WALKER, Floyd J. Passed away on Monday, September 6, 1999 in Santa Rosa. Dearly beloved husband of Esther H. Walker of Santa Rosa; beloved father of Patricia E. Yeckel and her husband Jim of Trabuca Canyon; also survived by three grandchildren and three great grandchildren. A native of Chicago, Illinois, age 85 years. A resident of Santa Rosa since 1947, he was actively involved in numerous volunteer activities until the time of his death. A past Noble Grand and longtime member of Santa Rosa Odd Fellows Lodge No. 53, as well as the Encampment, past District Deputy Grand Master and past Grand Guardian of the Grand Lodge of California I.O.O.F., a member of Oakleaf Rebekah Lodge No. 74 of Santa Rosa and a member of the Retired Employees Association of PG&E. A dedicated family man, he was a sports enthusiast and, in his youth, an amateur boxer in Chicago. Friends are invited to attend a Memorial Service on Sunday, September 12, 1999 at 1:00 p.m. at the Santa Rosa Memorial Park Chapel, 1900 Franklin Ave., Santa Rosa with Officers of the Santa Rosa I.O.O.F. Lodge No. 53 and Steve Vossbrink officiating. Private interment, Santa Rosa Memorial Park. If desired, donations in his memory may be made to the Off Fellows Home Building Fund, P.O. Box 2669, Saratoga, CA 95070 or to the charity of your choice. Arrangements under the direction of the DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES.

SEILER, Robert Henry Passed away on September 7, 1999 in Santa Rosa. Husband of Xandra; Father of Debbie Miller and Gary Seiler. Also survived by two grandchildren, Michael and Jacquelyn Miller. A resident of Sonoma County for 14 years and a resident of Oakmont. A native of San Francisco, CA, born July 9, 1924. No services were held per Bob's request. Arrangements under the direction of THE NEPTUNE SOCIETY OF NORTHERN CA IN SANTA ROSA.

CAMP, Corinne L. Passed away August 25, 1999. Beloved wife of Gary Bruton of Petaluma. Also survived by her loving daughter Claire Bruton of Petaluma and her aunt, Elsa Nicols of San Francisco. She was active in community mental health programs. Age 53. A memorial service will be held Saturday, September 18, at 2:00 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church, 40 Fifth St., Petaluma, with a reception following.

BETTENCOURT, Louis W. Died in Santa Rosa, CA, September 7, 1999, husband of the late Bernadette Bettencourt. Loving father of Julie and her husband, Jeff Brundage of Santa Rosa and Louis Bettencourt of Red Bluff. Grandfather of five. Brother of Paul V. Silva of Monte Rio and the late Shirley Carlson. Son of the late Florence and Ores Montanari. A native of Mill Valley, CA. Age 70 years. Friends are invited to attend the Graveside Service, Tuesday September 14, 1999 at 10:00 a.m. at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn, 7951 Bodega Avenue, Sebastopol. Friends are also invited to attend the Vigil Service, Monday evening, September 13, 1999 at 7:00 p.m. at the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY - SEBASTOPOL, 301 South Main Street, Sebastopol. Visitation will start at 10:00 a.m. Memorials are preferred to Medshares Hospice, 2421 Mendocino Avenue, Suite 150, Santa Rosa, CA 95403.

IN MEMORIAM William Edward Whiteside Dad, we remember you every day and you will always be in our hearts. We love you, Leslie, Will, Fred, Nichole & Emma

ALBERIGI, Margaret F. Beloved wife of 66 years to 97 year old James Alberigi, passed away at Kaiser San Rafael, Thursday, September 9, 1999. Loving mother of James and Michael Alberigi and Marie Gibson; cherished grandmother of Richard, Mark, Gerald, Annette, Catherine and Michael and adored great grandmother of Melissa, Rene, Katherine, Elizabeth and Amanda. Mrs. Alberigi was predeceased by daughters Beverly and Lorraine Alberigi. A native of San Francisco, CA and a Marin County resident of 66 years. Age 89. A retired secretary with the West Marin School District in Pt. Reyes and a 60 year member of the Companion of the Forest of America, Pt. Reyes Circle 1018. Visitation will be Sunday, September 12 from 12 noon-5 p.m. at KEATON'S REDWOOD CHAPEL in Novato. A Vigil Service will be recited at 4 p.m., also on Sunday. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday, September 13 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Olema. Burial will follow at the Olema Cemetery. KEATON'S REDWOOD CHAPEL 415-897-1151

REDFORD, Darlene S. Passed away on October 29, 1999 in Santa Rosa. Dearly beloved daughter of Erdeane Redford of Santa Rosa; cherished sister of Denice Ledet and her husband Michael of Jacksonville, North Carolina, Keith Redford and his wife Linda of Santa Rosa. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. She was a former member of the Campion Drill Team and the Moose Lodge Drill Team. Member of the Empire Women's Bowling Association, National Women's Bowling Association and long time member of Holiday Belles Bowling League. A native of Santa Rosa, age 48 years. All her life she had a love for all kinds of cats. Friends are invited to attend a memorial service on Saturday, November 6, 1999 at 11:00 a.m. at DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL HOME. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Diabetes Society, 2777 Cleveland Avenue, Santa Rosa, 95403 or to the Lupus Foundation, 17985 Sky Park Circle, Suite J, Irvine, CA 92714.

GULSON, Judith Anne Passed away on November 2, 1999 at the young age of 61 years. She will be loved and greatly missed by her family and many dear friends. Judy was preceded in death by her parents, Dr. Robert Francis Thayer and Ruth Thayer of Oakland, California. She is survived by her husband of 33 years, Richard Gulson; her two children, Bronwen Elizabeth Carlin and Benjamin David Gulson; her son-in-law, J. Scott Carlin; her dearest sister, Roberta Gay Thayer; her loving nephew Robin Laine and her longtime, dearest friend Harriette Sakuma. She is also survived by her precious dog/children, Madeline, LoLo, William and Rufus and her granddog/children; Violet, Penelope and Blanca. Judy was a devoted mother and wife and friend. She was truly the most incredible person on the face of the earth and is irreplaceable. We will miss her forever. A Memorial Service will be held in her honor on November 6, 1999, at 2:00 p.m. at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church in Kenwood, 9000 Sonoma Highway. All are welcome to attend. Donations may be made in her memory to the Kenwood Firemens Association, Kenwood Fire Explorer Program or The Jack Russell Rescue Society. Arrangements by Lafferty & Smith.

RYAN, Patrick W. Passed away in Santa Rosa on Monday, November 1, 1999. Dearly beloved husband of Mary Ryan; beloved father of Patrick E. Ryan and Noreen M. Ryan; dear brother of Vincent E. Ryan and his wife Marianne and loving uncle of their children Mark P. Ryan, Kristin M. Gibbons and her husband Timothy, Colleen T. Van Dyke and her husband Michael, Andrea S. Ryan and her husband Michael Widmer and Stephanie J. Ryan and Eugene Keane and his wife Helen and their children Brian and Brendan Keane. A native of Detroit, Michigan, age 63 years. He received his BA and MA Degrees in English Literature from Adams State College in Colorado with further studies at University College in Dublin, Ireland. Mr. Ryan was a State Farm agent for 23 years in the San Jose area. Prior to serving in the insurance industry he was a collegiate football coach at Holy Cross, Trinity University and New Mexico State. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he served at Fitzsimmons Hospital in Denver, CO. Friends are invited to attend a Funeral Mass on Thursday, November 4, 1999 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Joseph of Cupertino Catholic Church, 10110 North De Anza Blvd., Cupertino with Interment to follow at Holy Cross Cemetery in Santa Cruz. Evening Vigil Services will be held on Wednesday, November 3, 1999 at 6:00 p.m. at the DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL HOME, 1225 Sonoma Avenue, Santa Rosa.

DRAGOMAN, Maureen Patricia Marvier Passed away in Santa Rosa on November 2, 1999. She is survived by her husband Lynn Dragoman of Santa Rosa; four children, Sherri Tregaskis, Denise Grove, Lynn Dragoman Jr. and Lori Puthuff; four grandchildren, Christi and Ryan Grove, Jenna Tregaskis and Amber Puthuff. Also survived by brothers, Anthony Marvier, Phillip Marvier, Lawrence Marvier and Michael Marvier. A native of San Francisco, CA. Age 60 years. She was a graduate of Mercy High School, San Francisco, Class of 1958. Maureen was a resident of Santa Rosa for the past 40 years. As a homemaker, she truly was a devoted wife and dedicated mother to her four children. She was involved in many school activities at San Miguel and Mark West Schools. Maureen was a Brownie Leader for Konocti Girl Scout Council and an avid gardener. She battled breast cancer for the past ten years with her strong will to survive. She will be missed by all who knew her, especially her family and friends. Friends are invited to attend a Memorial Mass to be celebrated Friday, November 5, 1999 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Eugene's Cathedral, 2323 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa. Private inurnment. If desired, donations in her memory may be made to Memorial Hospice, 558 B Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95401. Arrangements under the care of DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATORY.

MANDELL, Vada D. Passed away in Santa Rosa, November 3, 1999. Loving wife of the late Jerome Mandell. Beloved mother of Kim, Kevin and Kelly Mandell all of Santa Rosa. She is survived by three sisters, one brother and three grandchildren. A native of Nebraska, age 66. Friends are invited to attend a Memorial Service on Saturday, November 6, 1999 at 2:00 p.m. at her residence. A Private Family Entombment Service will be held at Santa Rosa Memorial Park. If desired donations in her memory may be made to Memorial Hospice, 558 B St., Santa Rosa, CA. LAFFERTY & SMITH COLONIAL CHAPEL, directors.

SIMONSON, David L. Died accidentally in Placerville, CA, Sunday, October 31, 1999. Dearly beloved son of Flo Simonson of Petaluma and Dave Simonson of Petaluma. Loving brother of Brenda Simonson of Post Falls, Idaho. Adored grandson of Octavia Backman of Petaluma. Beloved nephew of Paul and Marilyn Simonson of Petaluma, Diane and Ron Cutler of Sebastopol, Peggy Lockhart of Petaluma, Elaine Townsend of Alabama, Stan and Sheila Backman of Martinez. Also survived by numerous cousins. A native of Killeen, Texas. Age 31 years. Friends are invited to attend the funeral service, Sunday, November 7, 1999 at 2:00 p.m. at the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Magnolia Ave. and Keokuk St., Petaluma. Friends may visit at the mortuary on Saturday, November 6, 1999 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Interment will be Tuesday, November 9, 1999 at 10:00 a.m. at Calvary Cemetery, Petaluma. The family prefers memorials be made to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma, CA 94952.

FALL, Barbara Jane Passed away peacefully in the company of her family on November 1, 1999 at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. Born October 17, 1918 in Portland, OR, she graduated from Washington High School with honors from Oregon Institute of Technology and courses in comtometer operation. She did office work in various companies in Portland, OR until 1941. She then marriage Harry Fall in Aurora, IL and moved to Peoria and Morton, IL where she raised their two daughters. She was a loving wife and mother, known for her kindness with everyone. She was a Girl Scout Leader for several years and a volunteer with a women's auxiliary. She lived then in Tokyo, Japan and was a Red Cross Volunteer in a Tokyo US military hospital. Moving to Santa Rosa in 1980 she served as a Sonoma County Park docent in Jack London State Park and a volunteer for Volunteer Wheels. She loved her grandchildren, gardening, exercising and hiking. Survivors are her loving husband Harry; her daughters, Mrs. Jacqueline Reuling of Forestville and Mrs. Pamela Peterson of Oakland; her four grandchildren, Danielle, Joshua, Alan and Whitney. Friends of the family are invited to a Memorial Service on November 20, 1999 at 2:00 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church of the Roses. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Santa Rosa Symphony or to Jack London State Park. LAFFERTY & SMITH COLONIAL CHAPEL, directors.

STERNGOLD, Claudia A. Accidentally in Glen Ellen, October 30, 1999. She was the loving mother of McKenna Elise and Morgan Nicole Sterngold; beloved daughter of Margaret Sterngold Lee and Don Lee of Healdsburg and John Corr of Santa Cruz; dearest sister of Emily Sterngold, Joel King, Jedediah and Zachary Sterngold, Dylan Corr, Pamela and Sherry Lee; dearest granddaughter of Anne Huser. Also survived by her uncle Robert Huser, her beloved fiancee Michael Ledson and a host of loving friends. She was a 1987 graduate of Willits High School. Friends may pay their respects Wednesday and Thursday November 3rd and 4th, 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. at FRED YOUNG & COMPANY, Funeral Directors, 24 Matheson St., Healdsburg. You are also invited to attend the funeral services in the mortuary chapel, 2:00 p.m. Friday, November 5, 1999. Inurnment will be private. Donations in Claudia's memory to a trust fund for her daughters may be made to: Bank of the West, Account #174-25003, 450 Center St., Healdsburg, CA 95448. For further info please call FRED YOUNG & COMPANY, Funeral Directors 433-3329 or 894-2540.

HOBBS, Jeannie P. Passed away in Santa Rosa on October 30, 1999. Loving mother of Drew Ellis Jackson, beloved daughter of Gerald Blancett and Lorene Blancett and cherished darling sister of Lori Blancett. She was 33 years old. Jeannie's heart of gold and precious personality will be deeply missed by her family and friends. There will be a private service on Saturday, November 6, 1999 at 2:00 p.m. at LAFFERTY & SMITH COLONIAL CHAPEL.

LEMOS RUIZ, Lupe V. Died in Santa Rosa, October 31, 1999. Loving wife of the late Antonio Ruiz. Loving mother of Louie Lemos of Santa Rosa, Antonio Lemos of Santa Rosa and Yolanda Lemos of San Diego. Beloved sister of Gaspar Vasquez, Sofia Hernandez and Maria Elena Martinez all of Pacomio, CA. Also survived by 6 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews. A native of Los Alamitos, CA. Age 73 years. A member of Resurrection Parish. Friends are invited to attend a Funeral Mass on Saturday, November 6, 1999 at Resurrection Parish commencing at 10:00 a.m. Vigil Rite Services will be held Friday evening, at 7:00 p.m. at the EGGEN & LANCE MORTUARY. Friends may pay their respects after 12 noon Friday. Interment Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Santa Rosa. Those desiring may make memorial contributions to the Diabetes Society of Sonoma County, 2777 Cleveland Ave., #101, Santa Rosa, CA 95403.

BRYANT, Harold C. Died on November 1, 1999 in Petaluma, CA. Loving husband of Geraldine Bryant of Petaluma. Beloved father of Elizabeth Dallas of Petaluma. Devoted grandfather of Kathy Price and her husband Tony of Petaluma. Cherished great grandfather of Nicole Bauer of Petaluma. Brother of Lois Lemon of KA. Half-brother of Alvin Bryant of FL, Frances Tomlin of NC, Bobbie Crossley and Evelyn Prince both of SC. Mr. Bryant was a veteran of World War II, serving in the United States Navy. The State of California employed Mr. Bryant as a Parole Counselor at the San Quentin State Prison. He was 81 years old and a native of Greenville, SC. Friends are invited to attend a Graveside Service at Cypress Hill Memorial Park, Petaluma, CA on Thursday, November 4, 1999 at 11:00 a.m. The family prefers memorial contributions be made to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma, CA or to a favorite charity. Arrangements under the direction of PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Petaluma, CA.

LYDON, Ruth I. A longtime resident of Windsor, passed away October 28, 1999 in Sebastopol. She was predeceased by her husbands James J. Lydon Sr. and Hector Cano, also by her son Christopher T. Lydon. She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law James and Peggy Lydon of Windsor, Paul and Debbie Lydon of Santa Rosa; her beloved grandchildren Amy, Ashley, and Jordan Lydon; all her dear friends and numerous pets. A retired aide with the Social Services Dept. of Sonoma County. A native of Oakland. Age 71 years. Friends are invited to attend graveside inurnment services Friday, November 5, 1999 at 2:00 p.m. at Shiloh District Cemetery, Windsor. For further info please call FRED YOUNG & CO., HEALDSBURG, 433-3329 or 894-2540.

KIRICHENKO, Mary Passed away in Santa Rosa on October 28, 1999. She was 85 years old, born in Saskatchewan, Canada and moved to Santa Rosa in the late 1930's. She was preceded in death by husband Nicholas Kirichenko, a local contractor, long time companion Fred Francesconi, and son Gary Kirichenko. She is survived by son Dan Kirichenko and daughter Kathie January, daughter-in-law Gay Kirichenko of Santa Rosa, and 3 grandchildren Shari, Kay and Nick and 2 great grandchildren. She has 3 brothers, Al, Bill and Pete Kazakoff and 2 nieces in Oregon. She was a member of the Christian Life Church. She also enjoyed playing bingo twice a week. No formal services will be held. There will be a celebration of her life held at her daughter's home Sunday, November 7, 1999 from 2-6 p.m. For info call 528-7808. NEPTUNE SOCIETY, Funeral Directors.

KENNEDY, Hazel E. Passed away at her home in Ukiah on Saturday, October 30, 1999. It was her 92nd birthday. Survived by granddaughter SuZan Pearce of Flagstaff, AZ; son-in-law Dick Simpson of Ukiah, CA; daughter Joan Simpson of Ukiah, CA; niece Helen June Holmes of Eureka, CA; grandson-in-law Andy Pearce of Flagstaff, AZ; great granddaughter Kyla Pearce of Flagstaff, AZ. Hazel was born in Albion, CA on October 30, 1907. She spent her childhood on the Mendocino coast, moving to Fort Bragg in 1922. She marriage James Kennedy in 1926. She was a past President and a 50 year member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West and with the Republican Women for over 25 years. Services will be held on Saturday, November 6, 1999 at 11:00 a.m. at Evergreen Memorial Gardens, 141 Low Gap Rd, Ukiah, with Pastor David Donnell officiating. Memorial contributions may be made to Native Daughters of the Golden West Scholarship Fund, PO Box 1803, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. Arrangements under the direction of EVERSOLE MORTUARY.

MANZANO, Raymond Frank A third generation Sonoma County resident, passed away peacefully at home after a brief illness, on October 31, 1999. He was surrounded by his family who loved him very much. He was 67 years old. Loving husband of Darlene Manzano. Beloved father of Raymond M. Manzano and Stacy (Manzano) Lambertz. Grandfather of David Lambertz (deceased), Alicia Lambertz and Raymond A. Manzano. Preceded in death by his loving mother Linda Albertoni Manzano and his father Frank Manzano. Beloved brother of Dorothy Peck, and nephew of Elsie Albertoni Gilardi. Uncle to Marc Peck, Michael Peck, Kevin Peck. Also survived by numerous cousins. Ray retired from Langendorf Bread Company, where he was a bread driver for thirty-two years. He was an avid golfer, with three holes in one, to his credit. Ray attended Santa Rosa Junior High as well as Santa Rosa High School. He was very athletic. He ran track and participated in pole vaulting. He won numerous medals in both sports. He also played football for Santa Rosa High (Panther Ramblers). After that he went on to play semi pro football for the Petaluma Leghorns, from 1954-1957. He served in the United States Navy during the Korean War. He was stationed on Guam and had duty on U.S.S. Hazelwood, which covered the Pacific region. Friends and family are invited to attend the memorial service in celebration of his life on Friday, November the 5th, 1999 at 11:00 a.m. at Lafferty & Smith Colonial Chapel, 4321 Sonoma Hwy., Santa Rosa, CA. In his memory donations can be sent to the Leukemia Society or Home Hospice or your favorite charity. 

DIAZ, Cruz O. A 36 year resident of Healdsburg, passed away February 29, 2000 in Santa Rosa. He was the beloved husband of 50 years to Merced Diaz. Loving father and father-in-law of Ricardo and Eva Diaz of Ukiah, Luis and Maria Diaz of Santa Rosa, Manuel Diaz of Healdsburg, Olga and Emmett Doherty of Windsor, David and Kate Diaz of Moraga, Merci and Blair Moreno of Healdsburg, Gloria and Ismael Aldaz of Agua Dulce. Also survived by 17 grandchildren and 4 brothers and sisters. Cruz was a retired sawyer with Boise Cascade/IDACO. A native of El Presidio Tepehuanes, Durango, Mexico. Age 82. Friends are invited to attend the vigil services, Thursday, March 2, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. at FRED YOUNG & CO., 24 Matheson St., Healdsburg and the funeral services Friday, 9:30 a.m. in the mortuary chapel then to St. John's Catholic Church, Healdsburg for a Funeral Mass commencing at 10:00 a.m. and Burial to follow at Shiloh District Cemetery, Windsor. For further info please call FRED YOUNG & CO., 433-3329 or 894-2540.

BOMGARDNER, Janice Born in Pennsylvania, November 24, 1914. Passed away March 1, 2000 in her sleep. Survived by her children, Gladys Bell, Sally Shaw, Betty Mello, Glen Bomgardner, and four grandchildren. Jenny, a resident of Sonoma County for over 30 years, was a homemaker who loved sewing and animals of all kinds. A viewing will be held Saturday, March 4, 2000 , 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. at PLEASANT HILLS MEMORIAL PARK & MORTUARY, Sebastopol.

FELDMAN, Elizabeth Liz Passed away at home in Santa Rosa, surrounded by her family on February 27, 2000 due to a sudden illness. Dearly beloved wife of Dr. Morris Feldman; Beloved mother of Michelle Duddleston, twins Debbie Beglin and Stephanie Thompson, Matt Marocco, Gayle Turner and Gary Feldman; Dear sister of Tom and Nina Andersen of Missouri; Loving daughter of Lillian Young Andersen; Adored grandmother of 19 and great grandmother of 2; Loving aunt of Mac and Mitch Andersen; Beloved mother-in-law of John Duddleston, Tim Beglin, Terry Thompson, Stan Turner and Debbie Marocco. Friends are invited to attend Memorial Services on Friday, March 3, 2000 at 2:00 p.m. at the Santa Rosa Scottish Rite Center, 600 Acacia Lane, Santa Rosa. Private Entombment, Santa Rosa Memorial Park. Donations in her memory are preferred to VNA and Home Hospice of Sonoma County, 1110 North Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95401. Arrangements under the care of DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL HOME.

NEWMAN, Esther died Sunday, February 27, 2000 at her home in Comanche, California. at the age of 95. Miss Newman is survived by her brother Nathaniel Newman of Comptche, and by her sister Miriam Newman of Comptche. Also survived by her two nephews; James N. Newman of Golden, Colorado, and Gary W. Newman of Gig Harbor, Washington, also by her great nephews, Matthew G. Newman of K.C., Montana, and Eric S. Newman of Gig Harbor, Washington, and by one great niece; Amanda P. Newman of K.C., Montana. Miss Newman is a native of Comptche, California born May 18, 1904 to Otto and Amanda Newman. She graduated from the Sweet Business College in 1924. Worked two years for the 1st National Bank in Fort Bragg, CA. After graduating she worked for J.E. French Dodge Dealer in San Francisco from 1924-1970. After many years with J.E. French, Miss Newman worked for two years with the St. Luke Hospital. After retiring from her many years of bookkeeping, Miss Newman returned to Comptche in 1972. She had been living in San Francisco those many years. Miss Newman was an active member of the First Baptist Church in San Franciso. Friends are invited to attend the Funeral Service Friday, March 3, 2000 at 11:00 a.m. at CHAPEL BY THE SEA, 445 E. Fir St., Fort Bragg, CA (707) 964-5675. Private Interment at the Little River Cemetery, Little River, CA. Memorial contributions can be made to Chapel of the Redwoods Baptist Church, 31201 Comptche-Ukiah Road, Comptche, CA 95427.

SCHEER, Alice F. Passed away in San Francisco on Tuesday, February 22, 2000 of heart failure at the age of 87. She is survived by her daughters Elaine Banks of Novato and Pamela Rudloff and husband Ed Rudloff of San Rafael; her grandsons Darren and Kevin Banks of Novato and Christian Rudloff of San Rafael. She is also survived by her sisters Violet Simon of East Hartford, Connecticut and Bertha Chapin of Manchester, Connecticut, her brother Robert Freeman of Keene, New Hampshire and several nieces and nephews throughout New England. A resident of California since 1950, she was born in East Hartford, Connecticut on October 21, 1912. Friends and family are invited to attend a Memorial Service on Saturday, March 4, 2000 at 12:00 noon at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, 905 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. Private inurnment. Donations in her memory may be made to the American Heart Association, Po Box 844, Santa Rosa, CA 95402. DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES, Funeral Directors.

McCARTY, Oma E. A former resident of Windsor passed away February 24, 2000 in Santa Rosa. She was the wife for 62 years of the late Harve McCarty. Mother and mother-in-law of Edward and Dorothy McCarty of Santa Rosa, Kenneth and Stella McCarty of Covelo, Barbara and Finis Johnson of Santa Rosa. Also survived by 13 grand, 13 great grand, 2 great great grandchildren, 3 sisters-in-laws and num erous nieces and nephews. Oma was born on the Tellequah-Cherokee Reservation, OK, March 10, 1913 and passed away at age 86 years. Friends may pay their respects Friday, March 3, 2000, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at FRED YOUNG & CO., Funeral Directors, 24 Matheson St., Healdsburg. You are also invited to attend the funeral services Saturday, March 4, 2000, 10:00 a.m. in the mortuary chapel. Private Burial will be held at Shiloh District Cemetery, Windsor. For further info please call FRED YOUNG & CO., 433-3329 or 894 2540.

ELROD, Charles Johnson Passed away at his home in Sebastopol March 1, 2000 at the age of 81. He was a Sonoma County resident for 63 years. Six children, two stepchildren and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren survive Charles. A Visitation will be held Friday, March 3, 2000, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. at PLEASANT HILLS MEMORIAL PARK & MORTUARY, SEBASTOPOL. Services will be held Saturday, March 4, 2000, 2:00 p.m. also at PLEASANT HILLS MEMORIAL PARK & MORTUARY. Burial to follow at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn.

MOORE, Mary E. Died in Petaluma, CA, Monday, February 28, 2000, loving wife and soul mate of Dave Porter. Adored mother of Alice Paul, William Larry Morris and Brenda Cardoza. Grandmother of five. Daughter of Evelyn Crider. Sister of Choyce Bostian. Also survived by numerous nieces, nephews and other loving relatives. A native of Texas. Age 66 years. A member of the West Sacramento Elks Emblem Club 2529. Friends are invited to attend the Graveside Service, Friday, March 3, 2000 at 2:00 p.m. at Calvary Catholic Cemetery, 304 Magnolia Ave., Petaluma, CA. The family prefers memorials be made to the Diabetes Association of Sonoma County, 2777 Cleveland Ave., #103, Santa Rosa, CA 95403. Services are under the direction of the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Petaluma, CA.

MOORE, Sue 62, died of cancer in Sebastopol, CA on February 26, 2000. Sue was born in Nashville, Tenn. in 1937 and resided in Sebastopol for 48 years. She was marriage to her husband Victor for 43 years. In addition to Victor she is survived by her son Daniel Moore, daughters Lisa Walen, Alayna Hedman and 14 grandchildren. Her surviving brothers are Leland Spalding, George Spalding and twin brother Marshall Spalding. A memorial service will be held Saturday, March 4, at 2:00 p.m. at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses at 744 N. Main, Sebastopol, CA.

WERTZ, Jr., Samuel S. Passed away in Sebastopol, February 28, 2000. Loving husband of Marilyn Wertz and beloved father of Denise, Daniel and Patrick Wertz all of Sebastopol. Dear brother of Clyde Wertz of Sebastopol and Chester Wertz of Santa Rosa. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. A native of Santa Rosa. Age 75. A US Army Air Corp. World War II Veteran. Mr. Wertz was a graduate of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the L.A. County Art Institute. Friends are invited to attend Funeral Services on Saturday, March 4, 2000 at 1:30 p.m. at LAFFERTY & SMITH COLONIAL CHAPEL, 4321 Sonoma Hwy, Santa Rosa. Private Interment Santa Rosa Memorial Park. Friends may call at the COLONIAL CHAPEL from 12 noon until 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 3, 2000 for Visitation. If desired donations in his memory may be made to the Diabetes Society, 2777 Cleveland Ave. #103, Santa Rosa, CA 95403.

SCHINDLER (Christianson), Debby Died at her home in San Francisco on February 28, 2000 following complications of significant medical history. She is survived by her loving mother Lorraine Zugar and her late father Edward Christianson. Cherished children Davina Breazeale, William and Aundrea Schindler. Former husband William Schindler; caring brothers Johnny Zugar and Jeff Christianson and caring sisters Cathy Roldan, Teresa LaVrar, Jewel McClain and Jeanne Christianson, as well as numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews. Visitation for family and friends will be Friday, March 3, 2000 from 12 to 9 p.m. with the family present from 7 to 9 p.m. at VALENCIA STREET SERRA MORTUARY, 1465 Valencia Street, San Francisco. Memorial Services will be held at Hans Fahden Vineyards, 4855 Petrified Forest Road, Calistoga, CA at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 5, 2000. Debby's final resting place will be with her late brother Micheal Christianson at the Neptune Society - Chapel of the Chimes in Santa Rosa. DRISCOLL'S, COMISKY, ANDERSON Valencia Street Serra Mortuary 415-970-8801

BRITTON, Barry J. Passed away at home in Cazadero, CA on May 16, 2000 at age 68. He retired after 30 years from the Operating Engineers Local #3, Santa Rosa. Barry was an Atomic Veteran. He died of Multiple Myaloma brought on by the atomic tests at Bikini Islands after the Korean conflict. Left behind are his wife, Helen; daughter Jeanine; sons Jeffery and Brian. Stepchildren Ernie and Lisa. Barry has 9 grandchildren and 3-1/2 great grandchildren. Also left behind his brother, Ben. A memorial luncheon will be held at Bucks Restaurant in Guerneville on May 30, 2000 at 12:00. Any donation you would like to make can go to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Hospice or to the Veterans. Arrangements under the direction of the NEPTUNE SOCIETY OF SANTA ROSA.

LYON, Gordon E. 64, died peacefully at home in Sonoma, May 12, 2000. He served in the Army; retired from Osco Drug and Anheuser Busch respectively. He leaves behind his beloved children, Matthew John Lyon of Harwood, ND, Elizabeth Joan Lyon of Powell, WY, Stephanie Ann Frankl of Aberdeen, SD. Beloved sister Claudia Lyon-Roche of Petaluma, two nephews, one niece and 3 grandchildren. His parents and brother preceded him in death. Memorial services will be held in Christine, ND. Contributions may be made to your favorite charity.

SCARAMELLA, Lois M. Passed away on may 18, 2000 in Santa Rosa. Loving wife of 53 years of Lawrence Scaramella of Santa Rosa. Beloved mother of Geri and Gary Bolin of Santa Rosa, Larry Scaramella of Sacramento and Joe and Dianne Scaramella of Santa Rosa. Sister-in-law of Edward Scaramella and Elma Rawles. Sister of Leon Vernon of Evant, TX, Wayne Vernon of Oklahoma City, OK and Mildred Reusser of Bartlesville, OK. Grandmother of Scott Bolin, Torre and Nico Scaramella. A native of Jefferson, OK. Lived in Sonoma County nine years. An elementary school teacher in the Arena Elementary School District for 30 years. A member of Bethel Baptist Church and the Retired California Teachers Association. A memorial service will be announced. Private inurnment, Santa Rosa. Those desiring may make memorial contributions to the Bethel Baptist Church, 1577 Guerneville Rd., Santa Rosa, CA 95403. Arrangements under the direction of EGGEN & LANCE MORTUARY.

WEAVER, Jean Sawyer Passed away in Santa Rosa on Monday, May 15, 2000 surrounded by her loving children and adoring grandchildren. She is survived by her former husband, The Venerable John Jacob Weaver. She leaves behind her five daughters; Margaret Daul of San Mateo, Liza Brickey and her husband Michael of Sebastopol, Jean Farmer and her husband Mark of Sebastopol, Linda Maloney and her husband Joseph of Sebastopol and Sarah Jones and her husband Clay of Menlo Park. She was the dear sister of Anne Greene of Dayton, Ohio, John Sawyer and Edward Sawyer, both of Cincinnati, Ohio; adored grandmother of John Daul, Simon Farmer, Luke Farmer, Parker Maloney, Nicholas Maloney, Joey Maloney, Cooper Maloney and Sarah Brickey. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. A native of Ohio, age 76 years. A devoted mother and grandmother, she had a deep faith in God that was reflected by her good works, generous heart and service to the poor. She had an infectious sense of humor and was an avid sports fan. She loved life and did strive to make the world a better place by dedicating herself to politics, education and a commitment to Civil Rights. She fought for truth, justice and peace for all humankind. Nani, as her grandchildren called her, loved long walks on the beach and enjoyed all of God's creation. She will be deeply missed. Friends are invited to attend Funeral Services on Monday, May 22, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. at The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, 550 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. Donations in her memory may be made to St. Dorothy's Rest, PO Box B, Camp Meeker, CA 95419. Arrangements under the direction of the DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL HOME, (707) 525-3730.

TRIULZI, Angela Marie Died on Tuesday, May 16, 2000 at the Chico Creek Conv. Hospital in Chico, CA. She was 81. Mrs. Triulzi was born in Point Arena, CA on July 1, 1918 to Andrew and Julia Rinaldo. She grew up and attended school in the Point Arena Area. In 1961 she marriage her husband Emilio J. Triulzi. They moved to the Corning area then and she enjoyed gardening, cooking. She was a member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church of Corning. She is survived by her husband Emilio J. Triulzi of Corning; a son, Myron J. Leary of Sacramento; one daughter, Marie A. Pease and son-on-law Dave of San Mateo; four sisters, Nita Ponchia of Sebastopol, CA; Eva Fiori of Occidental, CA; Adeline Frazer of Oakland, CA; and Rita Morgan of Petaluma, CA; six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Visitation hours will be held at the Hall Bros. Corning Mortuary Chapel on Sunday evening from 6-8 p.m. with a Vigil Service at 7:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Corning on Monday, May 22nd at 10:00 a.m. followed by Burial at Sunset Hill Cemetery in Corning. The family would appreciate that any memorial contributions be made to the Corning City Volunteer Fire Dept. Arrangements are under the direction of HALL BROS. CORNING MORTUARY.

DONATI, Cora Caroline Passed away in Bandon, OR on May 15, 2000. Born in Fort Bragg, CA on October 19, 1913 to Hattie and Joseph Kucek, she was raised by her pioneer grandmother Sara Golden. Graduating from Fort Bragg High School in 1932 she marriage Ray Donati. They were marriage 47 years until his death in 1980. Cora worked for Paladini Company for many years and was an avid bowler and 4H leader. She was also active in TOPS. Cora was known for her good nature and sense of humor. She was dearly loved by her caregivers at Heritage Place. Cora was the beloved mother of Richard Donati and the late Janet Standley. Beloved mother-in-law of Rosemary and John Standley. Grandmother of Liz Donati, Megan Tillisch, Patricia Smith, Scott Standley, Jon Standley, and Sara Johnson. Great grandmother of six and great great grandmother of two. Also survived by brothers-in-law Bruno and Ado Donati and sisters-in-law Helen, Evelyn, and Mayme Donati. She also leaves many nieces and nephews. Cora is preceded in death by brothers Joe and George Kucek, brothers-in-law Chuck, Paul and Julius Donati, John Miller and sisters-in-law Julia Wood, Bruna Miller, and Livia Frazanello. Services will be held Saturday, May 20, 4:30 p.m., CHAPEL BY THE SEA, Ft. Bragg. Interment Rose Memorial Park. Memorial contributions to Bandon Teen Center, 101 SW 11th, Bandon, OR 97411 or American Cancer Society. Arrangements by AMLING/SCHROEDER FUNERAL SRVC, Bandon, OR and CHAPEL BY THE SEA, Ft. Bragg.

MASON, Wilbur M. Passed away at home in Cloverdale on May 17, 2000. He was the loving husband of Pam Mason, beloved father of Tobias, Jake, Jennifer, Michael, Tiffany and Corrine. Devoted son of Effie Mason and the late Woodrow Mason. Dearest brother of Robert, Judy, Joan and Rebecca. Also survived by four grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Friends are invited to attend the memorial services, Monday, May 22, 2000 at 2:00 p.m. at the Parkside Christian Chapel, 553 West 2nd St., Cloverdale. Memorial donations to VNA/Hospice would be appreciated. For further info please call FRED YOUNG & CO., 433-3329 or 894-2540.

BROCK, Claude Passed away suddenly in Roseville, California on Monday, May 15, 2000. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut on October 17, 1937. Mr. Brock had been a resident of Placer County for the past 13 years. His professional career was in education for 32 years as a teacher, coach and administrator. He was the principal at Center High School in Antelope the last 8 years of his career. Claude enjoyed his family, his home and was an avid traveler. He was a member of Rotary and the Newcastle Lions Clubs. Claude was the loving husband to Carol of Penryn, caring son of his father Claude of Roseville, beloved father to Julie and her husband Glenn Picard of Napa, dear stepfather to Jennifer and her husband Greg Espinoza of Santa Rosa, Zachary Ballard of Spain and Jordan Ballard of Washington, loving brother to Dennis and his wife Sharon Brock of Idaho, loving uncle to Dennis Brock and Sharon and her husband Gino Herring of British Colombia, and dear great uncle to Lucas Herring. He was a doting grandfather to Elizabeth and Gabriella Picard and Jake and Angelina Espinoza. Claude was preceded in death by his mother Arline Brock and his daughter Betsy Brock. Friends are welcome to a visitation on Sunday, May 21, 2000 from 5-8 p.m. at LASSILA FUNERAL CHAPELS, 551 Grass Valley Highway in Auburn. Services will be held on Monday, May 22, 2000 at noon at Lassila Funeral Chapels. Burial will be private. Memorial donations can be made to the Yosemite Institute, PO Box 194, El Portal, CA 95318.

PIOTRKOWSKI, Rachel Passed away in San Francisco, CA, May 17, 2000. Wife of the late Gabriel Piotrkowski. Mother of Joe Piotrkowski and his wife, Fran of Petaluma. Grandmother of Ari Piotrkowski of Petaluma. A native of Zawierce, Poland. Age 81 years. A member of the B'nai Israel Congregation, Hadassah and the B'nai Israel Sisterhood. Friends are invited to attend the Funeral Service, Friday, May 19, 2000 at 2:00 p.m. at the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Magnolia Ave. and Keokuk St., Petaluma. Interment will follow at B'nai Israel Cemetery. The family prefers memorials be made to the B'nai Israel Congregation, 740 Western Avenue, Petaluma, CA 94952 or to the Alzheimer's Association North Bay Chapter, 4340 Redwood Hwy., San Rafael, CA 94903.

OUELLETTE, Juanita Born March 25, 1942 in San Francisco, passed away Tuesday, May 16, 2000. She is survived by her children, Jeanine Moore and Donald Ouellette Jr., her grandhcireln, Meghan, Spencer and Makaila, parents John and Barbara Birkes, her twin sister Lolita Jarvis and remaining sisters Florence Wallace, Augustine Rittlemeyer and her nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held in her honor.

TERRIBILINI, Alberto Died in Petaluma, CA, June 9, 2000. Devoted husband of Virginia Terribilini of Petaluma, CA. Loving father of Albert Terribilini, Jr. and Tina Backalbassis and her husband Alex all of Petaluma, CA. Loving grandfather of Ashley Terribilini of Petaluma. Loving brother of Pierino (Pete) Terribilini and his wife Janice of Petaluma, Gregorio Terribilini, II of Bergeletto, Switzerland, Rose Vierra of Crescent City, CA and the late Algerino Buzzini and Maddelina Buzzini. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. A native of Bergeletto, Switzerland. Age 70. Friends are invited to attend the Cryptside Services, Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. at Calvary Catholic Cemetery, 304 Magnolia Ave., Petaluma,. A Vigil Service will be held Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Magnolia Ave., and Keokuk St., Petaluma. Those who prefer may contribute to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma, CA 94952 in memory of Alberto Terribilini. Friends may call at the Mortuary on Tuesday after 10:00 a.m.

MILLER, Madeline M. Died in Petaluma, CA, June 9, 2000. Devoted wife of the late Lester F. Miller. Loving mother of Nita L. Miller, Marvin L. Miller and his wife Sue, and Helen E. Sonnichsen and her husband Charlie, all of Petaluma, CA. Loving grandmother of Sarah Miller, Frank Sonnichsen, Tom Sonnichsen, Mary Sonnichsen, and Elizabeth Sonnichsen. Loving sister of Le Roy Fuller of Petaluma, CA; Joan Moss of Williams, CA; Richard Fuller of Woodland, CA; Robert Fuller of Sacramento, CA; and the late Lola Landi and Ruth Annis. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. A native of Petaluma, California. Age 68 years. Friends are invited to attend the Funeral Services, Tuesday, June 13, 2000 at 11:00 A.M. at the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street, Petaluma. Those who prefer may contribute to their favorite charity in memory of Madeline M. Miller. Friends may call at the Mortuary on Monday from 10:00 A.M. until 8:00 P.M. and again on Tuesday after 8:00 A.M. Interment, Cypress Hill Memorial Park, Petaluma, CA. 

JADIN, Joseph I. Commander U.S. Navy, Ret. Died in Santa Rosa, June 10, 2000. Loving husband of the late Margaret Jadin and the late Marjorie Jadin. Loving father of Mary Jo Ross of Novato, James and his wife, Rebecca Jadin of Portland, Oregon; and Peg and her husband, Victor Colli of Santa Rosa. Loving grandfather of Jodi Colli, Chip Colli and Tiffany Ross. A native of Michigan. Age 84 years. A highly decorated Navy Aviator, serving in World War II and Korea and retiring as a Full Commander. After his retirement from the Navy, he worked in the Federal Office of Civil Defense in Santa Rosa for over 10 years. A member of the Retired Officers Association and SIRS. Friends are invited to attend a Memorial Catholic Funeral Liturgy on Tuesday, June 13, 2000 at 11:00 a.m. at the EGGEN & LANCE MORTUARY. Private interment, Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Santa Rosa. Those desiring may make memorial contributions to the Heart Association of the Redwood Emipre, P.O. Box 844, Santa Rosa, CA 95402.

