Longtime director leaving Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose

"I think the happiest an exhibit has made me was opening Bill's Backyard," Jennings said. "I think it was the exact right thing to do at the time we did it for where kids are in needing to play outside, helping parents feel comfortable, that their children can kind of maneuver the natural world."

"Discovery Duck, they said, had retired to a pondside community in Denver to be closer to her grandchildren."

"Our stories are fully aligned,"

Marilee Jennings is stepping down this month after 39 years with the downtown Children's Discovery Museum, including 18 years as executive director, to move to Colorado to be closer to her grandchildren, ages 3½ and 3 months. Jennings began as the museum's head fundraiser about three years before the landmark purple building opened in 1990 at Discovery Meadow Park. The museum expanded outdoor learning with Bill's Backyard: Bridge to Nature in 2017 and opened the Exploration Portal in 2024. Jennings also helped build a partnership with Zoom that resulted in a Zoom Zone at the San Jose airport. The annual Three Kings celebration stands out as a major community outreach highlight.

Read at The Mercury News