The Ideal Community - John Meserve
John’s Sonoma Journey - I Helped Build
This is the third of three stories about John’s relationship with Sonoma Valley.
🟩 We Knew This Was the Place – Chapter 1
A chance drive through Sonoma Valley convinces John and his wife that they have found the place where they belong.
🟥 A Life Among Trees – Chapter 2
John turns his knowledge of plants into a lifelong career caring for trees and serving communities throughout Sonoma Valley and beyond.
🟦 The Ideal Community – Chapter 3 (You are reading this story.)
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Through public service, raising a family and his newfound love of pickleball, John Meserve has made community central to his life. After 40 years, he still cannot imagine a better place to call home than Sonoma Valley.
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I have always been a community person. One of the things I love about Sonoma Valley is that it is small enough for someone to participate in a meaningful way.
Over the years, I have found many different ways to be involved. Long ago, when the Vintage Festival was organized differently, I served as its vice president and logistics person. In Kenwood, I spent four years on the school board. I have been involved with Rotary, served on Sonoma’s Tree Committee and now sit on the North Sonoma Valley Municipal Advisory Council.
My wife and I also raised our daughter here. She is 37 now, and I cannot imagine a better place to have raised a child or to have been part of a community.
The valley is small enough that you can contribute and feel that your participation matters. At the same time, it is big enough not to feel isolated. For us, it was the perfect choice.
More recently, pickleball has become a new priority in my life.
I am trying to retire, but I have been having trouble making that happen. Then pickleball came along. Now I put it on my calendar and block out the time each week so that I cannot schedule work over it.
I love playing, but I also love the community around it.
To me, pickleball is the ideal community. Everybody is friendly and having fun. When I am out on the courts, what I hear are sounds of joy. People are laughing, exclaiming, enjoying one another’s company and getting to know each other.
You do not hear that in quite the same way from the tennis courts next door.
Pickleball has given me another way to meet people and be with people. In that sense, it reflects what I have loved about Sonoma Valley for the past 40 years.
When my wife and I first drove through the valley, we knew immediately that this was our place. That feeling has never left me.
I cannot imagine anything better. I cannot imagine a better place to build a career, raise a child, participate in a community and grow older.
I love Sonoma Valley and the Valley of the Moon. I love living here.
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John’s experience reflects how community is built through participation. His public service, family life and time on the pickleball court demonstrate that belonging grows when people contribute, form relationships and share joy with their neighbors.
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