McFALL, Joanne R. Passed away in Santa Rosa, June 8, 2000. Loving wife of the late Frank McFall. Beloved sister of Dante (Ann) Sarubbi, Ovidio (Betty) Sarubbi all of Santa Rosa and the late William A. Sarubbi. Dear aunt of Douglas (Diana) Sarubbi of Citrus Heights, Marianne (Dave) Ames of Pismo Beach, Carl Sarubbi of BodFish, CA. Dear great aunt of Megan Sarubbi of Sacramento, Matthew Ames of Pismo Beach and Marianne and Katherine Sarubbi both of Palmdale. A native of San Francisco. Age 83. A parishioner of St. Eugene's Cathedral. Friends are invited to attend a Funeral Mass on Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Eugene's Cathedral, 2323 Montgomery Dr., Santa Rosa with Interment following at Calvary Catholic Cemetery. If desired, donations in her memory may be made to your favorite charity. LAFFERTY & SMITH COLONIAL CHAPEL, directors.

RODRIGUES, Frederick L. Who was born in 1949, died of pancreatic cancer on Monday, June 19, 2000. He spent most of his life as a resident of Petaluma, although he had spent several years in Novato and Tomales. Fred had just celebrated his 25th anniversary with the Golden Gate Bridge District where he had worked as a toll collector and then a vault officer. He loved his work and was a dedicated employee. But his greatest love was his motorcycles. He had started riding at the age of sixteen and did not stop until his illness prevented any further excursions. He was a long time Chapter Leader and member of the Golden Wing Road Riders Association and various other motorcycle related clubs. Fred was in the United States Air Force, stationed in Germany for four years (1968-1972) during the Viet Nam War. As great as his love was for riding motorcycles, Fred was even more passionate about his family. He is survived by his mother, Helena M. Rodrigues of Novato; his son, James Rodrigues, and wife Marie of West Valley City, Utah; daughter, Amy Rodrigues of Cotati; two sisters, Mary Wilkinson, and husband Bob of Novato and Belmira Sweeney, and husband Tom of Sonoma; and his fiance', Joy Lindholm of Eureka. He also leaves behind four grandchildren, Eric, Pyrin, Aaron, and Emily Rodrigues. He is greatly loved and will be sorely missed by all. A Rosary will be said on Wednesday, June 21, at 6:30 p.m. and a Funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, June 22, at 10:30 a.m., both at Our Lady of Loretto Church, Novato. Interment will follow immediately after the Mass at Valley Memorial Park in Novato. Arrangements under the direction of KEATON'S REDWOOD CHAPEL.

ADAMS, Margaret Elizabeth Passed away at her home in Cloverdale on June 15, 2000 at age 104. Born May 16, 1896 in Oakland, she lived in Cloverdale since 1929. Margaret was preceded in death by her husband Joe Adams in 1987 and by her parents John Kohler and Margaret McCosker. She is survived by her two step daughters Edith Monson and her husband Al of Samoa, CA, Jean Markus and her husband George of Blue Lake, CA. Also survived by 6 grand, 14 great grand and 6 great great grandchildren. She has many cousins whom she loved dearly and so many dear friends. We want to thank Margaret's care givers, Bob and Donna Meier and family for their love, care and friendship. Without their help and support Margaret would not have been able to stay at home. Friends are invited to attend the Memorial Service at St. Peter's Catholic Church, Cloverdale on Thursday, June 22, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. For further info please call FRED YOUNG & COMPANY FUNERAL DIRECTORS, 433-3329 or 894-2540.

ORIGER, John N. Died in Petaluma, CA June 18, 2000. Devoted husband of Sandra J. Origer of Santa Rosa, CA. Loving father of Mary Thomas and her husband Jim of Santa Rosa, CA, Tom Origer and Janine Loyd of Rohnert Park, CA and Nick Origer of Santa Rosa, CA. Loving father-in-law of Leila Origer of Rohnert Park, CA. Loving grandfather of Emilee and Keith Saltzer, Jesse Origer, John Origer and Holly, Katrina Origer and David, Suzanne Origer, David Thomas, Jill Thomas, Sara Thomas and Anna Thomas. Loving great grandfather of Anthony Pellinacci, Dillon Saltzer, Jeremy Origer and Michael Brians. Papa to Kyle Novak. Loving brother of Al and Fran Origer of Barker, NY, Cathy and Dave Walters of Mountain Home, AR, Jean and Harry Moore of Kenosha, WI, Marion Croll of St. Petersburg, FL, and the late Betty Pheiffer. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. John was a well-known Sebastopol nurseryman, owning and operating Origer Nursery for over 28 years; he retired in 1990. A native of Evanston, Illinois. Age 80 years. A member of St. Sebastian's Catholic Church of Sebastopol, Y.M.I. of Sebastopol, Disabled American Veterans, V.F.W. and the Sonoma County Horseshoe Club. Friends are invited to meet Thursday, June 22, 2000 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Sebastian's Catholic Church, 7983 Covert Lane, Sebastopol, CA where a Funeral Mass will be celebrated. A Vigil Service will be held Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Church. Friends may call at the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY, 301 So. Main St. Sebastopol on Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and again after 5:30 p.m. at the church. Those who prefer may contribute to Memorial Hospice, 558 B Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 in memory of John N. Origer. Interment: Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Sebastopol, CA.

CASTAGNOLA, Angelo Passed away in Santa Rosa on June 16, 2000. Age 54. A U.S. Army veteran who enjoyed snow skiing, showing his creativity and working in his coffee shop. Angelo loved spending time at the ocean with his family. He is survived by his wife Dale Castagnola, daughter Sara Castagnola, mother Gladys Fisher, brother Mitchell Fisher, and sister Marilyn Anderson. Angelo is also survived by two nephews and numerous friends in the Bay Area. Interment will be at PLEASANT HILLS MEMORIAL PARK & MORTUARY, Sebastopol. Memorials may be made to the Leukemia Society of America, 832 Folsom, San Francisco.

FLOWERS, Ed Passed away in Santa Rosa on June 18, 2000. Age 90. Born and raised in Kentucky he moved to California in 1934. Edwin was superintendent at General Motors in Oakland and Fremont for thirty-four years. He loved hunting, fishing and being outdoors. Edwin is preceded in death by his wife Mary Alice Flowers. Survivors include his son Frederick Flowers of Orinda; daughter Kathryn Trumbo of Castro Valley, CA; son Ed Flowers of Sebastopol; brother Dudley Flowers of Arizona. He is also survived by four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. A Visitation will be held Wednesday, June 21, 2000 from 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. at PLEASANT HILLS MEMORIAL PARK & MORTUARY, Sebastopol. Interment will follow at 1:00 p.m. at Druids Cemetery, Occidental.

VARGO, Norberta F. (Fritzi) Passed away June 15, 2000 in Rohnert Park, CA. A native of California, born December 17, 1915. A Sonoma County resident for 8 years. Past Queen of Islam Temple #25 D of N, member of Empire Nile Club. Mrs. Vargo was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years Andrew R. Vargo, Sr., and her sister Marguerite Gascoigne. Survived by her children Ann Stout, Andrew R. Vargo, Jr., and Rosemary Jane Stromer; grand children, Todd and Theresa Vargo, Ellen Bozzetto and husband Marc, Eric Stout and wife Rebecca, Bradley Stout, Toby Stromer, Casey Stromer and wife Jennifer. Also survived by cousin Jack Stewart, and nephews Richard and Dean Gascoigne. A Memorial Service will be held July 2, 2000, 11:00 a.m. at the Neptune Society of Northern California, 2607 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95407. Donations to your favorite charity. Arrangements under the direction of the NEPTUNE SOCIETY OF NORTHERN CA IN SANTA ROSA.

SCANLON, Viola A. Passed away in Santa Rosa, CA, Saturday, June 17, 2000, wife of the late William E. Scanlon. Loving mother of Norman L. Coelho and his wife, Sue of Sebastopol. Adored grandmother of Greg Coelho and Andrea Coelho both of Santa Rosa. Beloved sister of William Hull of Santa Rosa, Mabel Shepherd of Sebastopol and the late Virginia Moore. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. A native of Sebastopol, CA. Age 78 years. A member of the Berean Baptist Church of Rohnert Park. Friends are invited to attend the Funeral Service, Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 1:00 p.m. at the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY-SEBASTOPOL, 301 So. Main St., Sebastopol. Friends may call at the Mortuary after 9:00 a.m., Wednesday. Private interment, Gilliam Cemetery, Graton, CA. The family prefers that memorials be made to the Berean Baptist Church, 6298 Country Club Dr., Rohnert Park, CA 94928.

HEXTON, Phyllis Joyce Passed away in Santa Rosa June 16, 2000. Beloved wife of Leslie Hexton of Santa Rosa; loving mother of Debra J. Howard and Corrine R. Hexton, both of Santa Rosa and Scott Moore of Napa; devoted grandmother of Sara Barone of Santa Rosa and Caitlin Moore and Rachael Moore, both of Napa. Dear sister of Robert R. Benham of Fair Oaks, CA. A native of Porterville, CA. Age 67. Phyllis was a horse racing enthusiast and a member of the United Church of Religious Science. Friends are invited to attend Funeral Services Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 1:00 p.m. at Ellis-Olson Mortuary, 727 San Pablo Ave., Albany, CA. Committal will be private. Friends may call at the mortuary Tuesday from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Contributions in her memory to Becoming Independent, 1425 Corporation Center Parkway, Santa Rosa, CA 95407 would be appreciated. ELLIS OLSON MORTUARY (510) 525-0246

CRAWFORD, Anna May Passed away June 17, 2000 in Santa Rosa, California at the age of 79. Born on September 13, 1920. Loving daughter of Cora Ellis. Devoted wife of the late Forrest B. Crawford. Loving mother of Sharon Shadrick (Max), Norman Crawford and Forrest L. Buck Crawford. Cherished grandmother of John, Steven and Mark Knowles, Norman Crawford, Jr., Julie Landrum, Daryl, Derek, Forrest H. and Melisa Crawford. Great grandmother to Christopher, Melanie, Steven M. Knowles, Nikki Boyd, Danielle, Michael and Benjamin Crawford, Kyndra, Kristina and Kelli, Louis Galindo and Lacie Landrum. She was mom to many who knew her and had an uncountable amount of remarkable friends. She is loved and missed dearly by all. No services were held at her request, private inurnment. Arrangements under the direction of EGGEN & LANCE MORTUARY.

REED, Edward David Passed away peacefully on October 3, 2000 at his home with his family at his side. Born in Medford, Oregon, he came to California at age 2. Edward spent most of his childhood refining his skills in farming and his gentle way of training animals. For 20 years he managed one of the last drive-through creameries - Glen Oak Farms on Yulupa Ave. He was later employed for 11 years by Santa Rosa Diesel and last worked briefly at the Personal Stamp Co. Edward will always be remembered for his story telling, humor and generosity. For 50 years, he was an avid 49er fan and a season ticket holder for 22 years. He is survived by his wife, Donna, his sister Janet (Phil) Sweet of Willits, a brother, Arthur, of New York, daughters Lynn (Ron) Bastianon of Santa Rosa, Kathy (Alan) Fink of Windsor, and a son Richard (Ellen) of Fremont. He was preceded in death by his oldest son Douglas and 3 sisters. Also remembering him most fondly are his grandchildren - Josh, Jason, Jarod, Heidi, and Travis Reed, Amy, Rob and Jeff Bastianon, Sarah and Shaina Fink, Jason Freitas as well as 40 nieces and nephews. Family and friends are invited to a celebration of his life at his home, 1136 Utah Ct., Santa Rosa on Saturday, October 14 between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. Donations may be made in his memory to Sutter Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice, 1110 North Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95401. Inurnment will be private at Two Rock Valley Church Cemetery. Arrangements under the direction of DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES, FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATORY, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95405.

McCANN, Sr., Elwood G. Passed away peacefully in the presence of both his children on the afternoon of October 7, 2000, in Carmichael, California. Born in Auburn, California, February 20, 1916, Mr. McCann relocated to Santa Rosa in the early 1930s, graduated from Santa Rosa High School and Santa Rosa Jr. College. He was a partner in the McCann-Greene Insurance Agency until his retirement in 1980. Shortly thereafter, he and his late wife, Joyce Densmore McCann, moved to Tucson, Arizona, where Mr. McCann remained until 1999 when his health began to fail. While running his business in Santa Rosa, Mr. McCann was an active member of the Elks Lodge and the Scottish Rite. He is survived by his two children, Elwood G. McCann, Jr., of Carmichael, CA, and Maureen E. Abbott of Redding, CA, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Cremation and Interment will be private. Remembrances may be sent to the American Cancer Society or the charity of the donors choice.

DRAPER-MORGAN, Laura Jean Died October 5, 2000 in Berkeley. Survived by her husband David Morgan of Alameda; stepchildren David and Nicole Morgan. Loving daughter of Linda George of Rohnert Park and Larry Draper of Hart, MI. Sister of Jeffrey Draper of Vancouver, WA, Darren George of Mill Valley and Barbara Jason of Forestville. Daughter-in-law of Donald and Diane Morgan of Gardenerville, NC. Beloved aunt of Josh Roofener, Jennifer Jason, Kyle and Amanda Draper. Sister-in-law of Tim Jason and Wendy Draper. A native of Grand Haven, MI. Born September 6, 1961. An Alameda County resident for seven years. Soft ball, "Wally" ball and camping were her hobbies. She was also a member of the Alameda Eagles Auxiliary Aerie No. 1076 F.O.E. Laura was a product development manager for Determined Productions of San Francisco. Friends and family are invited to attend memorial services, Friday, October 13, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. at the Alameda Eagles Hall at 2305 Alameda Ave., Alameda.

ODDIE, William B. Passed away in Santa Rosa, October 7, 2000. Loving husband of the late Louise Oddie. A native of Utah, age 98 years. Mr. Oddie was a life member of the Telephone Pioneers of America. At his request no formal services will be held. LAFFERTY & SMITH COLONIAL CHAPEL, directors.

NICKELL, Anne Barnett Anne was born in San Francisco on August 29, 1922 and died on October 7, 2000. A long-time Petaluma resident, Anne was the loving mother of Barney Barnett of Cloverdale and Linda Cooper of San Rafael, devoted and cherished grandmother of Alyson Cooper, beloved sister of Mary Carr of Greenbrae, dear aunt of James Carr of Petaluma, Robert Carr of Atherton, and Patricia Carr of Corte Madera, and loving friend of Jordan DellEra of Cotati and Nick Nickell of Vacaville. Anne worked for several years at the Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego and retired from the National Park Service. Prior to that, she worked for many years at both First National Bank of San Rafael and Bank of Marin. After her retirement, Anne moved to Leisure Town in Vacaville. She enjoyed performing with the Leisure Town Entertainers Guild and modeled in the Tribute to Seniors Benefit fashion shows. Anne loved life and was happiest on occasions spent with family and friends. She was proud of her Maltese heritage and had wonderful memories of a visit with family in Malta. Family and friends will cherish memories of Annes zest for life and fun. She will be remembered as a friendly, kind, caring woman devoted to her family and loyal to her many friends. Anne will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her. Friends are invited to share with Annes family in a memorial celebration of Annes life at the Green Mill Inn in Penngrove on Wednesday, October 18, 2000 at 11:00 a.m. Friends who plan to attend are asked to respond to Linda Cooper at 415-492-0349. The family would prefer memorial contributions to Hospice of Marin or Hospice of Petaluma. Arrangements under the direction of PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Petaluma.

GOURSE, Pearl Died in Santa Rosa, October 10, 2000. Loving wife for 60 years to Aaron Gourse, M.D. of Santa Rosa. Loving mother of Roberta Berg, M.D., Santa Rosa and Stephanie Buch of Menlo Park. Beloved mother-in-law of Tom Buch, D.D.S. of Menlo Park. Loving sister of Harry J. and his wife Jean Levin, O.D. of Oakland, CA and Mae J. Brash of Daly City. Loving grandmother of Erik and Caryn Bucholz and Adam and Joshua Berg. A native of San Francisco. Age 90 years. A member of Congregation Beth Ami and was very active in communities of Santa Rosa, Sacramento and San Francisco. She was a lifelong subject in the Terman Study of Gifted Children at Stanford University. She loved life, learning and teaching. Friends are invited to attend a memorial service on Friday, October 13, 2000 at 11:00 a.m. at the Lodge at Paulin Creek, 2375 Range Ave. Graveside services will follow on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the Beth Ami Section of Santa Rosa Memorial Park. Rabbi Jonathan Slater officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hadassah or to Congregation Beth Ami. Arrangements under the direction of EGGEN & LANCE MORTUARY.

GOING, Rod James Passed away on Monday, October 9, 2000 in Santa Rosa, at the age of 54. Beloved husband of Gloria Going of Santa Rosa; loving son of Betty Going of West Point, NE; dear brother of Dale Going and his family of Santa Rosa; dear son-in-law of June Santeramo and her family of Greeley, CO and San Jose, CA. He will be missed by many loved ones. Rod enjoyed golfing, boating, fishing and hunting. He was the Executive Vice-President of the AUL Corporation for 19 years. A native of West Point, NE and a resident of Sonoma County for 9 years. Friends are invited to attend Funeral Services on Thursday, October 12, 2000 at 3:00 p.m. at THE DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES, 1225 Sonoma Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA. Private inurnment. Contributions in his memory may be made to The Humane Society of Sonoma County, P.O.Box 1296, Santa Rosa, CA 95402 or The Canine Companions for Independence, P.O. Box 446, Santa Rosa, CA 95402-0446. Visitation will be on Wednesday October 11, 2000 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at THE DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES.

RUSHING, Madie Mae Passed away October 9, 2000 in Santa Rosa. She was the wife of the late Hiram J. Rushing; mother of Joy Gonzales of Windsor, Helen Jones of Tehama, Brooks Rushing of Turlock, the late Karen Hartman and the late Jerry Rushing. Also survived by 10 grand, 13 great grand and 11 great great grandchildren. Mrs. Rushing was born May 20, 1908 in Fort Sumner, NM, where she was raised as well as on a claim along the Pecos River. She told stories about riding the milk cow home as a child; because she was afraid of the Lobo wolves in the desert. Small tumbleweeds were eaten as a source of salads. She was on the championship basketball team in her senior year of high school. Mrs. Rushings maternal grandparents walked the Trail of Tears where her grandfather died. In the mid 50s, Madie received her LVN degree from Modesto Junior College. She worked in several Modesto area hospitals for many years. Her delicious yeast bread buns still linger in the minds of her children. Friends are invited to attend the Committal Services Friday, October 13, 2000, 2:00 p.m at Santa Rosa Memorial Park- Shiloh Addition, Windsor. For further info please call FRED YOUNG & COMPANY, Funeral Directors, 433-3329 or 894-2540.

IN MEMORIAM SUZETTE CHAMPAGNE-LEONARD 11/25/61-10/12/99 A year ago today our hearts were torn apart losing you. We go on for you til we are together. Forever, Samantha, Cory, Dad, Mom, Sharol, Auntie & Uncle Bob, Amanda, Mikey, Stevie & Gracie.

BEAUCHAMP, Evelyn Passed away in Santa Rosa, Tuesday, December 5, 2000. Beloved wife of the late Harold Beauchamp. Loving mother of Ken Beauchamp and his wife Judy of Stockton, Robert Beauchamp and his wife Karen of Fremont, Joe Beauchamp of Rohnert Park, Bonnie Phan and her husband Ly of Holbrook, NY. Devoted grandmother of Karen Jensen and Geoffrey Beauchamp of Stockton, Layla Shaar of Manhattan and Mailynh Phan of Holbrook, NY. Cool great grandmother of Nicholas Jensen of Stockton. Born in Salina, Kansas, April 16, 1912. Raised in Nebraska. A strong and independent woman, when she was in her early 20s, Evelyn boarded a train and moved to California. She has lived in Rohnert Park for the past 15 years. She gave generously of her time and energy as an active member of the Rohnert Park Garden Club and the Rohnert Park Senior Center, as a volunteer reading tutor in local schools and a pen pal for the children at Richard Crane School in Rohnert Park. She was a intrepid world traveler. She will be greatly missed by her family and many friends. The family prefers memorial contributions to the Rohnert Park Senior Center. Memorial service arrangements pending. Private Interment in Mariposa. Arrangements thru the NEPTUNE SOCIETY OF NORTHERN CA, 2607 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95407.

FRIEDRICH, Eugene V. Services will be held on Saturday for Eugene V. Friedrich of Santa Rosa, who died at home of heart failure on December 4, 2000. Born on October 2, 1917 in Waynesboro, Virginia, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Washington University in St. Louis. He subsequently earned an MA in Political Science from the University of Colorado. Gene began his successful business career in 1947 when he joined the Spencer Chemical Co. in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1982 he retired from the Agrico Co., Tulsa, Oklahoma, as Senior Vice President for Development. Throughout his life, Gene expressed his values in action through his commitment to public service. While in Kansas City, he served as the chairman of the Council of Social Agencies and as board member for the Boy Scouts of America and for the Lutheran Hospital. More recently, he was active in SCORE, on the board of the Goodwill Industries and in numerous capacities at St. Patricks Episcopal Church in Kenwood. Gene is survived by his wife Marjorie, his brother Julius and wife Lorraine of Denver; his three children, Rick and wife Kenny of Eugene, Oregon, Frances of Salt Lake City, Jane and husband Jon of St. Louis; and his four grandchildren, Philip, Jason, Emily and Andrew. A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, December 9 at St. Patricks Episcopal Church, 9000 Hwy 12, Kenwood. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Patricks Church or to Goodwill Industries of the Redwood Empire. Arrangements under the direction of the DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATORY, 1225 Sonoma Ave. 

ROGERS, Clarence R. Died peacefully at his home in Olema, December 4, 2000. He died in the company of his gentle caregiver, Margaret Hamilton. His late wife Rosilda preceded in death by nine years. Clarence is survived by the family he loved and took pride in: his daughter Phyllis Huffman; his son, Fred (Ginny) Rogers; his grandchildren: Roger Huffman (Donna), Tracy (Tom) Sawyer, Bekky Rogers and Mandy Rogers; his great-grandchildren, Tommy and Ted Sawyer; his loving sisters, Loretta Bettinelli and Eleanor Cheda. He was the brother of the late George, James, Raymond, Charles, Tom Rogers, Mary Gallagher, Elizabeth Dolcini, Barbara Rogers and Veronica Ludy. Clarence, better known as Jiggs, was born in San Rafael, the last of 12 children of James and Elizabeth Redding Rogers. He was so small when he was born, that he was taken home in a shoebox. He grew up on the family ranch in Nicasio before moving to the family home in Petaluma. He graduated from St. Vincents High School in 1928 and soon after joined his brothers on their dairy ranch in Nicasio. He met his sweetheart and wife Rosie at a dance in Nicasio. They marriage in 1932. They made their home in Nicasio until moving to Olema in 1960. Jiggs was a dairy rancher for many years and in later years turned his ranching skills to raising beef cattle with his son Fred. He was a 48 year member of the Elks Lodge #901, a 50 year plus member of the Nicasio Native Sons, a member of the Nicasio Druids, a member of the Marin County Farm Bureau, a regular member at West Marin Seniors Thursday lunch and a faithful member of Sacred Heart Parish. Clarence enjoyed and lived fully his almost 91 years. To those he leaves behind, we will miss him dearly. His family and friends are grateful for his long life. Friends are invited to attend a Funeral Mass, Friday, December 8, 2000 at 10:30 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Hwy 1, Olema. An evening vigil service will be held on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the church. Friends may call for visitation from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. at the ADOBE CREEK FUNERAL HOME, 331 Lakeville St., Petaluma, and then after 6:00 p.m. at the church. Memorial contributions may be made to West Marin Senior Services, 11431 State Route 1, Pt. Reyes Sta., CA 94956 or Sacred Heart Parish, 10189 State Route 1, Olema, CA 94950. Interment, Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Petaluma. CHEDA & LYONS 707-789-9000

EDWARDES, David James Passed away at his residence in Windsor Sunday, December 3, 2000. Beloved husband of Betty Edwardes of Windsor. Loving father of Chris Edwardes of Windsor, David Edwardes, Jr. of Santa Rosa, Tom Edwardes of Montauk, NY and Barbara Spaulding of Geyserville. Grandfather of Melanie, Justin, Dana, Nate, Beau, Kelsey, Kyle, Jarad and Marnie. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. A native of New York, NY and a 30 year resident of Sonoma County. Age 84 years. Friends are invited to attend a memorial mass Thursday, (today) December 7, 2000 at 11:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 8400 Old Redwood Hwy, Windsor. Private inurnment. The family prefers memorial contributions be made to Sutter VNA & Home Hospice, 1110 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95401. Funeral arrangements under the direction of ADOBE CREEK FUNERAL HOME, 331 Lakeville St., Petaluma, CA. CHEDA & LYONS 707-789-9000

BESEDA, Laurie J. Passed away in Santa Rosa, December 5, 2000. Loving wife of Ruben O. Beseda. Beloved mother of Scott Beseda and his wife Wendy, Todd Beseda and his wife Mary all of Santa Rosa and Julie Burtovoy and her husband Dan of Sacramento. Dear grandmother of Brittany, Ashley and Kirsten Beseda of Santa Rosa, Jenna Trevor and Jacob Burtovoy of Sacramento. Dear sister of John Nicholson of Ukiah. Also survived by five nephews and two nieces. She was the daughter of the late Fred and Laura Nicholson. A native of MI. Age 73. Mrs. Beseda was a member of St. Patricks Episcopal Church in Kenwood and was a member of the Beta Sigma Phi Sorority. Friends are invited to attend funeral services on Friday, December 8, 2000 at 2:00 p.m. at LAFFERTY & SMITH COLONIAL CHAPEL, 4321 Sonoma Hwy., Santa Rosa with Rev. Hugh Stevenson officiating. Visitation will be held at the COLONIAL CHAPEL after 10:00 a.m. on Friday, December 8. If desired, donations in her memory may be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, 150 Grand Ave., Oakland, CA 94612.

PONZO, Mary Frances Passed away at home in Healdsburg on December 5, 2000. She was the beloved wife of the late Robert R. Ponzo Sr. Loving mother and mother-in-law of Kathleen Pozon-Rafanelli of Windsor, Robert and Jenny Ponzo of Windsor, Patricia Ann Ponzo and Barth Campbell of Healdsburg. Dear sister and sister-in-law of John and Inez Kennedy, Robert and Irma Kennedy, Jane Ferina, Howard Respini, Gerald Goodyear, Anita Ponzo. Preceded in death by Denis and Sheila Kennedy, Julia Respini, John Ferina, Tissie Goodyear and James Ponzo. Devoted grandmother of Stephen, Jonathan, David, Michaela, Carly, Rodney and two great grandchildren. Mary was born January 24, 1926 in Santa Rosa where she was raised. She attended Todd School and Santa Rosa High School. Vigil services Friday, December 8, 2000, 6:00 p.m. at FRED YOUNG & CO., 24 Matheson St., Healdsburg. You are also invited to attend services Sat urday morning, 8:00 a.m. in the mortuary chapel with Funeral Mass to be celebrated at 8:30 at St. Johns Catholic Church, Healdsburg and entombment to follow at Oak Mound Cemetery. For further info please call FRED YOUNG & CO., 433-3329 or 894-2540.

DAMMARELL, Jeanne C. Friends are invited to attend a memorial service this Saturday, December 9, 2000 at 2:00 p.m. at the Luther Burbank Art and Garden Center, 2050 Yulupa Ave., Santa Rosa. Words can neither describe the depth of her unconditional love for her family nor her keen mind. Her incredible strength and courage in the face of lifes challenges are ever-lasting testament to her character and integrity. Although we are no longer graced with your mortal presence, you are always in our hearts and spirits. We take comfort knowing we shall once again feel your gentle touch, warm embrace and loving lips when we are reunited in the realm of the spirit. A 30 year resident of Santa Rosa, she was an avid reader of mystery novels. She loved animals and enjoyed her lovely rose garden and was a long time member of the Redwood Garden Club. Born September 27, 1923 in Meadow Township, North Dakota to Ingvald Pederson and Ella Pederson, nee Jurgensen, she passed away December 4, 2000 in Santa Rosa. She is survived by her mother Ella of Reseda, CA , her loving husband of 56 years Roger Q. Dammarell of Santa Rosa, two children, Sheri of Santa Rosa, Roger L. of Corvallis, OR and three grandchildren, Mark of Windsor, Sara of Healdsburg, Rebecca of Boulder, CO and her sister, Ione Walton of Reseda. She was preceded in death by her eldest daughter Kathy Lee and her brother, O.A. "Bud" Pederson. Donations to the Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation, Kathy Lee Dammarell Scholarship Fund, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95401 are preferred.

MOORE, Kathleen A. Passed away on November 30, 2000 in Santa Rosa. Beloved daughter of Ben and Shirley Moore of Petaluma and Dorothy Moore of Rohnert Park. Sister of Michael and Cynthia Moore of Sonoma. Niece of Edward Moore of Ft. Bragg. Also survived by her loving caregiver Genevieve and Richard James of Santa Rosa. A native of San Rafael, lived in Sonoma Co. 16 years. A graduate of Tamalpais H.S., Class of 1982. Age 37. Friends and family are invited to attend a celebration of Kathleens life on Sunday, December 10, 2000 from 1:00-6:00 p.m at 1916 Caulfield Ln., Petaluma. Those desiring may make donations to the American Cancer Society, 1451 Guerneville Rd., Santa Rosa, CA 95403 or Special Olympics of Sonoma Co., PO Box 1742, Santa Rosa, CA 95402. Arrangements under the direction of EGGEN & LANCE MORTUARY.

SHOTWELL, Gayle Passed away in Santa Rosa on December 5, 2000. Dearly beloved wife of Jim Shotwell since 1953. Beloved mother of Debbie, Joyce, Sandy and Teri. Adored grandmother of 7. Loving sister of Carol Hankermeyer. A native of San Rafael, CA. Age 65 years. Gayle was an avid tournament bridge player. Friends are invited to attend Memorial Services on Tuesday, December 12, 2000 at 1:00 p.m. at the Sebastopol Christian Church, 7433 Bodega Avenue, Sebastopol. Private Entombment, Santa Rosa Memorial Park. Donations in her memory are preferred to the American Cancer Society for Ovarian Cancer Research. Friends may attend a visitation at the DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa on Monday, December 11, 2000 from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Arrangements under the care of DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES.

DOHERTY, Kevin F. Died of pancreatic cancer in his home in Santa Rosa, December 5, 2000 at age 48. Kevin spent his last days with his wife, Damian; daughters Micaela and Brianna; father Bryan; his brothers and sister, Bryan, Jr., Connie, Tim and Chris and their spouses and children; and a remarkable group of friends and caregivers. Kevin shared with his family, friends and co-workers many moments of laughter with his dry sense of humor, a passionate love of cooking, the gift of music that inspired his children and nieces and nephews, and a consummate love of nature and the outdoors. Kevins professionalism and care as a pharmacist in Santa Rosa health care facilities touched many lives and surrounded him with a support group that awed his family and friends in his time of need. Kevin further shared his knowledge and caring spirit with the many nursing students of Santa Rosa Junior College to whom he taught compassion and an awareness of their responsibilities. We will miss him and will always be thankful to him for "Raisin Up the Ante". Friends are invited to attend a memorial service and reception that will be held on Saturday, December 9, 2000 at 2:00 p.m. at Resurrection Parish, 303 Stony Point Rd., Santa Rosa. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Kevin Doherty Scholarship Fund at Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95401, (707) 527-4872. Arrangements under the direction of the DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATORY, 1225 Sonoma Ave.

WADE, Jeannette (Scottie) Passed away on November 29, 2000 in Reno, NV at the age of 72, at St. Marys Hospital, following a short illness. Mrs. Wade was born in Oklahoma. She is the wife of Ralph Wade, the mother of Zelma Victorino, Ralph E. Wade, Valerie Johnson, John Michael Wade and Carla Wade. The loving grandmother of Joe, John and Tania Victorino and Andrew, Alice and Mc Daniel Wade and Zack and Cassie Johnson. She also was a great-grandmother to Marina Gonsalves. She is also survived by two brothers John Mc Daniel of Washington State and Bill Mc Daniel of Phoenix, AZ. In the early seventies, Mrs. Wade was a district leader of a mentally challenged group of Girl Scouts and received many awards for her fund raising efforts for this group. She was an avid reader and loved to travel. She worked for many years in the restaurant business. In her most recent years she ran a gift shop at Lake Tahoe. A Memorial Service will be at 1:00 p.m. on December 9, 2000 at Valley Memorial Park in Novato, CA.

MARRA, Chester Frederick Born in Sebastopol on September 5, 1930. Died of heart failure on April 10, 2001 at his home in Santa Rosa. A native of Occidental, CA. Chester was the son of John B. Marra and Lena Marra, both natives of Occidental. He graduated from Tomales High School in 1948 and entered the U.S. Marines. He was a Korean War Veteran and retired in 1959. Chester worked for the F.A.A. in Maryland from 1959-1986 as an Air Traffic Controller. He marriage Rosemary Cheseldine in 1962 in Maryland. In addition to his wife Rosemary, he is survived by four children; John Marra, Michael Marra, Robin Stark and Susan Guinn; two grandchildren; Brandon Stark and Kyle Guinn, all of Maryland. Two brothers; Alvin Marra and his wife Linda of Occidental and Edmund Marra of Reno, Nevada. He was predeceased by another brother, Loren Marra. He is also survived by three nieces. Chester was a member of the Moose Lodge, NRA and AARP. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Occidental Fire Department. Graveside services will be held at Druids Cemetery in Occidental, CA, on Thursday, April 19, 2001 at 2:00 p.m. Arrangements under the direction of PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY-SEBASTOPOL.

WONACOTT, Marie Taylor Passed away on April 4, 2001 in Petaluma, CA. She will be missed by her family: her children, Vicki Wonacott of Chico, Peter Wonacott of Santa Rosa, and Lisa Kerivan and her husband Willie of Sebastopol; granddaughter, Megan Baker of Chico. She is survived by her brother Ben Taylor of Ceres, CA and Birdie Haskell of San Diego, CA. Marie worked for many years in the Financial Aid Department at Sonoma State University, where she enjoyed assisting the students. She loved quilting, gardening, playing bridge, and entertaining her friends. Marie was a lifetime member of the Petaluma Womens Club and will be greatly missed by all who knew her. As per Maries wishes, friends are invited to a "Coffee Get-Together" on May 12, 2001 at 11:00 a.m. at Carrows Restaurant, McDowell Blvd. and Washington St., Petaluma, CA. If desired, donations in Maries memory may be made to the American Cancer Society, 400 N. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma, CA 94954. Under the direction of PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Magnolia Ave. and Keokuk St., Petaluma, CA.

MORTON, Rosemary M. Passed away in Santa Rosa on Friday, April 13, 2001. Dearly beloved wife of the late Merrill L. Morton; beloved mother of Dan Morton and his wife Jane of Petaluma, and Betsy Swanson and her husband, Ron of Oceanside, CA; adored grandmother of Rochelle Lynch and her husband Patrick of Beaverton, OR, Nichole Craig and her husband Mitchell of Bothell, WA, Jennifer Morton of American Canyon and Danielle Morton of Petaluma; loving great grandmother of Michayla and Bradley Craig of Bothell, WA and Brandon and McKenna Lynch of Beaverton, OR. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews. A native of Tiffin, Ohio, age 84. Friends are invited to attend a Memorial Service on Tuesday, April 17, 2001 at 2:00 p.m. at the DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL HOME. Private inurnment. If desired, donations in her memory may be made to Sutter/VNA Home Hospice, 1110 No. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95401.

McCRAY, Sr., Lester D. Passed away in Santa Rosa, April 12, 2001. Dearly beloved husband of the late Gladys McCray. Loving father of Les McCray Jr. and his wife Joanne of Idaho Falls, ID, Susan Stevenson of Danville, Janet Vogel and her husband Roy of Carmichael and Jim McCray of Santa Rosa. Adored grandfather of Joe Stevenson of Las Vegas, NV, Eric McCray of Lynwood, WA and Tammy Stevenson of Palo Alto; great grandfather of Taylor Stevenson and David McCray. Dear brother-in-law of Horace Edrington. He is survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Mr. McCray will be sadly missed by his dear friend Esther Butler. A native of Guerneville, CA; age 84 years. A member of Forestville Odd Fellows Lodge #320, Healdsburg SIRS and the Operating Engineers Local #3. Friends are invited to attend funeral services on Tuesday April 17, 2001 at 11:00 a.m. at DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES, with officers of Forestville Odd Fellows Lodge #320 officiating. Private family Interment Santa Rosa Memorial Park. If desired, donations in memory of Mr. McCray may be made to the Forestville Odd Fellows Lodge #320, PO Box 221, Forestville, CA 95436. Visitation will be on Monday April 16, 2001 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at DANIELS CHAPEL OF THE ROSES FUNERAL HOME.

EGGERS, Heinz 72, of Petaluma, died on Saturday April 7, 2001. Born in Valparaiso, Chile he immigrated to the U.S. in 1957. Most important in his life were his family and aviation. He was a cadet in the Chilean Air Force Academy. In the U.S. he spent many years in the Civil Air Patrol and more recently he had devoted time and energy to the Travis Air Museum at TAFB. He is survived by his partner of 25 years, Gwen Long, and his five children: Michele Eggers, Denise Giambastiani, Randy Eggers and his wife Cheryl, Carol Hampton and her husband Bud, Maria Finney and her husband Mark. He is also survived by his stepsons: David Long, Michael Long and Bruce Long and his wife Michele. In additions, he is survived by his grandchildren Melissa, Blair, Kyle, Ashley, Bruce, Sarah, Nathan, Alexandra, Shaun and Casey, as well as other relative and friends. A memorial gathering was held in Petaluma, CA on Wednesday April 11, 2001. Arrangements under the direction of PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street, Petaluma, CA.

CHOLE, Eileen (Bastoni) Passed away in Santa Rosa, April 9, 2001. Loving wife of the late Virgil Chole. Beloved mother of Richard, Mark, Karen and her husband Jeff, and Michael and his wife Andrea, all of Santa Rosa. Adored daughter of Marie Bastoni and the late Nick Bastoni. Dear sister of Shirley Widdoes and Nick Bastoni, Jr. Dear grandmother of Daniel Chole and Shelby Holzworth. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. A native of Santa Rosa. Age 67. Mrs. Chole was a Catholic parishioner. She was a graduate of Santa Rosa High School and attended Burbank Business College. Mrs. Chole was a volunteer for the Ursuline High School Bingo for over 30 years. Friends are invited to attend a Rosary on Monday, April 16, 2001 at 7:00 p.m. at LAFFERTY & SMITH COLONIAL CHAPEL, 4321 Sonoma Hwy, Santa Rosa. Friends are also invited to meet at the COLONIAL CHAPEL at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17, 2001, thence to St. Rose Catholic Church, where a Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. for Mrs. Chole. Private entombment, Santa Rosa Memorial Park. Visitation will be held at the COLONIAL CHAPEL after 12:00 noon on Monday, April 16, 2001. If desired, donations in her memory may be made to the American Cancer Society or to the charity of your choice.

ALDRIDGE, Marda Adele Age 82, a lifelong resident of Sonoma County, passed away on April 13, 2001 at her home in Forestville. Marda was the daughter of William J. and Jennie M. Anderson. She attended Analy High School and marriage the late Robert B. Aldridge in 1940. Marda and her husband were the owners of Aldridge Variety in Forestville. Marda was involved with the Forestville Volunteer Fire Department, serving as a dispatcher. She was among the original 17 that established the Forestville Youth Park. She was also a member of the Forestville Rebecca Lodge. Marda was the loving mother of Janet Sitton of Forestville, Barry Aldridge of Forestville and David Aldridge of Sebastopol. Grandmother of Diane, Patt, Robyn, Mark, Scott, Alicia and Jeff; great grandmother of Justin and Nicky. She is also survived by her son-in-law Gary and daughter-in-law Gerrie. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday April 17, 2001 at 11:00 a.m. at PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY, 301 South Main Street, Sebastopol, CA. Memorial contributions may be made to the Todd Sitton Memorial Scholarship c/o El Molino High School, 7050 Covey Road, Forestville, CA 95436.

MULLIS, Willmah L. Passed away March 27, 2001. Wife of the late Raymond Mullis. Survived by her children Cathryn Dabner and Don Mullis. Grandmother of Matthew Mullis, Sterling Dabner, Kelly Jaffe, Karen Fleming; great grandmother of ten; numerous nieces and nephews. Friends are invited to attend memorial service on Friday, April 20, 2001 at 11:30 a.m. at Petaluma Valley Baptist Church, 580 Sonoma Mt. Pkwy., Petaluma. A sincere thank you for all the kind words and cards which have been warmly received.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF AUGIE MAUGG
April 16, 1962 to April 14, 1999
Augies spirit continues to shine within our community. The Augie Maugg Memorial Fund is Augies spirit at work in our community. Donations may be made in Augies memory to P.O box 2182, Windsor CA 95492. All proceeds benefit Kid Street Learning Center & U.C.S.F. Brain Tumor Research Center.

June 29, 2004

Thomas Miller, former mayor of Sebastopol
Former Sebastopol city councilman and mayor Thomas F. Miller of Graton left a legacy of civic and community involvement when he died Saturday at 72 of cancer.

June 28, 2004

There will be a memorial toast Wednesday to Daniel Farley of Santa Rosa, a man who thoroughly enjoyed being part of the community and gave freely of his time to such organizations as California Junior Miss, the 101 Club and Guanella Brothers Softball.

June 27, 2004

Vincent Barron, a longtime PG&E employee and Sonoma County resident, succumbed to cancer Thursday at his parents' home in South San Francisco. He was 50.

June 26, 2004

Richard G. Larsen was a practical joker. While working as a foreman at Boise Cascade, he once made up a story about owning a kangaroo that he wanted to sell.

June 25, 2004

Sports, work, neighborliness and family activities made life rich for Louis Guiliano, a 59-year resident of Sonoma County who died Saturday in Santa Rosa of bladder cancer.

June 24, 2004

Seafaring sagas such as "Master and Commander" filled Richard Lenox's head with dreams of faraway places and long-ago times.

