SPEAKER: Sam Sperry, Train Service Explorer & Historian
Ride the rails with HCC’s 2026 Speaker Series 2026 launch. Join Sam Sperry aboard 44 years of NorCal train service in our sparsely settled and not-yet-incorporated East Bay. Sperry, a retired attorney and train buff, might even appear in an authentic conductor’s uniform. He shares a vivid journey from California to Illinois with local stops in Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Moraga and St. Mary’s College Station.
Long a fixture in the Lamorinda Community, Sam and Susan Sperry were Moraga’s 2018 Citizens of the Year. Susan’s father bought 80 acres of undeveloped land in the year Susan was born - before Moraga was incorporated. The Sperry family still lives and works on the Frazell ranch. During Susan’s childhood the train would run from Oakland through Canyon, past the college and would stop near Lafayette’s Town Hall where the area community met. Sam and Susan have brought local history to life by founding the Moraga Historical Society.
Sam invites you to make tracks with him and HCC.