at a Town Council meeting. The Town Council had just been informed by staff of the possibility of a large property-owner in town being prepared to donate their large piece of property and its associated amenities to the town.
The news was received with some scepticism - it seemed far-fetched and unlikely, and when the prospective donor was identified as a Hungarian Countess living in Montana, that just added to the restrained mirth of the council members and irritation at what seemed to be a time-wasting distractions to handling more substative business.
Nancy spoke up passionately as a member of the public in favor of working with representatives of the land-owner in question, and to try to come up with a plan for it.
The Council members at the time were all men "of a certain age" and of limited ethnic diversity. The idea of women becoming active (let alone effective) in town governance was still a novel idea - so Mayor Grabowsky took the opportunity to assign this apparent wild-goose chase to the two most vocal women in the audience who had encouraged further pursuit of the idea.
Nancy was asked to work with another lady who happened to be in the audience at the time and who had also urged the Council to follow up on this apparent offer.
Irma Goldsmith was an early resident of the area, from before the town was incorporated. She was the widow of one of the last cavalry officers to actualy ride a horse on active duty, and had retired to the local area where she became an active member of the original "gang" who worked to incorporate the area into what was to become Los Altos Hills. In July 1957 soon after incorporation, she had filed a proposal for a series of bridle paths that would meander through Los Altos Hills, along with a map depicting her vision as the town pathways chairwoman. It was her who had spearheaded the original idea that the Town should retain its rural character by incorpoating the concepts of open space, pathways, trails and "permeability" into the basic planning documents (the "General Plan") of the town. It was through her efforts that these ideas originaly became documented in the election manifesto for incorporation that became known as "the green sheets".
And thus it was that Mayor Grabowsky, in an attempt to curtail further time-wasting distraction on the topic, assigned Irma Goldsmith and Nancy Couperus to explore the concept further with the land-owner's representatives, and report any progress (or lack thereof) back to the council.
The Barn owned by the Countess Margit Bessenyey was known as "Westwind". The property served as a breeding facility and training center for her Hungarian Lipizzaner horses. She lived on her ranch in Western Montana and delegated much of the running of the barn to trainer, Linda Tellington-Jones, whose work with people and their horses became world-renowned and continues today in clinics across the country. A fellow trainer at the Barn was Jim Forderer, a single Dad to around half-a-dozen adopted kids - all with disabilities. He was a horse-trainer as well and actively encouraged his children to become involved with horses as a potentially beneficial therapeutic activity..
These two people, Tellington-Jones and Forderer, were delegated by the Countess to negotiate details surrounding the potential donation of the Barn to the Town of Los Altos Hills.
Nancy Couperus and Irma Goldsmith would represent the Town in these discussions. The intent was to try and encourage the donation of this facility to the Town. A tentative offer of this donation had already been made, but it was contingent on certain conditions being negotiated and agreed upon.
This first involvement by Nancy with "the Barn" was the start of a long relationship - successful acquisition of the Barn was just the starting point.
Plaque mounted on large sliding door at West end of Barn
Agreement was achieved involving donation of the Barn itself by the Countess Bessenyey, and accompanied by a token payment by the Town for a large parcel of land on which the Barn and its horse rings and paddocks were located. Subsequently the Barn underwent a number of "roles" in its relationship to the Town (including a "Boarders Co-op", a non-profit membership organization, a "franchise" run by an independent opeator, and more). Various challenges came up over the years, including a major re-furbishment and earthquake-proofing, to where not only has it survived, but has truly blossomed to become a community asset and an indelible part of what today defines The Town of Los Altos Hills.
From this start, the Barn evolved into a community asset for a wide spectrum of members of the public who enjoyed its facilities. It became the venue for several town-wide annual celebrations (Earth Day, Hoedown, Santa Claus and Barn Lighting,... to name but a few)
But of all the activities supported at the barn, the one with the greatest initial community impact was the program sponsored by the non-profit originally named "Westwind 4-H Riding for The Handicapped". Today nearly 50 years later, it is still thriving but now under the name Westwind Riding Institute (WRI).
The impetus for this program was as a result of Nancy's efforts to fulfill her assurances to the Countess Bessenyey and subsequent Town Councils that the Barn would provide something of value to the wider community. The idea of horse-based therapy was starting to get traction at that time, and Nancy had adapted the idea after visiting a similar early program operating at Mill Valley in Marin County called Halleck Creek Ranch. This organization had been a pioneer in equine-assisted therapy for some years already. and a few visits to observe and ask questions confirmed the feasibility of the idea for Nancy.
Over the years, the program at Westwind has provided not only recreational horse-riding to hundreds of kids with either physical or less visible limitations - but also tangible therapeutic benefits to a large proportion of them.
But perhaps a benefit with even wider reach has been the result of an un-anticipated consequence...
Every year, a number of seniors from local high-schools sign up as volunteers in the program to help with the horses and the riders. They do this for many reasons - for the satisfaction but also to earn a good reference in applications to go to their University of choice. The unintended side-effect of their involvement in the program has resulted in the choice of a career path by many of these high-schoolers going in the direction of medicine (Doctors, Nurses) or other therapy-related professions.
Today this program continues to thrive as living testimony of Nancy’s commitment to community service.
Despite these efforts to ensure the future of the Barn as a community asset, around the year 2000 a few members of Town Council floated the idea of selling the property to a developer, to add money to the Town's capital fund - using the claim that this represented the highest and best use of taxpayer's money.
In response, Nancy and a number of friends launched a ballot initiative whose effect would be to require a vote of the residents before any of the larger pieces of town-owned land could be disposed of, or have their use (open space or recreation) be changed. This restriction on the diversion of Town-owned Open Spaces to other uses remains to this day.
In summary, Nancy's efforts had positive impacts on the preservation of open space in the town of Los Altos Hills, as well as assurance that the Barn remains as an asset to the wider community - one that has brought joy and healing therapy to countless kids with limitations, and inspired countless other high-schoolers to follow medicine-oriented careers.
Following are two images - each one testimony in its own way, to the impact she had on the Town.