June 23, 2004

Frank Bertoni, a lifelong Sonoma County resident who was one of the last three survivors of his Healdsburg High School senior class, died Sunday at his Sebastopol home of congestive heart failure. He was 84. 

June 22, 2004

Henry Cassidy
Henry Cassidy loved the outdoors. He found ways of working outdoors -- as a ranch hand and as a park ranger -- and also spent much of his leisure time soaking up the sun or admiring the stars.
Bone cancer claimed his life Friday at the Rohnert Park home of his niece, Vicki France, who was his caregiver. He was 82.
"My uncle loved camping," said France. "We spent a lot of time camping in Cazadero years ago."
An avid fisherman, "he'd cast his line in the ocean, and in rivers and streams," his niece said.
Born in Wichita, Kan., on Nov. 26, 1921, he was a child when his family moved to Sonoma County. Family members and friends knew him as "Hank."
Cassidy worked for various dairies and ranches in the area, including the Watson Dairy Ranch and St. Anthony Farm.
"He was a ranch hand," said his niece, "working a lot with horses and doing maintenance."
In retirement, he became a park ranger, living at and caring for Penngrove Social Fireman Park for 23 years.
"He had a very good sense of humor," said his niece. "He was a very kind man. He was the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back or help you any way he could."
In addition to his niece, Cassidy is survived by his brothers, Raymond Cassidy of Santa Rosa and Gene Cassidy of Kansas.
There will be a celebration of his life at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Penngrove Social Fireman Park. Arrangements are by Parent-Sorensen Mortuary in Petaluma.
The family suggests memorial donations to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952.

Doris Dowling, 81
Doris Dowling, the brunette actress who made her screen debut as the hooker in Billy Wilder's classic 1945 drama "The Lost Weekend," has died in Los Angeles at 81, her husband said Monday.
Dowling, who had been in deteriorating health since a heart attack five years ago, died Friday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, her husband, Leonard Kaufman, told the Associated Press.
The Detroit-born actress started her career on the stage before going to Hollywood with her sister, the late actress Constance Dowling.
Doris Dowling made a splash in "The Lost Weekend," starring Ray Milland as an alcoholic who attracts the attention of the prostitute Gloria. The movie won Academy Awards for best picture, lead actor, director and screenplay.
In her next movie, the Raymond Chandler-scripted "The Blue Dahlia," she played the murder victim.
When her Hollywood career began to wane, she and her sister moved to Rome.
Director Giuseppe de Santis was impressed by the younger Dowling's dark hair, soulful eyes, alabaster complexion and deep voice, which colleagues saw as "the face of Italy." If she brushed up on her Italian, de Santis told her, she could become the star of his new film "Bitter Rice," playing a jewelry thief hiding among Northern Italy's women rice workers.
The highly lauded, low-budget picture, along with "Open City" and a handful of others that showed the realities of Italian life after World War II, helped rebuild the country's film industry and secure its place internationally.
Dowling made five other films in Italy and France, including one in English, Orson Welles' "Othello."
In her later years, she did guest appearances on more than 100 television shows, from the live "Playhouse 90" to such series as "Bonanza," "Barnaby Jones" and "The Dukes of Hazzard." She served on the board of directors of Los Angeles' Theater East.
Dowling marriage three times. In 1960, she marriage producer Leonard B. Kaufman.
Dowling is also survived by one son, Jonathan Shaw.
No memorial services were planned, Kaufman said.

Spencer Klaw, 84
Spencer Klaw, a journalist and author who helped expand the scope of The Columbia Journalism Review in the 1980s, died June 3 at his home in West Cornwall, Conn., his family said. He was 84.
Klaw, who had taught magazine writing at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism since 1970, became editor of the review in 1980 and guided it beyond routine press criticism to include reports on topics like repetitive stress injury and labor relations in news organizations.
At the same time, the review, which had been published under Columbia's auspices since 1962, negotiated a letter of agreement that acknowledged for the first time that the magazine retained "full editorial control."
Klaw was born in New York and graduated in 1941 from Harvard University, where he was the editor of The Crimson. He worked as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, United Press and The New Yorker and as an editor for the New York Herald Tribune and Fortune magazine. In 1968, he began his teaching career at the University of California at Berkeley, moving to the Columbia journalism school two years later.
He was the author of three books, "The New Brahmins: Scientific Life in America" (1968), "The Great American Medicine Show" (1975) and "Without Sin: The Life and Death of the Oneida Community" (1993).
After retiring in 1989, Klaw, with his wife, the former Barbara Van Doren, published The Cornwall Chronicle, a monthly newsletter. Barbara Klaw died in 2002.
Klaw is survived by four daughters, Rebecca Klaw and Joanna Klaw Schultz, both of Pittsburgh, Margaret Klaw of Philadelphia and Susan Klaw of Boston; a sister, Margaret Tenney of Berkeley; and nine grandchildren.

June 21, 2004

Preston Hotz
Preston Enslow Hotz, a leading geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey during the Eisenhower administration, died Saturday in Santa Rosa of complications from Alzheimer's disease. Hotz was 91.
He was born in May 1913 in Sonoma, the grandson of department store merchant G.H. Hotz.
At Sonoma High School, Hotz was a standout sprinter on the track team.
"He still holds a high school record for long jump there," said son Ralph P. Hotz, of Broomfield, Colo.
Hotz and his father, Ralph O. Hotz, built the Sonoma Valley's first ham radio in the family's Second Street home in Sonoma, family members said.
Years later, grandson Ivan Hotz recalled watching his grandfather transmit messages from his amateur radio workshop in Menlo Park.
"He would communicate by Morse code to people all over the world," said his grandson, a Petaluma resident, describing his grandfather's walls covered with ham radio memorabilia.
After studying at Santa Rosa Junior College, Hotz earned undergraduate and master's degrees at UC Berkeley.
He took a job in 1938-39 with the U.S. Geological Survey, where he would spend his entire career. During a mapping project in Oregon, he met Jewell "Tita" Cochran in Grants Pass, Ore. The couple marriage in 1940.
World War II led to his reassignment as a strategic minerals geologist, locating iron ore deposits.
During President Dwight D. Eisenhower's term, Hotz was promoted to chief geologist for the western states, based out of Menlo Park. He spent a little more than two years in that role before resuming his regular field work.
"His whole life was fun; he was a geologist," recalled his son, noting that his father didn't seem to need diversions from his profession. "He'd say, 'I'm doing what I want.'"
In 2001, the Hotzes moved to Santa Rosa, returning to be close to their daughter and other family members.
In addition to his son and grandson, Hotz is survived by his wife of 63 years, Tita Hotz; and daughters, Susie Guile of Portland, Ore., and Martha Braet-Ellwanger of Santa Rosa. He also leaves five other grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at St. Mark Lutheran Church at a later date. Arrangements are being handled by Eggen & Lance Mortuary.

Emma Buck
Emma Buck, who ran a pre-Civil War family farm in Illinois that remained virtually unchanged into the 21st century, died June 5 on the sleigh bed with handmade ticking she had slept in for 98 years, in the log cabin built by her great-uncle, a German immigrant, in 1849.
She was 100 or 101, said Annie Rieken, a close friend and director of the Heritage Foundation of Monroe County, where the farm is located. The cause of death was breast cancer, she said.
The 70-acre farm, a sort of rural Smithsonian, was named one of the state's 10 most endangered sites in 1998 by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. Buck, who had pulled the last of her own teeth some years ago, lived there without running water, drawing her water from a well. Until two days before she died, she walked to the outhouse, one of many structures on the farm.
It also has a blacksmith's shop, a smokehouse, a butchering shed, a threshing barn and a rare outdoor bake oven, which was restored by conservators in 1999 with sand and mud from the nearby Mississippi River and wood cut by Buck with a century-old cross-saw.
Buck sharpened scythes on a foot-operated grinding wheel well into her 90s. Speaking with a thick German accent, the slightly persnickety Buck always wore a skirt as she worked.
"Emma could be blunt and coarse and uncouth by Emily Post standards," Rieken said. "But there was a total authenticity about her."
To spend time with Buck was to feel the evocative power of a place that has all but vanished from the American landscape, a fragile holdover where it was possible to encounter wooden butter churns, hobnail boots, copper kettles for making sausage and apple butter and hoops for a Conestoga wagon in the rafters.
"That was German business," she once said, speaking of the heavy trough in the smokehouse, used to scald the fur off carcasses, and her other implements. "What would you do with all these things? Throw them out?"
While contemporaries embraced tractors and other modern machinery, the Buck family stuck to the old ways, largely out of conservatism and stubborn resolve. The farm was settled by Buck's maternal great-grandparents, Christian and Christina Henke, German immigrants from East Friesland who came by boat from New Orleans and settled in western Illinois, about 35 miles down river from St. Louis, in 1841. As was the custom among German families in the area, Emma and her sister Anna, who died in 1992, worked side by side with their father, Fred, who died in 1966. A brother, Albert, died in 1999. Emma Buck never marriage and leaves no surviving family members.
"The Buck farmstead is a rare glimpse into the past," said Mike Jackson, chief architect with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. "It is an extremely well-preserved place, maintained by a woman who lived a 19th-century life throughout the 20th century. Its significance is far greater than its humble origins."
In 1999, Buck deeded the property to Ahne Road Farms Inc., a nonprofit foundation in nearby Waterloo created with her lawyer, Otto Faulbaum, to preserve the farm as a historic site and interpretive center. The goal is to inventory the farm's historic buildings and to lay the groundwork, through grants or other funds, for long-term stewardship.
"Farms like Emma's were once common in the Midwest, but everybody else is gone and now the antiques are hanging in some suburban ranch house somewhere," Faulbaum said. "We would like to restore the whole place as a living history museum and to preserve the farm intact. There is no place like it where everything remains in its original context."
Buck was buried June 6, in the old-fashioned way: by friends and neighbors who lowered her pine coffin into the ground in a corner of the cornfield, the stalks waist high.
She had left clear instructions. "She said she didn't want an open casket," Rieken said. "She said, 'If people couldn't visit me alive, they have no business visiting me as a dirty old dead woman.'"

John Cheasty
John Cheasty, who became the government's star witness after James Hoffa of the Teamsters union recruited him to spy on a Senate committee investigating labor racketeering in the 1950s, died June 14 in Bahama, N.C. He was 96.
The cause was congestive heart failure, Cheasty's family said.
He died at the home of a daughter with whom he had lived for several years, said the Rev. Patrice Cheasty-Miller, the pastor of St. Paul United Methodist Church in Durham.
A New York lawyer and investigator, Cheasty (pronounced CHASE-tee) figured in an episode that began with Hoffa's offer of big-money bribes. Cheasty took the first payment straight to Robert F. Kennedy, the chief counsel to the committee Hoffa wanted Cheasty to infiltrate. Hoffa was arrested after what he believed was a clandestine meeting with Cheasty in a Washington hotel.
But a federal jury acquitted Hoffa of bribery and conspiracy charges, fanning a long-running feud between Hoffa and Kennedy.
With Cheasty's testimony and undercover film showing Hoffa accepting a packet of Senate material, the case seemed solid -- so solid that Kennedy said he would "jump off the Capitol dome" if the government lost.
But on the day Hoffa testified, the former heavyweight champion Joe Louis walked into the courtroom, threw an arm around Hoffa and told reporters he wanted to "see what they're doing to my good friend Jimmy Hoffa."
Louis' appearance "undoubtedly had a strong effect on the black members of the jury," Walter Sheridan wrote in "The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Hoffa" (Saturday Review Press, 1972).
However, the jury of eight blacks and four whites told reporters that race was not a factor in their verdict; they said that they voted to acquit Hoffa because they did not believe Cheasty.

June 20, 2004

Francis Heger
Francis Eugene Heger may have grown up poor but the fictional heroes of his youth forged a lifelong belief in social, racial and environmental activism.
Heger, a resident of Sebastopol, died Thursday from a combination of illnesses, including Parkinson's disease and leukemia, that he had been battling for years. He was 73.
Heger, born in Ann Arbor, Mich., served in the U.S. Army as an intelligence officer for two years during the Korean War before embarking on a lifelong career in education.
He taught English at two Michigan high schools before joining the faculty at Western Michigan University in 1963 where he helped found the Urban Education Program.
"It specialized in educating economically disadvantaged inner city kids to make sure they had equity in education," said his son, Kyle Heger, of Albany.
Graduates of the program held a reunion last year and specifically "talked about how Frank touched their lives and they attributed their political activism and decisions to stay in education to him," said his wife, Kathleen Devereaux.
The couple moved to Sebastopol in 1987 and Heger began working as a psychologist with Santa Rosa City Schools in 1988. He was assigned to Cook Middle School, and Piner and Santa Rosa high schools.
He retired in 1995 but continued to work part-time with the Sonoma County Office of Education until he was hospitalized last week.
During most of his career stops, family members said he chose to work with the most educationally disadvantaged.
Heger's son and wife credit that, and his extensive history of social activism, to growing up poor and the lessons of chivalry he retained from reading about such heroes as Robin Hood and knights in shining armor as a young boy.
"He knew what it was like to be poor and the injustices that would happen because you were poor," his wife said.
His activism began when he was the leader of successful neighborhood efforts that forced the Upjohn pharmaceutical company to deal with a toxic waste dump nearby.
It continued, over the vehement objections of his all-white neighbors, with his decision to sell his Kalamazoo, Mich., home to a black family.
"He wasn't going to be bullied by his neighbors. I was only 8 at the time and I was very scared but I was very proud of him," his son said.
Heger also worked on behalf of and attended two of the largest Vietnam War protest marches, in Michigan and Washington in 1969.
Heger had no true hobbies, preferring to devote most of his time to those who needed him. "He loved his work and his family," his wife said.
But he also loved a challenge. "He always wanted to work with the most challenging of people," she said.
"He taught in a maximum security prison in Michigan, helped out with the Special Olympics in Michigan and served at a rape crisis clinic in Antioch in the '80s," said Kyle Heger.
In addition to his wife and son, Heger is survived by sisters Joyce Sherman of Syracuse, N.Y. and Elizabeth Page of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and a brother, Robert Heger of Lafayette, Ind.
Plans for a memorial service in mid- to late July are pending.
Contributions are suggested to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, Ala. 36104.

Al Lapin Jr.,
Al Lapin Jr., entrepreneur and restaurateur who, along with younger brother Jerry, founded the International House of Pancakes in 1958 with a single eatery in Toluca Lake, has died. He was 76.
Lapin died Wednesday at USC/Norris Cancer Center in Los Angeles of cancer, said his son, Randy.
The businessman's roller coaster ride through restaurant chains began with a series of coffee carts called Coffee Time; peaked with IHOP, which acquired Orange Julius, Love's Barbecue and Copper Penny among others; careened through Uncle John's Family Restaurants; and came to earth with Pizza Playhouse, which delivered videos with the pepperoni.
Lapin made and lost fortunes, built and lost businesses. In 1989, he declared bankruptcy.
But years after he left IHOP in 1973, he still got a kick out of seeing one of the pancake houses he established with its signature blue roof, as he traveled the country.
"It's kind of like seeing your child growing up," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. "From time to time, I get irritated because the grass isn't cut right or the paint isn't right. But like any other parent watching a child grow, I know that the child will do whatever it wants to do."
The son of a professional drummer, Lapin was born in New York but moved to Los Angeles with his family when he was a teenager. After serving in the Army, he went through film school at the University of Southern California and worked in television production. He also worked for the Federal Civil Defense Administration, producing films on surviving atomic attacks.
Learning about mass delivery of sustenance in emergencies during his work with the government, Lapin decided he could make money serving the vital substance of coffee to the working world. He set up Coffee Time, catering to Los Angeles businesses.
As he watched fast-food chains such as McDonald's and Taco Bell take off in Southern California, Lapin longed for his own restaurant.
Researching foods he might market to the masses, he settled on pancakes and waffles.

June 19, 2004

Sandra Teuscher
Sandra Kay Teuscher enjoyed living in a tight-knit family where unconditional love and loyalty provided the buoyancy that kept her afloat in times of distress.
Her family was by her side when she died Thursday at her Santa Rosa home after a battle with breast cancer. She was 49.
"Sandy was always there for people, even during her illness," said her mother, Jeanne Pascarella, of Tucson, Ariz. "She was always thinking about others. She was a very loving and caring person."
Born in Sebastopol, she was a graduate of Analy High School and attended the University of Utah. Following a lengthy interruption for marriage and family, she graduated with honors from Sonoma State University and completed her teacher training there.
"She was a dedicated teacher," said her mother, "and she loved children."
A special education instructor in both public and private schools, she taught at Wright School, Steele Lane Annex and New Directions. After her illness forced an early end to her career, she continued providing tutoring and advisory services.
During the early stages of her illness, a blood drive in her name was launched by Traditional Medicinals Inc., the Sebastopol tea company. That blood drive - now in memorium - is ongoing at Blood Bank of the Redwoods.
"Sandy was very talented," said her mother. "She played piano. She did a lot of craft things and made beautiful scrapbooks. She crocheted hats, afghans and slippers."
In addition to her mother, she is survived by her husband, Kevin Teuscher, of Santa Rosa; her children, Michael Teuscher of Santa Rosa and Caitlin Teuscher of Petaluma; her father, Charles Schaeffer of Windsor; her sisters, Stacey Byrne of Santa Rosa and Stefanie Schaeffer of Cloverdale; and her brother Steve Schaeffer of Santa Rosa.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Santa Rosa Mortuary Chapel, 1900 Franklin Ave., Santa Rosa. Private Interment will follow at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn.
The family suggests memorial donations to Sutter VNA Hospice.

Jacek Kuron
Jacek Kuron, who inspired and tutored generations of Poles to struggle against Communist rule, serving as the ultimately successful godfather of a resistance that coalesced around the Solidarity labor union movement, died Thursday in Warsaw. He was 70 years old and had been ill for more than a year.
A spokesman for the Hospital of the Interior Ministry announced his death, the Associated Press reported.
Kuron's death came under the jurisdiction of the same ministry that had been his host for an imprisonment of almost 10 years in the Communist era. At the end, however, it was a benevolent ministry in a democratic Poland that cared for him as an honored citizen who had helped to bring about Poland's emergence from totalitarian rule, a man who went on to serve in Parliament and as labor minister, and who also ran for president, winning 10 percent of the vote in 1995.
On Thursday, his old partners in resistance joined with current political leaders in praising Kuron, who had challenged Communist rulers first as an ardent and ideological young party member in the 1950s, and then kept training generations of dissidents as an outcast who was continuously hounded and imprisoned.
"Without him, the events of August 1980 would have been impossible," said Lech Walesa, the leader of Solidarity and democratic Poland's first president, referring to the strikes at the Gdansk shipyard and the union's historic victory.
In the final chapter of his fight against the Communist system, in the 1980s, Kuron gained national prominence and international attention as the senior organizer and guiding spirit of KOR, the Committee to Assist Workers, which first mobilized support for striking workers in 1976. It soon became a rallying point for many of the country's intellectuals, cultural figures and students who provided support and resources to the industrial workers, miners and farmers then trying to build an independent labor federation.

Thanom Kittikachorn
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thanom Kittikachorn, a military ruler of Thailand who helped the United States during the Vietnam War before being ousted in a popular uprising in 1973, has died at the age of 92.
Thanom died late Wednesday at Bangkok Hospital, where he had been treated since Jan. 19 after suffering a stroke, a hospital statement said. He never fully recovered from brain surgery, it said.
Thanom came to be known as one of Thailand's "Three Tyrants" when he ran the country in the 1960s and early 1970s with his son, Col. Narong Kittikachorn, and Narong's father-in-law, Field Marshal Praphas Charusathien.
The three were driven into exile following a bloody student-led uprising in October 1973. They were accused of nepotism, corruption and ordering troops to fire on protesters in the streets of Bangkok during the uprising. The official death toll in the uprising was 77, with hundreds injured, although many believe the number of dead was higher.
Thanom's regime was noted for its close ties with the United States.
During the Vietnam War, his government allowed tens of thousands of U.S. servicemen to be stationed in Thailand and hosted U.S. air bases from which most bombing of North Vietnam and Laos was carried out.
At the same time, his regime's heavy-handed rule brought it resentment at home. Despite a veneer of democracy, Thanom's government moved against even mild dissent, sweeping away opponents in parliament.
The regime's leaders also allegedly used state funds for their own benefit -- most notably from the official lottery -- and steered contracts to cronies and companies in which they were given stakes.
After Thanom and his colleagues fell in 1973, the new government seized assets from the three worth about $30 million, believed to have been illegally acquired.

Robert Teeter
Washington -- Robert M. Teeter, a polling expert and political consultant who helped guide the Republican Party and its presidential nominees for more than 20 years, died June 13 at his home in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was 65.
The cause was cancer, his son, John, said.
From 1968 through 1992, Teeter took the public's temperature on political issues and Republican presidential candidates, innovating or refining statistical techniques to peer inside the mind of the American voter. Teeter worked closely with the elder George Bush from the time he was Republican national chairman in the early 1970s through his successful presidential campaign in 1988 and unsuccessful re-election bid in 1992, when Teeter was campaign chairman.
Teeter is credited with two innovations during the 1976 presidential campaign, although neither was enough to re-elect his client, President Gerald Ford. He began daily polling, known as a tracking poll, leading up to the Wisconsin Republican primary, which pitted the president against former Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. Later, Teeter employed the "Rose Garden strategy," which positioned the incumbent in overtly presidential settings during the campaign, but kept him largely out of direct political engagement with his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia. Ford narrowed a wide gap but ultimately lost.
"If you look at Bob Teeter's career over 40 years, every major innovation in political survey research has his fingerprint on it," said Peter Hart, a Democratic pollster and Teeter's partner at the NBC News/Wall Street Journal polling program.
In 1967, Teeter joined Market Opinion Research, a marketing and political polling firm in Detroit. Over the next five years, he expanded the company from a firm hired occasionally by Republicans running for Congress to one tied directly to the party.
"His firm was dedicated toward helping the party out, not just candidates," said Lance Tarrance, a longtime Republican polling consultant who was the chief pollster for Jack Kemp's campaign for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination. Teeter was also known among his colleagues for unfailing politeness, and for tough but fair campaigns.
"He was a force for civility," said Adam Clymer, the political director of the National Annenberg Election Survey and a former political correspondent for The New York Times.
Teeter was a moderate Republican whose own politics did not always fall in line with the party or even with the candidates for whom he polled. Voters, Teeter argued, cared less about issues than they did about a sense of a man. "They don't line up eight issues and decide which one they line up with more," Teeter said in a 1991 interview. "They want someone they trust to make value judgments for them."
In addition to his son, Teeter is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; and his daughter, Katherine, all of Ann Arbor; and his brothers Philip, of Wellington, Colo., and John, of Downingtown, Pa. 

June 18, 2004

James Correia, Jr.
James Correia, Jr., a 26-year veteran of the California Highway Patrol, died Sunday of liver disease at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. He was 61.
Born July 13, 1942, in Sacramento to James Sr. and Jennie Correia (Lopes), he grew up with three brothers and a sister.
A graduate of Sacramento High School, he worked in retail before being accepted to the CHP Academy. In August 1965, at age 23, he pinned on badge No. 4026 and started his career at his first post, the South Los Angeles office.
"He joined the CHP because he really liked helping people. He was kind, lighthearted, giving. If somebody needed him, he was there," said his brother, Robert Correia of Merced, who followed him into the patrol.
Later posted to Santa Ana and Santa Rosa, he was selected for many special details, including the Watts and Santa Barbara riots and for protective services for dignitaries, including escorting governors.
Married and divorced three times, he had three children and was known in the family for always making time for his children, nieces and nephews.
"His job was making sure everybody was happy. He regularly visited his brothers' houses. We'd play cards, pinochle or dominoes," his brother said.
As a CHP officer, Correia won several medals at the California Police Olympics as a track and field participant.
He will be remembered by his family for his fiercely independent will, his distinctive laugh and his ability to make people feel at ease.
He retired out of Santa Rosa in 1992 and then took a job working security for Wells Fargo Bank until 2002. His final years of retirement were enjoyed in Cotati and the Santa Rosa area.
He was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by three children, Michelle Kim of Roseville, Jennifer Correia of Pennsylvania and Jason Correia of Santa Rosa. He is also survived by brothers Robert of Merced and John and David, both of Sacramento, and sister Diana L. Ross of Woodland, as well as two grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial service is today at noon in Sacramento at St. Elizabeth Parish.

Ann Daniels
Memorial services for Ann Daniels, a lifelong Mendocino County resident and educator, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Blessed Sacrament Church, 5750 South Highway 1, Elk.
Born Anna Alta Walker on Oct. 19, 1918, in Glenblair, she died May 25 in Fort Bragg of congestive heart failure. She was 89.
"She was a wonderful, caring, giving person," said her son, Donald Daniels of Elk. "She loved people. She particularly loved children."
The daughter of Russian immigrants, she was reared in Elk, graduated from Mendocino High School and attended San Francisco State University.
She was a teacher in one-room schools in Elk and Rockport before her marriage to lumberman Warren Daniels. When they moved inland to be near his mill site in Willits, she taught school there, too. While her husband oversaw a new sawmill he'd built in Elk, she was teaching in Manchester.
During the 1950s, she taught beginning and advanced first-aid classes through the Red Cross.
Later, after being widowed in 1960, she joined the Willits School District, serving first as a district supervisor and then as the district's county supervisor, traveling throughout Mendocino County to assist teachers with procedures and policies. She retired after 17 years as a supervisor.
"Her major thing in life was teaching and supervising school," said her son. "But she was also an adventurer. She took flying lessons in the late '50s and early '60s. She wanted to fly around the country by herself but she never got to solo."
Nevertheless, she traveled extensively, "always with an academic or historic interest in the places she would go," said her son. "She had been around the world three times."
Remaining in Elk, she was one of three citizens who were instrumental in the planning and funding of the Elk Firehouse-Greenwood Community Center. She launched the tradition of the lighted outdoor Christmas tree in Elk, planned and organized the celebration of the centennial of the Elk Post Office, and worked with California State Parks and Recreation to turn the historic Elk Post Office into a museum and visitors center.
Her community activism included forming the Elk Volunteer Docent Council and training many docents to ensure the visitors center would remain open. Memberships included the Greenwood Civic Club, Eastern Star and Delta Kappa Gamma.
In addition to her son Donald Daniels of Elk, she is survived by her daughter Joan Daniels of Willits and her son Percy Daniels of Boonville; her stepson, Richard Daniels of Ukiah; her sister, Violet Grant of Millbrae; and three grandchildren.
The family suggests memorial donations to the Mendocino County Museum, 400 Commercial St., Willits, or to the American Heart Association or other favorite charity.

June 17, 2004

Dean Dunnicliff
Dean E. Dunnicliff, former publisher of the Healdsburg Tribune and the Rohnert Park Clarion, died June 9 at his Roseville home of complications of congestive heart failure, lymphoma and leukemia.
His death came 13 days before his 85th birthday.
Born and raised in Dixon, Dunnicliff was an Eagle Scout and a member of Phi Gamma Delta. He received his bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and his master's from Stanford University.
During World War II, Dunnicliff served in the Pacific Theater as a captain in the Army.
Before moving his family to Healdsburg in 1962, Dunnicliff spent 13 years as editor and co-publisher of the Dixon Tribune. The newspaper had been in the Dunnicliff family since 1913.
"He was a workaholic," said his son, Steven Dunnicliff of Healdsburg.
Through their newspapers, Dunnicliff and his wife and co-publisher, Maryalice, endeavored to improve their communities, paying special attention to schools and humanitarian needs.
"He was the kind of guy who motivated others to get things done," his son said.
In Healdsburg, Dunnicliff was a force behind the construction of Healdsburg General Hospital and served on the hospital's board of directors for 13 years. He headed a number of city commissions, including those on economic development, traffic safety and beautification.
As a director of Shared Ministries, he was instrumental in the construction of a senior retirement complex. He led the Sonoma County branch of the American Cancer Society and the Sonoma County chapter of the American Red Cross. He served on the Sonoma County Human Resources Commission, co-founded the Sonoma County Drug Abuse Council, and was named a "Citizen of the Year" by the Healdsburg Boys Club.
"He was quiet and worked behind the scenes," Steven Dunnicliff said. "He was a community booster. He frequently would prod people to get a project going, such as the construction of the Healdsburg Hospital."
In addition to publishing the Healdsburg Tribune and the Rohnert Park Clarion, Dunnicliff Printing also printed most of the weekly newspapers in the area and college schedules from the Golden Gate to the Oregon border.
In addition to his wife and son, Dunnicliff is survived by two other sons, Greg Dunnicliff of Stockton and Jeff Dunnicliff of Vashon Island, Wash.; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
A service is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at the family home in Roseville.

Gloria Tauzer
Gloria Tauzer, a gracious hostess noted for her elegant table settings, "led a magnificent life," according to her husband of 51 years, Clarence Brook Tauzer of Santa Rosa.
"She was possessed of a naturalness in the human pursuit of love," he said. "There is no higher calling."
Tauzer died June 10 in Sequim, Wash., of Alzheimer's disease and complications from abdominal surgery. She was 73.
Born March 11, 1931, in Oakland, Gloria Elizabeth Wright attended school in Palo Alto, graduating from high school in 1950. She studied and practiced fashion modeling from 1950 to 1952, when she marriage Clarence Tauzer and they moved to San Leandro.
The Tauzers relocated to Santa Rosa in 1955, where he was hired as a history teacher at Santa Rosa Junior College. Clarence Tauzer eventually became one of SRJC's best-known administrators as dean and vice president for academic affairs.
Between 1980 and 1995, Gloria Tauzer operated a catering service, specializing in wedding receptions and cocktail parties.
She was "genuinely fond of people," her husband said.
Her affiliations included the Symphony League of Santa Rosa, the Volunteer Bureau of Sonoma County Auxiliary, parent-teacher associations, the St. Vincent de Paul Society and St. Rose Catholic Church.
"Her love of family and friends extended into the larger community," her husband said.
When her health required home care in 2003, she moved to Sequim, Wash., to live with her daughter, Terry Ann Smith.
"Gloria had a very fond association with the SRJC faculty," said her husband. "Her ashes will be distributed at the college's Shone agricultural farm."
In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by three sons, Scott Peter Tauzer and James Wright Tauzer, both of Santa Rosa, and Charles Brooking Tauzer of Sebastopol; a brother, James Franklin Wright, of Sequim, Wash., and six grandchildren.
At her request, there were no funeral services, although a private gathering of family and friends is planned for Saturday in Santa Rosa. Arrangements were made by Drennan-Ford Funeral Home in Port Angeles, Wash.
The family suggests memorial donations to the Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa 95401.

Max Rosenberg, 89
LOS ANGELES -- Max Rosenberg, a veteran movie producer best known for cult horror classics such as "Tales From the Crypt," "The House That Dripped Blood" and "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" as well as the early rock 'n' roll movies "Jamboree" and "Rock, Rock, Rock!" has died. He was 89.
Rosenberg, president of Rearguard Productions, died Monday in a Los Angeles hospital after a brief illness, said Julie Moldo, the film company's vice president.
In a more than 60-year movie career, Rosenberg produced about 75 movies, the majority of them modestly budgeted horror, supernatural and science fiction tales.
Rosenberg and his partner, Milton Subotsky, were probably best known for their anthology horror films -- featuring four or five stories revolving around a central theme -- made after they formed Amicus Productions in England in 1962.

June 16, 2004

Stanley Badger
Sebastopol native Stanley Richard Badger, known to his family as "the life of the party," traveled the world as a merchant seaman, sharing his adventures through colorful oil paintings that still hang in some Santa Rosa bars.
He died Friday of pneumonia at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Vallejo. He was 78.
Badger was born July 25, 1926, to Joseph and Esther Badger. The youngest of eight children, Badger was raised with a deep sense of local history, said his son, Chris Badger of Windsor. Badger Road in Santa Rosa is named for the family, and his father was one of two Sebastopol postmen in the 1940s.
Badger made his own mark in the county, playing baseball at Analy High School and Santa Rosa Junior College, where he won the American Legion award for outstanding athlete in 1945.
That same year, Badger joined the U.S. Merchant Marine. He would return home several months at a time, working as a carpenter and playing baseball. In the 1950s, he was a second baseman in the Santa Rosa fast-pitch leagues, and played end for the Santa Rosa Bone Crushers semi-professional football team.
A merchant mariner for 30 years, Badger "traveled all over the world twice," said his daughter, Lori Weber of Vallejo. The friendly, good-natured sailor would give paintings of the ships and people he saw on his travels to Santa Rosa bars.
"There was never a dull moment with him," said his son, Chris Badger. "One of his goofiest moments was when he shot a bar owner's stuffed bird with an arrow. He thought it looked better that way."
An avid hunter and fisherman, Badger enjoyed taking his three sons on duck hunting trips and fishing for trout and steelhead.
"He was always on the street with us, playing ball," said Chris Badger. "He had the ability to make a friend in 30 seconds, everywhere he went, he knew everybody."
In addition to his daughter and son, Badger is survived by his twin siblings Paul Badger of Danville and Edith Lorenzen of Sebastopol; sons Ron Badger of Colorado and Lance Badger of Windsor; and daughter Kathy Lopes of Las Vegas.
No services are planned, but his life will be celebrated at a family reunion in August.

Gerald McConnell, illustrator
Gerald McConnell, a veteran pulp novel artist turned publisher, died suddenly Monday at his New York office, his family confirmed Tuesday. He was 73.
McConnell had been recovering from a recent surgery, according to his son, Kevin McConnell, publisher of the Ukiah Daily Journal.
McConnell began producing artworks for Pocket Books in 1953, with a focus on Western-styled pulp novel covers.
McConnell won the Society of Illustrators' Hamilton King Award in 1981 for his pencil drawing of Grand Central Terminal. He also taught at the Pratt Institute and published several of his own books on three dimensional art before becoming publisher and owner of Madison Square Press.
Memorial services will be held at the Society of Illustrators on Thursday.
McConnell is survived by his wife Mary, three children and a sister.

Howard Solomon, free speech advocate
Howard Solomon, the mild-mannered owner of the Cafe au Go Go nightclub in Greenwich Village who became an unlikely First Amendment crusader when he was arrested with the comedian Lenny Bruce on obscenity charges in 1964, died June 3 at his home in Crestline. He was 75.
The cause was a heart attack, said his son, Jason Solomon.
At the height of the 1960s music scene, Solomon's basement club on Bleecker Street played host to dozens of influential music stars, including John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, B.B. King and Joni Mitchell. Renowned for its fine brick-wall acoustics and groovy coffee concoctions (no alcohol was served), the club was the site for numerous recordings particularly by blues performers who favored the club.
But perhaps no performance was better remembered than Bruce's appearance on April 3, 1964, just two months after the club's opening. Bruce, who had already been charged with obscenity and narcotics charges in California and obscenity charges in Chicago, was arrested before he even hit the stage for his 10 p.m. slot.
Howard Solomon and Elly Solomon, then his wife, joined Bruce in handcuffs. They soon learned that vice officers had attended and recorded two of Bruce's shows at the cafe earlier in the week to make their case.
Bruce, then 38, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on $1,000 bail. Solomon, then 35, was charged with allowing an obscene act to be performed in his club; he also pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance.
The next day, Bruce returned to the cafe and played to a partisan crowd, who watched him gently thumb his nose at authority by spelling out the dirty words in his act rather than pronouncing them. Three days later, Bruce was again arrested on obscenity charges.
The case went to trial that summer before a three-judge panel. The defense for Bruce, who was ill with pleurisy, called more than a dozen artists and critics to the stand to defend his act and Solomon's right to present it, but to no avail.
On Nov. 4, 1964, the panel reached a guilty verdict, voting 2-1 against both Bruce and Howard Solomon; Elly Solomon was acquitted.
Bruce was later sentenced to four months in jail, while Howard Solomon faced a $1,000 fine or 60 days in jail. Both men continued to fight the convictions in court, though Bruce's fight ended in 1966, when he died at 40 of a morphine overdose.
Solomon won an appeal in 1965, and in 1968 his conviction was overturned by a state appellate court. That decision was later upheld by New York's highest court.
Solomon sold the Cafe au Go Go in 1969 and moved to Florida, where he worked quietly as a real estate developer in Miami before retiring to California in the early 1990s.
In addition to his son Jason, of West Hollywood, and his former wife, of Crestline, Solomon is survived by another son, Sheppard Solomon, of London; a daughter, Candace Solomon, of New York City; a sister, Iris Poland, of West Palm Beach, Fla.; and a grandson.
One of Solomon's contemporaries, Manny Roth, the onetime owner of the Cafe Wha?, said Solomon's stand was an inspiration.
"We had crusaders down there, but he wasn't one of them," Roth said. "But Howard went to bat for Lenny."

June 11, 2004

Louisa M. Turner
Louisa M. Turner, a long-time member of Hessel Church, was surrounded by friends when she died Thursday at her Sebastopol home. She was 77.
"She lived meagerly but was exceedingly generous," said the Rev. Rich Cundall, pastor of Hessel Church. "Through her experiences in World War II, she early on developed a compassion for people."
Known as Lou by friends and family, Turner was born in London and was one of 11 children in her family. She had vivid memories of World War II, when she and her siblings hid in the family bomb shelter while nightly Blitzkrieg devastation reigned.
"She had so many stories of the war and they were amazing," Cundall said. "She used to talk about how she had seen so many churches bombed out that she wanted just once to see one built. She was very committed to our building project."
In 1949, Turner moved to California, where she met -- and two weeks later marriage -- John Turner, who was her husband for 48 years. They lived in Mariposa before moving to Sebastopol some 40 years ago.
"She was a ranch hand and a homemaker," Cundall said. "She had completed elementary school in England, but the war stopped her education at that point. She was a hard-working lady who took lots of odd jobs to get by. She worked in nursing homes and had been on the staff at our church for about six years."
Friends used words like spunky and feisty to describe her personality.
"She had a unique personality, kind of outspoken but with a great sense of humor," Cundall said. "She loved to laugh. She prized loyalty and was very committed to her friends."
Turner's sole survivor is her brother, John Cox of England.
There will be a memorial service at 9 a.m. Saturday at the church she called home, Hessel Church, 5060 Hessel Ave., Sebastopol.
Memorial gifts to the church building fund are suggested.

Clausen, saved Marines in Da Nang
Mike Clausen, Jr., 56, who died in a Dallas hospital May 30 of liver failure, received the Medal of Honor, the highest military award for valor, for rescuing a platoon of Marines trapped in a minefield during the Vietnam War.
In the Marine Corps, Clausen liked to disobey authority; he had repeatedly been demoted after every promotion.
"I will come home a live private before coming home as a dead sergeant," he had said.
On Jan. 31, 1970, he seemed to have forgotten his credo.
That day, he was serving with Medium Helicopter Squadron 263, part of a mission to extract members of a Marine platoon near Da Nang that had wandered into a minefield while attacking the enemy.
They were under heavy fire and frozen in their places, fearing that they would trip a mine.
Clausen was crew chief of his CH-46 helicopter and guided the pilot to a safe landing in a spot that had been cleared by a mine explosion.
The pilot told him not to leave, but Clausen ignored him -- six times, as he repeatedly left the safety of the helicopter to help carry back one dead and 11 wounded Marines to the aircraft. He then tried to lead the eight remaining Marines to the copter.
On one trip, while he carried a wounded man, a mine went off, killing a corpsman and wounding three other Marines.
"Only when he was certain that all Marines were safely aboard did he signal the pilot to lift the helicopter," read his Medal of Honor citation.

Manning, played opposite Bogart
Irene Manning, a lyric soprano and actress who charmed audiences with her performances in 1940s musical films like "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "Shine On, Harvest Moon" and "The Desert Song," died on May 28 at her home in San Carlos. She was 91.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said her stepdaughter Peggy H. Schafer of Pleasanton.
Trained as a classical singer, Manning had a fleeting but stellar career as a leading lady. She appeared glamorously in westerns, on Broadway and entertained wounded soldiers in World War II.
Still billed as Hope Manning, she made her Broadway debut in 1939 in "Susanna, Don't You Cry," a bouquet of Stephen Foster songs arranged into a musical for the American Lyric Theater at the Martin Beck. The show soon closed, but she received good reviews, and Warner Brothers signed her for "Yankee Doodle Dandy," a blockbuster musical of 1942 with James Cagney as the producer and songwriter George M. Cohan. Manning portrayed the diva Fay Templeton and sang "Mary Is a Grand Old Name" and "So Long, Mary." Because the movie is a perennial on television, it is probably her most famous film role.
She played opposite Humphrey Bogart in "The Big Shot," a hard-boiled gangster movie of 1943, and in a version of "The Desert Song" also in 1943, with Dennis Morgan.

Kramer, prolific writer, rabbi
LOS ANGELES -- Rabbi William Mordecai Kramer, scholar and longtime editor of the Western States Jewish History magazine, as well as an actor, lawyer, professor, and prolific writer and speaker, died Tuesday. He was 84.
Kramer died at UCLA Medical Center of complications of diabetes and congestive heart failure, said his friend, attorney Barry Fisher.
A wordsmith in his sermons, writings and public events, the rabbi became a favorite with government entities and organizations that traditionally begin meetings with prayer. Illustrating his adaptability and humor, he offered the following prayer in 1956 when an over-scheduled Los Angeles City Council pleaded "keep it short": Hear a prayer for men of high station -- Who serve the city, first in the nation -- May they know its spiritual elation -- To praise the Lord and pass the legislation. Amen.
That won him a quick invitation to return the following week, when he reduced his prayer to two lines: I pray for the Council and the standard of its acts; Raise them, Father, and lower the tax. 

June 10, 2004

Ruggles memorial
A memorial service for Petaluma poet Eugene Ruggles has been scheduled for 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Petaluma's Phoenix Theater.
The event has been dubbed "A Celebration of the Life of Eugene Ruggles."
A Ruggles Memorial Fund has been created at Petaluma's Exchange Bank to benefit the education of his grandchildren.
Ruggles, 68, died last week at the Petaluma Hotel, where he had lived for 15 years. In 1977, he received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for a collection of poems titled "Lifeguard in the Snow."
Born in Michigan, Ruggles moved to San Francisco in 1965 and immersed himself in the city's poetry scene and such causes as the American Indian and anti-Vietnam War movements.

