Laura Alexandar(aka Rosie)
by Bonnie Monte
SVNA Newsletter March/April 2026
If the head of the SVNA social committee needs to be friendly, enthusiastic, and full of great ideas, Laura Alexander is the perfect person for the job. Last year, Laura(aka Rosie) resurrected the Easter Egg Hunt – which Jim Walsh led for so many years and still sponsors – and oversaw the beloved Halloween Party on Adrian Way. She also added some new events: a Tree Lighting in front of her home, complete with caroling and hot cocoa, and a big Day of the Dead Celebration. And she’s just getting started.
Laura and her family have been in their home on MadisonAvenue since 1987. The day they were scheduled to view the house; pregnant Laura’s water broke. That didn’t stop her
husband from taking a look at the house and putting in an offer before heading to the hospital. They raised four boys in that home, and one of their sons now lives right next door, with two children of his own!
“It’s a great neighborhood for outdoor stuff,” she says, recalling how her kids loved playing on Santa Margarita Island and burying treasures there. Laura and her husband Jon appreciate the neighborliness of living here and the roots that run deep. “I first met the boy next door when he was in third grade,” she says. “He and his wife and son now live in that house.” For ten years, her kids ran a lemonade stand out front during the County Fair, an institution for local fairgoers who passed by. “We all take care of each other,” she says of her neighbors. “We’ve always been there for each other.”
Laura has recently retired from a long career as a nurse, but even while working, she was an avid volunteer. Her boys all went to St. Anselm’s School, where she was very involved.
Now she’s turned her boundless energy toward boosting social activities in Santa Venetia. “It’s so rewarding to volunteer,” she says. Laura is brimming with plans: find a corporate sponsor or two, hold a few raffles during the year, re-energize the Labor Day Picnic to be a bigger event, and host a Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser on June 5.
Understanding that people have busy lives, she doesn’t ask for a big commitment. “People can help however they’re able, even if it’s just an hour or two.” To join Laura’s list of potential volunteers, contact her at rosie.alexander@comcast.net
Greg Brockbank
by Bonnie Monte
SVNA Newsletter July/August 2026
Greg Brockbank has an impressive resume–a long career as a lawyer, stints as a member of the College of Marin Board of Trustees, member of the San Rafael City Council, chair of the Marin Democratic Party, Obama Delegate to the 2008 national convention, and candidate for Mayor of San Rafael. But what he describes as his “first and true loves” are music and theater.
At the age of 11, Greg and his family moved to Marin from a middle-class suburb of Chicago. “My classmates said I had an Al-Capone-like accent,” he recalls. At Redwood High he performed in lots of school plays and musicals, but when he went on to UC Santa Cruz, he was a math major. Realizing that wasn’t a good fit, he left. In fact, that was the first of five college dropouts, before he finally got an undergraduate and then a graduate degree in Theater Arts from SF State. After a year in New York, he returned to Marin, intending to do more theater work. But he ended up going to law school instead.
Now that Greg is retired, he can devote more time to theatrical pursuits. He has performed with the Mayflower Chorus, and he’s starting his third year as MC of the Cabaret Nights at Studio Fourth Street in downtown San Rafael, where he opens each show with two solos from musical comedies. For the past two years, he’s performed in summer Shakespeare plays in Inverness and Mill Valley. He’s also working on a one-man show.
A former resident of Dominican, Greg recently moved to Santa Venetia and enjoys the strong sense of community here. “Walking the dog, I’ve already met more neighbors than I did in all my years in the Dominican.” At last October’s Halloween Party, he and his dog — both in costume — were a big hit. He wants to be active in all the goings-on in our vibrant neighborhood. Among his aspirations is doing a standup routine at an SVNA event. And he jokes that his ultimate career goal is a “residency” at Le Chalet Basque, just up the street from his home.