One Family's Decades-Long Gift To Marin County

NOVTAO, CA – It’s not all that rare to have two people from one family to work for the same employer. The County of Marin government is one of the biggest employers in Marin and has more than 3,000 employees when accounting for full-timers, part-timers, extra-hires and seasonal workers. At one time or another, the county has had employees who were husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, moms and daughters, fathers and sons, uncles and nieces … almost every combination you can imagine.

These days you can count longtime Novato residents Meloni Gail Page and her brother Clay Page among the sibling workers employed by the county. But the real eye-opener is this fact: They are among 10 family members – most with ties to Marin City – who have worked for the County of Marin through the years.

“That’s 10 that I can remember … were there more?” Meloni said with a laugh. “I think if you added up all the years combined, it would be some sort of record.”

According to Department of Human Resources records, the Pages and their relatives have accumulated 125 years of service to the County of Marin. There’s no quick way of researching whether that’s a family record, but let’s just say it stands as No. 1 until proven wrong.

Meloni, a Novato resident since the early 1970s, recently marked her 36th anniversary working for the Department of Human Resources, and February 2019 will be 29 years for Clay, who works for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Their great aunt, Winnie Page, was the first in the clan to work for the county government, starting in the 1970s and working as a social worker. Their mother, Connie Page, was an HHS employment development counselor for nearly 10 years in the early 2000s.

“We all love working with people and serving people. That’s the only way I can explain it,” Meloni said. “We love to give back. It’s something that’s been distilled in us.”

“It’s a pleasant place to work, and word got around,” said Clay, who lives in Vallejo. “I enjoy my job.”

On the family roster there was Winnie, Connie, Meloni, and Clay. Taking further inventory in no particular order, there were Meloni and Clay’s brothers Charles Page and Darren Page, and the siblings’ cousins Kevin Page, Deatrice Gosha, Quianne Hunter, and Caleb Jones.

The family’s Marin City roots can be traced to 1954, when the siblings’ maternal grandmother, Dorothy Jones, arrived. Connie Jones was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and came to Marin with her mother. Meloni and Clay’s father, Clarence – better known as June – was from New Orleans and ended up in Marin City as well. Connie and June were sweethearts at Tamalpais High School before getting married in 1962. June then served in the U.S. Navy and later was co-owner of a shoe store in San Francisco for many years, then started a signmaking business. He works for a family friend’s business these days.

Connie worked as a teacher for many years and then for the Marin City Community Services District. She was part of the group responsible for bringing a shopping center to Marin City and subsequently helped Marin City residents land jobs and train for them before the businesses opened. That assistance with employment counseling led to her being hired by the county in 2001.

The couple were married for almost 50 years until Connie passed away from ovarian cancer in 2011. It was a sudden passing, and her co-workers were inspired to remember her spirit. A tree was planted in her honor on the HHS campus at 120 North Redwood Boulevard, and a commemorative rock was placed on the ground with Connie’s name on it. The cherry tree produces pink flowers when in bloom. Connie’s best friend from work, Bernadette Helson, still works there and told Meloni recently that her mom’s spirit is still with them. Bernadette said she noticed that the flowers always bloom on the west side of the tree first, which is where Connie’s office and her co-workers were located.

“Because I look like my mom, I still have people walking up to me and saying, ‘Are you related to Connie Page?’” Meloni said. “A lot of them say, ‘Your mom changed my life. She didn’t give up on me.’ It brings tears to my eyes. She was very spiritual and didn’t judge people, and in her job she was helping at-risk people. She made them feel like they were human.”

Clay said his mother’s dedication to public service set an example not just for the family but many others. “She was a community activist type of person, so a lot of people knew her,” he said. “When we were kids, we would go into her office and see her interact with her clients and the community as a whole. It was always there for me to see, but I was young and took it for granted. When she passed, people came up to me and told me about how she helped them. It was right there in front of my face the whole time, so I don’t take it for granted anymore.”

There came a time when Connie and June no longer qualified for public housing in Marin City because of their good jobs, so in 1972 they moved to the San Marin neighborhood of Novato. The family has been there ever since, with relatives in Marin City, Vallejo and other nearby cities.

“My mother was a teacher for Head Start in Marin City, so that’s why we went to school down in Sausalito and Marin City even after we moved to Novato,” Meloni explained. “We would go to my grandmother’s house after school, so that’s why we still know so many people down there and we still call it home. It’s a small community and everybody knows everybody.”

The Page and Jones families established a local reputation as a family of givers. As they prepared for a big Thanksgiving potluck one year in the early 1990s, Connie and the others in her generation made an executive decision to forgo the regular family mealtime and do something different.

“She made an announcement that we were going to feed the homeless instead,” Meloni said. “All the younger ones were saying, ‘Are you serious?’ I mean, we were angry, worried about what we were going to get to eat.”

The family spread out and passed out flyers to needy folks about the free meal. They set it up in a church dining hall and had no idea how many people would show up. They figured just a handful. Almost 30 people showed. The younger ones escorted the guests to the tables, talked to them and fed them.

“We had the best time. It was so rewarding,” Meloni said. “There were two women who were in tears as they thanked us. We really felt their appreciation. That’s when a bunch of us really got into giving back. It opened our eyes to not being so selfish and gave us a lot of perspective.”

Clay is an office supervisor in the Public Assistance Eligibility Division of HHS and works at the county facility on North Redwood Boulevard off Smith Ranch Road in northern San Rafael. He supervises the mailroom and assists with facility issues and building maintenance. Every day at work, he can walk past his mother’s tree. Previously, Clay worked about 20 years at the front desks at HHS’ clinics after achieving full-time status in 1990 following a year as an extra-hire employee.

“I was working at my dad’s signmaking shop and got a little tired of that,” he said. “My sister mentioned a county job that was opened, and it sounded right for me.”

Meloni is a senior HR technician focusing on employee payroll and benefits as well as wearing many

other hats in the office. Because of her long tenure with the county, employees turn to her for a variety of needs whether it’s her area of expertise or not. (If not, she gets you to the right person.) Meloni is active in the County of Marin African-American Employees Association (COMAEA) and helps host special events on MLK Day, Black History Month, and Juneteenth. On December 19, she took time to assist with COMAEA’s Adopt-a-Family event in Marin City.

Meloni has had four or five HR job titles through the years and has come a long way since getting hired one year out of high school as an intermediate clerk-typist in August 1982. She had plans to attend college but decided to accept the position and work her way up as many county employees have done. She said she’s an example of finding the right position where she can contribute without the time and expense of getting an advanced degree.

“I’m proud of her for sticking with the county so long,” Clay said. “People throughout the county say, ‘Wow, she was there when I went through new employee orientation, and that was 20 years ago.’ I think we just got the work ethic from our parents.”

“You have to love what you do,” Meloni said. “I’m a people person, and I’m in contact with everybody at the county – and I mean everybody. We all have a calling in life, and I know God placed me here in HR for a reason. Nothing pleases me more than helping others.”

Story and photo of Meloni Gail Page by Brent Ainsworth, public information specialist with the County of Marin. Additional photos supplied by Meloni Gail Page.