June 9, 2004

Catherine Valverde
Catherine Valverde was "absolutely the backbone of our family," said her daughter, Pearl Valverde Wigaard of Santa Rosa.
"She was little, but she made everybody else strong," her daughter said.
A 15-year breast cancer survivor, Catherine Valverde died June 1 in Santa Rosa of natural causes. She was 88.
A family-oriented woman who loved spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Valverde was a crossword enthusiast and avid gardener.
"She enjoyed being a homemaker," said her daughter. "She also liked taking gambling trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe."
Born in Illinois on Nov. 8, 1915, she and her father were in the restaurant business in Chicago before moving to Alameda when she was 18. A year later, in 1934, they moved to Santa Rosa and opened a fruit market. Her brother and sister, Dante and Anita DeLaurentis, eventually joined them in their business.
It was while working at the fruit market in Santa Rosa that the former Catherine DeLaurentis met her future husband, Daniel Valverde, with whom she spent more than 65 years before his death in 2000.
In addition to her daughter, Valverde is survived by son Daniel Valverde Jr. of Santa Rosa, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa. Entombment will be private. The family suggests memorial donations to a favorite charity.

George Soles
George Soles, a bushy and philosophical denizen of the street credited in the late 1980s and early '90s with pricking Sonoma County's conscience about the homeless, died Sunday after a struggle with cancer. He was 64.
Soles lived beneath a downtown Santa Rosa bridge for much of the time that he organized homeless people and urged them to agitate for a year-round shelter, affordable housing and an end to police sweeps of their encampments.
As early as 1990 he advocated the creation of a year-round shelter -- one he hoped would be operated by homeless people -- at the former Naval Air Station west of Santa Rosa. Just this year, the Santa Rosa City Council approved the creation of an 80-bed shelter in a building there.
Soles could be strident; early in 1991 a Press Democrat columnist chided him for making personal attacks against members of the City Council. He also was engaging and compassionate, and many people working downtown enjoyed chatting with him on the sidewalk or in Old Courthouse Square.
Bernie Schwartz, the owner of a luggage shop across Fourth Street from the square, said, "There will never be anyone as articulate as George for the disenfranchised."
A native of Rochester, N.Y., Soles learned about life on the street at a young age. He ran away from his family's home in Vermont at age 13, working for a time in a traveling carnival.
His history of activism for people without shelter dated back to at least 1966, the year he arrived in San Francisco. He went to work for the Haight-Ashbury Switchboard, which found places to stay for the young people who flooded into the city.
About 20 years later, Soles moved to Santa Rosa and helped create the Sonoma County Homeless Union. He urged homeless people to become a political force and press for shelter and medical care.
Nick Baker, who manages Catholic Charities' Homeless Services Center, said Soles' advocacy played a role in the creation of 10 transitional beds at the Morgan Street center.
Over the years Soles took on other causes, at one point traveling to Chiapas, Mexico, to support indigenous people in their conflict with the Mexican government.
"He was not your middle-class peace activist," said friend Mary Moore, a veteran activist from Camp Meeker. "When he worked with the homeless he was homeless. He was totally devoted to making the world a better place."
For the past several weeks, Soles was under hospice care at a convalescent hospital in Oakland. His daughter, Lena Hoffman of Oakland, said that when she went to see him Saturday he was not in his pajamas, but had asked the nurses to dress him; he was ready to move on.
He is survived by his daughter, who said she will plan a memorial with her father's Sonoma County friends.

Charles Winslow
Charles James Winslow, a 27-year military man who was fluent in both German and Russian, died of heart failure May 31 at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in San Francisco. He was 76.
"His duties in the Army included acting as an interpreter," said his sister-in-law, Linda Armour, of Atlantic Beach, Fla. "He was stationed in Germany twice. He attended language school in Monterey and Germany."
Born in Hickory Corners, Mich., Winslow was raised on a farm and initially volunteered for one tour of duty in the Army, thinking he'd return to live out his life in rural Michigan.
"As it turned out," said his sister-in-law, "he felt the military life suited him. He served in Korea and had two tours of duty in Vietnam."
Winslow retired from the service in 1974 and lived in Sonoma County for 30 years, working part of that time as a real estate agent.
He was Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Maryland, where he received his bachelor's degree. He earned his master's from Boston University through night classes while stationed in Germany.
Winslow enjoyed the outdoors and loved walking on the beach.
Winslow is survived by his wife of 52 years, Mary Lou Winslow of Santa Rosa; son Leon Winslow of Olympia, Wash.; daughters Jeanne W. Durbin of Fresno, Sandra J. Stone of Blaine, Wash., and Carol A. Winslow of Kirkland, Wash.; and five grandchildren.
Memorial services were held at the Neptune Society's Chapel of the Chimes in Santa Rosa. The family suggests memorial donations to the American Diabetes Association or the American Heart Association.

Robert Quine, punk rock guitarist
Robert Quine, a noted guitarist of the New York rock scene of the 1970s and '80s who played with Richard Hell, Lou Reed and others, died last week in his home in Manhattan. He was 61.
He was found dead by the police on Saturday, said James Marshall, a friend. The police found a note and said they believed the death was a suicide but are awaiting a medical examiner's report.
In the loud world of New York punk, where crude simplicity trumped most conventional notions of musical skill, Quine stood out as a stylish virtuoso. His guitar was first heard on "Blank Generation," the 1977 album by Richard Hell and the Voidoids.
Besides his work with the Voidoids and Reed, Quine played with Marianne Faithfull, Material, James Chance, Tom Waits, Brian Eno and John Zorn. In the '90s he played extensively with Matthew Sweet and Lloyd Cole.

June 8, 2004

Mary Sarris
A woman of infinite grace and indomitable spirit, Mary Elizabeth Sarris of Santa Rosa overcame hardships that would have crushed a lesser person and emerged from them wiser and more compassionate than before.
Her beloved brother, John Mape, was shot down in Vietnam in 1966, missing in action until his remains were found in 1999. Her 19-year-old daughter, Mary Anne Sarris, was murdered by a serial killer in 1976. A son, Patrick Sarris, died of leukemia in 1982.
"With every blow that came, she got bigger as a human being and more sensitive and more aware," said her son, Greg Sarris of Los Angeles. "She had this indomitable spirit and this indomitable grace."
Sarris died May 29 of complications from gall bladder surgery. She was 81.
Sarris was born in Holland, Mich., and came with her family to San Mateo at age 16. She attended a Catholic high school and then graduated from Notre Dame Women's College in Belmont.
She marriage George Sarris in 1945 and subsequently moved with him to Santa Rosa.
The Sarrises adopted one son, Greg, and then had three children of their own before the unhappy marriage exacted its toll. The couple divorced in 1964.
Mary Sarris had been a full-time housewife and mother, and had never worked before. She received no financial support from her ex-husband after the divorce.
To survive, she took a job selling men's clothing and later, women's accessories, at J.C. Penney's, where she worked for 19 years.
She sometimes struggled to make ends meet. Old friends spurned her after the divorce. But she never complained and always found the time to counsel her children and give small amounts of money to those in need, Greg Sarris said.
"She had a strong Catholic faith, and she also had a real sense of fate. It was part of that generation," Greg Sarris said. "She believed that you deal with what you are dealt."
She encouraged him when he sought out his birth parents, Greg Sarris said. When he learned his birth father was part American Indian, she supported his successful effort to gain federal recognition of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.
As she grew older, she increasingly spoke out in support of the poor, the homeless, the Mexican day laborers and American Indians, Sarris said.
"In difficulty, with what life throws us, we can fold or grow stronger, and she chose to grow. That's the lesson," Sarris said.
In addition to son Greg, Sarris is survived by son Stephen Sarris of Santa Rosa, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Services were held at St. Rose Catholic Church, where Mary Sarris was a parishioner. She was buried at Calvary Catholic Cemetery. Donations in her memory may be made to Hanna Boys Center, P.O. Box 100, Sonoma 95476.

Kathie Yardas
Singing was a lifelong passion for Kathie Yardas, whose soprano voice soared as a member of a church choir in Novato and later as a member of the Marin Chapter of Sweet Adelines, the Pacific Empire Chorus and various quartets.
"She sang with her whole soul," said her daughter, Candace Johnson of Weston, Fla. "Her voice was beautiful, clear and rich."
Her family was by her side when she died Friday at her Petaluma home, having finally ended her extended battle with ovarian cancer. She was 76.
Born Katherine Kehl Redin on April 19, 1928, in Chicago, she graduated from Maine Township High School in 1946. In 1950, she graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where she pledged the Delta Gamma sorority and majored in vocal music.
"My mother had a wonderful, calming quality," said her daughter. "She had an enthusiastic, loving, cherishing attitude. She was a very supportive person."
Married and the mother of three children, Yardas and her family moved in 1964 to Novato, where she was involved in numerous social organizations, became a piano teacher and sang in her church choir. She also nurtured a large garden of flowers and flowering shrubs, and was a member of the Novato Garden Club.
Later, she went to work for an area optometrist and eventually launched a 20-year career as a vision therapist.
"She was an adventurer," said her daughter. "She loved travel, especially to visit her children and grandchildren. She even took up camping late in life."
During the 1970s, she joined Sweet Adelines, divorced, moved to Petaluma and began singing with the Pacific Empire Chorus. During a remission of her cancer, she volunteered with Sutter VNA and Hospice's thrift store.
"She gave so much to so many people," said her daughter. "She's a bright spirit who lives in all who knew her."
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by son David Yardas of Truckee, daughter Christine Yardas-Lancaster of Boise, Idaho, brother Tom Redin of Ventura, and six grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. June 19 at Wickersham Park, at the corner of Fourth and G streets, in Petaluma. Arrangements are by Adobe Creek Funeral Home.
The family suggests memorial donations to Sutter VNA and Hospice, 1110 North Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa 95401.

Steve Lacy, jazz saxophonist
Steve Lacy, a leading soprano saxophonist in the modern era of jazz and one of the few jazz musicians awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called "genius grant," has died. He was 69.
Lacy died Friday of cancer at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, according to a statement from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he taught.
Comfortable in various musical forms, Lacy played Dixieland and avant-garde, and with his own groups often incorporated beat poetry, the writings of Herman Melville and obscure Islamic verse.
"He was a distinctive player and a true original in this music," jazz critic Nat Hentoff told the Los Angeles Times on Monday. "He had an enormous appetite for the music and an ability to keep surprising himself by exploring new avenues."
Influenced by such diverse forces as New Orleans-style saxophonist Sidney Bechet and groundbreaking pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, Lacy developed a beauty and clarity of tone, a keen melodic sense and an ability to keep his music uncompromising and fresh.
Born Steven Lackritz in New York City, he showed early promise in music as he studied piano and clarinet. He switched to soprano saxophone, a seldom played instrument, after hearing a Bechet recording.
After study at the Manhattan School of Music and what is now the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he worked with some of the leading Dixieland practitioners of the 1950s.
His musical direction took a detour in the mid-1950s when he was challenged by avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor to experience his boundary-breaking notions of harmony and structure. Lacy's -- he changed his name in 1952 -- two years with Taylor's band informed his musical direction for the rest of his career.
In the late 1950s, Lacy also recorded with the noted composer/pianist Gil Evans and pianist Mal Waldron and worked with them intermittently into the 1980s.
From the mid-'60s onward, Lacy was associated with the free-jazz movement and, finding little work in America, lived, wrote and recorded for much of the next four decades in Europe, primarily France, where he was awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1989 and in 2002, Commander of the Order.
His MacArthur Fellowship was awarded in 1992. He returned to the United States and took the teaching post at the New England Conservatory in 2002.
He marriage Swiss singer and cellist Irene Aebi, who survives him, and she became a key part of his bands.

June 7, 2004

Steven Hockert
Steven Dale Hockert, a salesman for juice company Odwalla Inc. and a former real estate agent, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at his Healdsburg home. He was 33.
Hockert was born May 30, 1971, in Fresno and moved to Sonoma County with his family in 1978. He attended Healdsburg Elementary and Healdsburg Junior High schools before graduating from Healdsburg High School in 1989.
As a tackle for Healdsburg High's varsity football team, Hockert competed in a North Coast Section final game at Oakland Coliseum, recalled his father, Rick Hockert of Healdsburg.
Hockert later studied at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, and lived with his maternal grandmother, Jeanne Lichty, in nearby Morro Bay.
"They took care of each other," Hockert's father said. "They were very close."
Hockert had worked a little more than a year for Odwalla, the beverage company founded in Santa Cruz, when he was hospitalized in December. Doctors soon learned of his cancer, and his illness prevented him from returning to work.
In northern Marin County where Hockert called on stores that sold Odwalla drinks, "he was very popular on his route," his father said.
"We got cards from a lot of his customers."
Hockert also worked for a short time as a real estate agent, and formerly was employed at Healdsburg's Tayman Park Golf Course.
An avid athlete, Hockert became a 10-handicap golfer who traveled twice a year with his father and two buddies to courses in destinations such as Monterey, Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas.
Though he never married, Hockert served as best man three times in friends' weddings.
"He was the kind of person who always tried to treat other people the way he wanted to be treated," Rick Hockert said of his son.
In addition to his father, Hockert is survived by his mother, Susan Hockert, and brother, Terry Hockert, both of Healdsburg. He also leaves uncles Michael Hockert and Greg Hockert of Fresno, and an aunt, Justy Hockert of Fresno.
A memorial service will be Tuesday, 2 p.m., at Villa Chanticleer in Healdsburg.

Francis Brunn, acclaimed juggler
Francis Brunn, who cared little that he was often described as one of the half-dozen best jugglers of the 20th century, because his art, he said, transcended mere juggling, died on May 28 at a hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. He was 81.
The cause was complications of heart surgery, said his sister Lottie Chirrick, herself a famous juggler.
Brunn, who lived in Manhattan, brought new twists, often quite literally, to an art that goes back at least to ancient Egypt and Greece, and showed them off to audiences from the Palace Theater to the White House. After he performed before the queen of England in 1963, The Evening Standard called his show "almost painfully exciting."
When the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus brought him to America in 1948, he became the first juggler ever to work the center ring as a solo headliner.
At the beginning of his career, Brunn, a former gymnast, was celebrated for lightning speed in juggling a dozen objects simultaneously. But later, he perfected an austere but demanding minimalism. He was fascinated by controlling just one ball, and virtually compelled audiences to share this fascination.
Especially if the one-ball trick was to defy gravity by making the ball travel from his toe up his entire body by moving only his legs and torso.
In another dazzling trick, Brunn would spin a ball on his right hand and hold another ball on the back of his neck. He rolled the ball down his back and kicked it with his heel over his head to a dead-on balance with the spinning ball.
Large numbers of objects posed scant problem. He was believed to be the first juggler in the world to put up 10 hoops.
"Trying to describe Brunn's act is like trying to describe the flight of a swallow," Francisco Alvarez wrote in "Juggling: Its History and Greatest Performers."
Brunn did not hope for applause.
"I do not consider myself doing tricks," he said in an interview with the New York Times in 1983. "There is one movement for eight minutes. It's supposed to be, let's say, like a ballet.
"It would be impossible for me to start in the middle. I would love if the audience is so fascinated that nobody applauds in the end."

June 6, 2004

Loren Vernon
Loren Edward Vernon, a World War II veteran and Sonoma Valley beekeeper for 55 years, died Friday of congestive heart failure. He was 82.
Vernon was born in the tiny town of Vineburg, just south of Sonoma, in 1921.
He graduated from Sonoma High School in 1939 and served in the Army Air Corps in Europe during the war.
Upon his return, he was a planner and estimator at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, where he worked for 40 years.
Vernon met his wife, the former Mary Nerney, at a Sonoma bowling alley in 1946 and they were marriage the following year. They had four children.
Vernon had an active sideline as a beekeeper. He sold honey from his MacArthur Street home and talked about beekeeping to school children.
"People are always interested in bees," his wife said. "But they don't want to get close to them like he did."
Vernon was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Sons in Retirement. He was an avid fisherman and bowler.
In addition to his wife, Vernon is survived by two daughters Nancy Garner and Marilyn Vernon, both of Sonoma; two sons, Thomas Vernon of Sunnyvale and Robert Vernon of Boyes Hot Springs; and five grandchildren.
A private inurnment will be at Mountain Cemetery.
Donations in Vernon's honor can be made to the United Anglers of Casa Grande, 933 Casa Grande Road, Petaluma 94954. 

June 5, 2004

David Sverko
If David Sverko wasn't the last real cowboy in Mendocino, he was close. He was still answering neighbors' questions about horses, running his tractor and splitting firewood until a stroke last fall took him down a few notches.
Sverko died from complications of that stroke Thursday at the small ranch in Mendocino that he worked since 1954. He was 87.
A child of the Depression, Sverko learned while growing up in Fort Bragg how to do for himself. When he went to work on a ranch at 13 he would have quit school, but he'd promised his mother he wouldn't.
He graduated from Fort Bragg High in 1934 and five years later marriage Marguerite White. He basically lived to work, and over the course of his life was a ranch caretaker, the operator of a Mendocino saddle shop, a horse trainer, a lumber-company woodsman and bulldozer operator, a welder and rebuilder of horse trailers, a Mendocino volunteer firefighter and a member of Mendocino County's Search and Rescue Team.
Neighbors in Mendocino knew Sverko as a no-frills, no-nonsense guy who would do anything for someone in need and never expect anything in return.
"He never rode in an airplane because he was never in that much of a hurry," said his son, Rodney Sverko of Santa Rosa.
"He never had a credit card because if he couldn't afford it, he didn't need it."
Dave Sverko served on the Mendocino County grand jury in the 1970s. He also co-founded the Northern California Trails Council and spent much time helping build equestrian trails in the county.
He lost his first wife to cancer in 1963. Four years later he marriage Eleanor Gomes. She died in 2000.
A stroke in September cost Sverko much of his independence. Neighbors grateful for all he'd done for them pitched in to help, allowing him to remain in his home.
In addition to his son, he is survived by stepson Larry Gomes of Oakland; two grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two stepgrandchildren.
Services are at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Fort Bragg's Chapel of the Sea. Interment is at Rose Memorial Park.

Paul Tendick
Paul Tendick, a 25-year probation officer with the Sonoma County Probation Department in Santa Rosa, died May 29 in Tucson, Ariz., where he lived for the last four years.
His death at age 60 came 13 months after being diagnosed with leukemia.
"He was a great adventurer," said his wife, Anita Goren Tendick of Tucson. "His life was full of dreams, many of which came true. He wanted to retire young so we could travel, and we did make a lot of trips after he retired in 2000."
Born Jan. 14, 1944, in Long Beach, Tendick graduated from Oxnard High School in 1961 and marriage his high school sweetheart in 1968.
In the meantime, he received the National Defense Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Presidential Unit Citation Award for his service as a hospital corpsman with the Marines in Vietnam.
Upon graduation from Sonoma State University, he received his bachelor's degree in sociology with an emphasis on criminal justice.
"We lived in Sebastopol for about 22 years," said his wife. "He loved cutting firewood. We had a few acres with an orchard, and he spent a lot of his time on the property. He loved the earth and liked to plant. He grew lots of vegetables and had about 100 fruit trees."
Tendick also was well-known for his enjoyment of culinary delights.
"He loved wine and good food," his wife said. "After he was diagnosed with leukemia, we spent six months in Seattle, where he underwent treatments. He was always asking hospital staff to recommend good restaurants."
Tendick also sought recommendations for good restaurants during travels to Hong Kong, the Panama Canal, Australia, Portugal, Spain and Mexico.
"He really loved hiking," his wife said. "We went to the coast quite a bit, and he liked the trails between Howarth Park and Spring Lake."
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughter, Berkeley Tendick Vogelsang of Denver, and one grandchild. He also leaves his parents, Cullen and Sylvia Tendick, of Tucson; his sister, Jean Lincoln of Ukiah; and his brothers, Jim Tendick of Moab, Utah and Mark Tendick of Santa Rosa.
A private memorial service is planned in Tucson for later this month, and another memorial service will take place in August in Santa Rosa.
Memorial donations may be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 1311 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, N.Y. 10605; the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, P.O. Box 19024, Seattle, WA 98109; or Peppi's House, the Tucson Medical Center Hospice, 5301 E. Grant Road, Tucson, AZ 85716.

Victor Reuther, labor leader
Victor Reuther, the last of three brothers who helped unionize Detroit amid the labor strife of the 1930s and remained central to the growth of industrial unionism for the next third of the century, died on Thursday in Washington, D.C. He was 92.
His death was announced by his family and Ron Gettelfinger, president of what is now the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America in Detroit.
Victor, along with his older brothers Roy and, especially, Walter, was at the center of a momentous struggle for union contracts to improve wages and working conditions. Victor Reuther, the more intellectually oriented, left-leaning sibling, came to represent the union's educational aspirations for its members.
The Reuther brothers helped to build the union, originally known as the United Automobile Workers and still known as the UAW, as an agent representing assembly-line workers. While their work initially focused on automobile workers in the United States, it had a national and international impact both within and beyond the labor movement.
Walter Reuther, who was also a power in the AFL-CIO, was president of the UAW from 1946 until his death in a plane crash in 1970. Roy Reuther was the union's political representative and legislative director; he died in 1968.
Victor Reuther honed his activism as an orator and an organizer of sit-down strikers. He shaped the union's educational programs throughout the country, establishing labor institutes, radio and film production units and the union's own drama schools and summer camps.
In his book "The Brothers Reuther and the Story of the UAW: A Memoir" (Houghton Mifflin, 1976), he recalled the often bloody confrontations of earlier times.
"During his years as a trade union activist," Gettelfinger, the union's president, said Friday, "Victor displayed great personal courage and endured great personal risk for the right of workers to organize."

June 4, 2004

G.K. Hardt
G.K. Hardt, a colorful fixture in Sonoma County's automobile sales industry for half a century, died of heart failure Monday in his Santa Rosa home. He was 86.
The longtime entrepreneur and philanthropist began his career in 1937 at age 19.
He was selling gasoline from a Signal Oil service station across from Santa Rosa High School when Depression-era economics forced him to sell his own car, a Ford, for which he took two other autos in trade.
From that point forward, he was an automobile dealer selling used Fords -- including Model A's for $15 apiece -- as well as Lincolns, Mercurys, Hudsons, Ramblers, Jaguars and DKWs. His G.K. Hardt agency eventually was located on Santa Rosa Avenue on the city's original Auto Row.
"He had a wonderful sense of humor," said his daughter, Lisa Hill of Incline Village, Nev. "He often played little jokes on family friends. The grandchildren remember drinking Shirley Temples with him. He'd distract them by pointing out the window and by the time they turned back, there'd be just the stem left of what had been a whole cherry. He had a very playful nature."
Born Gunther K. Hardt on March 29, 1918, in Konigsberg, East Prussia, he and his family came to the United States in 1927. He was drafted into the Army in 1942 but was disqualified because of a heart murmur. So he volunteered, serving in the Army until 1946.
In the meantime, the owner of the Signal Oil service station held the business for Hardt's return from military service and then gave it to him. Hardt paid for the property two years later.
"He was a very good businessman," said Gladys Bates, his associate of some 45 years. "He never forgot anything connected to business. He was detail-oriented but also kind and considerate of everyone."
In December 1955, Hardt sold his 10,000th car, awarding a $50 savings bond to the buyer. He retired from the car sales business in 1973 but continued as a real estate investor until his death.
"G.K. had a lot of loyal customers who came back repeatedly over the years," Bates said. "I think he was much respected in the business community. His word was his bond. If he promised something, he did it."
Hardt is remembered for his entertaining sales promotions. He sponsored the last two flagpole sitters in Santa Rosa, hiring them in the 1950s to boost his auto sales.
Hardt loved horses and was a member of the Trailblazers and Wednesday Riders in Sonoma County as well as the Reno Sierra Riders and the Palm Springs Desert Riders.
"He always had a dog," his daughter said. "Usually, it was a Dalmatian. He loved sturdy, loyal animals."
As a philanthropist, Hardt in 1999 donated $500,000 to the Sonoma County Museum expansion, and he was a supporter of the Salvation Army. His volunteer service included serving on the board of the American Cancer Society in Sonoma County.
"Grandpa was a man who helped many of us feel grounded and kept us moving in the right direction," his grandson, Matthew Paille of Santa Rosa, said in a poem written for Hardt. "He'll always he remembered as the one who helped so many of us reach our potential. We will miss his mischievous Walter Matthau smile."
In addition to his daughter, Hardt is survived by a son, Eric Hardt of Warboys, England; a daughter, Julie Paille of Santa Rosa; five grandchildren; and a sister, Marlise Moses, of Saratoga.
At his request, there will be no services. The family suggests donations the Children's Cabinet of Incline Village, P.O. Box 3562, Incline Village, Nev. 89405.

Ilse Wolf
Ilse Dora Wolf never planned to work at a hospital. But after fleeing the devastation of World War II, and immigrating to the United States, the German native dedicated her life to helping others.
Wolf, a medical secretary and auxiliary volunteer, died May 27 at Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa. She was 75.
Wolf was born in 1928 in Osterode, Germany. One year after the German Army surrendered, she and her mother fled their war-torn city for West Germany. There, they were reunited with Wolf's father, a German military officer.
"She lost some of her best friends during the war," said her son, Rudiger Wolf of Danville. "It was very difficult for her to talk about."
Wolf met her husband, Gerhard Wolf, in West Germany. In 1962, the couple and their two young children immigrated to San Bruno. One year later, the family moved to Santa Rosa.
In the 1970s, Ilse Wolf worked as a medical secretary for several doctors and at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. After retiring in the late 1980s, she worked for a decade as an auxiliary volunteer at the Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa.
"She absolutely loved it, she just had a very deep regard for trying to help people," Rudiger Wolf said.
Sukie Gill, who worked with Wolf at Sutter, said her friend did every task with a smile on her face.
"She was a true treasure to us," Gill said. "She made this a better place."
In addition to her son, Wolf is survived by her daughter, Heike Wolf of Santa Rosa.
Memorial services are at 7:30 p.m. today at Eggen & Lance Mortuary. The family suggests contributions to Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa.

Frances Shand Kydd, Princess Diana's mother
LONDON -- Frances Shand Kydd, who had an often turbulent relationship with her late daughter, Princess Diana, died Thursday at her home in Scotland. She was 68.
Shand Kydd's health had been failing in recent months and the grandmother of Princes William and Harry had been taken from her home on Seil Island, where she led a reclusive life, to a hospital in nearby Oban a number of times.
A spokesman for her son, Earl Spencer, said Shand Kydd "Passed away peacefully this morning, after suffering from a long illness, and this is now a private time for the family to grieve."
She was born Frances Ruth Burke Roche, daughter of the Fourth Baron Fermoy. Her mother, Lady Ruth Fermoy, was a confidante and lady in waiting to the late Queen Mother, and was later said to have had a hand in promoting Diana's marriage to Charles.
Prince Charles said his former mother-in-law "will be sorely missed."

Loyd Sigmon, devised L.A.'s "SigAlert" system
Loyd C. Sigmon, whose "SigAlert" freeway warning system made him perhaps the most famously unknown figure in L.A. traffic jam history, has died. He was 95.
"People usually think it's short for 'signal alert,'" Los Angeles traffic reporter Jorge Jarrin said Thursday on hearing of Sigmon's death. "They're surprised to find out it's from a guy's name."
Sigmon died of natural causes Wednesday in Bartlesville, Okla., where he had lived since 2000.
Sigmon devised his traffic alert system in 1955, when he was a co-owner of Los Angeles radio station KMPC and looking for ways to boost its audience. When the system debuted, it covered all sorts of emergencies, not just traffic tie-ups.

June 3, 2004

George Leoni
Longtime Healdsburg resident George Leoni rarely left Sonoma County, traveling on short trips to Arizona a few times but usually opting to stay close to home.
"He loved Sonoma County," said his daughter, Lynne Gradek of Healdsburg. "He always thought it was the prettiest place."
Leoni died Friday of a massive coronary at the Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa. He was 81.
Leoni was born in Healdsburg in 1923, at his family's 700-acre Westside Road ranch. Upon graduating from Healdsburg High School in 1941, he helped raise dairy cows and sheep on his family's farm.
In the 1950s, Leoni was a board member of the Healdsburg Future Farmers Country Fair. His children raised sheep as members of 4-H, and Leoni helped other children trim and haul their lambs to fairs.
"He was a friendly person who liked to kid around," Lynne Gradek said. "He was kind of reserved about his emotions, but you knew that if you needed something he would be there."
In the 1960s, Leoni worked for Young & Engelke Company in Healdsburg, and eventually became a partner at Stroco Paving. After retiring in 1974, he cultivated a garden with Italian red onions, zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes and garlic.
Leoni would share his crop with residents at local senior centers, and visit often with "original Healdsburg people," said Lynne Gradek.
"Healdsburg was a part of him," she said. "He watched Sonoma County grow -- anytime there was a tractor clearing someone's property, he was there watching it. Even though he was an old-timer, he liked to see the changes because he thought they were positive."
In addition to his daughter, Leoni is survived by his companion, Edith Poor of Windsor, and his daughter Mary Ann Anderson of Ukiah. Preceded in death by sisters Mary Leoni of Burlingame and Rosie Leoni of Berkeley; and brother Fred Leoni of Yountville.

June 2, 2004

Dwight Jones
Dwight Jones, who settled in Sonoma County after World War II and became one of the first drivers for the Petaluma Transit System, died Friday in Petaluma of heart failure. He was 82.
"Gardening was his great passion," said his son, Dwight Jones of Petaluma. "He liked to work outside in his garden. He grew vegetables and flowers."
Born and reared in Tuskey, Okla., Jones served six years in the Army, joining in 1938 and remaining during World War II. His tour of duty took him to Panama.
He retired from the Petaluma Transit System, but helped at the Petaluma Boys and Girls Club and volunteered at COTS of Petaluma.
"His hobby was woodworking," said his son. "He built cabinets. He was a master carpenter. He could build anything."
Jones also was athletic, playing for the Petaluma Leghorns, his son said.
Jones was a longtime member of Petaluma Moose Lodge.
In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter, Cecily Skinner, of Coto de Caza; another son, George Jones of San Rafael; a sister, Sue Hicks, of Tulsa, Okla.; and two grandchildren.
Services are at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory, Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street, Petaluma.
The family suggests memorial donations to the American Heart Association, North Bay Chapter, 1710 Gilbreath Road, Burlingame 94010.

June 1, 2004

William Robbins
Who knows how many people were touched by William Robbins?
They knew him as Bill or, more likely, Sarge or perhaps "Little Harry," on account of his resemblance to Harry Truman and diminutive, 5-foot-2 stature.
Some knew him well -- his family, close friends, fellow Shriners or Masons -- or just as a man in a Stetson hat who walked up one day and made their acquaintance.
A "people meeter," according to his wife of 53 years, Christa Robbins, the Santa Rosa man "never met a stranger."
"He would walk up to a complete stranger, stretch out his hand and say, 'Howdy, friend, how are you today?' " she said. "He loved to meet people."
If there is an afterlife, Robbins is making new friends now, after his death Wednesday of kidney failure.
He was 90, and his death was expected, but still, his wife said, "You are not ready."
The couple met through friends in Berlin in 1948, while Robbins was serving with the military police in the aftermath of World War II. Robbins, still a corporal, introduced himself as Bill.
A native of Hoxie, Ark., Robbins first enlisted in the Army in 1937, then came home to serve as a police officer in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and later as marshal in a little town called Leachville, Ark., his wife said.
He rejoined the Army in 1941 to fight in World War II -- helping to "liberate France and Germany," he loved to say -- and remained in the Army until 1966, working primarily as an MP and weapons instructor.
He and his German wife were marriage in Berlin, and later moved to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., one of several stateside bases the couple passed through during his career.
When the Army sent Robbins back to Germany in 1962, his family moved in with friends in Novato, moving to Petaluma when Robbins rejoined them in 1966. By then he was a sergeant, known far and wide as Sarge.
He and his wife lived in Petaluma for 26 years, while Robbins worked in maintenance at Sonoma State University, retiring after 13 years.
They later moved to Santa Rosa, where they lived for 17 years.
Robbins spent his time in Sonoma County as an active member of the Petaluma Valley Baptist Church and the Masons' Santa Rosa Luther Burbank Lodge #57.
He also was a member of the Scottish Rite Bodies, the Aahmes Temple, the Aahmes Peace Officers Association, the Sonoma County Shrine Club and the Sonoma County Shrine Club Riffs.
In his younger days, Robbins also loved to sing, blending his tenor voice with a locally performing group called the Mellow Airs.
In addition to his wife, Robbins is survived by daughters Tosca Schauer and Germaine Schauer, both of Santa Rosa; a sister, Juanita Johnson of Walnut Ridge, Ark., and five grandchildren.
A Masonic Service will be held at 10 a.m. today at the Daniels Chapel of the Roses in Santa Rosa.
Robbins will be interred later -- in his Stetson -- at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park in Sebastopol.
Donations in Robbins' memory may be made to the Petaluma Valley Baptist Church Building Fund, 580 Sonoma Mountain Parkway, Petaluma, 94954, or to the Shriners Hospital for Children, 2425 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, 95817.

Ely Zelnik, Russian history expert
Reginald Ely Zelnik, an American historian who focused on Russian labor and social studies, died on May 17 in an accident at UC Berkeley. He was 68.
A faculty member since 1964, he was a popular professor of history and a former department chairman.
He was killed when a delivery truck accidentally backed into him as he was walking on campus, the university said.
As a newcomer to the faculty in the 1960s he played a role in the Free Speech Movement that roiled Berkeley and the country by defending its leaders and advocating students' rights.
He went on to become a mentor to a generation of students of Russian history.
Zelnik was the author of several influential books.
He wrote "Labor and Society in Tsarist Russia: The Factory Workers of St. Petersburg, 1855-1870" (Stanford University, 1971).
His "Law and Disorder on the Narova River: The Kreenholm Strike of 1872" (University of California, 1995), which remains in print, used that incident to analyze Russian social history in general and the life stories of Russian workers in particular.
Also in print is "Workers and Intelligentsia in Late Imperial Russia: Realities, Representations, Reflections" (University of California, 1999).
Zelnik is survived by his wife of 48 years, Elaine; a daughter, Pamela Zelnik; a son, Michael; a brother, Martin; and a grandson. 

May 31, 2004

Leroy Geving, a champion race car driver, retired trucker and long-time Petaluma resident, died May 23 at a Petaluma rehabilitation hospital. He was 73.

May 30, 2004

Vivian Powell
Vivian Alice Powell, a Sonoma County native who was long active in the poultry industry, died of liver disease Friday. She was 76.
Born in Penngrove on Dec. 6, 1927, to Ermalinda and Daniel Donati, Powell was immersed in farm life and developed a love of animals from her childhood. Her parents, immigrants from Switzerland, established a dairy farm that remained in the family for two generations.
Powell graduated from Petaluma High School and marriage Tony Powell in the early 1950s, according to her daughter, Kathy Wyatt of Petaluma.
In addition to raising six children, Powell worked for decades in various Petaluma-based poultry businesses. It was work she loved, according to her daughter.
"I think she went because of her co-workers," she said. "'The old chicks' is what she called her friends there."
The Powell household was known to take in animals of all sizes and types, including raccoons, rabbits, geese, goats and a variety of birds. The house even served as home to a monkey for a few years.
"My father was in the used-furniture business, and people would come in and trade things for furniture," said Powell's son, Ronald Powell of Petaluma. The monkey came home in a business transaction, he said.
But for the woman who loved dogs and almost all animals, the monkey proved too much, Wyatt said.
"It would get out of the cage and run along the ceiling along the pictures like it was climbing trees. My mom probably had enough of him," she said.
Powell was a gifted seamstress who made some of her children's clothes. Four years ago, she bought a guitar and began taking lessons to learn to play country music.
Powell retired briefly from Petaluma Poultry Producers about seven years ago, but she was lured back by friends. She worked up until she became ill in January, Wyatt said.
In addition to her son and daughter, Powell is survived by sons Michael Powell of Rohnert Park, Richard Powell of Santa Rosa and Kenneth Powell of Petaluma; daughter Darlene Powell of Rohnert Park; 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband; her brother, Milt Donati; and fiancee, Leo Poncia.
A funeral will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory, 850 Keokuk St., Petaluma.
Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday with a vigil service at 7 p.m. at the mortuary. Entombment will be at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Petaluma.
Contributions may be made to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952.

Charles Chase, folklorist and poet
Charles Chase, a folklorist and poet whose eclectic Folk Music Center became a destination for musicians, literati and the curious alike, has died of a stroke. He was 89.
Chase died May 21 at the Mountain View Alzheimer's Center, his daughter, Ellen Chase, said.
His fascination with musical instruments from around the globe led him to open the Claremont center nearly a half-century ago.
Over time it came to include a music store, repair shop, performance stage and school, as well as a museum that contained several hundred antique instruments.
Chase allowed customers to play all the instruments in the center: antique Tibetan temple horns, American banjos, Polynesian conch shells and African tongue drums as well as new guitars and drums.
A kindred spirit of folk music legends Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger, Chase led a weekly program for schoolchildren for more than 20 years, demonstrating how to play the instruments.
Chase's interest in music was matched by a commitment to social causes and he spent much of his adult life fighting for issues dear to his heart -- the environment and the rights of underdogs.
Chase is survived by his wife and four children, along with 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

Norman Griner, graphic designer
Norman Griner, a graphics designer who made the record album cover a canvas for metaphor and realism and later brought his skills to bear on quirky and memorable print advertisements and TV commercials, died in Carmel, N.Y., on April 17. He was 71.
The cause was pneumonia after complications from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1990, his wife, Jane, said last week.
Griner's album covers rendered stories about musicians and their works through personalized settings and highly intricate props.
In 1968 he won a Grammy for the cover art on the Thelonious Monk album "Underground," one of the most talked-about jazz album covers of all time.
Based on Griner's own photographs and unrelated to the music as such, it portrayed Monk as an armed World War II partisan, seated at the piano in a room cluttered with detonators, grenades, wine bottles and even a cow, with a Nazi officer tied to a chair in the background.
Narrative detail was the hallmark of Griner's work, said John Berg, who hired him to produce several album covers for Columbia Records in the 1960s.
In addition to his wife, of Patterson, N.Y., Griner is survived by two daughters, Julia Griner of Jersey City, N.J., and Joanna Cawley of New York City; a sister, Evelyn Zainfeld of North Massapequa, N.Y.; and a grandson.

April 21, 2004

Daryl Madson
Daryl Dean Madson Sr., a longtime Safeway employee, dedicated deliverer of The Press Democrat and owner of an antiques business, died Saturday at his home in Sebastopol.
Madson, 67, succumbed to the effects of diabetes.
A sports enthusiast who had a short career in Triple A baseball, Madson showed great attention to overseeing the produce section at the Safeway store in Sebastopol. He worked 35 years for the company before retiring.
Together with his wife, Wanda Sue Madson, he opened Seagull Antiques in the town of Bodega in 1991. The couple, marriage 46 years, delivered The Press Democrat for 29 years.
"My dad always worked hard," said his daughter, Susan Madson of Sebastopol. "He taught all of us that. If you're going to do a job, do it right."
She described her father as a kind, soft-spoken man who proved a good listener to the many customers that came from far and near to the antique store.
Born in Prosser, Wash., Madson grew up in Tomales. He graduated in 1954 from Tomales High School, then attended Santa Rosa Junior College. The following year the St. Louis Cardinals signed him as a pitcher for their Triple A farm team, but his sports career ended soon thereafter when he broke his collarbone in an automobile accident.
In 1956 he started working as a checker for Safeway. It was there he met his future wife. The family recalls how she used to go from high school to the store at lunch each day and purchase an apple or orange so that she could go through his checkout line.
Madson enjoyed all kinds of sports but especially football and for several years he helped his grandson, Daryl Madson III, coach football at Brook Haven Middle School. He also enjoyed country music, playing cards with family and friends and horse racing.
"Every year we spent his birthday at the race track," his daughter recalled.
Along with his wife and daughter, survivors include two sons, Daryl Madson Jr. and Ricky Madson, both of Sebastopol; his mother, Wanda J. Madson of Santa Rosa; a brother, Roy R. Madson of Santa Rosa; and five grandchildren.
A funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today.
The family prefers memorial contributions to the American Diabetes Association.

Jacquelyn Shone
Jacquelyn Anne Shone, a teacher, homemaker and avid sports fan, battled diabetes for 20 years, waging a courageous fight against the disease until her death Sunday at a Petaluma care facility. She was 70.
Even after losing both her legs and eyesight to diabetes, Shone remained a strong, guiding force in her family and a loyal sports fan, attending 49ers and Giants games.
Known as Jackie to family and friends, her courage was an inspiration to all who knew her.
"Jackie kept fighting until she couldn't fight anymore. She was very strong," said her husband, Richard R. "Dick" Shone of Petaluma.
Shone was born Jacquelyn Anne Garloff on Jan. 8, 1934 in Sebastopol, the daughter of Ernest "Bear" Garloff and Lois Barnett Garloff, who survive her. As a member of the pioneer Barnett and Garloff families, Shone had deep roots in Sonoma County and ties to many people throughout the county.
Raised in the Sebastopol community of Cunningham, she attended the old Mount Vernon elementary school, now the School Bell Antiques store, graduating in 1947. She was a 1955 graduate of Analy High School. She earned an associate of arts degree from Santa Rosa Junior College in 1953 and graduated from San Jose State University in 1955.
She earned a teaching degree and taught school for a time before she became a mother, then devoted her time to raising her four children and running the family home. She never missed one of her children's sports events, faithfully cheering on the sidelines.
After her children were raised, Shone worked as a pre-school teacher in Petaluma for 12 years, retiring in 1962.
Dick and Jackie Shone were marriage on Nov. 11, 1955. The couple had known each other since they were children. Their families were friends and attended many of the same dances and social functions as residents of rural Sebastopol.
"Jackie was just a part of my life all of my life," said Dick Shone.
For 10 years the Shones lived on Dick Shone's family's poultry ranch on Irwin Lane, between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. In 1965 they moved to Petaluma where they've made their home for nearly 40 years.
She was a member of the P.E.O Chapter A.J. of Sebastopol and Beta Sigma Phi.
In addition to her husband and parents, Shone is survived by her daughter, Renee Hart of Petaluma; by her sons, Doug Shone of Santa Rosa, Rick Shone of Rohnert Park and Mark Shone of Walnut Creek; her brother, Ernest Garloff of Sebastopol and by six grandchildren.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma. Private Burial will be at Cypress Hill Memorial Park.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Diabetes Society of Sonoma County, 2777 Cleveland Ave., Room 101, Santa Rosa, 95403 or the Hospital Chaplaincy Services, P.O. Box 1948, Santa Rosa, 95402-1948.

