The Silent Generation Speaks
(exhibit home page)

Ancestral Voices
​The Maggioli/West Family

Voices in Harmony
​The Family in the Community​

Voices of Industry
The Family at Work​​

Playful Voices
The Family at Leisure

Echoes in the Walls
The House at 309 Neal Street

Briefly Heard Trumpets
The Short, Strange History of the Pleasanton Hospital

Jean West Jones (1930-2015) was a third-generation Pleasantonian, the daughter of local small-business owners George and Wanda West and the granddaughter of laborer Frank Maggioli and his wife Alice, a part-time librarian and former teacher. She grew up in a house on 309 Neal Street, purchased by her parents and grandparents in 1932. For most of her life, 309 Neal was Jean's home, and only upon her death in 2015 did it pass from the possession of her family.

In her will, Jean left the property at 309 Neal to the City of Pleasanton, expressing the hope that it might be converted into a museum in order to help preserve the city's history. Unfortunately, an extensive historic structures report, as well as consultation with the Museum and with the Pleasanton Heritage Association, determined that the idea was not a feasible one.

In order to fulfill the spirit of Jean's wishes, however, the City Council decided to sell the property as a historic home, obliging the purchaser to restore and preserve the house's historic exterior. The proceeds from the sale were donated to Museum on Main, which has used the money to establish an endowment fund.  The income from this fund has already allowed the Museum to expand its educational programs and begin redesigning its Local History Room exhibit (now the Jean P. Jones Gallery). 

In addition, the Museum was able to acquire numerous artifacts, documents and photographs that Jean, her parents, and her grandparents had saved over the family's history, from the old Pleasanton Hospital sign to Wanda and Jean's doll collections to family letters and vacation snapshots. This collection extensively documents life in twentieth-century Pleasanton as it grew from a small farm town to an affluent Bay Area suburb.