Between Katie and Serge Frenklakh, they speak four languages. The most important one, which they are passing down to their two young daughters, is the language of gratitude.
As an immigrant from Belarus, Serge keeps up with his Russian. As an ex-pat child having lived in Puerto Rico and Germany, Katie keeps up on her Spanish. Both speak a little German and, of course, English. But at dinner each evening, the family practices a tradition of gratitude, taking turns answering questions with their daughters Ellie (6) and Gemma (3): What was the best part of your day? What was the sad part of your day? What are you grateful for? And What are looking forward to tomorrow? It’s a practice that builds the girls’ appreciation and communication skills and brings them all closer as a family.
Katie and Serge both attended UC Davis at the same time but never met each other, despite having some mutual friends. It was years later that fate would try again to bring them together. They both were urged by friends to try a dating app. As Serge jokes, “Katie and I met on the classiest of dating sites OKCupid – the free one! I must have passed all of Katie’s extensive Google stalking, and as fate would have it, she was the first person I met from the site…Our first date was at a quaint restaurant in San Rafael. Hours went by with great conversation until we noticed they were stacking the chairs, ready to close. Not wanting the night to end, we ended up in a ‘rough around the edges’ biker bar! The perfect ending to a lovely evening.”
They were engaged in Lake Tahoe, on a hike overlooking Emerald Bay, and married in 2014 in Monterey.
After working in the corporate world for a bit, Katie returned to school to earn her nursing degree at Samuel Merritt University and now works at Kaiser Walnut Creek. Serge earned his master’s degree at UCLA in biomedical engineering and now works in research and development within the neurovascular division of Stryker. “He finds it incredibly rewarding and impactful designing medical devices that treat the debilitating disease of stroke.” It makes his commute to Fremont worth it.
Since moving to Northgate in 2018 they have fully embraced all that it has to offer. Ellie is involved in Girl Scouts, SURF/COPA Soccer, WCYAA basketball, and the Woodlands Swim Team (Gemma hopes to join Kermits next season.); Katie volunteers at Valle Verde while Serge enjoys golf at Boundary Oak. The family enjoys exploring the neighborhood and running into familiar friendly faces everywhere, visiting the Farmer’s Market at The Shadelands on Saturdays, ogling the animals at ARF (“we can’t wait until the girls are old enough to adopt one.”), and going to shows at the Lesher Center.
They also take regular trips to Monterey, where Serge’s parents live, Novato where Katie’s family is, the Aulani Disney Resort in Hawaii, Palm Springs, and Lake Tahoe.
Although both Katie and Serge spent parts of their childhoods thousands of miles away, they have found “home” here in Northgate. Katie adds, “We love the connections we’ve made with other families – especially those forged during the Covid shutdown. During the pandemic, we really bonded with our neighbors. Gemma was due to be born right after the shutdown when everything was closed. We would go on walks at least twice a day, and Ellie (then 3) would yell to people from across the street, asking what their dog’s name was. Each person was so happy to engage with us, and we’d start to recognize people over time. When we came home from the hospital with Gemma, I couldn’t wait to get out in our neighborhood again – I took Gemma on her first walk on the canal trail when she was only three days old. Seeing those familiar friendly faces in our community was always the highlight of our day!”
This family has lots to be grateful for!
By Kara Navolio, Resident since 1991 Photos provided by The Frenklakh family
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