Norris McWhirter, Guinness record book founder
Norris McWhirter, one of the founders of Guinness World Records, the ubiquitous reference work that keeps track of superlatives both serious and frivolous, from sports records and tall buildings to the oldest licensed driver (104) and the farthest a person has walked with a milk bottle balanced on his head (80.96 miles), died Tuesday at his home in Wiltshire in southern England.
He was 78.
He had suffered a heart attack after playing tennis on Monday evening, a family spokesman told the Associated Press.
McWhirter started the publication, long known as the Guinness Book of Records, with his twin brother, Ross, in 1954; the first edition appeared the next year. Together they discovered and then printed that the record mother of twins was a Russian woman who gave birth to 16 sets of twins from 1725 to 1765, not to mention seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets.
Annual editions of their multifarious mix of matchlessness have surpassed 100 million in sales, making it the world's best-selling copyrighted book, at least according to itself. (The Bible, the Quran and Mao's "little red book" -- all larger sellers -- are not copyrighted.) Though the twins once personally helped cram 70 people into a compact car, other records were sent in from around the world and all received scrupulous inspection before acceptance. Once, when McWhirter was accosted by a machete-wielding cane-cutter, who claimed a record for cutting cane, he calmly requested documentation.
Except for life-threatening stunts, virtually any activity became fair game for setting a record. After all, new and updated categories meant new editions for people to buy.
In 2003, a columnist in The Evening Standard, a London newspaper, called the record book "The Guinness Book of Morons Doing Pointless Things to Make Ross and Norris McWhirter Even Richer."
Ross was murdered in 1975 after offering a reward of 50,000 pounds for information leading to the arrest of Irish Republican Army bombers. He and Norris were outspoken in their conservative views on many political and social issues, with Norris in recent years becoming a leader of the opposition to Britain's forging closer ties with Europe.
Norris continued to appear on a British Broadcasting Corp. television show on which he and his brother had starred, "Record Breakers." He answered any question the audience chose to ask from memory.
McWhirter is survived by his wife, Tessa, a daughter, Jane, and a son, Alasdair.
He went on to other writing assignments after retiring as editor of Guinness Records in 1986, and as advisory editor in 1996. One project was "Norris McWhirter's Book of Millennium Records" (Virgin, 1999), which traced the evolution of world records from prehistory.

April 7, 2004

Larry Fostmeier
Community leader Larry Fostmeier, a Sonoma County contractor who built more than 250 schools, banks and supermarkets during his 56 years as owner of Fostmeier Construction, died Saturday at a Santa Rosa hospital following a brief illness. He was 81.
The prominent businessman, who was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis two weeks ago, died of complications from pneumonia, according to family members. Until his illness, Fostmeier, known for his imposing stature, athletic prowess and adventurous spirit, was flying his single-engine Bellanca plane, swimming daily laps and snow skiing.
"In hearing of my father's death, people invariably remember him as an articulate, soft-spoken gentleman, a gentle giant of a man," said daughter Gayle Carston of Santa Rosa.
A native of St. Paul, Minn., Fostmeier came to Sonoma County as a young man, quickly establishing himself in business and social circles.
For more than 50 years, Fostmeier and his late wife, Rochelle Fostmeier, were pillars of the county's power and social structure. They were known as gracious hosts, entertaining friends, political leaders and business associates in their showplace home on McDonald Avenue.
"Looking at the party pictures, my parents were such a handsome couple. My father loved his work in construction, and his success in business allowed Mom to be the great volunteer, hostess and social person she was," said Carston.

Rochelle Fostmeier died last April.
During World War II, Fostmeier served as a captain in the 8th Air Force, 385th Bomber Group. He spent his 21st birthday flying a bombing run over Berlin, one of 27 missions he flew over German-occupied territory during the war.
A love of planes and aviation marked Fostmeier's life. He owned a private plane for decades, flying daily when the weather was good. He also was a member of the World War II Pilot's Group, regularly joining other pilots for flights to Lakeport, Napa or Woodland for lunch.
"My father loved flying. He said when he was in the air, soaring over houses and highways, it put everything in perspective. Even the big problems would be diminished. Flying was his sanity," Carston said.
Following service in the Army Air Corps during the war, Fostmeier got into the building trade, eventually starting his own firm, Fostmeier Construction, which for decades was one of the leading general contracting companies in Sonoma County. He built many schools, including Hidden Valley and Albert Biella schools in Santa Rosa, and the Safeway stores in Guerneville, Novato and Sonoma.
One of the great moments in Fostmeier's life occurred in 1993 when he again flew the B-17 bomber that he had piloted during the war. The venerable Flying Fortress was making the rounds as part of a 50th anniversary celebration. Fostmeier flew the bomber from Napa to Santa Rosa and then on to Concord.
"It had been 50 years since he had flown the B-17, but he said it was just like riding a bicycle," his daughter said.
Fostmeier was a member of the Sonoma County Airport Commission, a position he had held since 1956. With his wife, he was active in the Burbank Center for the Arts, Sonoma State University, the Boy Scouts and the Santa Rosa Symphony.
In addition to his daughter, Fostmeier is survived by his stepdaughter, Yvonne Pettis of Santa Rosa; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A service celebrating his life will take place April 14 at 4 p.m., at Daniels Chapel of the Roses. Private inurnment is at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Pacific Coast Air Museum, 2330 Airport Blvd., Santa Rosa 95403, or the Rochelle Fostmeier Scholarship, Sonoma State University Office of Development, 1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park 94928.

James Lucas
James Lucas, co-owner of the elegant Lucas Wharf restaurant in Bodega Bay, died Saturday in his sleep at his Santa Rosa home. He was 53.
He had suffered from several medical conditions, and the cause of death was not immediately known, said his daughter, Carrie Lucas of Sebastopol.
He will be remembered for his great sense of humor, his love of storytelling, and the enjoyment he took in entertaining people and making them laugh, Carrie Lucas said.
"We will all miss him greatly," she said.
Lucas was born in San Francisco, but came to Santa Rosa with his parents when he was 2 years old. He attended St. Rose School and graduated from Montgomery High School in 1968. He marriage his high school sweetheart, Peggy Gehrke, in 1969.
After graduation, he drove a truck for Standard Oil, delivering fuel to farmers and then worked in construction for his father-in-law, Wes Gehrke, while waiting to join his father and brother in the commercial fishing business.
His father, Walter Lucas, had commissioned construction of a bigger boat, the Silver Seas, and when it was ready, James Lucas joined his father and his brother, Gary Lucas, on the sea.
They trawled for bottom fish and shrimp, and were so successful they were jokingly called the "Shrimp Kings," Peggy Lucas said.
With help from their father, James and Gary Lucas purchased the waterfront property where Lucas Wharf now stands in 1976. They added a deli and fish market, where their wives worked, while the brothers continued to fish.
The deli became popular as the tourist trade to Bodega Bay increased, and the brothers added the Lucas Wharf Restaurant and Bar, begun in 1979 and completed in 1984.
James and Gary Lucas ran the restaurant after their father died, and James and his wife, Peggy Lucas, bought out Gary in 1993.
Peggy Lucas will continue to operate the restaurant, she said.
Lucas enjoyed fishing, hunting, watersports, cooking and shopping. At the time of his death, he was restoring a 1939 Ford panel truck, Carrie Lucas said.
"He liked anything to do with water. He tried everything, and as soon as he conquered that sport, he'd find something else to try," Peggy Lucas said.
He also served for a time on the Salmon Council, a marketing and advisory group.
Lucas is survived by his wife and daughter, both of Sebastopol; a son, Shane Lucas of Santa Rosa; brothers Robert Lucas of Redding and Gary Lucas of Lake Almador; and one grandson.
A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Bodega Harbour Yacht Club at Bodega Bay. The family suggests donations to the Diabetes Society of Sonoma County, 2777 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa 95403.

Marjorie Hinckley
SALT LAKE CITY -- Marjorie Pay Hinckley, wife of the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Tuesday after falling ill in January while on an overseas trip. She was 92.
Marjorie Hinckley died about 5 p.m. at her home, surrounded by her husband and other family members, church spokesman Dale Bills said. He attributed her death to "causes incident to age."
The Hinckleys had been marriage 67 years. They had five children and 25 grandchildren.
The couple attended the dedication of a Mormon temple in West Africa in January. Marjorie Hinckley fell ill on the return trip to Salt Lake City.
Church President Gordon Hinckley, 93, disclosed his wife's illness Sunday at the church's general conference. It was the first such conference she had missed in 46 years.
"I guess the clock is winding down, and we do not know how to rewind it," Hinckley said. "It is a somber time for me."
"We were on our way home, and she collapsed with weariness," he said. "She's had a difficult time ever since."
Marjorie Hinckley was born in Nephi to Phillip LeRoy and Georgetta Paxman Pay. She graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City in 1929 and began working for Owens Illinois Glass Co. as a secretary.
"The family that I grew up in consisted of one brother and four sisters and a mother and father who were absolutely devoted to the church," Marjorie Hinckley told Brigham Young Magazine in 1996.
"It was a prayerful home. We prayed about everything, and I mean everything -- that we wouldn't burn the soup."
"The really wonderful thing about my childhood was that the stake president lived across the street from us, and his son was Gordon B. Hinckley. So I was aware of him. By the time I got to high school, I knew there were two sexes, and I noticed him," she told the magazine. 

April 3, 2004

Shaundra Rutledge-Sinnwell
Shaundra Leigh Rutledge-Sinnwell, a mother of three who is remembered for a caring nature, was found dead March 1 in her Petaluma apartment.
The cause of death, while still being determined, wasn't suspicious, authorities said. She was 45.
Rutledge-Sinnwell lived in Sonoma and Marin counties all her life, starting in San Anselmo and Novato where she was a Girl Scout and attended San Marin High School.
She took a year of courses at Indian Valley College in Ignacio.
Rutledge-Sinnwell loved animals, starting with her German shepherd Sabrina and horses her family boarded when she was a child. She also enjoyed the Renaissance Faire at Black Point where she worked when she was a teenager.
She worked much of her life as a waitress and sometimes a cook, at restaurants ranging from the Golden Egg Omelette in Novato to the Pete's Henny Penny's in Petaluma. She also worked as a telephone operator in Santa Rosa.
She had three children -- two who are now adults and one who is 14 -- from two marriages and one long-term relationship.
While she had struggled with alcohol addiction and sometimes homelessness, family members said she was free from addiction for more than five years, attending the Living Faith Church, where she was baptized in November, and living independently in a Buckelew Programs apartment in Petaluma.
She loved flowers, and would take a dying tree from a garbage can to plant it and nurture it back to life, said her father, Charles Rutledge of Petaluma.
"She'd see a need and try to fill it. She was always trying to help," he said.
"She didn't have any problem introducing herself to people," Rutledge said. "She always had a smile on her face, that's how I'll remember her."
In addition to her father and stepmother, Ginger Rutledge of Petaluma, she is survived by her son, John Sabbatini of Novato, and daughters Angel Dwight of Nampa, Idaho and Arial Sinnwell of Cave Junction, Ore.
She also is survived by her sisters, Misty Sturbaum of Nampa, Idaho, Tami Robinette of Eureka, Heather Hernandez of Reno, Gin Iturreria of Pine Grove; and her brothers, Randy Rutledge of Santa Rosa, Shane Hernandez of Reno, Cheyenne Hernandez of Novato and Joe Kreger of Petaluma. Her mother died last year.

Pierre Wirtz
Pierre Henri Wirtz, a French-born winemaker and cabinetmaker who came to the United States after serving in the French Resistance during World War II, died Monday at his home in Santa Rosa. He was 87.
Among his prized possessions is a photo taken with then-general and later President Charles De Gaulle after they had dined together during the war.
He also kept a photo of a desk he had crafted for then-governor and later President Ronald Reagan. The desk was made in the 1960s after Wirtz went to work for Paul Zell Designs in Petaluma.
Born in Jeuxey, France, Wirtz was a soldier during the war first for France and later for the British Army. It was then he met his wife of 64 years, Molly, a British citizen also serving in the army.
Wirtz later was wounded while serving in the French underground.
After the war, he became a master winemaker for G.H. Mumm and Vueve Cliquot champagne makers in France.
In 1959, at age 43, he came to Sonoma County, drawn partly by the challenge of working in the region's burgeoning wine industry.
His son, Dominique Wirtz of Petaluma, recalled it as a "pretty gutsy move. He had five kids and he came over here."
Wirtz worked a half dozen years for the Buena Vista and Sebastiani wineries, then went into custom cabinetry. He retired about 20 years ago.
He was a patient man, whether building his cabinets or preparing exquisite cooking sauces. He enjoyed traveling to Europe and journeying in his motor home around the United States.
He became a U.S. citizen in 1972.
Along with his son and wife, survivors include his four other children, Carole Vialle of Chenay, France; Jacqueline Myers of Trail, Ore.; Kieron Pierre Wirtz of Lower Lake and Sylvain Wirtz of Cloverdale; an adopted son, Juan Pierre Wirtz-Antillon of Santa Rosa; 18 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson.
Services are at 2 p.m. today at Lafferty & Smith Colonial Chapel.
The family prefers memorial contributions to Heartland Hospice, 2455 Bennett Valley Road, Suite B-214, Santa Rosa 95405.

Col. Aaron Bank, 'Father of the Green Berets'
Retired Army Col. Aaron Bank, who led a number of daring missions during World War II but was best known for his postwar role in organizing and serving as the first commander of the Army's elite Special Forces, has died. He was 101.
Bank, who was known as "the father of the Green Berets," died Thursday of natural causes at his home in an assisted-living facility in Dana Point, said his son-in-law, Bruce Ballantine.
During World War II, Bank was a special-operations officer for the Office of Strategic Services, the top-secret government agency formed to gather intelligence and organize resistance forces behind enemy lines.
The OSS, forerunner of the CIA, was disbanded soon after the war.
But Bank and others were convinced the Army should have a permanent unit whose mission would be to conduct unconventional operations.
In 1951, the chief of the Army's Psychological Warfare staff, who had been impressed by OSS special operations during the war, instructed Bank to staff and obtain approval for the creation of an OSS-style operational group.
In 1952, after Bank and other key staff members had made their case, the Army approved 2,300 spaces for men in a Special Forces unit -- the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) -- at Fort Bragg, N.C.
"I wanted none but the best," Bank said in a 1968 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "First, they had to be double volunteers; that is, they had to volunteer for parachuting and behind-enemy-lines duties, which takes a special flair, a special type of personality. We had to work up all the manuals and training procedures for demolition, sabotage, new and different ways of handling weapons."
But most important, Bank said, "We had to teach them the classic aim and purpose of their service -- the organizing of civilian natives into guerrilla forces in enemy-held territory."
Bank later wrote a memorandum suggesting that Special Forces soldiers be allowed to wear berets as a mark of distinction. He listed three possible colors for the berets: purple, wine-red or green. But the Army didn't allow distinctive headgear at the time and the idea was turned down.
It wasn't until 1962, four years after Bank retired from the military, that President John F. Kennedy authorized Army Special Forces to wear berets. Kennedy, Bank later said, "picked the green because he was an Irishman."
Today there are about 7,700 soldiers in five active-duty and two National Guard Special Forces groups.
At Fort Bragg, which is still the home of the Green Berets, Bank is considered a military icon.
"Colonel Aaron Bank is a legend within the Special Forces community," Maj. Robert Gowan, spokesman for the Army Special Forces Command, said Thursday.
Born in New York City, Bank began working summers in his teens as a lifeguard and swimming teacher. He liked the work so much, he later said, that by the late 1920s it had become something of a career.
He was in and out of Europe over the next decade and learned to speak French and German fluently. In the late 1930s, sensing the inevitability of war, he returned home and joined the Army. By the time the United States entered the war, Bank had been commissioned a second lieutenant.
In 1943, the 40-year-old Bank was serving as a tactical training officer to a railroad battalion stationed at Camp Polk, La., when he saw a bulletin announcing that volunteers with foreign-language capabilities would be interviewed for "special assignments."
Once in the OSS, he said, he began a long training course that taught him "to do all the things that regular branches of the service frowned on" -- guerrilla warfare, sabotage, espionage, escape and evasion tactics.
He also learned parachuting. As commander of one of the three-man teams that dropped into southern France before the Allied Mediterranean invasion in August 1944, he and his men posed as civilians and helped French Resistance leaders organize a guerrilla force that blew up bridges, power lines and railroad tracks, and ambushed German columns.
In December 1944, Bank received what he considered the most extraordinary assignment of his career: to recruit and train 170 anti-Nazi German prisoners of war and defectors who would parachute with him into the Austrian Alps, where they would pose as a German mountain-infantry company.
The primary goal of the top-secret mission, dubbed Iron Cross, was to capture high-ranking Nazi leaders, including Adolf Hitler, who were expected to seek refuge in the area as the war in Europe neared an end.
Had the operation gone through and had they been successful in capturing Hitler, Bank told the Times in 1987, "the war would have been over overnight." But in April 1945 -- after three months of training in France -- the mission was scrubbed.
"I never cried in my life, but I damn near cried when they told me it was aborted," Bank said in a 1993 Times interview.
Bank said he had heard two versions of why the mission was canceled. "One was that the American 7th Army was ready to crack into the Inn Valley. And it was a short time later that they did." And because many of the Germans on the mission were pro-communist, he said, he heard that "the State Department didn't want to drop a big team of party Communists into Austria toward the latter part of the war."
Hitler, it turned out, was in Berlin at the time; he committed suicide on April 30, 1945.
After the aborted Iron Cross mission, Bank was parachuted into the jungles of Indochina to search for Japanese POW camps. His team located 165 French internees at three different locations in the Vientiane area of Laos.
Bank, who also served in the Korean War, retired from the Army in 1958 and moved to San Clemente.
In 1972, at age 70, he began working full time as chief of security at a private oceanfront community in Capistrano Beach, a job he held until he was 85.
Extremely fit and vigorous most of his life, the 5-foot-8, 140-odd-pound Bank swam around the San Clemente pier every day until he was 74. He then took to running 40 minutes a day on the hilly streets near his home.
Over the years, Bank wrote two books: "From OSS to Green Berets: The Birth of Special Forces" (Presidio Press, 1987); and "Knights Cross" (Birch Lane Press, 1993), a novel co-written with E.M. Nathanson, author of "The Dirty Dozen."
"Knights Cross" is based, in part, on Bank's real-life exploits with the aborted Iron Cross mission, but the novel has a twist: The mission to capture Hitler is not aborted and Bank's fictional alter ego succeeds in capturing the German leader.
"I think of Aaron as a national treasure," Nathanson told the Times. "He was a gracious gentleman and a dedicated warrior. There would seem to be a conflict between those two phrases, but they went together very well with him."
Bank is survived by his wife, Catherine; their two daughters, Linda Ballantine of Dana Point, and Alexandra Elliott of Anaheim; and a granddaughter.

April 1, 2004

Doris Lunardi
Doris Ramona Lunardi loved fishing, hunting and taking regular trips to the family cabin.
She was an avid gardener, and kept a large flower garden and fish pond.
There was golfing, too, gambling trips to Reno, travel, volunteering for community organizations and, of course, children and grandchildren.
But over the two years since she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, Lunardi lost the ability to do the things that she loved.
"Doris was suffering," her friend Sarah Thomas said. "She was just so active, and I think that was one of the things that was so hard for her to accept."
Lunardi died Sunday at age 73, surrounded by her family at her Occidental home.
Born in San Francisco, Lunardi, formerly Gonnella, was raised in Occidental from the age of 7, and remained a fixture in the community through childhood, motherhood and more than 54 years of marriage to her husband, Joe Lunardi.
They met in grammar school at Meeker School, and started dating when Doris invited her future husband to the senior prom at Tomales High shortly after he returned from a stint with the Navy during World War II.
They raised a daughter and twin boys.
Lunardi also worked in the office of the electrical contracting firm they shared until her retirement. She earlier held jobs as assistant postmistress in Occidental and at Santa Rosa's White House Department Store, her husband said.
But the couple had ample time to enjoy outdoor hobbies, going often to their cabin in Shasta County and heading to Modoc County to hunt deer.
Friends said Lunardi was known for her loving, generous personality. She loved handing out baskets or boxes of fruit, vegetables or flowers she'd grown, and crocheted afghans by the dozens for local nursing homes and hospitals.
She was past president of the Occidental Fire Department board of directors, past treasurer of the St. Philip's Ladies Guild, past president of the American Legion Auxiliary, and an active volunteer for the Graton Community Club and American Cancer Society.
"She did a lot for people that nobody ever knew about," friend Pauline Koverman said. "She wasn't the kind of person who would boast or brag about what she did."
In addition to her husband, Lunardi is survived by daughter, Jolene Corcoran of Occidental; sons, Ron Lunardi and Ray Lunardi, both of Occidental; seven grandchildren; a niece; and numerous cousins.
Friends may visit from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary in Sebastopol. A vigil service will take place at 7 tonight at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church in Occidental.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Philips, with entombment at the Druid's Cemetery.
Memorial donations can be made to the Occidental Fire Department, P.O. Box 157, Occidental 95465, or St. Philip's Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 339, Occidental 95465.

Art James, 74
MINNEAPOLIS -- Art James, who was an announcer or host for a dozen TV game shows over three decades, including "Concentration" and "Family Feud Challenge," has died. He was 74.
James, who lived in Chaska, Minn., died Sunday in Palm Springs, his former wife, Sandra Pietron, said Wednesday. Pietron, also of Chaska, said James was stricken by a sudden illness and the cause of death was not known.
James worked as an announcer on "Concentration," which ran from 1958 to 1973 and was NBC's longest-running game show.
"One of the gentlemen from his Army days was an executive with NBC and asked Art to audition for this new game show, 'Concentration,' with Hugh Downs, who needed an announcer," said his first wife, Jane Hamilton.
"He was nervous as a cat, but he got it," said Hamilton, who lives in Los Angeles.
James also worked on shows including "Say When," "Face the Music" and "Blank Check" before he started his own company, Art James Productions, in the 1990s. The company teaches public speaking and stages game shows that are designed to teach job skills.
Born Arthur Efimchick on Oct. 15, 1929, in Dearborn, Mich., James attended Wayne State University, where he studied business.
He worked as an announcer for the Armed Forces Network while he was stationed in Germany after World War II.

March 14, 2004

Barbara McMahon
Memorial services for Barbara Louise Hardin McMahon, wife of the late Sonoma County Judge Alexander J. McMahon, will be today in Sonoma.
She was 78 when she died Feb. 28 at her home.
McMahon was born in Willits and grew up in Petaluma where she graduated from Petaluma High School. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Southern California.
Her late husband had a long legal career in the Sonoma Valley, beginning as a civil attorney and then as attorney for the city of Sonoma. The couple first settled in Sonoma in 1949 in a small house on family property at Four Corners, now occupied by Friedman's Hardware.
In 1966, he was appointed municipal judge over southern Sonoma County, a position he held until his death in 1976.
She returned to school and earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Sonoma State University. She also spent many years as a volunteer at St. Francis Solano School and its support organizations.
Her son, Bud McMahon, a Sonoma County deputy district attorney, recalled his mother as being keenly interested in linguistics and in American politics.
She was also an accomplished oil painter, seamstress and avid reader.
In addition to her son Bud McMahon of Sonoma, she is survived by daughter Jeanne Bolin of Lincoln, Neb.; sons Chris McMahon of San Francisco and Tom McMahon of Oro Valley, Ariz.; and eight grandchildren.
Friends are invited to gather at the family home in Sonoma at 1 p.m. today.
The family prefers no flowers and suggests contributions in Barbara McMahon's name to the donor's favorite charity.

Spencer Flournoy memorial service
A memorial service will be Monday for Spencer Flournoy, the president and founder of the Sonoma County Taxpayers Association.
Flournoy, who retired to Sonoma County in 1983 after a long career that included military service and senior executive positions with Occidental Petroleum Corp., died Thursday of complications from heart surgery. He was 80.
In addition to running the taxpayers association, Flournoy was a member of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Burbank Center for the Arts' board of directors.
Services will be at 1 p.m. Monday at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, 9000 Sonoma Highway, Kenwood.

Ruth Ellington Boatwright, sister of Duke Ellington
Ruth Ellington Boatwright, Duke Ellington's only sibling, who for many years took care of his business affairs, died March 6 in New York. She was 88.
Her son Michael James said she had been sick for some time.
Ruth Dorothea Ellington was born July 2, 1915, in Washington.
Her first memory of her brother, who was 16 years older, was hearing him perform on the radio.
In 1930, Duke Ellington, by then highly successful, summoned his sister and parents from Washington to live with him in an apartment in Harlem.
"He was the only brother I had, and I was his only sister," Boatwright said in an interview with Ebony in 1999. "He took care of me from the time I was 12, and he's still taking care of me."
Ellington died in 1974; Boatwright oversaw his copyrights, contracts and other business matters for many years afterward.
In 1991, she sold a large number of his musical scores and manuscripts to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1995, she sold 51 percent of Tempo Music, the company that owns most of Ellington's compositions, to a New York publisher.
Boatwright graduated from Columbia University in 1939 with a degree in biology, planning to teach. She then went to Europe to learn languages and write a thesis comparing the teaching of biology in Paris and New York. She stayed with Josephine Baker, the singer and her brother's friend.
In 1941, Ellington formed Tempo Music to oversee his interests and named his sister president. He also bought her a four-story house where she maintained his trophy room of medals and honors.
In the 1950s she was host of a radio interview program in New York.
She was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and was a founder of the jazz ministry of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York, where Ellington was a friend of the first designated jazz pastor, the Rev. John Garcia Gensel.
Her first marriage, to Daniel James, a journalist and political scientist, ended in divorce. Her second husband, McHenry Boatwright, an operatic baritone, died in 1994.
She is survived by her sons Michael and Stephen James, both of New York.

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, pianist and composer
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, a composer, conductor and pianist who combined styles from the classics to jazz to create sonatas, concertos and symphonies as well as scores for movies and television, died Tuesday in Chicago. He was 71.
The cause was cancer, said Rosita Sands, director of the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago, where Perkinson was artistic director of the performance program.
His career took him from the concert halls of Europe to the jazz combo of the drummer Max Roach, and he did arranging for Marvin Gaye, Harry Belafonte and Melvin Van Peebles, among many others.
Perkinson, known as Perk, was a co-founder and musical director of the Symphony of the New World in New York, and was its acting music director during the 1972-73 season.
At various times he was composer in residence or music director for the Negro Ensemble Co., the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and the Dance Theater of Harlem and for productions of the American Theater Lab, among others. He was guest conductor with many orchestras.
Perkinson called composition "written improvisation." Bernard Holland wrote in a review in the New York Times in 1988 that his "String Quartet No. 1" "identified with some precision the compatibilities of French impressionism and jazz."
The International Dictionary of Black Composers says he explored "the extremities of the sound spectrum," using odd metrical signatures and other methods, and notes that he placed "widely spaced accompaniments against closely woven voices a la Stravinsky."
Perkinson was born on June 14, 1932, in Manhattan, and was named for Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a black British composer and conductor who gained recognition in the 1890s.
After graduating from the High School of Music and Art, where he shared the LaGuardia Prize in Music with the soprano Reri Grist, Perkinson attended New York University.
He then transferred to the Manhattan School of Music, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees, studying with Hugh Ross, a prominent choral director, who introduced him to Stravinsky and other musical luminaries. Perkinson also sang as a baritone soloist in New York churches.
He taught at Brooklyn College from 1959 to 1962 and was director of the Brooklyn Community Symphony Orchestra, an affiliate of the school's music department. In the summers he studied orchestral conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In the mid-1960s he played in the Max Roach Quartet and later worked with Roach as an arranger and conductor.
His film scores include "A Warm December," a 1973 movie starring and directed by Sidney Poitier. His classical compositions have been recorded by the Chicago Sinfonietta, the flutist Harold Jones and others.
Perkinson is survived by his daughter, Joette Thompson, of Kansas City, Mo.; his sister, Beverly Perkinson Thomas of Houston; and two grandchildren. 

March 13, 2004

Bernard Nahmens
Sebastopol rancher Bernard "Bud" Nahmens considered himself a practical conservationist, carefully nurturing and protecting family farmland that was home to an endangered wildflower called the Sebastopol Meadowfoam.
Nahmens altered his farming practices to protect the wildflower and preserved his land by selling his development rights to the Sonoma County Agriculture Preservation and Open Space District. Friends and family noted his philosophy was to leave the land better than he found it.
A native and lifelong resident of Sonoma County, Nahmens died Wednesday at a Santa Rosa hospital following a seven-month battle with cancer. He was 72.
A 1949 graduate of Analy High School, Nahmens never strayed far from where he was born, closely linked to the land and a rural way of life.
"Bud's goal was to preserve the land. He always felt farmers were the best stewards of the land in Sonoma County," said his wife, Janet Nahmens of Sebastopol.
In 1988, Nahmens was honored by the Nature Conservancy for the restoration work he did along Blucher Creek, which bordered his property.
A second-generation Sonoma County rancher, Nahmens was the son of the late George and Tita Nahmens, German immigrants who came to Sonoma County from the Isle of Fohr in the 1920s. They started a dairy and chicken ranch on Canfield Road.
Bud Nahmens took over the family dairy operation from his parents in 1962 and ran dairy cows until he retired in 1986. He then raised beef cattle on the ranch and in 1994 with his wife started the "Pick-A-Lily Gardens." The Nahmens raise 700 varieties of field-grown day lilies, selling plants to gardeners and other lily hobbyists through the Sonoma County Farm Trails map.
Nahmens, a rugged guy who held a strong work ethic, easily made the transition from cattle ranching to lily farming.
"He was a farmer first and foremost," said his wife.
Starla Nahmens of Sebastopol said her father was supportive of his family, going to great lengths to help them in their endeavors. She remembers that he was always ready to hitch the trailer and haul her horses to shows somewhere.
As a 4-H club member, Starla Nahmens started a sheep project, bringing the woolly foragers onto the family cattle ranch for the first time. As a dedicated cattleman, Nahmens wasn't thrilled to have sheep on his ranch. But he swallowed his cattleman's pride and opened the gates to let them come, pitching in to transport them to fairs.
Nahmens was a man of many interests. He was fascinated by airplanes and aviation, a passion kindled during his days as an airplane mechanic with the Air Force during the Korean War. He loved history, voraciously reading any book he could find on World War II.
He served on the Vernal Pool Task Force and was a member of Sonoma County Farm Bureau.
In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by another daughter, Venise Nahmens of Santa Rosa, and his stepdaughter, Celia Slater of Sebastopol.
Services are at 11 a.m. on Monday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary in Sebastopol.
Visitation will be held from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at the mortuary.

F. George Elliot
F. George Elliot had a reputation for rigor among the student teachers he helped prepare at Sonoma State University.
"They knew if they could please him, they could make it anywhere," said Professor Martha Ruddell, who worked with Elliott for more than a decade.
Elliott, who retired in 1992 after 24 years at the university, died Sunday at a Santa Rosa care facility. He was 77.
Elliott taught and served many years as a supervisor for student teachers as they spent the required semester teaching alongside a regular instructor in public school classrooms.
Ruddell estimated that at one time half the teachers in Santa Rosa's middle and high schools either had been student teachers under Elliott or had been the veterans who monitored his rookies in their classrooms.
While Elliott could be a demanding supervisor, he still helped many of his students find jobs by touting their abilities to the school administrators he knew, Ruddell said.
Born on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Elliott graduated from the University of British Columbia, received a master's degree at CSU Long Beach, and obtained a doctorate at UCLA.
Before arriving at Sonoma State in 1968, he had worked as a school teacher for eight years in Canada and one year in Paris. He later served as vice principal of the Royal Canadian Air Force Dependents' School in Baden-Solingen, Germany.
Never marrying, he loved to travel, including a visit to Australia and extended train trips across Canada and South Africa.
After retirement he volunteered about eight years at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Santa Rosa.
He provided funds to help in the completion of the education school's George Elliott Conference Room. He recently donated portions of his art collection to be placed there.
At his request there will be no services. Memorial contributions may be made to the George Elliott Scholarships, which are overseen by the SSU Academic Foundations, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, 94928-3609.

Bernice Crane
If there was one word to describe Bernice Crane, it was "curious."
She moved from one pursuit to the next throughout her life, driven by her fearless drive to try new things. She wasn't just a light dabbler but a doer, parlaying an interest in gardening into a nursery business, and a fondness for cooking into a small catering venture.
Crane, a North Coast resident since 1968, died Tuesday at a Santa Rosa hospital of ALS, or Lou-Gehrig's Disease. She was 83.
"The key to mom was curiosity. She always wanted to know how things worked," said her daughter Diana Stratton.
She was an intellectual, an avid reader who devoured the classics and classical music and a writer of poetry inspired by her love of nature and of her own garden.
"She'd look out of her house and see something catch her eye -- how the oak trees were emerging with little leaves -- and she'd write beautiful poetry about it," Stratton said.
A Berkeley native raised in Pleasanton, Crane marriage not long after graduating from the Highland School of Nursing in Oakland in 1945. She worked briefly as a school nurse in the Gold Country before having children.
When her husband was transferred to Casablanca, Morocco, she was inspired by the beauty of the Moorish architecture and began to paint and sketch. Later, while living in Colorado, she took up mosaic work and was commissioned by a local church to do two large pieces.
After divorcing in 1959, she found herself a single mother with two young children. She moved to California and returned to nursing, working both for a private physician and at Stanford University Hospital. She eventually marriage pharmacist Larry Crane (who died in 1976) and the couple, seeking to escape the congestion, eventually bought land off Mark West Springs Road in 1968.
Crane, who had always loved growing flowers, took up gardening seriously and by 1973 she purchased Larkfield Nursery.
"Gardening is a whole different thing from running a nursery, but like a lot of other things in her life, when she wanted to do something she figured out how to do it," Stratton said.
Crane beautified the grounds with Japanese maples and a koi pond. After selling the business in 1979 she did community service, cooking meals for AIDS patients through Face to Face and helping at a training center for young adults with developmental disabilities.
For a short time she even did catering, and baked quiches for a Coddingtown coffee house.
In 1989, Crane built a home in Willits and was a volunteer at Howard Memorial Hospital. She moved back to Sonoma County in 1999 after she was diagnosed with ALS.
"She had a great spirit about her," her daughter said. "She never complained. She just accepted the hand she was dealt."
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her son, Cliff Johnston, and granddaughters Jessica and Julie Johnston of West Lafayette, Ind.; her grandson Robbie Stratton of Fair Oaks, and her sister Ruth Mendes of Scottsdale, Ariz.
A memorial service and reception will be held at 2 p.m. April 23 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Windsor. The family suggests contributions to the ALS Association, 27001 Agoura Road, Suite 150, Calabasas Hills, Ca. 91301.

March 12, 2004

Spencer Flournoy
Spencer Flournoy, a conservative conscience in the heart of liberal Sonoma County, died Thursday of complications from heart surgery. He was 80.
Flournoy, the president and founder of the Sonoma County Taxpayers' Association, was an outspoken and articulate opponent of what he saw as government waste and unneeded tax increases.
He became a public figure from his many appearances before city and county agencies preaching the gospel of fiscal responsibility and individual accountability.
"He was a good-government guy and a small-government guy. He was an individual-liberty and individual-responsibility guy," said his son Charles Flournoy of Oklahoma City, Okla. "He found great political opponents up here in Sonoma County, and I think he loved it."
Flournoy, a native of Connecticut, graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1944 with a degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation, he enlisted in the Navy and saw active duty aboard an aircraft carrier. He met his future wife, Shirley Flournoy, while stationed at Twenty Nine Palms in Southern California.
After his discharge, Flournoy worked in construction, rising to project manager and responsibility for multimillion-dollar projects all over the world, including Spain and Israel.
He returned to Southern California in the late 1960s, where he became president of Occidental Engineering Co., with more than $400 million in contracts with the Soviet Union. In 1981 he became vice president of the parent company, Occidental Petroleum Corp. in Los Angeles, from which he retired in 1982.
The Flournoys moved to Sonoma County in 1983, to care for his wife's elderly mother. He joined old friend Ray Mattison to form Mattison-Flournoy, Inc., a Santa Rosa business consulting company.
In 1987, Gov. George Deukmejian appointed him to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. He was named chairman of the board in 1992.
He also served on the boards of the Sonoma County Alliance, the Sonoma County World Affairs Council, the Luther Burbank Center and the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa.
He is survived by his wife, Shirley Flournoy of Santa Rosa; and his children, Charles Flournoy of Oklahoma City, Okla., Barbara Flournoy and Richard Flournoy of Santa Rosa, and James Flournoy of Denver. He also leaves one great-grandchild and his brother, John Flournoy of Anchorage, Alaska.
Services will be scheduled at a later date.

Carl Holmes
Carl G. "Scottie" Holmes, a World War II veteran and lifelong Santa Rosan, died in his sleep March 6 at his home in Santa Rosa. He was 76.
Born dangerously premature on July 6, 1927, in San Diego, Holmes weighed barely 21/2 pounds. Almost immediately following his birth, his family moved north to Santa Rosa where they eventually bought some land off Los Alamos Road.
Holmes attended Alpine Elementary School and was the only member of his eighth-grade graduating class. As a 16-year-old student at Santa Rosa High School, Holmes was inspired to join the U.S. Merchant Marine by the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Although his mother, Opal Holmes, disapproved, Holmes shipped out in 1944 and spent the next 50 years as a mariner.
Holmes spent the majority of his sea time during World War II in the Pacific Theater, often in harm's way getting supplies to Allied servicemen, according to his son, Scott Holmes.
After the close of the war, Holmes marriage his girlfriend, Mary Lou, whom he met in an Oakland restaurant.
In the early 1970s, while still working at sea, Holmes' crew was credited with saving 19 servicemen stranded at sea during a typhoon. After a three-day search, the seamen were found floating on a life raft, and, rocking in 30-foot waves, were brought aboard Holmes' vessel.
He later received the U.S. Steamship Award and commendations from then-President Richard Nixon and then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.
But his fondest memory of the incident might have been about five years later, while Holmes was at an educational conference in Baltimore, according to Scott Holmes.
"He was riding the elevator and the door opened and this guy got on and says, 'Are you Captain Holmes?'" Scott Holmes said. "And the guy says: 'You don't recognize me, but I was one of the 19 guys you rescued. I wouldn't be riding this elevator if it weren't for you -- I owe the rest of my life to you.'"
Holmes was a member of the Masters, Mates & Pilots Union, the Sailors Union of the Pacific, and an active member of the American Merchant Marine Veterans North Bay Chapter. He was also a member of the Santa Rosa Burbank Lodge #57, Santa Rosa Scottish Rite Bodies, Aahmes Temple and many other service clubs.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mary Lou Holmes; his son, Scott Holmes of Santa Rosa; his daughter, Gail Holmes Theiller of Santa Rosa; and six grandchildren.
Friends are invited to attend the Masonic Memorial Services at 1 p.m. today at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa. Inurnment will be private.
Memorial donations may be made to Shriners Hospital for Children, 2425 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento 95817, or a favorite charity.

March 10, 2004

Doris McIntyre
Doris McIntyre, longtime office manager for hospitals and physicians who helped establish an employment agency for medical staff in Sonoma County, died Saturday in Santa Rosa. She was 82.
Born the only child of William and Mary Hilton in Loveland, Colo., she rode the train to Los Angeles when she was 19 to attend Woodbury Business College.
After graduation, she worked for the U.S. Office of Censorship, which monitored communications during World War II.
She met Scott McIntyre, a signalman in the Navy, during the war years and the two later marriage and raised three children together.
The McIntyres moved to Sonoma County in the mid-1950s, and Doris McIntyre began a long career involved with medical staffing in Sonoma County. After 57 years of marriage, Scott McIntyre died in December 2000 at age of 82.
Doris McIntyre is survived by three children, Thomas McIntyre of Santa Rosa, Jean Ann Lewandowski of Laporte, Minn., and Eric McIntyre of Covington, La., and three grandchildren.
A funeral service will be at 9:30 a.m. today at Eggen & Lance Mortuary, 1540 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, followed by Interment at Santa Rosa Memorial Park.

George Brand
George Brand, who was editor of a daily newspaper in San Luis Obispo for 20 years and taught journalism at two colleges, has died. He was 80.
Brand died Monday after battling cancer, the Tribune of San Luis Obispo reported.
Born in 1923, Brand graduated from Santa Rosa High School and enlisted in the Merchant Marines in 1942.
He attended Occidental College, studying political science and then spent two years in Korea with the Marine Corps.
Brand was editor of the Telegram-Tribune, which later became the Tribune, from 1963 to 1983.
"He's an icon in local journalism," said George Ramos, chairman of the journalism department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where Brand taught part time for 36 years. "There are few people who fit that category."
Brand's editorials, which often called for preserving land rather than developing it, angered some business owners.
One of the most significant news events during Brand's tenure at the newspaper was the proposed Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
Brand opposed the project after it was discovered that an fault line ran nearby.
Brand supported the Mission Plaza in downtown San Luis Obispo.
He championed the project even though it cost the newspaper advertising dollars and goodwill among downtown merchants.
Upon leaving the Tribune, Brand said, "For 20 years the Telegram-Tribune took negative editorial positions on proposals that would have an adverse effect on the Central Coast environment. The positions were negative, the results positive."
Besides his newspaper work, Brand spent six months as the director of information with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare under the Nixon administration in 1969.
He continued to teach at Cal Poly and Cuesta College after he retired.
He is survived by his wife, Dolores; two daughters, Kathleen Brand of Monrovia and Elizabeth Beal of Santa Rosa; and seven grandchildren.

