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Community Corner

How They Met: Wendy and Stuart Smith

Columnist Sandra Kay profiles the Smiths, a.k.a. Minnie Mouse and the Matterhorn Mountain Stunt Man

If I’m remembering correctly, my last HOW THEY MET column was a surprise gift also — sat down originally to write a Tully’s Corner piece, but upon meeting Jan’s husband Larry Brown and , I had no choice but to switch column gears.

And here we go again, another gift, because I did not sit down with Wendy Smith at on Main Street to interview her for my HOW THEY MET column.

In fact, we were there because she was about an upcoming book festival.

But you know how us mom-writer-Pleasanton patch freelancer types can be once we get to talkin.’    

We start out so polite and on topic, and next thing you know, we’ve covered childhood dreams, adolescent traumas, family secrets, favorite movies, great books, community events, motherhood adventures, jokes, quotes and romance.

I can’t remember exactly where in our delightful conversation I slipped in the “How did you two meet?” question, but the second she mentioned she was Minnie Mouse and he proposed at Disneyland ... well, I grabbed a pen out of my purse, and lifted my breakfast plate off of the pretty scalloped paper placemat and converted it immediately into my notebook.

“NO?!  you were Minnie Mouse ... like, THE MINNIE MOUSE...  at Disneyland?  For real? You met your husband working at Disneyland?”

How precious, enchanting and storybook is that?

And the chances Wendy would become Minnie Mouse during her life journey were not at first obvious. It’s nothing she set out to accomplish, or trained for, and she didn’t have any connections in the industry. 

In fact, with only minimal experience on the cheer team in high school, and a short time involved in the choir, she auditioned against 250 people — a two day audition that involved singing, dancing, and improvisational performing in costume and out, plus a series of panel interviews. 

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To her great surprise and happiness, she was one of the last people out of only 24 who were ultimately hired out of the 250, and qualified for the 5’1" and under Disneyland characters.

So, if you visited Disneyland any time between 1992 and 1996 you may have seen Wendy as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Chip n’ Dale and/or Winnie the Pooh. 

It was after she was promoted to Lead Supervisor, and was out of costume and in supervisor clothes that the first flirty encounter took place between her and her now husband of 14 years, Stuart.

Stuart — well, I don’t know how he landed his position with Disneyland, but, no matter, because it’s where he landed that makes this such an entertaining, wonderful and romantic story.

How does at the top of the Matterhorn grab you? Yeah, me too.

Stuart was one of Disneyland’s mountain climbers for the seasonal show. You know the ones, don’t you? Dressed in Lederhosen at the top of the Matterhorn, looks and acts like he’s about to fall. Scares the  (fill in the blank as you wish here) out of innocent passersby below.

You call it a potential 911 emergency, they call it entertainment.   

Well, so there he is hanging by a thread from the top of the snow white mountain, calling out to the crowds for help, just about to fall

in love.

And there she is, Wendy. Not Minnie, or Mickey, or Dhip n’ Dale or Winnie the Pooh. On this day, she is herself. Wendy. Lead supervisor of the characters making her rounds and witnessing the fake fall act for the 100th time.

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Only this time, the man about to fall, waves directly at her. They lock eyes and she waves back. Having her attention, the man about to fall blows her a kiss. She blows a kiss back.

It reaches him at the top of the Matterhorn, and so he yodels out a song to her but she doesn’t yodel back.

Too much too soon maybe, huh? I can’t say I would yodel back either, if even I wanted to. Waves and blowing kisses, that’s doable in large public crowds. Yodeling out of costume; not so easy.

So she carries on, and he continues to fall. Next thing you know, he has somehow safely landed on the ground, finds his Wendy and taps her on the shoulder.

“So, you don’t yodel? Want to learn how?”

And that very Disneylandesque encounter ignited a wonderful friendship which blossomed into a beautiful romance which grew into love.

It is only fitting then, isn’t it, that in October of 1996, Stuart would propose to Wendy at Disneyland. 

Her in Minnie Mouse costume and him on one bended mountain man knee, with a big fake ring. So we have the fake fall, the fake ring, and a very real love.

After a couple summers together at Disneyland, Stuart longed to return to Pleasanton, his hometown. 

“I love you,” he told Wendy, “I love you, but I can’t live here and I can’t live without you.”

In October 1996, they moved to Pleasanton where today, Stuart works for in the corporate office as a Facilities Manager.

This is when he’s not on one of his High Sierra backpacking trips, or hiking the Pleasanton Ridge, as Wendy, , hopeful novelist, takes care of their three boys.

They married  on top of a mountain in the Sequoia National Forest on September 27, 1997 and next month, they will celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary with their beautiful boys, Gavin, 12, Keaton, 10, and Riley 5.

So that’s how they met, Stuart and Wendy Smith. And since Wendy is a and blogger, their story is continually unfolding right before our very eyes.
 

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