She used to live just up the road, but was forced to leave Los Gatos by circumstance. But now, Mary McLean, 55, has returned triumphantly.
She played a guessing game with this reporter, during the recent Chamber of Commerce Wine Walk.
The rhetorical question: “Who was the first buyer in North 40?”
She reveals the answer: “Me!”
Mary McLean is a joyful person, just brimming with life. She’s faced hardship. And she’s overcome adversity.
WELCOME HOME – Canadian expat Mary McLean is thrilled about her new North 40 existence. She was the first person to buy into the development. (Photo by Drew Penner / Los Gatan)
The Canadian expat struggled to find her way back to Los Gatos, as she followed the roller coaster ride that was Phase 1 of the North 40 housing development in the northern part of town.
But she’s finally arrived.
“I feel very comfortable here,” she said. “It’s funny how life can turn around.”
The Los Gatan checked with SummerHill Housing Group, and her story checks out.
Annabelle Salum, the company’s director of marketing, confirmed McLean was the first of 30 buyers to close before the grand opening, held Saturday.
McLean’s lived in Halifax, Montreal, Vancouver and Duncan, British Columbia.
She now works as the director of purchasing for a Silicon Valley tech company.
A painful divorce caused her to decamp from Los Gatos, first to the Aventino Apartments, then to Campbell.
She couldn’t be happier about returning.
“I moved in three weeks ago,” she said, adding her 22-year-old son lives with her. “My son is happy, so it’s all good.”
She jokes about how her daughter gives her a hard time about how she moved into a place in a development that got a lot of press over the years for having some “affordable” units.