George Pake
George Pake, a National Medal of Science winner, university provost and founder of a California research center that played a key role in the development of computer technology, has died.
Pake died last Thursday of heart failure at his home in Tucson, Ariz., according to officials at Washington University, where Pake taught and served as provost. He was 79.
Pake received the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest science honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1987.
The Ohio native became an assistant professor at Washington University after graduating from Harvard in 1948. In his first year at the university he published an article on nuclear magnetic resonance, which is now known as magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.
Pace's article was cited hundreds of times in other scientists' work on MRI, the university said.
Pake was chairman of Washington University's physics department from 1952 to 1956. After six years at Stanford, he returned to Washington University, serving as provost from 1962 to 1970.
Pake left St. Louis in 1970 to become the first chief researcher at Xerox Corp.'s Palo Alto Research Center in Palo Alto.
The center played a major role in developing the first personal computer, the laser printer, e-mail and other computer technology.
Pake retired as Xerox group vice president in 1986 to become director of the Institute for Research on Learning in Palo Alto. He was named director emeritus in 1991.
Survivors include Pake's wife, Marjorie; three sons; a daughter; and two grandchildren.

March 9, 2004

Robert Ayers
Petaluma resident Robert Harry Ayers, who loved driving a bus during his career and who also loved the outdoors, died Wednesday at a local hospital, surrounded by family and friends. He was 77 and had suffered a heart attack.
Ayers was a native of San Francisco. He met his wife, Dolores, at a high school party. The teenage sweethearts were marriage for 59 years.
From San Francisco they moved to Fairfax, where they raised their three children.
Ayers drove transit and charter buses for years, working for Greyhound Lines and then Golden Gate Transit. He retired at age 55 and enjoyed the next 22 years, filling them with family, travel and time outside.
"Anything outdoors. He was an outdoor person. He loved to go abalone diving and fishing," Dolores Ayers said.
After their children were grown, the couple moved to Petaluma, where they have lived for 30 years. They had five acres, including a garden and room to raise animals, including sheep.
Ayers enjoyed his family and his grand- and great-grandchildren. "He was very, very loved," his wife said.
Ayers was a member of the American Legion Post 21 in Santa Rosa.
In retirement, he also volunteered for Hospice of Petaluma, delivering items for the nonprofit agency's thrift shop, has wife said.
His two sons preceded him in death.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Georgia Kolthoff of Tiburon; brother, Merv Ayers of Petaluma; four granddaughters; and six great-grandchildren.
At his request, no services will be held. Memorial contributions may be made to a favorite charity.

Frances Dee, 94
Frances Dee, a dark-haired beauty who co-starred in the 1930s and '40s with Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Ronald Colman and her husband, Joel McCrea, has died at 94.
Dee died Saturday at a hospital in Norwalk, Conn., her son Peter McCrea said Monday. The actress had suffered a stroke three weeks ago after spending the winter with her son at his home in Connecticut.
Dee achieved stardom in 1930 opposite Chevalier in one of the first talkie musicals, "The Playboy of Paris." Her beauty earned her leading roles in comedies and dramas, notably in 1931's "An American Tragedy" as Sondra Finchley.
Her credits also included "Souls at Sea" with Cooper and George Raft, "Little Women," starring Katharine Hepburn, "If I Were King" with Colman, and "Of Human Bondage," in which she played Leslie Howard's sweetheart.
In 1933, Dee appeared with McCrea in "The Silver Cord." They marriage that year. The McCreas bought a large ranch northwest of Los Angeles, and as the metropolitan area expanded, they became among the richest landowners in California. 

February 26, 2004

Martha Sherry
Martha Sherry, proprietor of the Cookery Crockery Shop in Montgomery Village in the 1970s and '80s has died after a long illness. She was 86.
Born on Jan. 19, 1918, in Canandaigua, N.Y., to Frank and Mary Sabina Caplise, the Santa Rosa resident was the second youngest of six sisters.
"She used to say that her mother certainly had her hands full getting all the girls ready for school in those days of starched linen and such," said her husband of 58 years, Rod Sherry, a retired newscaster.
She grew up in Syracuse with her sisters, Louise, Katherine, Ruth, Mary and Eleanor, and graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in home economics and design. She later worked as a home decorator for a department store and had experience in retail sportswear sales.
During World War II she moved to Los Angeles, working there and in Beverly Hills in retail. It was on a trip home to the East Coast that she met Rod Sherry, then recently returned from duty with the Army Air Corps in England. They marriage in 1946 in Rochester, N.Y.
Rod Sherry worked in radio, then television in Los Angeles, San Diego and eventually at KPIX, Channel 5, in San Francisco, where he was the news anchor for eight years. In 1972, the couple retired to Santa Rosa.
"We had always liked Santa Rosa. It was much smaller then, of course, and it was nice to be just one hour from San Francisco where we had so many friends," her husband said.
The Sherrys had just settled into Wine Country when Martha Sherry had the idea to open the first local shop devoted solely to the culinary arts. The couple christened the Montgomery Village store The Cookery Crockery Shop.
"Martha's experience in retail made the venture profitable, and the shop expanded into a larger location at the corner of Farmers Lane and Magowan Drive," her husband said of the enterprise they ran together until 1985.
Rod Sherry also worked at KFTY-TV News 50 as managing editor for the weekend news and served as president of the Santa Rosa Downtown Rotary Club.
After the shop closed, Martha Sherry had more time to devote to special interests, such as her membership in the Soroptomist Society, her role at the Sonoma County Museum of Art and the effort to launch the Burbank Center for the Arts.
"Martha had so many friends through these groups. She developed a close circle of girlfriends that loved to get together to celebrate special dates, birthdays and anniversaries. She called them her Lunch Bunch," Sherry said of his wife's active social life in retirement.
Throughout their marriage, the couple shared a love for dogs, and Martha also loved to garden.
"She liked nothing better than to relax on the deck under the oaks, admiring her camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons," her husband said.
Martha Sherry's sisters preceded her in death. Plans for a celebration of her life will be announced at a future date.

Harry Arbios
Services for Harry Arbios, longtime principal at Herbert Slater Middle School, will be Saturday in Fresno.
The 11 a.m. service will be at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 355 E. Champlain Drive.
Arbios, 66, died Sunday at a Fresno hospital after suffering an apparent heart attack, family members said.
Arbios retired in 1996 after 32 years with Santa Rosa City Schools. For 19 of those years, he was Slater's principal. He also taught Spanish and was vice principal and dean of boys at Santa Rosa High School.
He and his wife, Diane, moved to Fresno after they retired, to be closer to family.
Memorial donations may be made to the Hanna Boys Center, P.O. Box 100, Sonoma 95476-0100 or the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, P.O. Box 650309, Dallas, TX 75265-0309.

Lenard Louie
Lenard Louie, a San Francisco Superior Court judge and noted member of the Asian community, died Tuesday afternoon. He was 68.
Louie died after a long illness that had kept him away from the court since November, the Superior Court reported. The court did not specify the nature of the illness.
"I learned to evaluate what a case is worth because I tried everything from the most Mickey Mouse of cases to the heaviest of homicides," Louie said once. "The thing I believe I have is the ability to evaluate the evidence objectively."
Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Louie encouraged attorneys to put up the strongest fight they could, "and once the fight was over, justice would prevail."
A San Francisco native, Louie graduated from University of San Francisco and the Hastings College of the Law.
He was appointed to the San Francisco Municipal Court in 1985 and to the Superior Court in 1989, both times by Gov. George Deukmejian.
Louie joined the San Francisco District Attorney's Office in 1969, where he made a name for himself by aggressively prosecuting Asian gangs.
In 2001, he presided briefly over portions of San Fran-cisco's infamous dog mauling case.

Jeremiah Gutman, civil rights lawyer
Jeremiah Gutman, a founding member of the New York Civil Liberties Union and a fixture of the civil rights bar in Manhattan for 50 years, died Wednesday after suffering a heart attack at the Metro-North train station in Hastings-on-Hudson, his daughter Thea Gutman said. He was 80 and lived in Hastings-on-Hudson.
Gutman still practiced law. Early this month, he was called to testify as a defense witness in the Martha Stewart trial about conversations he had had with the prosecution's star witness in the case, Douglas Faneuil, whom Gutman had represented briefly.
Although his appearance at a high-profile trial was not unusual, his involvement in a case involving allegations of securities fraud was. Through most of his legal career, he pursued cases related to free speech, civil rights and protests against war. His clients over the years included Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, the Hare Krishnas and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Gutman, a native of Brooklyn, joined his father's law firm, Levy, Gutman, Goldberg & Kaplan, in 1949. He had earned a Purple Heart while serving in Europe in World War II and had graduated from New York University Law School.
In 1951, in part as a response to what he saw as civil rights violations in Sen. Joseph McCarthy's campaign to root out communist influence, Gutman joined others in founding the New York Civil Liberties Union. He remained a leading figure in that group and was a member of the board of the American Civil Liberties Union at the time of his death.
His political activism extended beyond the courtroom. Last February, he suffered a shoulder injury after being knocked down in a crowd while protesting U.S. policy in Iraq with members of his family at a Manhattan rally. In a case stemming from that incident, the New York Civil Liberties Union has filed suit seeking changes in the way the police handle demonstrations.
Besides his daughter Thea Gutman, he is survived by his wife, Marilyn Gates-Gutman; two sons, Ariel and Emanuel; three other daughters, Malaika Gates-Gutman, Rebecca Menon and Mara Ferris; a brother, Robert W. Gutman; and two grandchildren.

February 22, 2004

Pershing DeGolia
Dr. Pershing DeGolia, a noted Santa Rosa eye surgeon, community leader and former military man, died in his sleep Tuesday of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 78.
Born in Oakland on Aug. 19, 1925, to hotelier Edwin Baldwin DeGolia and Myra Pershing DeGolia, he was an only child.
He was in his first semester at UC Berkeley when he left for boot camp at Fort Benning, Ga., to serve in World War II. He was a member of the 1st Infantry in the European theater.
"He was D-Day plus 3, meaning his unit was part of the waves of soldiers on Utah Beach during the invasion of Normandy," said his daughter, Victoria "Tori" Pontrelli.
He didn't talk much about his military experience, except to say "he had one year of intense combat," said his daughter. "When I was older, I learned that he was a radio man, one of the most dangerous jobs."
He fought at the Battle of the Bulge and in the Huertgen Forest standoff, in which Allied and German troops dug in for four winter months, fighting at close range. He was awarded a Purple Heart.
After the war, DeGolia served as a military policeman in Nuremberg, Germany, during the war crimes trials.
Following his military service, he returned to UC Berkeley, where he joined the Theta Chi fraternity. He met his wife, Didi (Frances Vera) Schmitt, on a blind date. They marriage in 1948. Didi DeGolia, who was active in the Symphony League and the Santa Rosa Symphony Association, died in 2002. The couple were marriage 54 years.
DeGolia attended medical school at Stanford University and settled in Santa Rosa to start his medical practice.
The DeGolias had four children; Dierdre, born in 1954; Ted, born in 1957; Pete, born in 1958, and Victoria, in 1965.
DeGolia was active in the community, serving as president of the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce, as a member of the Santa Rosa Suburban Kiwanis, SIRS and the American, California and Sonoma County medical associations.
The couple loved to travel and learned to fly airplanes when their children were young.
"They each had pilot's licenses. By the time I came along, they had sold their little two-seater, but they always traveled and had been to all of the continents," said Pontrelli.
When DeGolia retired in 1984, he studied to become a travel agent. He would create and book group trips; then the couple could travel for free as guides.
"My father was very social, a great host. He was a happy person who loved to travel, to go to the theater, to the symphony," said his daughter.
"I was doing errands yesterday and a man rushed up to me to express his sympathy. I'd never seen him before but he'd been to China on a trip with my dad in 1989," she said.
Besides his children, DeGolia is survived by nine grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 4 p.m. Sunday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa. The family suggests donations to the Santa Rosa Suburban Kiwanis, c/o Douglas Murray, 452 Oak Brook Lane, Santa Rosa 95409.

January 8, 2004

Jason Rice
Jason Rice, a free-spirited kindergarten teacher at Gold Ridge Elementary School in Rohnert Park, died Dec. 31 of cancer. He was 33.
Rice was born to Norman and Martha Rice in New York City on Sept. 19, 1970. When he was 2, the family moved to Stockton, where he grew up with his younger sisters, Courtney, 30, and Caitlin, 24.
"It's kind of ironic that he became a teacher, considering cutting class was his favorite subject," Courtney Rice said.
Rice worked at the YMCA in Stockton and Santa Rosa and went to Sonoma State University, graduating cum laude in 1994.
"I think his success at college inspired him to work with kids," his sister said.
Rice first taught second grade at John Reed Elementary School in Rohnert Park. For the past 21/2 years, he was a kindergarten and first-grade teacher at Gold Ridge.
Colleagues said he put positive energy into everything he did.
A self-taught musician, Rice spent many school recesses playing the guitar, mandolin, banjo or flute.
When Rice thought the school's weekly assemblies needed "jazzing up," he took it on himself to devise a new game for each gathering. Students, their names pulled from a hat, came forward to throw basketballs into a can or to see how high they could build a block structure using only one hand.
"Jason was not someone who passes through your life unnoticed," Principal Mary Campbell said.
Rice played guitar in a band called the Electric Foolin' Machine -- rarely for money, mostly for beer. Rice's other hobbies included fishing and kayaking.
Rice had been battling cancer since being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in early 1996, but he seldom missed work.
"His kids knew he had cancer. He answered their questions but never dwelled on it; he just kept teaching," Courtney Rice said.
"The kids loved him," Campbell said. Their parents and other staff members also held him in high regard, she said.
Although he underwent treatment for cancer, he avoided checking into the hospital until the very end, his sister said.
"He compared hospitalization to Iraq -- a proposition with no exit strategy. Near the very end, he was in the hospital, but a friend snuck him out to play pool," Courtney said.
During the winter break, school staff members contacted parents of Rice's current students and alerted them of his death. Parents of last year's students also were called. This week, the school brought in counselors to be available for staff and students.
In addition to his parents, Norman and Martha Rice of Stockton, and his sisters, Courtney Rice of Boston and Caitlin Rice of New York, Rice is survived by his aunt, Maggie Kilgore of Santa Monica.
A memorial service for children and teachers will take place at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Gold Ridge Elementary School, 1455 Golf Course Drive, Rohnert Park. The service for family and friends will be a potluck at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Cotati Veterans Memorial building, 8505 Park Ave., Cotati. For recorded information regarding times and directions, call 793-9545.

Pierre Charles, 49
ROSEAU, Dominica -- Prime Minister Pierre Charles of Dominica, who slashed public spending in a bid to help his island's economy and was a critic of U.S. policy in the Caribbean, has died of an apparent heart attack.
The 49-year-old leader was leaving his office after a Cabinet meeting Tuesday night when he complained of chest pains and slumped over in the back seat of his car while being driven home, said Dr. Irvin Pascal, the country's chief medical officer.
Leaders of the Dominica Labor Party, the nation's main party, chose the education minister as the next leader of the Caribbean country Wednesday. Roosevelt Skerrit, 31, had yet to be formally appointed by President Nicholas Liverpool, but was expected to be approved.
Flags were lowered to half-staff at government buildings after Charles' death.
"It's a tremendous shock to the nation," said Tourism Minister Charles Savarin, among more than 200 people who gathered Tuesday night outside Princess Margaret Hospital, where Charles was pronounced dead. An autopsy was planned today.
Charles suffered from heart problems and recently took a three-week leave of absence to rest. He had returned to work in mid-December.

January 3, 2004

Frank Stefani
Frank Stefani wasn't the type of guy who wanted to spend his retirement on the golf course or at a poker table.
The son of Italian immigrants was happiest in the kitchen, cooking for hundreds at crab, polenta and spaghetti feeds.
"They always said: 'Oh, Frank must be cooking in the kitchen. I know that sauce,'" said his daughter, Ora Romani of Santa Rosa. "Cooking was his fun. He was cooking all the time."
Stefani, a longtime Santa Rosa resident remembered for his spaghetti sauce, sensitivity and deep affection for his family, died Tuesday of heart failure in a Santa Rosa hospital. He was 89.
Though he loved cooking for large groups, he saved his speciality, veal scallopini, for family.
"He used to deliver wines to a lot of the fancy restaurants in San Francisco, and he learned how to do a lot of the fancy cooking there," his daughter said.
Born in San Francisco, Stefani spent most of his life working for wine companies. After high school, he took a job with the now defunct Monte Carlo Winery, where he put labels on bottles and delivered shipments to customers.
After a three-year hiatus during which he joined the Army and served in Spokane, Wash., as a supply sergeant in the medical corps, Stefani returned to the winery and eventually climbed the ranks to become a partner in the company.
When that winery was sold, he took a job as a truck driver for another wine company, Pellegrini. He retired and moved to Santa Rosa in 1980.
"He knew his stuff when it came to wine," said his son-in-law, David Romani.
Stefani marriage his high school sweetheart, Delia, whom he "idolized and worshiped," said their daughter, Ora.
Also known for his strong will, Stefani spent the last two years driving himself three times a week to his 5:30 a.m. dialysis appointments.
He was a member of the Druids, Italian Catholic Federation of St. Eugene's, the Italian American Club and the Unknowns Athletic Club of San Francisco.
In addition to his daughter and son-in-law, Stefani is survived by his two grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Friends and family are invited to meet today at 10 a.m. at Lafferty & Smith Colonial Chapel, 4321 Sonoma Highway, Santa Rosa. A funeral Mass in his honor will take place at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 1244 Saint Francis Road, Santa Rosa. There will be a private entombment at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Donations in his name may be made to the National Kidney Foundation of Northern California, 611 Mission St., 3rd Floor, San Francisco 94105.

Earl Hindman, man behind the fence
Earl Hindman, the actor known to millions as the odd neighbor barely seen as he peeks over the backyard fence in the long-running TV sitcom "Home Improvement," died Monday at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut. A Stamford resident, he was 61.
The cause was lung cancer, said his wife, the Rev. Molly McGreevy.
Hindman played Wilson from next door, imparting bits of wisdom about life to Tim Taylor, the embattled main character who knows how to improve other people's houses but not his own home. Viewers heard Wilson's advice but were left to wonder if they would ever get to see more of him.
A lean, lanky character actor, Hindman started his career on stage and appeared in films, TV series and specials for more than 30 years. Before "Home Improvement," he was Detective Lt. Bob Reid for 16 years on the ABC soap "Ryan's Hope," until it ended its run in 1989.
Earl Hindman was born in Bisbee, Ariz., and started acting in high school. He studied it at the University of Arizona before setting out for New York. He worked both on and off Broadway and in regional theater before breaking through with his Off-Broadway role as Marvin Hudgins in "Dark of the Moon" in 1970.

Gary Stewart
Gary Stewart, the country singer whose 1970s hits chronicling the alcohol-drenched honky-tonk life paralleled his own struggles with booze, drugs and depression, has died. He was 58.
A police report said Stewart was found Dec. 16 in his home in Fort Pierce, Fla., where it appeared that he had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Stewart's wife of more than 40 years, Mary Lou, had died a month earlier after a bout with pneumonia.
"He was just lost without her -- it broke his heart," Robert Gallagher, entertainment coordinator at Billy Bob's Texas, told the Fort Worth Star Telegram. The club was where Stewart had recorded his final album, "Live at Billy Bob's Texas," released last year.
Another friend of Stewart once said he "couldn't put his pants on without Mary Lou around," and although their marriage lasted from the time they wed as teenagers, it was tested by his drug and alcohol use, which spiraled out of control when his hits began to fade in the late '70s.
Stewart charted 30 country singles from 1973 to '89, hitting his commercial peak in the mid-70s with a string of songs in which alcohol often played a central role: "Drinkin' Thing," "Whiskey Trip" and his only No. 1 hit, his 1975 single "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)."
After he suffered a back injury in a 1980 car accident and, in 1982, was dropped by RCA, his drug and alcohol use escalated. Mary Lou left him for a time, and his son, Gary Joseph, killed himself in 1988, the same year Stewart emerged, clean and sober, with his first new album in years.
His high-pitched tenor and distinctive vocal quaver combined for an intense emotionalism -- vulnerability and desperation rolled into one, and ideally suited to the fragile characters who populated his songs.
His driving musical sound, reflecting his early affinity for rock and country, was at odds with the smooth, string-laden sound that typified Nashville in the early '70s. He was often cast as a latter-day champion of the raw honky-tonk sound of '40s and '50s country performers such as Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell and Webb Pierce.
He is survived by daughter Shannon Stewart of Fort Pierce and a grandson.

David Bale, activist, Steinem's husband
David Bale, an activist and the husband of feminist writer Gloria Steinem, has died at age 62.
Bale, the father of actor Christian Bale, died Tuesday of brain lymphoma at Santa Monica Healthcare Center, where he had been residing since November, family friend Carla Morganstern said Thursday.
"David went through the world with few possessions and great empathy for all living things," Steinem, the co-founder of Ms. magazine, said in a press statement. "He had the greatest heart of anyone I've ever known."
Born in South Africa, Bale grew up in Egypt, England and the Channel Islands. He worked as a pilot, with the hope of providing aid to needy communities in Africa.
Bale was once banned from returning to South Africa because he opposed the apartheid government, Morganstern said.
He and Steinem marriage in 2000 in a Cherokee ceremony in Oklahoma. It was his third marriage. 

December 8, 2003

Donna Sue Causley
As a critical care nurse, a profession where burnout is common and few people last for an entire career, Donna Sue Causley was a role model who made nursing her life.
Causley, a nurse for nearly 30 years who had worked at Petaluma Valley Hospital since the facility first opened, died Dec. 4 at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after a short illness. She was 57.
"She was a nurse. That was her huge life commitment," said Donna Greely, a friend and co-worker of Causley's since the 1970s. "She got a lot of sense of pride from it. She liked being in a service position. I think there was a draw to helping others."
Causley was born and raised in Highland Park, Mich., and moved to the Bay Area in the 1970s. She settled in Petaluma, where she worked at Hillcrest Hopsital before Petaluma Valley opened in 1980.
Causley was a devoted caregiver, teaching and mentoring other nurses, volunteering at free clinics, writing procedures and constantly absorbed in learning more about her profession, Greely said. Causley worked in the critical care unit during her entire career. She was named Petaluma Valley's Employee of the Year in the late 1990s.
Patients and their families grew to know her over the years, sending her cards and flowers and asking for her when they were admitted to the hospital.
Nursing was her passion, but it wasn't her whole life, Greely said. Causley loved to travel and was a talented bowler who participated in league play. But her favorite activity was going on cruises -- she went at least twice a year, and always took along a friend or family member.
"She liked the royal treatment. She liked the massages and the fancy dinners and the dressing up," Greely said. "She liked to travel, she liked to see different parts of the world, and meet interesting and eccentric people. She wasn't afraid to go off by herself and do something if she wanted to do it."
Causley is survived by her good friend of 29 years, Thomas Kane of Petaluma; a sister, Paula Gambill of Michigan; a brother, Ralph Causley of Michigan; two nieces; a great-niece; and a great-nephew.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory, at Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street in Petaluma.
Contributions may be made to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma, 94952.

December 7, 2003

Francisco B. Macias, a handyman who lived in Sonoma County for 34 years, died Friday after a brief illness. He was 57.

December 5, 2003

Masonic and memorial services are Sunday for Elza Ridley "Al" Miller, a retired construction contractor, who died Nov. 30.

December 4, 2003

Frank Anderson
Frank L. "Andy" Anderson, former Forestville Citizen of the Year and lead developer of the Forestville Youth Park, died Nov. 30 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 83.
Anderson, a longtime town booster, was a past member and active supporter of many community groups, including the Forestville Chamber of Commerce, Forestville Odd Fellows, Western Sonoma County United Way, the Forestville Union Elementary School District board of trustees, the Sebastopol Rotary Club and El Molino Little League.
He spearheaded development of the Forestville Youth Park in the 1960s. Instrumental in the purchase of the property, the park design and its subsequent growth, Anderson was a fixture at every annual park barbecue. He was a three-time president of the Youth Park Board.
Born in Spartunburg County, S.C., on July 12, 1920, to John Marshall Anderson and Miriam Lavinia Schell, Anderson was the eldest of three children.
After graduating from Reidville High School, Anderson joined the Army Air Corps -- the precursor of the Air Force. He signed on as a mechanic during World War II, but worked his way into Aviation Cadet School and graduated in 1945. He went on to teach approximately 80 pilots to fly B-25 bombers.
After leaving the service, he moved to California, sight unseen, to work in the aviation industry. He eventually moved to Santa Rosa, where he met and marriage Virginia Ross of Forestville in 1948 and took a job with PG&E.
Anderson spent 10 years building a home on the Ross family property in Forestville while moving through the ranks at PG&E. He spent more than three decades with the company, starting as a surveyor and eventually retiring in 1979 in the post of marketing manager.
In retirement, Anderson converted the George F. Ross Apple Ranch to the 12-acre Anderson-Ross Vineyard, where he remained active in daily operations until his health deteriorated in September.
But Anderson's primary focus throughout his life was his family, according to his son, Frank L. Anderson, co-principal at El Molino High School in Forestville.
"Our dad was the consummate family man. He did everything he could possibly do to support our family," he said. "We are a very, very close family, geographically as well as spiritually."
His commitment to family ran so deep, Anderson even developed a cursory interest in sports just to keep pace with his wife, who remains an avid sports enthusiast, his son said.
"My mom is a big sports fan, so we watch the 49ers games or Giants games. He would always learn just enough to be conversant, then bang, he would be out in the barn doing something or fixing something," he said. "He always found something to be busy with, always had a project started, semi-finished or planned to be started."
In addition to his son, Anderson is survived by his wife, Virginia "Ginny" Anderson of Forestville; daughter, Peggy E. Corrigan of Santa Rosa; sister, Elizabeth Eppes Anderson of Clinton, S.C.; four grandchildren; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.
Friends and family are invited to attend a funeral service at 2 p.m. Friday at Sebastopol Community Church, 1000 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol. Visitation will begin at 1:30 p.m. Interment will be at Forestview Cemetery.
Memorial contributions in Anderson's name may be made to Forestville Youth Park, P.O. 537, Forestville 95436.

December 3, 2003

Reginald Porter
Reginald "Reg" Porter, a botanist and academic by trade whose love of gardens also was his passion, died of heart failure Nov. 11 in Santa Rosa. He was 91.
Whether it was walking in the open air of a Sebastopol apple ranch or cultivating vegetables in small San Francisco gardens, Porter was most relaxed among the very plants he spent decades teaching about in universities around the country.
"He gardened everything," said his daughter, Ann Jeffrey. "He always had vegetable gardens, even in the city. I remember cauliflower and all the plants he grew there."
Raised in Belle Fourche, S.D., where there typically is heavy snowfall seven months out of the year, Porter's family members today wonder how his love affair with plants began.
"Living in that part of the country, you don't have a lot of garden," his daughter said. "But I knew he always liked plants."
After receiving a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska, Porter had the choice to attend either the UC Berkeley, or Cornell University in New York for his doctorate in botany.
Having a wife and a daughter to support in the midst of the Depression, Porter opted for Berkeley, where he could earn $40 a month working as a teaching assistant.
After graduating, he took a job teaching botany and biology at San Francisco City College during the school's first years of operation.
When World War II broke out, Porter became director of San Francisco's Victory Gardens, which helped offset food shortages.
Always of the mind-set that "educators travel," Porter would teach science at four different colleges in four different states by the end of his career. Among them were Pennsylvania State University, Sonoma State University and the University of Iowa, where he was nationally known for curriculum development in science education.
Even after retiring in 1968, Porter loved plants too much to give them up for good. He and his wife, Roseltha, whom he met and marriage in South Dakota, bought an apple ranch in Sebastopol and spent many years there. She died in 1988.
During that time, Porter also became professor emeritus at Sonoma State University, where he taught biology and supervised student science teachers.
"He really enjoyed the students and the young people," his daughter said.
He also was a docent at the Luther Burbank Gardens in Santa Rosa.
Porter was living at Spring Lake Village in Santa Rosa at the time of his death.
In addition to his daughter, Ann Jeffrey of Campbell, Porter is survived by daughter Elizabeth Jones of Columbia; son Tom Porter of Ann Arbor, Mich.; eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be on Sunday, Dec. 14, at 3 p.m. in the Spring Lake Village Chapel, 5555 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa.

Ethel Winant
LOS ANGELES -- Ethel Winant, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning television producer who made history as the first woman to hold an executive position at a network, has died. She was 81. Winant died Saturday at the West Hills Hospital and Medical Center of complications from a heart attack and stroke she had suffered nearly a month earlier.
Over the years, Winant won numerous accolades, including a special Emmy for "Playhouse 90," two Peabodys, the Humanitas Prize, the Christopher Award, the Alice Award and the Crystal Award from Women in Film. In 1999, Winant was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

December 2, 2003

Alvin Piazza
Alvin A. "Manny" Piazza was born on a dairy ranch in the hamlet of Bodega, serving as fire chief and unofficial mayor of the coastal town he called home for 73 years.
Piazza died Saturday of a heart attack while driving back from Valley Ford, where he had made his daily trek to feed cattle at his son's ranch.
A native and lifelong resident of Bodega, Piazza was a fixture in the coastal town where he was often called upon to repair pumps and tractors for neighbors. He was among the first volunteers serving with the Bodega fire department when it was organized in 1946. In 1985 he was elected Bodega's fire chief, serving for a decade.
Since his retirement from the construction business eight years ago, Piazza was a regular at The Casino, a tavern that serves as Bodega's city hall and gathering place.
"Manny was an icon in this town. He liked everybody and everybody liked him. Oh, he could be blunt and opinionated, but you always knew what he was thinking," said his sister, Evelyn Casini of Bodega, proprietor of The Casino.
Piazza was the youngest of five children of the late Giuseppe Piazza and Catherine Piazza Perry, who is 95 and now a resident of Sebastopol. Piazza's family settled in Bodega in 1905, operating a dairy ranch on Bay Hill Road.
Piazza grew up milking cows and working the land, developing the mechanical skills and work ethic that would be his trademark.
"He could fix anything. If anybody needed anything they would call Manny," said his wife, Amelia Piazza of Bodega. She said he also was devoted to his family, working hard for decades to carve a good life on the Sonoma Coast.
Piazza attended Bodega's old Potter School, the classic schoolhouse where Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed. He attended Tomales High School and worked on the family ranch before joining the Army and serving for two years.
After he left the service, he ran a small dairy while working as a loader operator at the Chenoweth Lumber Mill in Bodega for 10 years. He then joined the operating engineers and went to work for the John W. Bickery Co., where he supervised highway construction projects from the Oregon border to Mexico. He later worked for Argonaut Construction of Santa Rosa, retiring about eight years ago.
"When he retired, he was just happy to be home in Bodega. He would make the rounds between Bodega, Valley Ford and Bodega Bay," his wife said.
She said one of his great joys was helping his son and grandsons with their registered cattle herd. He also enjoyed hunting in the hills around Bodega.
In addition to his wife and sister, Piazza is survived by his sons, Michael Piazza of Portland, Ore., and James Piazza of Penngrove; his mother, Catherine Perry of Sebastopol; his brothers, Alfred Piazza of Bodega and Joseph Piazza of Sebastopol; and five grandsons.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church in Bodega. Burial is at Calvary Cemetery in Bodega.
A vigil service will be held at 7:45 p.m. Thursday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary in Sebastopol.
Visitation will begin after 10 a.m. Thursday at the mortuary.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Bodega Volunteer Fire Dept. Building Fund, Bodega 94922.

Willard Sheard
Willard F. Sheard, a Kashia Pomo and lifelong resident of the Kashia Reservation at Stewarts Point in Sonoma County, died Thursday. He was 73.
Born Jan. 28, 1930, to William and Elizabeth Pinole Sheard, Willard Sheard was one of 12 children, three of whom died in infancy.
Sheard marriage at 19 and enlisted in the Army at 20. He served two years during the Korean War, then returned to the reservation and his job as a logger, according to his sister, Grace Pike of Santa Rosa.
"He just liked the quiet of it," she said of the reservation. "No noise, nobody bothers you, no traffic. I think he just loved it up there and it's all he ever knew."
Sheard had two children with his first wife, Beverly, but after their marriage ended in divorce his wife reared the two boys out of state, Pike said.
With his second wife, Annie, Sheard had six more children. When that marriage ended in divorce, Sheard spent time visiting his children both on and off the reservation.
He also became increasingly close to his numerous nieces and nephews, Pike said. Sheard frequently made the drive from the reservation to Santa Rosa for family gatherings, she said.
"He loved football, the 49ers. That was our thing together," she said. "He was always around, coming down and watching the football game."
In the late 1960s, Sheard left logging and began a series of temporary jobs until he signed on with the community health center on the reservation. It was in that work he found his calling, Pike said.
"At first he was transporting patients to help them to doctors appointments. He also worked for the brown-bag service, where he delivered food to seniors once a week," she said. "He was always on alert there, in case anything happened, but I think he was the type of person who wouldn't admit when things touched him."
Sheard died at home after a short battle with liver cancer.
In addition to his sister, Sheard is survived by his sons, William, Joseph and Leonard; his daughter, Tanya; his brother, Mike Kephart; his sisters, Marva Sheard and Elizabeth Purdue; 11 grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary, 301 S. Main St., Sebastopol. Viewing will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the mortuary. Burial will be on the Kashia Reservation.

Earl Bellamy, 86, TV director
Earl Bellamy, a prolific television director who amassed more than 1,600 episode credits ranging from "The Lone Ranger" to "Leave It to Beaver" and from "I Spy" to "MASH," has died. He was 86.
Bellamy died of a heart attack Sunday evening at a hospital in Albuquerque, N.M. He had lived in nearby Rio Rancho, N.M., since 1991.
In a career that began as a messenger at Columbia Pictures in 1935, Bellamy launched his directing career with "Seminole Uprising," a 1955 Columbia Western starring George Montgomery.
Bellamy directed about 20 feature films, including "Incident at Phantom Hill" and the Tony Randall comedy "Fluffy."
But, as Bellamy once said, "I got hooked on television," and it was in television that he became one of the most respected and sought-after directors.
The 1950s and early '60s were known for the proliferation of TV Westerns, and Bellamy directed many of them, including "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon," "Wagon Train," "Rawhide," "Daniel Boone" and "The Virginian."
In 2002, he received a Golden Boot Award from the Motion Picture and Television Fund for his contributions to the Western film genre.
But Bellamy was equally at home with such diverse fare as "The Donna Reed Show," "Bachelor Father," "Lassie," "Perry Mason," "The Andy Griffith Show," "The Munsters," "The Mod Squad," "Fantasy Island," "The Love Boat," "Eight Is Enough," "CHiPS" and "Starsky and Hutch."
"He did a lot of everything; he was a workhorse," Boyd Magers, a friend of Bellamy's who publishes Western Clippings, a film publication, told the Los Angeles Times on Monday. "But to me, the important thing about Earl was his irrepressible spirit. It rubbed off on everybody that he knew and came into contact with."
The son of a railroad engineer, Bellamy was born March 11, 1917, in Minneapolis. The family moved to Hollywood in 1920, and Bellamy graduated from Hollywood High School in 1935. He landed a job as a messenger at Columbia Studios, worked his way up to production clerk and, in 1939, became a second assistant director on "Blondie Takes a Vacation."
Bellamy, who retired in 1986, is survived by Gail, his wife of 26 years; three children, Earl J., Michael and Karen; five grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Barber Conable, 81, ex-congressman
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Barber B. Conable Jr., a Republican congressman for 20 years who was his party's standard bearer on taxes, trade and Social Security, has died. He was 81.
Conable, who collapsed with a blood infection in September, died Sunday at a hospital in Sarasota, Fla., of complications from a staph infection, his family said. He had moved to Florida earlier this year from his longtime home in Alexander, a village southwest of Rochester.
Representing a largely rural section of western New York from 1965 to 1985, Conable rose to be senior Republican on the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee while the GOP was the minority party.
From 1986 to 1991, he was president of the World Bank, the agency that lends billions of dollars to developing nations.
Among the high points of his years in Congress were forcing through the revenue sharing law in 1972 and the Trade Reform Act of 1974, which cleared the way for U.S. negotiations on the lowering of tariff barriers.
There were bitter disappointments, none greater than the betrayal he felt during Watergate after years of loyally backing President Nixon's policies. He later refused to answer Nixon's letters or even attend his funeral.
By the time Conable departed Congress, frustration had begun to outweigh often piecemeal victories.
"Everyone has his own time frame; for me, 20 years is long enough," he said, announcing in February 1984 that he would not seek re-election.
Conable was a Marine in World War II, fighting in the battle of Iwo Jima, and in the Korean War. He practiced law in Buffalo and was elected to the New York state Senate in 1962.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Charlotte; four children, Anne, Emily, Sam and Jane; 11 grandchildren; and a brother, John.

October 14, 2003

Julie Bennington
Julie Marie Bennington, a teacher at Helen Lehman Elementary School in Santa Rosa, died Oct. 8 of complications from cancer. She was 44.
Born in Manchester, England, on April 21, 1959, she immigrated with her family to the United States in 1967, settling first in Pennsylvania, then coming to San Francisco.
She attended San Francisco State University, earning a degree in international relations, and marriage Victor Ramensky in 1983. The couple had two children, Natalia, born in 1986, and Alex, born in 1988. The family moved to Santa Rosa in 1990.
While her children were growing up, Bennington volunteered in their classrooms, where she discovered her own passion for teaching.
"Julie went to Sonoma State and got her teaching certificate and taught different grades in several schools, but she loved second graders. She said they had an innocent love of learning at that age," said her mother, Hazel Whiteoak of Santa Rosa.
After the Ramensky's divorced in 1998, Bennington continued to teach and devoted even more time to friends, family, gardening and her many pets, including three dogs, three cats and Billie the rat, all of whom have found new homes.
Her garden, which resembled an English country garden, included a small pond, many varieties of roses, wildflowers and a prolific vegetable bed. It was the scene of many lively get-togethers and barbecues, her mother said.
More than 300 people attended a memorial Sunday at the Wild Oak Saddle Club. Many students and their families attended the gathering, where a rocking chair from Bennington's classroom was used to receive hundreds of notes and cards.
"You always think your child is the most wonderful person in the world, but it is rare to hear others say it," Whiteoak said. "One child on Sunday said Julie made her feel like she could do anything. Parents said they felt welcome in her classroom and nearly everybody remarked on her kindness."
At the beginning of each school year, regardless of the age of her students, Bennington gave the same first-day talk. She told them that during the year she would help them to do their best, including learning to read well.
"'But the most important thing I will teach you is kindness,' she always told them," Whiteoak said. "She felt without kindness the other stuff didn't matter."
Diagnosed with cancer in early July, Bennington planned to embark on therapy to beat the disease. She completed one round of chemotherapy before succumbing to complications.
In addition to her mother and her children, Bennington is survived by her father, Bernard Bennington of Chestertown, Md.; her stepparents, Dusty Millar of Santa Rosa and Nancy Bennington of Chestertown; two brothers, Charles Bennington of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Robert Bennington of Chestertown; and a sister, Zoe Bennington of Washington, D.C. She also leaves behind her companion, William Tuttle of Santa Rosa.
Her family requests that friends plant flowers or support the humane society to honor her memory. 

October 1, 2003

Richard Beliveau
Richard Lee Beliveau, a longtime Sonoma resident whose upholstery shop was a gathering spot for his many friends, died Friday at his home. He was 59.
The cause was cancer, family members said.
Beliveau, who was known as Dick or Dickie, was born Sept. 28, 1943, in Wayzata, Minn.
His family moved west to Oxnard and then, in 1950, to Sonoma, where he would spend the rest of his life, forming a circle of deep and lasting friendships.
"He has a family in town -- he doesn't have friends, he has a family," said his wife, Kathy.
Beliveau went through Sonoma schools and graduated in 1961 from Sonoma Valley High School. He attended Santa Rosa Junior College, planning an accounting career, but left to help support his family by entering the upholstery trade.
His interest in that work was awakened through his hobby of working on used cars, Kathy Beliveau said.
She and Beliveau met in Sonoma in 1970, at a wedding where he was the best man and she was the maid of honor.
"He was gentle and funny, he just cared about everybody," she said.
They marriage in April 1971 and honeymooned at The Sea Ranch, driving there in a 1950 Cadillac.
The car, too, would remain a passion of Beliveau's. A member of the Devil's Darlins Car Club, he worked on the Cadillac constantly and in his illness was teaching his son-in-law, Mario Alioto of Sonoma, how to drive it.
Beliveau was established in the upholstery trade by the time he married, and before long he opened his own shop, Beliveau Upholstery.
"He called it 'Dickie's Playhouse' because all the guys went there," his wife said. "And after he was diagnosed, and they couldn't go there, they all came here to the house."
An inquiring mind, Beliveau had a particular interest in history and read avidly about the Sonoma Valley and also the Civil War, she said.
"He'd get one angle on something out of one book, and then he'd read another and get another perspective," she said.
Beliveau also was class historian of his high school's 1961 graduating class reunion committee, and "he knew everybody," said his longtime friend, former Sonoma Valley High School Principal Bob Kruljac.
"We're going to be lost without him," Kruljac said. "He was a wonderful man."
Besides his wife, Beliveau is survived by his daughters, Trista Beliveau and Amee Alioto, both of Sonoma; and his sisters, Nancy Beliveau of Petaluma and Linda Dozier of Folsom.
Funeral services are planned for 11 a.m. today at Duggan's Mission Chapel, 525 W. Napa St., Sonoma.

