1.Farrell46 year English teacher, Gunn High School, Palo Alto; Actor; Docent Emeritus, Filoli

A “Not-so-Secret Life”: Charles Dickens in his novels

 

Tim Farrell was born in San Francisco in 1941. His family moved to Marin, where he graduated from Tamalpias High School. At Stanford University, Farrell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963 and a Master of Arts degree in 1964.

Farrell taught English at Awalt High School (now Mountain View High School) for two years, followed by 46 years at Gunn High School. Some notable former students  in arts and letters include David Leavitt, Jessica Yu, Anne Packer and George Packer.

An expert on Victorian novels and authors Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, Farrell is often a guest lecturer at Gunn High School. He is also an actor with the Palo Alto Stage Company, and he and his wife Lynn have been volunteers at Filoli since 2001. They reside in Los Altos.

He and his wife Lynne are long-time residents of Los Altos.