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Gretchen A Wehmueller

The Mountain View old-timer won't reveal her age but admits she feels young at heart.

Before she arrives, the bartenders have already set out for her the remote controls for the television above the vodka-filled shelf. Wehmueller, a sports fanatic, has sat in the same spot for the past six years.Today is her birthday. But the septuagenarian (?) or octogenarian (?) won't admit her age. "Ask my mother," she quipped and smiled.

Wehmueller, who works as a security guard at Applied Materials in Sunnyvale from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, diligently shows up after work at St. Stephen's Green. She orders the same thing every day—one O'douls and three Bud Lights, but she never eats the food at the bar. "I usually order the food to go," she said, which she takes with her on the cab ride home.
Before she became a regular at St. Stephen's Green, Wehmueller, who moved to Mountain View in 1965, would visit the Los Altos Bar & Grill—a 49ers bar—and drink with former 49ers and Raiders player, Jim Plunkett. The bar is no longer in operation.

Wehmueller has a red 49ers jacket and has her iPhone 4G decorated with a 49ers decal. She once even flew to Berlin to see the 49ers play the Chicago Bears in the pre-season. "We went to Wembly too," she added.

"I love football and have always followed the sport, and baseball, too," said Wehmueller, who can be found in her San Francisco Giants orange jersey during baseball season. As a teenager she played
basketball and ran track in her high school in Hollister.

However, on this cloudy Monday, the day before her March 15 birthday, she sat and watched the Golden State Warriors take on the Sacramento Kings.

"They used to be called the San Francisco Warriors before they moved the team to Oakland," she explained, sharing her knowledge of local sports history. "The Warriors used to play in the Cow Palace as did the San Jose Sharks."

Then she lashed out some criticism.

"Look at their tattoos," she said. "It looks like they have scales, because they have no color in them." She really looks forward to the start of March Madness today and would have rooted for a PAC 10 team.

Married for 36 years to a mortician who lives in Samoa, Wehmueller meets her husband once a year in Hawaii. The couple doesn't have children.

"I travelled too much," Wehmueller admitted about the 30 years she worked for Trans World Airlines (TWA), first as in reservations, then as a sales agent and, when necessary, as a back-up flight attendant.

But, despite her age, she still as active as ever. For the past three years, she's volunteered as a weekend cook aboard the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, a historic cargo ship built in World War II that's docked at Pier 45 in Fisherman's Wharf. She also finds time to volunteer at the information center at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara medical office on Lawrence Expressway.

Though she loves her black-and-white rescue cat that shares her Ortega Avenue home, Wehmueller just doesn't feel the need to spend much time at her apartment.

"I don't stay home and watch soaps," she said. "That's boring as hell."

If you see her today, wish her a "Happy Birthday!" But remember, she won't reveal her age.

"I don't know. It doesn't matter," she said. "As long as you are having fun."