Like many modern love stories, Ursula and Tyler met online. Ursula had recently moved
back to California after nearly 20 years of living in New York to care for her ailing
father in the “final chapter of his life.” While she didn’t expect it was the season she
would meet her future husband, God clearly had other plans. On their first date Tyler looked
across the table and said, ‘Imagine… this could be your last first date.’ Ursula laughed beneath
her New York skepticism and quietly replied, ‘I give this three weeks.’ The next morning
Tyler called his father and confidently announced, ‘I met the woman I’m going to marry.’
Three weeks later Ursula realized he had been right. Six months later they were engaged on
Christmas. Within eleven months they were married and expecting their daughter. Today
Ursula happily admits, ‘He was right. I was wrong.’ Ursula and Tyler were married on a cliff in
Big Sur, where the mountains meet the sea and the sea meets the sky—they couldn’t imagine
anything closer to God. They chose Mother’s Day weekend and honored their mothers as their
‘Moms of Honor,’ a reflection of a marriage based in faith, family, gratitude, and hospitality
from the very beginning.
While their life is completely rooted in Danville, their paths to get here were quite different.
Tyler is a fifth-generation East Bay native whose family has long been woven into Danville’s
story. In 1995, his parents founded the Danville Cigar & Wine Shop on Hartz Avenue, a beloved
downtown gathering place that has welcomed neighbors for decades. Watching his parents
build relationships, not just a business, taught him that “community is created one conversation
at a time.” Professionally, he has spent more than twenty years leading logistics, sourcing, manufacturing, operations, and sales in the packaging industry. Ursula was born in Fresno and grew up in Carmel-by-the-Sea, before moving to Paris, San Diego, Washington D.C., and spending nearly 20 years working and living in New York City. Her career started in fashion magazines and eventually expanded into public relations, marketing, events, and brand development for luxury fashion houses, hospitality brands, restaurants and lifestyle companies. “I’ve always been drawn
to work where creativity meets human connection–where thoughtful design and memorable experiences have the power to turn a place into a destination.” Today she continues that work as a founding partner of the Rockaway Ocean Club, helping restore New York City’s historic Jacob Riis Bathhouse into a vibrant destination where history, hospitality, and culture meet. It remains the career she has devoted more than two decades to building—and one she still loves deeply. Yet she has always believed that “while your career may take you around the world, it’s important to bloom where you’re planted. Invest wholeheartedly. Love your neighbors. Support your schools. Open
your table. Show up for your community. Celebrate the seasons. Wave first. Leave every place a little better than you found it. And whenever possible, infuse it with joy.”
The Dunivant girls “are wonderfully different, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.” Lizzie (11) is “incredibly thoughtful, hardworking and compassionate.” She enjoys being active in her church youth programs and takes pride in doing well academically. She also loves swimming on the Del Amigo Swim team and is growing into a kind and compassionate young lady. Everlie (6) wakes up each morning believing it will be the “best day ever!” She loves spending time drawing, playing
soccer, swimming, and “approaches life with a sense of wonder that reminds all of us not to take ourselves too seriously.” The household would not be complete without Lucy and Ethel, their two rescue cats who have graciously allowed the rest of the family to live alongside them in their westside Danville home.
When deciding on where to settle down and raise their family, Tyler suggested Danville, yet… “wisely eased a Manhattan girl westward” by first living in San Francisco. Tyler still jokes that San Francisco was Ursula’s ‘methadone’ to wean a city girl off urban life. Eventually, Danville won Ursula’s heart with its walkable streets, friendly downtown, and the sense that neighbors still genuinely knew one another. It reminded her of Carmel-by-the-Sea, where she grew up. “Once we moved to Danville, I found myself with something I’d never had before: a front porch. To my husband’s amusement and annoyance, I enthusiastically made up for lost time and purchased what he would probably describe as an entirely unreasonable amount of seasonal décor. After spending nearly twenty years living in New York apartments, I’d never had a front porch—or, more accurately, a stoop. What I did have was a career immersed in beautiful design. Somewhere along the way, I accumulated a wonderful résumé, a killer shoe collection… and absolutely no holiday decorations.” Not anymore! Fast forward to a couple of years ago when a friend texted Ursula an article about a woman decorating porches in Texas with one simple line: ‘We could totally do this.’ By bedtime, Porch of Plenty had a name, a logo, a website domain, and a social media handle. “Some ideas whisper. This one practically shouted.”
Ursula describes Porch of Plenty as not just a business, but their family’s “Love Letter
to Danville…It’s not just decorating porches…but creating moments. A front porch
is where neighbors wave, children come home from school, holiday photos become
family traditions, and friends are welcome before the front door ever opens.” Drawing
from Ursula’s background in editorial, branding and design, she first creates a blank
canvas in her mind, then adds color, proportion, texture, movement and storytelling.
“Pumpkins, ribbons, greenery, flowers and seasonal decor simply become my medium.”
Porch of Plenty has truly become a family business as Tyler’s skills and talents have
made him the resident engineer – transforming Ursula’s ideas into reality. He is the
perfect counterpart to her creative side…managing sourcing, fabricating custom
pieces, solving every logistical challenge and tackling the ladder, rooftop and power
tool duties.
The Dunviant family also finds time to travel together. They love to sneak in trips along the California coast, as well as their annual ski trip to Idaho to visit Ursula’s parents. Between Porch of Plenty, Ursula’s work in New York, school events and church, there’s never a dull moment. Faith and community are very important parts of the Dunivant household. Tyler was raised Catholic, while Ursula was raised Protestant, yet the family has decided to fully embrace both churches; attending Mass at St. Isidore Parish and also Sunday Services at Community Presbyterian Church. They believe their girls are receiving a well-rounded Christian education and learning that “loving God and loving people is the center of it all.” Spending time with the people that mean the most to them is a constant in their lives. Their Sunday dinners at Grandma’s house are part of their intentional tradition where gathering and sharing memories around the table as a family happens each week. “We also love celebrating the season – whether it’s pumpkins in the fall, decorating for Christmas, delivering treats to neighbors at Easter, or lining our court with American Flags for the Fourth of July; they are simple traditions, but we’ve found it’s the little things families do year after year that children remember the most.”
If you happen to see Ursula this holiday season, she’ll probably be carrying more pumpkins than one person reasonably should— or wearing an unapologetically festive headband. Wave; she’ll wave back. Because somewhere between Manhattan and Danville, between grief and joy, between one unforgettable first date, a family business on Hartz Avenue, two faith traditions shared under one roof, and one late-night text that simply read, ‘We could totally do this,’ the Dunivants discovered that home isn’t something you find. It’s something you build. One welcome. One tradition. One front porch. One neighbor at a time. Ursula and Tyler hope their daughters grow up to be “the kind of people who celebrate loudly, sit quietly when needed, and never let the people they love walk through life alone.” If they’re remembered as a family that ”lived by faith, loved well, showed up for others, and made people feel at home,” they’ll consider that a life well lived.
By Anne Angstenberger, Resident since 2006
Photos provided by the Dunivant family