August 17, 2006

Matt Denman, who grew up in Yellow Springs, moved to California to work at Apple Computer before moving back to town with his wife, Karen, in 1999. The couple is shown with their daughters, Maddy, left, and Kirsten.

By Tara Miller and
Diane Chiddister

While Matt Denman was on the phone with a reporter last week, his five-year-old daughter asked if she could go down the street to play at the neighbor’s. He sent his little girl on her way, then came back to the phone.

“That’s just why we came back,” he said. “I could never have let her do that in California.”

Several years ago, when Denman, a 1983 graduate of Yellow Springs High School, and his wife, Karen, were living in Silicon Valley, Calif., they realized that they wanted a different life for themselves and their children. They were tired of the rat race, of having to drive a half hour just to go to the grocery, even driving somewhere to go biking. And then after those drives, an event they wanted to attend might be so crowded that they couldn’t get in. “We wanted a better quality of life,” Denman said.

What Denman realized, to his surprise, was that he wanted a life for his children like the one he had growing up. He remembered living on West Davis Street in Antioch College faculty housing with his siblings and parents, Al and Donna Denman, and being part of a gang of neighborhood kids that ran the block all day long and into the evening, feeling free and safe and independent. He remembered all the opportunities he had to play music and sports, not having to compete with hundreds of other kids for a spot on a team but simply being allowed to join in because he wanted to.

The couple moved here in 1999 with their young daughter, Kirsten, and now have a second daughter, Madeline. Last week Denman said they have no regrets about leaving their fast-paced, Silicon Valley lives.

“We’re very happy,” he said. “We love our neighborhood. We love the town.”

But to love his hometown, he had to leave first, Denman said. He didn’t like high school and was “itching to get out of Yellow Springs,” when in the 1980s he left the village for the Bay area in California, where his older brother, Donn, worked at Apple Computers. Matt Denman also took a job at Apple, for which he still works as a programmer via long-distance.

He and other old friends who moved back, such as Karen Crist and Sterling Wiggins, agree that while they are glad to be back, they needed to get away for a while, according to Denman.

“There’s a sense that we’re glad we got out of town to see other parts of the world,” he said. “This is a nice place to come back to.”

Since he returned, Denman has seen changes. He’s surprised at the high cost of housing, but since housing here is less expensive than in California, the issue hasn’t impacted his family. He has been impressed that Yellow Springs seems “both bigger and smaller,” than when he was a child. There are more houses now, but fewer people living in them, with more villagers living alone as they age. He is glad that the village is a welcoming place for elders, but he also notices that there are fewer children.

The Denmans moved back to town just as Yellow Springs became embroiled in controversy over the recall campaign and affordable housing. Those years brought out “the worst of Yellow Springs,” he said, and he was especially saddened by villagers’ tendency, while proclaiming themselves tolerant of others, of actually being intolerant to those with different opinions.

“People who had been friends were treating each other poorly,” he said. “That’s what tore this town apart.”

More recently, the Denman family has encountered difficulty with the education of their daughter, Kirsten, who they decided to remove from Mills Lawn School after problems with last year’s fourth grade class which they felt the school did not adequately address. She will be attending Ridgewood School in Springfield, and Matt Denman is sorry that she can no longer bike to school, as she used to do. But their younger daughter will attend Mills Lawn, which they believe is essentially a good place for kids.

Overall, Denman said, his dreams for his children have come true. His kids have many friends in their Corry Street neighborhood with whom they play, and they are active in a variety of village activities. They have basically the same freedom and independence that he grew up with, and the family is no longer tied to the car. He loves being near his family, including his sister, Linnea, and her family, along with his old friends and new friends as well.

“It’s been better than I expected,” he said. “Yellow Springs is a special town.”