Benjamin Shimberg, licensing expert
Benjamin Shimberg, an expert on how occupational testing, licensing and certifying can protect the public, died Wednesday in Trenton, N.J. He was 85 and lived in Law-renceville, N.J.
He died after suffering a stroke Sept. 18, his family said.
Shimberg, a former senior research scientist at Educational Testing Service in Lawrence Township, N.J., was a founder of the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation, known as CLEAR, a leading professional organization dedicated to issues involving the licensing of professionals.
His research is credited with reforming licensing procedures in many fields, including optometry, cosmetology, licensed practical nursing, insurance and real estate, as well as for the selection of officer candidates in the Coast Guard and the sergeant exams for the New York City Police Department.
He went to work for Educational Testing Service in 1953 as assistant to the president. He became the director of occupational studies and programs in 1967 and was with the organization for 35 years before retiring.
His writings include the 1973 book "Occupational Licensing: Practices and Policies," of which he was one of three co-authors.
He was president of the Association for Measurement and Evaluation in Guidance from 1965 to 1967.

September 30, 2003

A car salesman, business owner and world traveler, Jess Phillip Dunnagan was also a scuba diver who enjoyed some of the world's most scenic waters.

September 29, 2003

Mary Gutzman
For most of her life Santa Rosa resident Mary Agnes Gutzman was the glue of her family, helping her father raise five children on his South Dakota farm and acting as the storehouse of information for far-flung family members in her adult life.
Gutzman, who had suffered from heart problems for several years, died at her home Thursday. She was 81.
Born in the South Dakota town of Elktown, Gutzman grew up on her dad's farm, where they raised dairy cows, pigs and chickens in addition to growing crops.
Besides her farm chores, Gutzman helped raise her younger brothers and sisters following the early death of their mother.
She moved to California with her husband, Myron, now deceased, who was a Firestone tire salesman, following jobs in Sacramento, Visalia and Porterville.
Tired of the constant upheaval, the couple moved to Santa Rosa in 1955 when her husband took a job with Monroe & Co., a tire and auto supply store.
A few years later, her husband, nicknamed Whitey, opened up his own auto supply store, Whitey's T.B.A., on West College Avenue. They operated the business for 20 years. Mary Gutzman was the company's secretary and bookkeeper.
Despite those duties, Gutzman "was basically a mom her entire life," said granddaughter Amy Polos.
"She was the family matriarch. She was pretty much the glue of the family," said Polos, who recalled her grandmother's constantly writing to stay in touch with relatives in South Dakota, Minnesota, Florida and even Belgium.
"It's like losing your connection to everyone," Polos said of her grandmother's passing.
But Gutzman did more than write letters. She flung newspapers decades ago when her two sons delivered papers for The Press Democrat.
"When they were sick Grandma would go and and deliver it for them. She even collected money for them a couple of times," Polos said.
Gutzman loved to crochet and garden, and for a short time taught catechism classes at St. Rose Church. She was a member of the church as well as of the Gamma Eta Sorority.
She also had a not-so-secret sweet tooth. "She'd have stuff hidden in drawers and other places throughout the house," said Polos.
Gutzman is survived by two daughters, Marla Polos of Battleground, Wash., and Mary York of Santa Rosa; two sons, Michael Gutzman of Santa Rosa and Myron Gutzman Jr. of Orangevale; a sister, Helen Frawley of Santa Rosa; a brother, Robert Strubbe of Santa Rosa; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
A vigil is scheduled at Daniel's Chapel of the Roses, 4-5 p.m. Tuesday for family members and 5-8 p.m. for the public.
Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the mortuary followed by Burial at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Donations to Memorial Hospice, 821 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa 95401 are preferred.

World's oldest man Chuganji, 114
Yukichi Chuganji, a retired silkworm breeder documented as the world's oldest man, died at his home in Japan at age 114, his family said Monday.
Chuganji was pronounced dead from natural causes Sunday evening, said his 65-year old nephew, Tadao Haji.
Bedridden in recent years, Chuganji had been living with his 72-year-old daughter Kyoko in the city of Ogori, about 550 miles southwest of Tokyo.
He had just finished drinking some apple juice when his family noticed he wasn't looking well, Haji said.
"As always, he had been thanking everyone for taking such good care of him and for cooking his meals," Haji said of Chuganji's last day.
Chuganji was born March 23, 1889 in the farming town of Chikushino on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu. He worked as a silkworm breeder and adviser after graduating from technical school in the early 1900s.
Kyushu is also home to the world's oldest person, a 116-year-old woman named Kamato Hongo.
There are an estimated 15,000 Japanese older than 100, and women make up about 80 percent of the total.

Cuban exile leader Luis Botifoll
Luis Botifoll, who turned Republic National Bank into the nation's largest Hispanic-owned bank while helping fellow Cubans start over in Miami, has died. He was 95.
Botifoll died of heart failure Wednesday night at his home, only hours after representing the Cuban American National Foundation at a gathering with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
Botifoll, who helped found the CANF in 1981, gave a short speech and later talked to reporters.
"It was his last mission," said CANF spokesman Joe Garcia.
"He had this clarity of mind, he knew how to lead."
The son of Spanish immigrants, Botifoll was born in Havana and had a law degree from Tulane University. Botifoll, his wife Aurora, and their three daughters fled Cuba a year after Fidel Castro came to power in 1959.
In 1970, he went to work at Republic as vice president and chairman of the loan committee. He lent money to Cuban exiles, many of whom had no assets and were being turned down for loans by other banks in Miami.
"I knew who was good and who was not good," he once told the Miami Herald. "I based myself on people's character, not their financial statement."
Within eight years of joining the bank, he was chairman of the board. In two decades, he built the once tiny Republic into a major enterprise with 18 branches and $1.2 billion in assets. The bank was sold in 1999.

John Orrell, helped re-create Globe
John Orrell, a historian whose intellectual detective work laid the groundwork for the 1997 re-creation of Shakespeare's original Globe Theater, died Sept. 16 in Edmonton, Alberta. He was 68 and lived in Edmonton.
The cause was melanoma, his wife, Wendy, said.
The details -- from size to seating -- of what may be the world's most famous theater have long eluded historians, but Orrell brought new techniques, including mathematics, to the search. He was a rare sight, a Shakespearean scholar who carried a slide rule.
Orrell's breakthrough was to use a famous 17th-century etching, "The Long View of London," by the Bohemian artist Wenceslaus Hollar, and overlay it on a present-day map showing which 17th-century buildings survive.
He then did trigonometric analyses of building proportions to determine the size of the Globe.
Orrell added a disappointingly small amount of archaeological evidence, Shakespeare's own stage directions, a building contract for a similar theater, the writings of Italian theater architects and several other contemporaneous images, and came up with a description of the size and nature of the theater.
The importance of the Globe in theatrical history is hard to overstate. Shakespeare made a personal cash contribution to the theater and helped plan it. Some of his greatest works -- among them "Julius Caesar," "Hamlet" and "Macbeth" -- were written for it.
The Globe was built in 1599, and in 1613 was destroyed by fire. A new Globe was built on the foundation. In 1642, Oliver Cromwell's Puritans shut down theaters, and the Globe was pulled to the ground two years later.
It was the original Globe that enthusiasts, led by the filmmaker and actor Sam Wanamaker, tried to re-create.
"Not many scholars are able to get their stuff actually out there in physical form," said Dr. Barbara A. Mowat, director of academic programs at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington.
She hastened to add that there was no certainty that Orrell's answers would ultimately prove to be the right ones. For example, an Australian scholar has looked at the original Hollar etching and calculated that the Globe Theater was actually 35 percent smaller than Orrell calculated.

September 28, 2003

Claude Reynolds
In his 100 years, Claude E. Reynolds lived many tales, from life on a Montana homestead to traveling to California in a Model T, and he loved the telling, especially with a great-grandchild on his knee.
Reynolds, a Sonoma County resident for 35 years, died of complications from a stroke Monday at his granddaughter's home in Lodi.
Healthy and strong until his last few years, Reynolds played golf into his 90s. He carried his own bag and walked 18 holes twice a week with a trio of friends.
One of six children, he was born in Kansas on Dec. 12, 1902, a year before the Wright brothers built and flew the first successful airplane.
Reynolds was raised in Polson, Mont., on a homestead in the Flathead Indian Reservation. When he was about 17, his parents drove him to Berkeley to live with and help an older brother studying medicine at the University of California, said his son, Jerry Reynolds of San Jose.
After a few years, a homesick Reynolds began a series of jobs that eventually took him on a roundabout course back to Polson, via a cruise ship to Hawaii and riding the rails to work at a Washington sawmill. He later ran a service station in Montana and sold radios in Kansas.
He had marriage Pearl "Peg" Johnson in 1929 and they had three children. In 1942, the family moved to the Bay Area, and Reynolds worked at the Westinghouse factory in Emeryville.
In 1945, their eldest daughter, then 15, died of leukemia, devastating the family.
After 25 years at Westinghouse, Reynolds retired. In 1965 the couple moved to Sonoma County, living in Rohnert Park and later Sebastopol. After Peg Reynolds died in 1972, Claude Reynolds moved to Santa Rosa.
Over time he had a second chance at love, falling for the widow next door.
For about 25 years he and Gertie Davies lived side-by-side as constant companions. They turned their small yards into lush gardens filled with fruits, vegetables and roses.
In his later years, Reynolds, known as "Poppy" to his great-grandchildren, liked nothing more than having a baby or child nearby, family members said.
He also was proud of his family history in the West, including his great-uncle, "Lonesome" Charlie Reynolds, written up in history books as Gen. Custer's chief scout.
"He had a good long life. He made it to 100 like he wanted to," said Reynolds' daughter, Marilynn Patton of Truckee.
At his request there will be no services. His ashes will be taken back to Montana.
In addition to his son and daughter, he is survived by six grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Bill Crayne
Tomales rancher Bill Crayne, who was known for his sense of humor and service on the Tomales Town Hall board, died Thursday night after a heart attack. He was 55.
Born in Petaluma in 1948, Crayne grew up on the family dairy in the coastal community of Tomales.
After high school, he spent four years in Rhode Island while serving in the Navy before returning to the 300-acre family ranch he would later inherit.
Crayne was a lighthearted man who saw the positive in everyone, said his daughter, Christina Bordessa of Valley Ford.
"He made light of everything," Bordessa said. "He always had a good word to say about everybody. It didn't matter what anyone else thought of them."
Crayne switched from dairy cows to beef ranching four years ago.
When he wasn't busy on the farm, he enjoyed building fireplaces, woodworking and hunting deer, Bordessa said.
Active in the community, Crayne spent three decades on the Tomales Town Hall board, which manages the historic building that is used as a community gathering place.
In addition to Bordessa, he is survived by daughters Tracie Crayne of Bodega and Jennifer Donaldson of Winters; son Michael Crayne of Tomales; brothers Richard Crayne of Tomales and Jim Crayne of Petaluma; sister Kathy Hughes of Rohnert Park; and granddaughters Chelsea Crayne and Mollie Donaldson.
A memorial service is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary in Petaluma.
Memorial donations may be made to the Tomales Town Hall, c/o Burt Cruz, P.O. Box 324, Tomales 94971.

September 27, 2003

Savannah Hill
Savannah Hill, an energetic fifth grader who loved to sing and swim, was only 10 years old when she died last Monday. But during her short life she taught family, friends and school mates worlds about living.
"The most striking thing about Savannah was that when she walked into a room it would light up. She was such a positive person her optimism was contagious," said her father Phillip Hill of Santa Rosa.
Savannah grew up as a member of a large, loving extended family with aunts, uncles and cousins who skied, snow boarded and sang together. But even in this sunny family Savannah was a star.
"Savannah was happy all the time. Every day was the best day ever. She was a child who looked for the good in everything," said her aunt, Charmaine Stainbrook of Santa Rosa.
Family and friends will gather today to celebrate Savannah's life and the joy she brought to so many people. The memorial service will be at 2 p.m. at the Forestville Methodist Church with a reception following in the church hall.
"I guarantee that when we talk about Savannah at tomorrow's service there will be more laughter than tears because Savannah was hilarious and that will come out in the stories," her father said Friday.
Savannah, a student at Village School in Santa Rosa, died Monday at Childrens Hospital in Oakland from arterial vascular malformation, a defect near the brain. Until she was stricken on Sept. 18 at school and rushed to the hospital, her family had no idea she suffered from the life-threatening condition.
"Savannah was very active and there was no indication that there was anything wrong with her until this happened," said her aunt.
Savannah was a top student at Village School where she was known for her upbeat outlook and enthusiasm for learning. She loved all of her subjects and relished physical education.
"Savannah was just a joy to have as a student and a pleasure to be around. She was a sweet little girl with a great personality," said her teacher Michael Herfurth. Last weekend Herfurth spent time with Savannah and her family during the bedside vigil at the Oakland hospital.
Savannah's death has been difficult for many students at Village School where counselors helped students grieve and cope with the loss.
Village School principal Juliana Hoewing said an assembly planned for Monday will honor Savannah. There will be flowers, music and tributes to the fifth-grader.
Savannah loved music in all forms, often singing Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash songs as her father played guitar. When she was four she started asking to play the "guitar you hold under your chin." Her parents got her a violin and she started taking lessons. Her father handmade her second violin and was working on her third. She was a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony Preparatory Orchestra.
Savannah was born June 4, 1993 in Santa Rosa. When she was one year old she moved with her family to Oregon. The family returned to Santa Rosa in 1999. Savannah attended first, second and third grades at Steele Lane Elementary School. In third grade she was named Steele Lane's student of the year.
She started at Village School when she was in the fourth grade.
She is survived by her parents, Phillip and Andrea Hill of Santa Rosa; her sister, Ellen Hill of Santa Rosa; her grandparents, Mary Hill of Windsor and Carl and Kathryn Uebel of Sebastopol.
A music scholarship has been established in Savannah's memory. Memorial donations can be sent to the Savannah Hill Music Scholarship in care of the Community Foundation of Sonoma County, 250 B St., Suite 205, Santa Rosa, 95404.

Kenton Edwards
Kenton Edwards, a seasoned actor often seen about town on local stages, died Sept. 19 at his home in Santa Rosa. He was 37.
Born in Calistoga, he spent most of his life in Santa Rosa, attending Slater Middle School, Montgomery High School, Santa Rosa Junior College, American University in Washington, D.C. and Empire Law School in Santa Rosa.
A summer theater workshop was all it took to turn him on to the art form at the age of 7, but he had been acting long before that.
"He really started acting when he was 2," said his mother, Cheryl Edwards, who now lives in Redmond, Ore. "I remember reading him "The Three Little Pigs" and he would act out the parts of each pig and the wolf."
Even though he was born with several birth defects and suffered from extensive health problems after a car wreck at age 17, he transcended them in daily life, attracting a wide circle of friends and working both on the stage and behind the stage for the Santa Rosa Players and Old Vic Dinner Theater.
"I got the lead in my very first show," Edwards said in a 1994 Press Democrat article. "I just had a grand ol' time, hearing the applause and laughter. It went on from there."
"I think what you have to have on stage is vulnerability and he did that perfectly," said Old Vic dinner theater director Brian Calloway, who first worked with Edwards when he played Mr. Granger in "Are You Being Served" and later "Fawlty Towers."
"He was very much into theater and always gave a hundred percent. He was a joy to work with."
In addition to his mother, Edwards is survived by his father Dr. Harold Edwards and brother Curtis Edwards of Santa Rosa.
A celebration of his life will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Burbank Garden Center, 2050 Yulupa Ave., Santa Rosa, 95405. Donations can be made to The Support Group for Families of Disabled Children c/o Community Presbyrterian Church of Redmond, P.O. Box 1689, Redmond, OR 97756.

Stanley Fafara, 'Whitey' on 'Beaver'
Stanley Fafara, who played Jerry Mathers' pal "Whitey" on the TV show "Leave It to Beaver" but led a far-from-idyllic life as an adult who battled drugs and alcohol, has died. He was 54.
Fafara, a recovering heroin addict who contracted hepatitis C, died Sept. 20 in a hospital in Portland, Ore., after complications from surgery in late August.
Fafara had been living in a single-room occupancy building in Portland's skid row, paying $153 a month for his 12-by-12 room out of his Social Security disability check of $475 a month.
The former child actor had been clean and sober since 1995, said Tom Hallman Jr., a reporter for the Portland Oregonian, who had kept in touch with Fafara after writing a lengthy profile of him last December.
During his interview with Hallman, Fafara chronicled his life after "Leave It to Beaver," the family sitcom that ran from 1957 to 1963.
"My life was a blessing and a curse," Fafara said. "At one time I had money.There were times when I'd walk around with $16,000 in my pocket."
Growing up in Los Angeles, he was pushed into acting by his mother. He appeared in his first commercial when he was 4 and later had parts in numerous TV Westerns.
His mother took him and his brother, Tiger, to an open casting call for "Leave It to Beaver," and they were both hired: Stanley as Hubert "Whitey" Whitney and his brother as Tooey, one of Wally Cleaver's friends. 

September 26, 2003

Jerry Hash, beloved husband, father and friend, died at home Monday of congestive heart failure. He was 68.

September 25, 2003

Manley Smith
Manley Colmand Smith, a 60-year resident of Petaluma and a landscaper with a vast knowledge of plants, died of heart failure Saturday. He was 81.
"He enjoyed making things grow," said his son, Raymond Smith of Petaluma. "He could look at any plant and tell you if it was sick or not. He could even tell you what was the front and the back of a tree."
Smith was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, but moved with his family to Sonora and graduated from high school there in 1942. He served in the Army during World War II, spending most of his time in the Pacific Theater. He was awarded the World War II Victory Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal and the American Campaign Medal.
While in the service, he began writing letters to the sister of one of his buddies, and she later became his wife. He ended his military career in 1946, when he was serving as a military police officer at Hamilton Air Force Base in Marin County. He marriage his wife, Lavon, in September of that year.
The couple settled in nearby Petaluma, where Smith had his own landscaping business for many years. He collected books on pruning, landscaping and gardening, and he had such a green thumb he could make even orchids grow like weeds, Raymond Smith said.
"He was constantly active," Raymond Smith said. One of his father's customers had a large estate with 7 acres in gardens. "He took care of all 7 acres by himself, and when he left them I understand it took seven people to do his job."
He was an active member and past commander of the American Legion Post No. 28, and was a past chef de gare of the legion's elite "40/8" organization. He helped the American Legion raise money for its community projects, and he marched in its parades.
He was in a deer-hunting club with his son for about 40 years, eventually becoming the club's oldest member. "In our family, hunting is in our blood," Raymond Smith said.
About four years ago, Manley Smith had quadruple bypass heart surgery, and he never fully recovered, his son said.
In addition to his son and wife, Smith is survived by a daughter, Lanora Dunlap of Petaluma; two brothers, George Deckert of the San Andreas area and Clifford Smith of the Los Angeles area; and a grandson.
A funeral service is set for 9 a.m. today at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary, Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street, Petaluma. Burial will be in Cypress Hill Memorial Park in Petaluma.
Donations may be made in his memory to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952 or to the American Legion, Petaluma Post No. 28, P.O. Box 618, Petaluma 94954-0618.

Sonora Carver, 99, rode diving horses
PLEASANTVILLE, N.J. -- Sonora Webster Carver, the first woman to ride the diving horses at Steel Pier in Atlantic City and the inspiration for the 1991 Disney movie "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken," has died. She was 99.
Carver died Sunday at a nursing home, where she resided for several years.
In 1924, she made history when she plummeted 40 feet on horseback into a tank of water. The stunt was first performed by W.F. "Doc" Carver, who became her father-in-law. In 1931, she went blind from detached retinas suffered after one of her horses, Red Lips, hit the water off balance.
Carver continued to ride the high-diving horses until World War II.
The diving horse act was a popular attraction at the pier before being discontinued in the 1970s after complaints from animal rights activists. But Carver insisted the horses loved the dives and were not forced to jump, according to Atlantic City historian Allen Pergament.
Her 1961 autobiography, "A Girl and Five Brave Horses," was the inspiration for the Disney film.

Hugh Gregg, 85, ex-N.H. governor
CONCORD, N.H. -- Former Gov. Hugh Gregg, a member of the state's Republican upper crust and father of Sen. Judd Gregg, died Wednesday at 85.
Gregg, who served a single term from 1953 to 1955, died at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon after a brief illness.
Rising from alderman-at-large to mayor of his hometown of Nashua, Gregg became at age 34 New Hampshire's youngest governor.
He was a moderate Republican who based his administration on the notion that only growth could keep New Hampshire's tax rates down.
He did not seek re-election after his single term, but made a comeback attempt in 1960 and lost.
Gregg published three books -- two on New Hampshire's presidential primary, traditionally the first primary of the political season.
Gregg graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School. He served in the Korean War with the Army Counter Intelligence Corps and was a counterintelligence instructor at Fort Holabird, Md.
He co-founded a law firm in Nashua, but a larger part of his career was devoted to his family's millwork, banking and manufacturing businesses.

September 2, 2003

David Lee Gram
David Lee Gram, a longtime Sebastopol resident whose life was a colorful mosaic of carnivals, top secret Navy work and poker parlors, died Aug. 26 at the age of 72.
Gram's family held a private gathering at a Sebastopol pizza parlor where they shared the father of seven's favorite meal of a pepperoni pizza and Budweiser beer.
As a general contractor, a job he held later in life, Gram worked on projects ranging from the construction of freeways to small Sebastopol eateries.
He also spent many hours at Sonoma Joe's Card Room, which he jokingly referred to as his "office."
When it came to poker, he was smarter than he was lucky, said his oldest daughter, Kathleen Gram-Gavin of Sebastopol.
She said Gram got his name on the board of weekly and daily winners only twice or so in nearly 30 years playing at Sonoma Joe's, which Gram helped remodel.
"He'd get a straight flush and somebody else would bet a royal flush," Gram-Gavin said. "That's how it was, but he could play."
Gram was luckier when it came to family life. He had 7 children, 26 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
His own father left the family shortly after Gram was born on Feb. 25, 1931 in Hammond, Ind.
"He was the best dad for somebody who never had a dad," Gram-Gavin said.
When he was a boy, Gram and his older brother traveled the country with their mother setting up carnivals. They eventually settled in Grand Junction, Colo., where Gram loved to play at the railroad tracks.
One day at the tracks he set eyes on Luseen Lawrence, the prettiest girl he ever saw. The pair were marriage several years later when Lawrence turned 16.
After a stint in the U.S. Army, Gram reunited with his wife in California and went to work at the Concord Naval Weapons Station. He stayed there for 15 years before transferring to a station in Seal Beach.
The family moved to Sebastopol in the early '70s after Gram's retirement from the civil service. He started his own general contracting firm while honing his skills at the poker table.
Gram was also an avid reader and wrote science fiction stories. And according to his daughter, he never met a person he didn't like.
"It didn't matter if you were a friend or family, he'd always say you were always my favorite," Gram-Gavin said.
His wife preceded him in death in 1992.
In addition to his daughter Kathleen, Gram is survived by sons, Mark Gram of Lake Havasu, Ariz., David Gram of Ukiah and Mike Gram of Graton; and daughters, Dianne Fransen of Ukiah, Pamela Chiriboga of Hopland and Linda Lewis of Santa Rosa.
No services were held at Gram's request.
Pleasant Hills Memorial Park in Sebastopol was in charge of arrangements.

Jack Eisner, Holocaust survivor
Jack P. Eisner, who used his Warsaw, Poland, ghetto black-market skills to make a fortune as a legitimate American importer-exporter and then used the fortune to tell how he survived the Holocaust, has died. He was 77.
Eisner died Aug. 24 at New York's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of colon cancer. He had homes in Manhattan, Israel and the south of France.
Eisner founded and served as president of the Holocaust Survivors Memorial Foundation which, among other educational projects, endows chairs at various universities to spread the story of the Holocaust.
Eisner was 13 and had a scholarship to the Warsaw Music Conservatory when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. The boy organized a group of youths to smuggle food and supplies between the Aryan world outside and the Warsaw ghetto. Becoming more militant, he smuggled arms for the ghetto's revolt that started April 19, 1943, and estimated that he personally heaved 200 Molotov cocktails.
Eventually captured by Nazis, young Eisner survived a succession of concentration camps -- Majdanek, Budzyn and Flossenburg -- while more than 100 of his family members, including all 30 of his first cousins, perished.

September 1, 2003

John Hoag
Longtime Healdsburg resident John Hoag, who found a second career as a grape grower after retiring as an optometrist, has died. He was 89.
Hoag, who died Aug. 22, moved to Healdsburg in the early 1970s, drawn by the prospect of growing grapes. He took viticulture classes and eventually became part owner of a Dry Creek vineyard after he retired, according to his daughter, Elizabeth Cleaveland.
"He had a whole new life after he retired," she said.
Hoag took delight in exploring many new areas, learning to speak Spanish so he could talk to workers, taking up photography, and researching the history of his adopted home of Healdsburg.
He even researched the history of the house he bought with his wife, Carla Hoag. He learned that it was once a nursery and was known as the "Camellia House" for the many camellia trees on the property.
"This year we opened his house for the local education council, and he loved it," Cleaveland said. "He had researched the house and gardens and was telling the historian for the Healdsburg Historical Association about it. He loved every bit of it."
Hoag was born and raised on a farm in Mount Vernon, Wash., living on an island but never learning to swim, his daughter said. He went to UC Berkeley, earning his doctorate in 1938 and opening a practice in Mill Valley. He was a member of Rotary International for 60 years.
To his friends and family, Hoag was known for his trademark baseball caps and doting on his cat, Kate, which he got after his wife died in 1998. He is also remembered for his love of talking on the phone with relatives, telling stories about the family.
"He was the kindest man I ever met," Cleaveland said.
Besides his daughter, Hoag is survived by a son, David Hoag, two brothers, and six grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

John Lansdale Jr., Manhattan Project security chief, 91
John Lansdale Jr., the head of security for the Manhattan Project who helped lead U.S. forces to Germany's atomic bomb project before Soviet forces could reach it, died on Aug. 22 at his home near Annapolis, Md. He was 91.
In April 1945, as Allied and Soviet troops were pushing through Germany on their way toward Berlin, top American officials began a mission, known as Alsos, to track down Germany's atomic bomb project and its nuclear scientists before they could fall into the hands of the Soviet Union.
Lansdale, an Army lieutenant colonel who was in charge of intelligence and security for the American project to develop nuclear weapons, had been chosen by the project's director, Gen. Leslie R. Groves, to lead a strike on a factory in Stassfurt in northern Germany, where Groves suspected the Germans had a cache of bomb materials.
On April 17, Lansdale and his team raided the plant and found about 1,100 tons of ore, some in the form of uranium oxide, a basic material of atomic bombs. In less than a week, the Alsos mission had also captured several prominent German atomic scientists, including Werner Heisenberg and Otto Hahn.
The story of Alsos was chronicled in Richard Rhodes' book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," published in 1986.
In the mid-1950s, at the height of American anti-communist fervor, Lansdale was called before Congress to testify about a decision he had made 10 years earlier to approve the appointment of J. Robert Oppenheimer as head of the Manhattan Project's scientific team.
Oppenheimer was accused of being a communist and branded a security risk by the government, and his security clearance was revoked. Lansdale, outraged by Oppenheimer's treatment, ardently defended him as a loyal American citizen in the congressional hearings and continued to do so for the rest of his life, said his daughter Sally Lansdale.
Born in Oakland, John Lansdale Jr. earned his bachelor's degree from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from Harvard.
In 1936 he went to work for Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, first in Cleveland and later in Washington. He remained with the firm until his retirement in 1987, aside from his military service.
In 1995, Lansdale added a surprising twist to the story of the surrender of the Nazi submarine U-234 to American forces in May 1945. Bound for Tokyo, the submarine was carrying 10 containers filled with uranium oxide. For years, historians had wondered what the American military did with it.
In an interview with the New York Times in 1995, Lansdale said the material, originally intended for Japan's atomic program, instead ended up in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Lansdale's wife of 65 years, Metta Virginia Tomlinson, died in 2001.
He is survived by five daughters, Helen Lansdale of Oregon City, Ore.; Chloe Lansdale Pitard of Philadelphia; Mary Lansdale Hartmann of Millville, Del.; Metta T. Lansdale Jr. of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Sally Lansdale of Omaha, Neb.; 10 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Frank MacDonald, WWI veteran, 107
HOBART, Australia -- Frank MacDonald, Australia's oldest World War I veteran at 107 and a decorated war hero, was given a state funeral in his hometown in Tasmania state.
MacDonald died last week from pneumonia.
One of 11 children, MacDonald served with the all-Tasmanian 40th Battalion Australian Infantry Force on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918.
He was awarded a medal for "conspicuous gallantry" in Belgium in 1917, and received the Legion of Honor from the French government in 1998.
MacDonald's death leaves just six known Australian World War I veterans, all of them over 100 years old.

July 31, 2003

June Lewek
June Belcher Lewek, a one-time shipyard welder and waitress who completed her education later in life and became the Sonoma County law librarian, died Monday at her home in Santa Rosa. She was 78.
The cause was complications related to congestive heart failure, family members said.
Lewek ran the county law library, which is funded by court fees and open to the public as well as legal professionals, from 1977-84, overseeing a period of rapid growth.
"She was really an outstanding law librarian," said Lloyd von der Mehden, a retired Sonoma County Superior Court judge. "The library really prospered under her guidance."
Lewek was born June Belcher on Feb. 25, 1925, in Oakland. Raised in Daly City, she left high school after her junior year to go to work.
She moved to Oregon with her first husband. Soon after the birth of her first daughter, Madeline, she took a job as a wartime welder in a Portland shipyard, working on ships being made for the U.S. Navy.
The family returned to the Bay Area, where Lewek gave birth to daughter Rosemary and son Henry before moving on to North Carolina. The state wasn't to Lewek's liking, and she returned to California.
On her trip home, a third daughter, Kathleen, was born in Wyoming, and Lewek and her then-husband parted ways.
Living with her children in Richmond, Lewek was waitressing on the graveyard shift at a San Francisco Airport restaurant. One night, overly fatigued, she had a car accident while driving home.
It was a pivotal moment, said her daughter Madeline Lewek-Franco of Mountain View.
"She decided, 'That's it, I'm not going to raise my children this way,'" Lewek-Franco said.
Soon after, with assistance from her parents, Lewek moved to Guernewood Park. There she met Robert Lewek, and in 1951 the couple married.
Lewek soon returned to her interrupted education. At Santa Rosa Junior College, she completed her high school equivalency degree and attained an associate's degree, then moved on to Sonoma State University. A political science major, she graduated in 1964.
The following year, she began studying at Golden Gate University School of Law.
"She was going to become an attorney so she could fight for children's rights," Lewek-Franco said.
The task, along with raising young children, proved too arduous, and Lewek left school to become a legal secretary. She proved herself in the offices of attorneys in Guerneville and Santa Rosa, and in 1976 she became a legal assistant.
The following year, she took the helm of the law library, a job she relished, telling one interviewer, "I run up the stairs to work every day."
After retiring in 1983, Lewek consulted with law firms on their library operations.
Other survivors include daughters Susan Lewek of Santa Rosa, Kathleen Lewek of Culver City and Rosie Houweling of Novato; and sons Henry and Albert Lewek, both of Santa Rosa.
No services are planned.

Sam Phillips, rock 'n' roll pioneer
Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley and helped usher in the rock 'n' roll revolution, died Wednesday. He was 80.
Phillips died of respiratory failure at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., son Knox Phillips said. He said his father had been in declining health for a year.
Sam Phillips founded Sun Records in Memphis in 1952 and helped launch the career of Presley, then a young singer who had moved from Tupelo, Miss.
He produced Presley's first record, the 1954 single that featured "That's All Right, Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky."
"God only knows that we didn't know it would have the response that it would have," Phillips said in an interview in 1997.
Phillips was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
In 2000, the A&E cable network ran a two-hour biography called "Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock and Roll."
By 1956, when Phillips sold Presley's contract to RCA for $35,000, the rock 'n' roll craze had become a cultural phenomenon and a multimillion-dollar industry.
Phillips began in music as a radio station engineer and later as a disc jockey. He started Sun Records so he could record both rhythm & blues singers and country performers, then called country and western or hillbilly singers.
His plan was to let artists who had no formal training play their music as they felt it, raw and full of life. The Sun motto was "We Record Anything, Anywhere, Anytime."
In the early days, before Presley, Phillips worked mostly with black musicians, including B.B. King and Rufus Thomas.
After the success of Presley on Sun, others who recorded for the label under Phillips included Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty and Charlie Rich.
He got out of the recording business in 1962 and sold Sun Records in 1969 to producer Shelby Singleton of Nashville. The Sun studio on Union Avenue in Memphis still exists as a tourist attraction.
Born Samuel Cornelius Phillips in Florence, Ala., Phillips worked as an announcer at radio stations in Muscle Shoals, Ala., and Decatur, Ala., and Nashville, Tenn., before settling in Memphis in 1945. Before founding Sun Records, he was a talent scout who recommended artists and recordings to record labels such as Chess and Modern. He also worked as an announcer in Memphis.
His sons Knox and Jerry also were record producers.

Jane Barbe, of phone systems
Jane Barbe, who was known to millions, though not by name or appearance, as the voice of telephone-company recordings and voice-mail systems across America, died July 18 in Roswell, Ga., at age 74. The cause was complications of cancer, said her husband, John.
Barbe began her career of delivering impersonal messages in friendly, helpful tones in 1963. Working for Electronic Communications Inc. in Atlanta, she recorded the time and temperature information provided by phone companies, then tackled the "intercept" messages -- such as "The number you have dialed is not in service" -- that greet misdialers and the misinformed.
She also recorded daily horoscopes as well as a short-lived series of seasonal messages from Mrs. Claus, which was discontinued after out-of-state parents complained about the long-distance charges run up by their children.
In the early 1980s, Barbe was chosen by Octel Communications, now part of Avaya, to record messages for its nascent voice-mail technology. Her voice is heard at thousands of companies, helping employees administer personal greetings and outside callers to find their way out of "voice-mail jail."
Born Jane Schneider on July 28, 1928, in Florida, she moved with her family to Atlanta as a child. She studied drama at the University of Georgia.
She is survived by husband John; daughter Susan Stubin of Passaic, N.J.; son David of Athens, Ga.; and seven grandchildren. 

July 30, 2003

Mary Tamayo
Mary Tamayo, whose family-owned restaurant burgeoned into one of the country's most successful Latino-owned businesses, La Tortilla Factory, died Monday of stomach cancer in her Santa Rosa home. She was 85.

Quile Uboldi
Quile Uboldi, a lifelong Kenwood resident and vineyard owner whose grapes helped sustain Sonoma County's jug wine business before the area's transformation to a premium wine industry, died Friday in his home of complications from pneumonia. He was 98.
Born in 1905 in a small building in Kenwood on what is now the site of the Kunde Winery, Uboldi spent most of his life surrounded by vineyards.
He owned 13-acres of vines on Lawndale Road, where he pruned and cultivated his old-fashioned grapes, including alicante bouschet and sauvignon vert. For more than 30 years, he sold his crop to the then-neighboring Pagani Brothers Winery.
After local wineries made the switch from jug to premium wines, however, Uboldi's business suffered. Despite claiming he was too old to start over, with the help of his family, he eventually revamped most of his crops.
"I'm too old ... I'll just bulldoze the vines and plant pasture for my sheep and cows," Uboldi told The Press Democrat for a story in 1986.
Today, his family continues to maintain the property and has six acres of Uboldi's original vines.
"There was times when the grape prices have gone down and he just continued to care for them (the grapes) regardless," said his son, Robert.
"He just enjoyed growing things," he said. "They had chickens and prunes and walnuts. He was just a real farmer."
Except for a stint in the Army during World War II, when he was stationed in New Orleans, he spent all of his life in Kenwood. While in Louisiana, he met Margaret Landry, who became his wife of 58 years. The couple had two sons.
Uboldi also was a former member of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau and the Kenwood Volunteer Fire Department.
In addition to his son Robert of Kenwood, Uboldi is survived by another son, Kenneth, also of Kenwood, and three grandchildren.
A funeral service will take place today at 10 a.m. at Lafferty & Smith Colonial Chapel, 4321 Sonoma Highway, Santa Rosa.
Donations in his honor may be made to Heartland Hospice, 2455 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa 95404 or to the charity of the donor's choice.

July 29, 2003

Sally Holloway
Sally Toby Holloway loved jazz and for years she helped turn others on to her passion by producing the Russian River Jazz Festival.
Holloway, 70, died July 15 in Monterey after battling cancer for one year. She lived in Sonoma County about 10 years and in that time ran a successful health care consulting company and worked to build up the jazz festival on the banks of the Russian River.
"It went from stagnation to absolute brilliance over the years she produced it," said longtime companion Thom Buckner.
Under her influence of about eight years, the festival eventually included such jazz greats as Bobby Hutcherson and John Handy.
"She really helped put that thing on the map and raise it to another level," said close friend Nancy Banker of Oakland.
The festival ran for about 25 years and grew to attract up to 5,000 fans annually to Johnson's Beach in Guerneville.
Holloway, the daughter of Russian immigrants, was born and raised in Chicago.
She earned a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in public health. While in Chicago she directed the nurse education and training program at the University of Chicago Hospitals and became a lobbyist for the American Hospital Association.
In 1981, she moved to California and settled in Sonoma County, starting her health care consulting business.
She didn't know anyone, so got involved in the jazz festival as a way to meet others with a similar interest, Banker said.
In about 1990, Holloway moved to the Bay Area, where she and Banker merged their health care consulting businesses.
Holloway and Buckner loved to travel and recently toured the country and Mexico in a motor home. The couple also produced other jazz festivals in the Bay Area, he said.
She is survived by her daughters, Dawn Stromsborg of Duluth, Minn., and Joan Mayo of Monterey; brother Allan Mirkin of Wisconsin; and six grandchildren.
A "final bash for Sally" will be Aug. 24 at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, 311 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay. More information is available at www.bachddsoc.org.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of the Central Coast, 100 Barnet Segal Lane, Monterey 93940.

Norma McClure, 'The Mack' star
PALMDALE -- Actress Norma McClure, who appeared in the 1973 blaxploitation comedy "The Mack," has died of congestive heart failure, her sister said Monday. She was 69.
She died Saturday night at her home in Palmdale, Carol Johnson said.
McClure had been working to revive her career and was designing dolls she planned to give to Iraqi children. She also started a food giveaway program for the needy in Berkeley in the 1960s, her sister said.
"We'd like to remember her for her charity, her creativity," Johnson said. "She helped a lot of people."
McClure was best known for "The Mack," which also featured Richard Pryor. One of her scenes was reprised for "True Romance," a 1993 film scripted by Quentin Tarantino, a blaxploitation aficionado.
She was also an active supporter of the Black Panthers and the group's co-founder, Huey Newton, Johnson said.
She is survived by four children, nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, seven sisters and a brother.

Sen. Vance Hartke, Indiana populist
Washington -- Former Sen. Vance Hartke, a liberal Indiana Democrat whose staunch opposition to the Vietnam War put him at odds with President Lyndon B. Johnson, died Sunday from heart failure. He was 84.
Hartke, who set up a law practice in Falls Church, Va., after he was defeated for re-election in 1976, died in a suburban Virginia hospital after being rushed there Saturday with chest pains, said his son, Jan. He had undergone open-heart surgery three years earlier.
Hartke was the mayor of Evansville, Ind., when he was first elected to the Senate in 1958. He was soon befriended by Johnson, the party's majority leader, who awarded him choice assignments on the powerful Finance and Commerce committees.
After winning re-election to a second term six years later, Hartke used his committee posts to advance Johnson's Great Society agenda, helping craft legislation creating student loan programs and new veterans benefits.
"In the late 1950s and the 1960s, he was one of the strongest voices for Medicare," retired Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., recalled Monday. "He took a real lead on that (despite) a lot of opposition in the state of Indiana. He was not afraid to take a tough, controversial stand."
Hartke used his chairmanship of Commerce's transportation subcommittee to make automakers equip cars with seat belts and other safety equipment, and helped establish Amtrak and Conrail. He also was instrumental in creating the International Executive Service Corps, an organization, modeled after the Peace Corps, that sent retired U.S. businessmen to poor countries to help turn small businesses into large ones.
The split between Hartke and Johnson occurred in 1965, when Hartke aligned himself with other Senate Democrats opposed to the Vietnam War. The group included J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota and George McGovern of South Dakota.
Hartke's opposition to Vietnam later earned him a spot on Richard Nixon's enemies list, but Hartke refused to hold a grudge against Nixon.
"That's neither here nor there," Hartke told the Indianapolis Star in 1991. "That's in the past."
Hartke won a third term in 1970 after a recount, a narrow victory marred by his Vietnam stance. He lost his Senate seat in 1976 to Republican Richard Lugar.
Hamilton said Hartke had an encyclopedic memory of projects in every Indiana county and recalled putting in 15- and 18-hour days campaigning with him.
"He revitalized Democratic politics in the state of Indiana," Hamilton said. "He brought tremendous energy to it. He was a genuine populist. His great passion was for ordinary Americans."
"He was vigorous, enthusiastic and optimistic," Lugar said in a statement. "I counted upon him as a friend with strong Hoosier ties and a generous spirit that gave me a boost each time I visited with him."
Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon said: "He was one of those people who never ran down. He was always running up and going."
Hartke's nephew Brian, who lost an Indiana congressional race last year, said the former senator "will be remembered as one of the best campaigners. He campaigned in every town, talked to all the people, never stopped. But at the same time, he wanted to make a mark in the U.S. Senate."
"You wished you had all the energy he had," Brian Hartke said.
"At 84 he was still going strong."
Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., who was attending a Democratic Leadership Council meeting Monday in Philadelphia, said Hartke "served the people of Indiana with distinction as both mayor and U.S. senator."
Hartke also had his share of political problems. In 1994, he was indicted by a grand jury in Indiana for alleged misdemeanor polling violations in connection with a successful campaign to allow riverboat casinos in Dearborn County. As part of a plea agreement, he was given a six-month suspended sentence.
Hartke was born May 31, 1919, in the southern Indiana coal-mining town of Stendal. After graduating from the University of Evansville, he earned his law degree from Indiana University. He enlisted in the Coast Guard and later served as a Navy officer in World War II.
"He was working in his office Friday night when I dropped by to see him," said his son Jan. "He wanted to be somebody who continued to achieve something."
Hartke is survived by his wife of 60 years, Martha, four sons, three daughters and 16 grandchildren, all of whom were with him when he died. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, but funeral plans were incomplete Monday, his family said.

July 28, 2003

Edith Sanford
Farming was in Edith Sanford's blood and she became an ambassador of sorts for Sonoma County agriculture before retiring. She died Thursday from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 90.
Sanford was the executive secretary for the Sonoma County Farm Bureau for 21 years. She helped lead the voluntary organization of farm and ranch families and was instrumental in establishing the Sonoma County Farm Trails agricultural tourism program.
Born in Berkeley, Sanford's family bought a Sebastopol apple ranch when she was an infant.
She gave up one ranch for another when she marriage Elwood Sanford in 1935.
For the next 34 years, the couple and their three sons raised chickens for eggs and tended to apple and cherry orchards on a 21-acre farm in the Cunningham area south of Sebastopol.
For more than a decade, Sanford split time between her job with the Farm Bureau and the family ranch, where she worked alongside her husband and sons feeding chickens, gathering eggs and picking fruit.
"She had a lot of energy," said son Elwood Sanford Jr. of Sebastopol.
The family sold the ranch in 1969 after her husband died and she continued to work at the Farm Bureau until her retirement in 1978.
During her two decades with the organization, she watched the Farm Bureau's membership grow and the type of agriculture change.
She helped establish the Farm Trails program in the early 1970s. With 120 member farms, the program leads tourists and other visitors to farms where they can get fresh produce and a first-hand look at agriculture.
"She was a ramrod. She got things done," her son said.
In retirement, Sanford traveled across the United States. Often traveling by train, she visited every state except Alaska. Sanford also enjoyed crocheting and was a member of the Sebastopol United Methodist Church.
In addition to her son Elwood, Sanford is survived by her son Gary Sanford of Berlin, Mass.; and her sister Carol Rhodes of Santa Rosa.
Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn, 7951 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol.
Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Foundation, P.O. Box 4900, Santa Rosa 95402.

July 27, 2003

Dennis Patrick Hayes, a 6-foot-5-inch bachelor who family and friends called "a gentle giant," died at his Santa Rosa apartment July 18 from heart failure. He was 55.

Marjorie Ruth Swartz, an accomplished pianist and best remembered by her family and friends as a political, musical and spiritual visionary, died July 18 of Alzheimer's disease in Sebastopol. She was 87.

July 25, 2003

William Starkey
William Starkey, a second-generation apple rancher and a lifelong resident of Sebastopol, died from complications of a stroke at a hospital in Santa Rosa. He was 83.
With the exception of his time in the military during World War II, Starkey lived his whole life on Pleasant Hill Road, where he continued the family tradition of farming and raising apples.
Starkey had been a member of the Future Farmers of America since his days at Analy High School, class of 1939, and once took his prize-winning pig to a San Francisco contest and returned home with first-place ribbons.
He was a founding member of the Twin Hills Volunteer Fire Department, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3919 of Sebastopol and a member of the Farm Bureau.
For many years, he served on the Twin Hills School Board and the Sebastopol Co-op Cannery Board.
Starkey and his wife of 58 years, Blanche, met at a dance when she was 17.
She says she will always remember him as a "kind and gentle person with a lot of spirit. Bill was always fun to be with."
In addition to his wife, Starkey is survived by daughters Donna Fore of Sebastopol and Jane Reinecke of Irvine; sisters Frances Schumann of Sebastopol and Barbara Brodie of Petaluma; six grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. today at the Sebastopol Christian Church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Starkey's name to the American Heart Association.

Carol Matthau
Carol Matthau, an actress and writer who marriage famously three times -- twice to author and playwright William Saroyan and once to actor Walter Matthau -- died Sunday of a brain aneurysm at her home in New York City. She was 78.
She was marriage to the celebrated comic actor for 41 years until his death in 2000 at age 79. Her first marriage to Saroyan, in 1943, lasted six years; her second, in 1951, lasted six months.
She professed to be the inspiration behind Holly Golightly, the insouciant protagonist of Truman Capote's 1958 novella, "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
She wrote, often tartly, of her charmed circle of Hollywood and literary friends in a 1992 memoir, "Among the Porcupines."
"It seems strange that everyone I'm writing about was very famous," she noted. "I wonder about it, too. Didn't I ever find anyone interesting who was not famous? Actually, no, I didn't."
Born in New York City, Matthau never knew her father and lived in foster homes as a young child after her Russian immigrant mother went to work in a factory.
When she was 8, her mother marriage again, this time to Bendix Corp. executive Charles Marcus, who warmly welcomed his wife's illegitimate daughter. Matthau came to live with them in a posh 18-room apartment on Fifth Avenue. Like Cinderella, she was transformed. She attended the tony Dalton School and became best friends with Oona O'Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill (and later the wife of Charlie Chaplin), and Gloria Vanderbilt.
She was a 16-year-old blond beauty when bandleader Artie Shaw, a family friend, introduced her to Saroyan at a Hollywood restaurant.
Saroyan, who was twice her age, was infatuated with the striking debutante. But Saroyan told her he would not marry her until he knew she could bear children, and she complied. When they were marriage in a civil ceremony in Dayton, Ohio, in 1943, she was two months pregnant with their first child, Aram. A daughter, Lucy, was born in 1946.
After they divorced, she supported herself and the children by acting and writing. She wrote a 1955 novella, "The Secret in the Daisy," under the name Carol Grace.
She often joined Capote, a childhood friend, at a Manhattan nightclub for 3 a.m. parleys over gin and beer. At 7 a.m., they would buy a breakfast of coffee and doughnuts and eat it in front of Tiffany's. Years later she reported in her memoir that he told her she was the model for Holly Golightly.
She met Walter Matthau in 1955 when she was hired as an understudy in a play he was starring in, "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" They had an affair for four years, finally marrying in 1959. In 1962, their son, Charles, was born.

Colin McMillan
Oilman Colin McMillan, nominated as Navy secretary by President Bush in May, died Thursday at his ranch in southern New Mexico. He was 67.
The cause and manner of death were not immediately disclosed.
Roswell Mayor Bill Owen, a family spokesman and longtime McMillan employee, said neither the Otero County Sheriff's Office nor the state Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque had determined the cause.
McMillan had run Permian Exploration Corp. in Roswell, was chairman of Bush's New Mexico presidential campaign in 2000 and served as an assistant defense secretary under the first President Bush.
President Bush had submitted McMillan's nomination to the Senate in May. McMillan was awaiting Senate confirmation.
McMillan was born in Texas and graduated from the University of North Carolina. He came to Roswell while working with Texaco in the 1960s, Owen said.
McMillan is survived by his wife, Kay, and their four children.

Howard Morehead
Howard Morehead, a former Tuskegee Airman and pioneering photographer who captured musicians including Ray Charles and Louis Armstrong for newspapers and television, has died. He was believed to have been 79.
Morehead died July 13 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles, said longtime friend and TV producer Tom Reed. He had no known relatives and no cause of death was given.
Morehead was born in Topeka, Kan., and was one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. He studied photography at Los Angeles City College and motion picture photography at Southern California. He worked as a news photographer for the Los Angeles Sentinel in the 1950s, and his photographs appeared in Jet and Ebony magazines.
In 1970, Morehead became the first black staff cameraman to work at a Los Angeles television station, at KTLA-TV. He later worked for KABC-TV.
"It's not that I was the best, but I just happened to be the first," Morehead said in 1994.
Friend Stephanie Evans said a memorial was planned for Monday in Los Angeles.

July 8, 2003

Violet DeMeo
Violet DeMeo, who was born into a pioneering dairy family and later marriage into one of Santa Rosa's most prominent families, died July 1 of natural causes in a convalescent home.
She was 93.
A lifelong Sonoma County resident, DeMeo was a homemaker who brought a sense of style and grace to almost everything she did, said her son, Mark DeMeo, a Santa Rosa pathologist.
"She was the ambassador of happiness," he said. "She was known in every shop, in every grocery store, in every bakery. She knew everybody."
DeMeo was born Violet LaFranchi on Jan. 17, 1910, in Sebastopol, and was raised on a dairy farm where she loved to ride horses and help herd cows.
She dropped out of Analy High School to care for her ill mother, but went on to graduate from cosmetology school and Sweet's Business College, and for a time worked as a hairdresser.
She met her husband, Nick DeMeo, at a night club in Rio Nido. He was an aspiring banjo and piano player who became a prominent Santa Rosa attorney. His brother, Charles, was responsible for the DeMeo Foundation, a Santa Rosa-based philanthropic organization.
Violet DeMeo belonged to the San Souci Dance Club and loved to swing dance. But her favorite tune was Willie Nelson's version of "September Song."
At home, she kept a spotless house while raising three children.
"She was an unbelievable mom," her son said. "I could live my childhood over 100 times."
DeMeo was a member of St. Rose Parish and the St. Rose Mother's Club. Her husband preceded her in death in 1992.
DeMeo is survived by daughter Joan Cloughesy of San Jose and sons John and Mark DeMeo, both of Santa Rosa. She is also survived by a brother, Howard LaFranchi of Sebastopol, and sister Dorothy Neal of England.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Calvary Cemetery, 2930 Bennett Valley Road in Santa Rosa. A reception will follow at Vineyard Creek Center, 170 Railroad St., in Santa Rosa.
The family suggests donations to the Valley of the Moon Children's Foundation, the Thomas Mark DeMeo Scholarship Fund, St. Rose School or a favorite charity.

Ignacio Velasco
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Cardinal Ignacio Velasco, who led Venezuela's Roman Catholic Church through a stormy relationship with President Hugo Chavez, has died. He was 74.
Velasco died early Monday in his Caracas home after battling a lengthy illness, said Monsignor Jose Luis Gonzalez, administrator of the Caracas archdiocese.
Hundreds of Venezuelans, including former President Luis Herrera Campins, paid their respects at the Caracas Cathedral, where Velasco's casket was to remain through Wednesday. Pope John Paul II sent condolences.
Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel called Velasco's death "a loss we regret because of what it means for the great Venezuelan Catholic family."
Velasco's 2001 appointment as cardinal was "an honor for the Venezuelan people," Rangel added in a statement sent to the Associated Press.
Velasco often jumped into Venezuela's bitter debate over Chavez's leftist policies.
Shortly after his appointment as cardinal, Velasco warned that Chavez risked losing the public's faith if he did not improve relations with the church in this predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Chavez once called the church a "tumor" and priests "devils under their cassocks."
Velasco visited Chavez while the president was in custody during a brief 2002 coup. After the coup, Velasco urged Venezuelans to heed Chavez's appeal for reconciliation, saying the president "promised me he would correct many things."
In November, unidentified assailants tossed a grenade at Velasco's Caracas home. No one was hurt. And in April, Velasco warned that Chavez was leading Venezuela toward communism and called upon God "to free" the country from that threat. Chavez angrily denied the charge.
In a 2001 interview with the Associated Press, Velasco smiled when asked whether his appointment as cardinal was a message to Chavez.
"I see it this way," he said. "My appointment to cardinal is a way to support the church. This is the way the people see it. And the pope feels that by naming cardinals, he has strengthened the church against the public authorities.
"Although I am a person who likes a good dialogue, I try to be like a bridge, to exchange ideas, unless there is clearly something negative that needs to be said. And the church will always say it."
Velasco was born Jan. 17, 1929, in the western town of Acarigua, Venezuela. He was ordained in 1955 at age 25 and spent years working with indigenous communities in Venezuela's Amazon jungle. 

June 21, 2003

Ted Kent Clark Sr., known by his family and friends for his quick wit and sparkling smile, died Sunday of lung cancer at his home in Sonoma. He was 64.

June 20, 2003

Cal Craver
Cal Craver, a cabinetmaker and contractor in Sonoma County for more than four decades, died Wednesday in his sleep at Creekside Convalescent Home.
He would have been 93 today.
Born and raised in Tampa, Fla., Craver headed west during the Great Depression on the promise of a job in Napa.
Before long, he settled in Sonoma County, living first in Healdsburg and then in Santa Rosa.
Craver was a cabinetmaker and contractor for 45 years. He also worked on submarines at Mare Island.
In 1965, he was remarried.
He and his wife Enes Craver enjoyed travelling the open road together.
For 27 years, their home base was Journey's End, a mobile home park on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa.
Around the park, Cal Craver was known as a friendly face with a useful pair of hands.
"He liked to help other people," said daughter-in-law Julia Rehe of Santa Rosa. "If people needed repair work, he helped them."
Craver was a member of the Luther Burbank Lodge and Aahmes Temple.
He joined his wife at Creekside Convalescent Home a year ago.
In addition to his daughter-in-law and wife, he is survived by sons David Craver of Santa Rosa and Anthony Craver of Fort Bragg; sister Pauline Craver of Florida; nine grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.
No formal services will be held.

June 19, 2003

Geneva Rogers
Geneva Ann Rogers, who had a thriving community theater career that began when she was a child, died Tuesday in Santa Rosa of congestive heart failure. She was 76.
The fifth of 13 children, Rogers was born in Fresno and landed her first leading actress role at age 10. After performing in countless school and community theater productions, she was accepted at the Pasadena Playhouse for formal theatrical training.
But when she met a handsome sailor named Edward M. Rogers Jr. of Eureka, she fell in love and focused her life on her marriage, which began in Long Beach in 1945.
The couple later settled in Eureka with their two children before moving to Santa Rosa in 1964, where was a homemaker. She loved gardening, decorating, sewing, crocheting and especially caring for her children, nieces and nephews.
Rogers spent 30 years as a clerk for The Fashion Emporium, April Showers, Michael Lewis' Gifts and the Golden Hanger.
When she wasn't traveling with her husband, Rogers spent much of her time volunteering at the Matanzas Elementary School library and with the Catholic Worker, Marian Visitors and Young Ladies Institute programs.
In 1991, she was diagnosed with cancer, from which she recovered. Although her health declined during the last 12 years of her life, the strong-willed Rogers maintained her charismatic charm and positive outlook.
Rogers is survived by her husband, Edward; a son, Edward M. Rogers III of Santa Rosa; a daughter, Loretta Ann Rogers of San Anselmo; a brother, David Fleming of Rohnert Park; six sisters, Kathleen Nevers of Eureka, Juanita Yates of Fortuna, Rose Dinsmore of Eureka, Helen Bomar of Cornelius, Ore., Beatrice Dusza of Southbridge, Mass., and Judith Boyle of Livermore; and three grandchildren.
Friends are invited to a vigil at 7 p.m. Friday at Lafferty and Smith Colonial Chapel in Santa Rosa.

Ned Johnson, 70
ORINDA -- Ned Johnson, a renowned ornithologist and curator of the UC Berkeley Museum of Invertebrate Biology, has died, the campus announced Wednesday. He was 70.
Johnson died June 11 at his Orinda home of cancer, UC Berkeley confirmed.
Over the years, Johnson collected more than 7,200 bird specimens, most of which are at the university's museum and available for study. Johnson's partner and close colleague at the museum, Carla Cicero, remembered him as having extensive understanding of the region's birds.
"His knowledge of the distribution and natural history of birds in Western North America, and his scientific contributions to the ornithology of the region, are unsurpassed among living ornithologists," Cicero said.
Johnson published his first paper on birds at age 17; at the time of his death, he was working on a book on geographic variation and speciation in birds.
He was considered an expert on owls, sapsuckers, flycatchers, vireos and sage sparrows.
Johnson was just weeks away from a planned retirement. He joined the faculty at UC Berkeley in 1961.
Johnson is survived by his partner, Carla Cicero of Moraga; three daughters; one son; and three grandchildren.

Harold Ashby, 78
Harold Ashby, a saxophonist whose long association with Duke Ellington began before he joined Ellington's orchestra and continued after Ellington's death, died Friday at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in New York. He was 78.
No cause of death was announced, but he entered the hospital at the end of May after a heart attack, said Russ Dantzler, a friend.
Ashby joined the Ellington band in 1968, eight years after he first worked with Ellington as a free-lancer. He remained the band's featured tenor saxophonist until 1975, a year after Ellington died and his son, Mercer, took over.
Born in Kansas City on March 27, 1925, Harold Ashby began his career there in the late 1940s. He then moved to Chicago, where he became a staple of the thriving local blues scene in the 1950s.
In 1957, he moved to New York, where he free-lanced with various bandleaders, including Count Basie and Mercer Ellington. He first worked with Duke Ellington in the summer of 1960, substituting for two nights.

Paul Fraser, 44
SEATTLE -- Paul W. Fraser, independent television producer of the international version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and "The Weakest Link," died in a traffic accident while on vacation.
Fraser, 44, died about 11:30 a.m. Monday while he was walking near an intersection in the city's Belltown neighborhood, just north of downtown.
Police said the driver of a Toyota Camry ran a red light and hit a Jeep, which careened onto the sidewalk and hit Fraser. He was identified as the victim Tuesday by the King County medical examiner's office.
Richard Sattler of Los Angeles, a television executive who frequently collaborated with Fraser, was on a sightseeing visit with him at the time of the accident.
"We're absolutely devastated, but we're carrying on because he needs to be remembered," said Sattler, who was slightly injured.
Fraser, originally from Melbourne, Australia, spent several years in London and recently moved to Los Angeles.
He began his career as a journalist, then switched to television and worked on Australian programs, including a job as a writer and researcher for "The Mike Walsh Show," a long-running daily talk and variety show.
He later worked in Asia, Europe and Latin America, concentrating in recent years on game and reality programs.
Friends were planning memorials in Sydney, Australia.

June 18, 2003

Carl Frederick Martin, a Navy veteran and welder who adopted unwanted animals as pets, died of heart failure June 6 at a Santa Rosa hospital. He was 59.

June 17, 2003

Louis "Bob" Gianni, a retired carpenter and World War II veteran, died at his home in Sebastopol on Wednesday of complications from a stroke. He was 85.

June 16, 2003

Charles E. "Chuck" McLaughlin, a 40-year Petaluma resident who served in Iceland during World War II as an Army private, died Wednesday at his home. He was 81.

April 14, 2003

Former Ukiah attorney and Justice Court judge Hale McCowen III died Wednesday at his home of cancer. He was 84.

April 13, 2003

George Charles
No matter where George Charles went, he made friends.
"As kids, we remember driving on vacation together," said one of his three daughters, Donna Bertacco of Windsor. "We hated it because he'd see someone in a field farming, stop by the side of the road, and be out there 45 minutes talking with them.
"It didn't matter if they were a political person or just a farmer, he really connected with people."
Charles, a lifelong Sonoma County rancher, died at his Santa Rosa home Friday of natural causes. He was 91.
Charles' parents homesteaded in the Cazadero and Plantation areas of Sonoma County in the 1860s and started the family sheep ranch, which he took over in 1928 when his father died.
Charles started his own sheep operation in Cazadero in 1934, at one point running more than 2,500 ewes on 15,000 acres of family-owned range land near the Gualala River. He also ran an extensive lamb feeding operation in Dixon for 20 years.
In 1974, Charles was named Sheepman of the Year by the North Bay Wool Growers Association. He also served on the advisory committee for the establishment of the agriculture department at Santa Rosa Junior College.
In addition to sheep ranching, for a time Charles raised buffalo on the Cazadero land.
"He drove out to Nebraska and brought some buffalo back," Bertacco said. "He just raised them because he liked them. It was a project."
Eventually, Charles switched to a more lucrative hobby, planting about 20 acres of chardonnay grapevines on a place the family calls "Buffalo Hill."
In another area, now called Three Sisters Vineyards, Charles' three daughters planted pinot noir and chardonnay vines.
Charles met his wife of 67 years, Martha, at Healdsburg High School, where he became captain of the football team.
Always a morning person, he had the habit of calling family members at 6 a.m. just to see how they were, and was known to sing "You Are My Sunshine" as he started the morning fire and his wife got the biscuits going.
"He really was a gentleman," Bertacco said, who said she never heard her father swear or raise his voice.
Even when he grew frail, he made the best of it.
"He could barely make it to the breakfast table, but he looked at my mom and said, 'I'm in love with you,'" Bertacco said. "He raised his orange juice glass and said, 'Here's to happy times, Mom.'"
He told family members not to cry for him after he was gone, that he led a happy life. Instead, he said, have a nice glass of scotch for him.
"We intend to do that," Bertacco said.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Charles is survived by daughters Carolyn Martinelli of Forestville and Charlotte Richardson of Stewarts Point; a brother, Leonard Charles of Healdsburg; a sister, Betty Flanagan of Santa Rosa; eight grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa, with a reception to follow. Private Interment will be at Sea View Cemetery in Jenner.
Contributions in Charles' memory may be made to Memorial Hospice, 821 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa 95401.

Ex-Oak Ridge Boy Noel Fox, 63
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Noel Fox, a former bass singer with the Oak Ridge Boys who became a power in the music business, died at a Nashville hospital after surgery following a series of strokes. He was 63.
Fox died Thursday, according to longtime band manager Jim Halsey.
"His positive attitude and always-smiling face is what this world needs more of," Halsey said.
Fox was born and raised in Columbia, about 40 miles south of Nashville. He sang with the Oak Ridge Boys for five years before leaving in 1972 for a Nashville music business career that included booking, talent management and publishing.
In 1978, Fox began managing the Oak Ridge Boys' publishing entity, Silverline/Goldline Music Inc. He later served as vice president of MCA Music/Nashville and president of Maypop Music Group, which was owned by members of the group Alabama.
An early champion of singer-songwriter Steve Earle, Fox signed him to a publishing deal and introduced him to then-MCA Records producer Tony Brown. MCA subsequently signed Earle and released his 1986 debut hit "Guitar Town."
The Oak Ridge Boys began in Knoxville in 1943 as the Oak Ridge Quartet, singing country and gospel music. The group has won two Grammys.
Lead singer Duane Allen called Fox "a fine human being, a devoted family man, a great bass singer for the Oak Ridge Boys, a great publisher, manager and agent, and my best friend."

'Little Eva' Boyd of 'Loco-motion' fame
KINSTON, N.C. -- Eva Narcissus Boyd, a teen-ager known as Little Eva when her first recording, "The Loco-motion," hit No. 1 in 1962, died Thursday after a long illness.
The cause of death wasn't immediately available.
Her age wasn't immediately known. Various sources place her year of birth between 1943 and 1946.
Boyd was discovered by Carole King and Gerry Goffin after they hired her as a baby sitter. They asked her to sing their song, "The Loco-Motion," and then released Boyd's demo of it as a single.
Boyd also had the Top 20 songs "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" and "Let's Turkey Trot."

April 12, 2003

Clarence Fisher
Clarence Fisher, a longtime Sonoma County resident, encouraged his children to keep a positive attitude even when times get tough.
Fisher died Monday at his Petaluma home. He was 81.
His daughter Judy Sovel of Petaluma said Fisher wanted his four children to find good even amid trouble.
"I think he really gave that to all of us -- 'Don't get stuck in the mud,'" she said.
A native of Las Vegas, Fisher grew up in Southern California. He came to the county in 1958 when transferred here by PG&E, for whom he worked 31 years.
He enjoyed taking his children fishing on the coast and visiting Bodega Bay.
"We loved the wharf at The Tides, the old one before they remodeled," Sovel recalled. Fisher also took the children to Doran Park and to a little cove near Inverness.
Fisher retired in 1981. A lover of airplane design and history, he worked with a friend on building an experimental one-seat aircraft.
He was proud of tutoring students in mathematics and in providing a sign for Petaluma United Methodist Church, where he was a member and formerly had served on the governing board.
Fisher was a veteran of the Army and a member of SIRS No. 058.
Along with his daughter, survivors include his wife of 58 years, Edwina Fisher of Petaluma; his other children, Bob Fisher of Louisiana, Ken Fisher of Illinois and Debbie Fisher of Petaluma; a brother, Jim Fisher of Florida; a sister, Florence Sutton of Oregon; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Petaluma United Methodist Church.
The family prefers memorial contributions to the church, 410 D St., Petaluma 94952; Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952; or a favorite charity.
Arrangements were under the direction of Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory.

Ramparts founder Edward Keating
Edward Keating, an activist who founded Ramparts magazine in the 1960s and watched it grow from a tiny Catholic-oriented publication to become the leading magazine of the American left, has died. He was 77.
Keating, who became a West Coast leader of the anti-Vietnam War movement, died April 2 at Stanford University Medical Center after battling pneumonia. He lived in Mountain View.
A lawyer turned businessman who converted to Roman Catholicism in his late 20s, Keating launched Ramparts in 1962 in Menlo Park as a quarterly literary forum for Catholic intellectuals.
It soon evolved into something more.
"He started getting stories by black priests who were talking about civil rights," said Keating's son Mike. "It sort of naturally morphed into getting more and more interesting articles about the civil rights movement and taking a strong moral stance on that."
In time, he said, Ramparts "became completely secular and very committed to the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement."
Ramparts' influence was significant and its pages served as an outlet for the kinds of stories that were not being published elsewhere.
Ramparts printed early articles about the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, for example, and it exposed the Central Intelligence Agency's secret financing of the National Students Association.
Stephen Keating described his father as "a champion of the underdog or the dispossessed. He just had a strong sense of conscience, and he just felt fired up to jump into the fray."
Keating wrote "The Scandal of Silence," a 1965 book about the Catholic Church and its silence over the Holocaust during World War II. About the same time he became an agnostic and left the church.
Ramparts, which at its peak had a circulation of nearly 400,000, continued to operate until 1975.
The son of an industrialist, Keating was born in New York City in 1925. In 1940, his family moved to California and he entered a prep school in Menlo Park.
Keating served three years in the Navy in the Pacific, then resumed his studies at Stanford and graduated from its law school in 1950.
Raised as what he once described as a nominal Protestant, he became a Catholic in 1954. Keating, who taught English at the University of Santa Clara in 1959, once said that he launched Ramparts because the era lacked a decent platform for Catholic intellectuals and writers.
After leaving Ramparts in 1967, Keating continued to write, including short stories, novellas and "Broken Bough," a 1975 book about human nature.

TV director David Greene
OJAI -- David Greene, who won four Emmys for directing such TV miniseries as "Rich Man, Poor Man" and the first episode of "Roots," has died. He was 82.
Greene, who also earned Emmys for the television movies "The People Next Door" and "Friendly Fire," died Monday in Ojai of pancreatic cancer. He also was nominated for directing the 1984 miniseries "Fatal Vision."
Among his other TV credits were "The Betty Ford Story" for ABC in 1987, the Liberace segment of "Behind the Music" for CBS in 1998, and "Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story" in 1992.
Born in Manchester, England, he began his career as an actor, working in British film and on stage with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh at the Old Vic. In 1951, he toured the United States and Canada in "Antony and Cleopatra."
After working as a free-lance director in Canada, the United States and England, he settled in Los Angeles in 1970.
Among his motion picture credits are the 1973 "Godspell," which he wrote and directed. 

April 11, 2003

An energetic man with an engaging smile, Allen Julius Martinson was a business owner, city official and community fixture in Sonoma for nearly all of his 90 years.

April 10, 2003

Jack Morgan Carter was a young peace activist who had planned on a life of political activism.

April 9, 2003

George Menini, a lifelong Sebastopol apple rancher, often said he would be on his tractor working his orchards until "they plant me six feet under."

February 1, 2003

Maryjane Johnston
Maryjane Sullivan Johnston, a nurse in Petaluma, Santa Rosa and San Francisco whose professional skills, abiding faith and deep compassion made her a beloved figure at the hospitals where she worked, died Tuesday at her Petaluma home following a long illness. She was 60.
Johnston's death followed a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. She was diagnosed with the disease in 1997, which forced her to leave her position as director of medicine at Kaiser San Francisco Hospital. She had previously worked at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa, where she was instrumental in planning, staffing and operating the hospital's new emergency room. She started working as a nurse in Sonoma County in 1973 at what is now Petaluma Valley Hospital.
"My mother was born to be a nurse. She was brilliant, confident, unbelievably kind and always guided by her strong Catholic faith. She had this amazing ability to bring out the very best in people," said daughter Lisa Johnston Shaskan of Santa Monica.
Johnston was born Maryjane Sullivan in 1942, the daughter of an Irish-Catholic family deeply involved in St. Monica's Parish in San Francisco's Richmond District. By coincidence, Johnston and the man she would marry 23 years later -- Jim Johnston -- were baptized on the same day as babies in 1942 at St. Monica's Church. They later attended St. Monica's Catholic School, where they were grammar school sweethearts, a romance that would continue through high school and college. They were marriage at St. Monica's in 1965.
"It's an incredible, enduring love story," Shaskan said of her parents.
Jim Johnston, who was a marine biology teacher in Pacifica, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1976. Before her illness, Maryjane Johnstone was her husband's caregiver, but the caregiving roles were reversed when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and waged her six-year battle with the disease.
Johnston earned her degree in nursing from the University of San Francisco in 1965. She worked at St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco until 1972, when the family moved to Petaluma. In 1973, she became a nurse at the old Hillcrest Hospital and then moved with the staff to the new Petaluma Valley Hospital in 1980. She became the clinical coordinator of the emergency room at Petaluma Valley.
While working full time as a nurse, she returned to school and earned her master's degree in 1989 from Sonoma State University. She then went to work for Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa, working there until promoted to director of medicine at Kaiser's San Francisco hospital.
In addition to her daughter and husband, Johnston is survived by another daughter, Laura Marie Johnston of Petaluma; two sons, Sean Aloysius Johnston of Petaluma and Patrick Francis Johnston of Pittsburg; two brothers, Michael Sullivan of Redwood City and Jim Sullivan of Petaluma; and a granddaughter.
Services will be held today, beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory and then continuing to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, where a funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Johnston's cousin, Monsignor Terry Sullivan of St. Lucy's Parish in Campbell, will officiate.
Entombment is private.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952; Redwood Caregiver Resource Center, 141 Stony Circle, Suite 200, Santa Rosa 95401; or Catholic Charities, P.O. Box 4900, Santa Rosa 95402.

Mallie Henry
Mallie I. Henry's life spanned three centuries and, in her early years especially, was pure Americana.
Born in the heartland of Nebraska, she taught school in a one-room, wood stove-heated country schoolhouse, spent 26 years in Rapid City, S.D., and enjoyed a home in Santa Rosa for the second half of her life.
Henry, who was 104, died of kidney and heart failure Jan. 24 at a convalescent home in Grass Valley.
Her longevity was due to hard work, faith, good friends and family -- and relentless exercise, said her granddaughter Nancy Conway of Santa Rosa.
Even in her 100s, Henry counted the laps she covered in her walker at a Santa Rosa board and care home, where she had lived until October.
Doing jigsaw puzzles helped keep her mind sharp, and Henry remembered to send birthday cards and gifts to all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
For holiday gatherings at Conway's house, Henry always made a cranberry ice, a sorbet-like dessert, based on a recipe she brought from the Midwest.
Conway said she learned the recipe, but "mine didn't come out as well as hers."
In 1998, just after she had turned 100, Henry attended a party for 14 centenarians and 99-year-olds at the Social Security office in Santa Rosa.
A widow for almost 20 years at the time, Henry credited her independence to the support of a large, loving family.
Born on the rural plains of Tecumseh, Neb., in 1898, Henry was the oldest of 10 children and helped her mother give birth to and raise her younger siblings. "She had a lot of responsibility at a young age," Conway said.
After graduating from high school, she taught six grades at a country school, commuting to work by horse and buggy and starting the wood stove before students arrived.
Attending business school in Lincoln, Neb., she met Eldon Henry, and they marriage in 1924. She worked as a bookkeeper.
They moved to Caspar, Wyo., in 1925 for Eldon's job at an automotive supply store, and five years later relocated to Rapid City, where they enjoyed friends, gardening, trout fishing, playing bridge, dancing and travel.
In 1956, the Henrys moved to Santa Rosa to be near their daughter, Patty, her husband, Dick Werner, and their four children, with a fifth grandchild arriving the following year.
Mallie Henry was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Rosa and the Sisters of Hiram.
Survivors, in addition to her granddaughter, include her daughter, Patty Werner of Nevada City; two sisters, Gwen Bauers of York, Neb., and Pauline James of Lincoln, Neb.; three other grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 1 p.m. today at First Presbyterian Church, 1550 Pacific Ave. Donations may be made to the church's memorial fund. Entombment will be at Santa Rosa Memorial Park.

Stage, screen star Mary Ellis, 105
Mary Ellis, the young opera singer for whom Rudolf Friml wrote "Rose-Marie" in 1924 and who later became the queen of musicals in London, died there Thursday at her home on Eaton Square. She was 105, including the three years that Hollywood publicists subtracted in the 1930s.
Her title role in the operetta "Rose-Marie," her first venture into musical theater, was one of the biggest Broadway hits of the 1920s, running for 558 performances. Arthur Hammerstein, the producer, ordered it written especially for her, and long before Jeanette MacDonald's hit version of "Indian Love Call" from the 1936 film adaptation, critics universally hailed Ellis' highly trained singing.
Her dramatic career lasted until she was 97, although she appeared exclusively in England after the 1930s, partly because of a breach with Hammerstein that kept her permanently off the American musical stage.
Her London stage consort, the composer and actor Ivor Novello, a leading rival of Noel Coward, called her his inspiration and built several hits around her. She also had a major London success with Jerome Kern's "Music in the Air."
Ellis' glamorous circle included Fred and Adele Astaire, Harpo Marx and George Gershwin, with whom she fell fruitlessly in love.
In her Hollywood career, Marlene Dietrich and Fritz Lang were her great friends. Her personal life was chronicled, husband by husband, in the press. "We were all mad and in love with life and work, and each other," she wrote in her autobiography, "Those Dancing Years" (John Murray, 1982).
Ellis was born May Belle Elsas on June 15, 1897, in New York City. Her name, considered too German sounding, was changed when she joined the Metropolitan Opera at age 18.
Her father, who had arrived from Germany with only a few coins in his pocket, eventually became president of Consolidated Paper Mills. Her mother showed promise as a concert pianist before her marriage.
Against all advice, Ellis left the Met to act in Shakespearean productions on Broadway.
That work led to "Rose-Marie." Ellis left the show after a year to appear in "The Dybbuk," a dramatic production at the Neighborhood Playhouse on the Lower East Side, where she happily traded a weekly paycheck of $500 for one of $10. Arthur Hammerstein was furious and forced her to sign an agreement preventing her from singing for any management but his.
She never sang onstage in the United States again.
During World War II, Ellis spent three years working as an ambulance driver and a practical nurse.
She retired from the stage in 1970, but continued to act on television and in radio plays. Her last role, in 1994, was in the Sherlock Holmes television series starring Jeremy Brett.
Ellis leaves no immediate survivors. Her last husband was Jock Muir Stewart Robinson, whom she marriage in 1938 after a hectic courtship. He was an enthusiastic pilot, skier and climber, and although she hated mountain climbing, she willingly accompanied him. He died in a climbing accident in 1950. She never marriage again.

January 28, 2003

Dorothy Marie Lee
Dorothy Marie Lee joined her husband in establishing and then operating Sandy's Paint Store in Sebastopol, but she was always more interested in nurturing family and friends than selling paint.
Lee, a 56-year resident of Sebastopol, died Jan. 21 in a Sebastopol convalescent hospital following a long illness. She was 87.
At her funeral service Saturday, family and friends remembered Lee as a nurturing and compassionate woman guided by her Catholic faith, her great sense of humor and love for people.
Lee and her late husband, Sanford "Sandy" Lee, a painting contractor, founded Sandy's Paint Store in 1960 and operated it until their retirement in 1974. The store continues today on Gravenstein Highway North.
Although she didn't have her husband's expertise in paint chemistry, Lee worked in the store six days a week, waiting on customers, doing bookkeeping and keeping the place spotless.
"The store was closed on Sundays, but there were many times when my mother would meet a customer who had run out of paint and needed another gallon to finish a project. She would meet them at the store and mix up a gallon of paint after she attended Sunday Mass at St. Sebastian's," said daughter Gayle Ballinger of Forestville.
Lee continued to work in the paint store even after earning a nursing degree from Santa Rosa Junior College, a member of the second class to graduate as licensed vocational nurses. Becoming a nurse was Lee's lifelong dream because of the skilled nursing care she received when she was stricken with tuberculosis as a young woman.
"She never worked as a professional nurse, but she became a nurse to every family member, friend or neighbor who had an ailment or was dying," Ballinger said.
Lee was born Dorothy Marie Wohlford in St. Paul, Minn., one of five children of the late Andrew and Mary Wohlford. She and Sanford Lee met in Minnesota and were marriage on Oct. 31, 1940. They moved to California in 1946, settling in Sonoma County. They built their own home on Gravenstein Highway North between Sebastopol and Forestville. Sanford Lee died in 1993. Dorothy Lee continued to live in the family home until four years ago when she went into a convalescent hospital because of her declining health.
In retirement, the Lees enjoyed traveling, gardening and community work. They also played cards, for years maintaining a weekly Saturday night card game with friends.
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her sister, Ann Manthei of Black Duck, Minn., and by two grandsons.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Alzheimer's Respite Care, in care of Catholic Charities, P.O. Box 4900, Santa Rosa 95402.

John Browning
John Browning, a leading light in a pioneering older generation of American pianists of seemingly limitless promise, died Sunday at his home in Sister Bay, Wis. He was 69.
The cause was heart failure, said Shirley Kirshbaum, his publicist.
Browning studied with Rosina Lhevinne at the Juilliard School, where he eventually found himself in the same class as Van Cliburn.
Browning stole the spotlight in 1956 with a silver medal in the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels, Belgium. But he and other pianists of his generation, including Leon Fleisher, Malcolm Frager, Gary Graffman and Byron Janis, were overshadowed when Cliburn won the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, becoming not only a cultural but also a political hero, bearing an American standard in the Cold War.
For various reasons, most of those pianists fell short of the heavy expectations laid on them. Cliburn has spent much of his life in seclusion. Fleisher, Graffman and Janis all developed physical ailments affecting their hands. Frager, who won the Queen Elisabeth competition in 1960, died in 1991 at 56 after a relatively quiet, scholarly career.
Browning maintained an active solo career, if never quite at the most glamorous level, and with the name Cliburn dogging his own in many a review and article. Although he lacked nothing in bravura technique, his pianistic style was reserved, elegant and penetrating, more intellectual than overtly emotional, yet eminently approachable. His tastes ranged back at least to Bach and Scarlatti, and he played harpsichord for his own enjoyment.
Browning was a guest soloist with the Santa Rosa Symphony four times, performing piano concertos by Beethoven, Brahms and Barber. He also performed a recital with the Santa Rosa Community Concerts Association in the 1960s.
"He was one of the first big artists to come here," Conductor Laureate Corrick Brown said. "We always did very well because he had quite a reputation."
He was born to musical parents in Denver in 1933. Having studied piano from age 5, he appeared as a soloist with the Denver Symphony at 10.
In 1945, his family moved to Los Angeles. He spent two years at Occidental College there.
He began his studies at Juilliard in 1950. He won the Leventritt Competition in New York in 1955. (Cliburn had won the year before.) He made his professional orchestral debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1956.
In 1962, he gave the premiere of Samuel Barber's Pulitzer Prize-winning Piano Concerto, which was written for him, in connection with the opening of Lincoln Center. His second recording of the work, with Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony in 1991 for RCA Victor, won a Grammy for best instrumental soloist with orchestra.
Browning won a second Grammy in 1993 with a disc of Barber's solo works on MusicMasters. He continued to follow the works of contemporary American composers but found relatively few to his liking.
His last performance was, by invitation, at the U.S. Supreme Court in May. His last public appearance was at the National Gallery in Washington in April.
Browning is survived by a sister, Elizabeth Witchey Ryer of Santa Rosa; two nephews; and a niece.

January 26, 2003

Leonard Jay
Leonard P. Jay, a high-profile real estate developer who built more than 1,000 homes in Sonoma County, died Friday in Antioch. He was 60.
Jay suffered a stroke, family members said.
Born in Petaluma, he graduated from Petaluma High School, attended Santa Rosa Junior College and served a short stint in the Marines.
He first ventured into real estate development with partner Mark Reis before starting his own company, Jay Enterprises, in 1977.
Dedicating himself to the growth of his hometown, he developed Boulevard Heights, which featured custom homes priced at more than $600,000; Sycamore Heights condominiums; Madison Village duplexes; Country Club Estates; Capri Court; McDowell Meadows and Casa del Oro.
In Lake County, he built Lakeside Heights.
"He was a workaholic. He would get up sometimes at 3 in the morning with a brainstorming idea and go into the office. But then he also made time for his family. He was very, very family-oriented," his sister-in-law, Lisa Jay, said.
Known for his rags-to-riches rise and lavish parties, Jay was well accustomed to the boom-and-bust nature of the real estate market. He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection twice in five months in 1992.
"He was a survivor," his sister-in-law said. "He went from high points to low points and then gained it all back again."
Along the way he was honored at least once as builder of the year by the North Coast Builders Exchange.
In addition to building homes, he also envisioned a large strip mall in his hometown, and wound up selling a large tract of land to the New Jersey-based Chelsea Group, which built Petaluma's factory outlet mall on the property.In a 1991 article about Sonoma County builders' tightening their belts to stay in business, Jay summed up his philosophy: "We're in business to build homes. When you're not building homes or planning for the future, it has a negative impact."
When he wasn't building houses, he was often fishing or water-skiing on his boat, which he named "It's About Time." He also enjoyed watching the 49ers play football.
Jay, who had recently moved to Bethel Island in Contra Costa County, is survived by his wife, Margo M. Jay of Petaluma; six children, Bob Barnard of Connecticut, Tonya Miller of Napa, Tammy Wilson and Jodi Yeaman, both of Windsor, Ryan Jay of Sacramento and Heidi Jay of Bethel Island; a brother, John Jay of Petaluma; three sisters, Marlene Short of Tulsa, Okla., Kathy Corne of Washington and Dottie Hofmann of Petaluma; and nine grandchildren.
Funeral services will be at noon Tuesday at the Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory in Petaluma.
Donations may be sent to the Leonard Jay Memorial Fund, Exchange Bank, 2 E. Washington St., Petaluma 94952.

Norman Panama
LOS ANGELES -- Screenwriter Norman Panama, who collaborated with Melvin Frank on such films as "White Christmas," "The Road to Utopia" and "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," has died.
He was 88.
Panama died Jan. 13 at UCLA Medical Center from complications of Parkinson's disease.
Born in Chicago in 1914, Panama was studying law and political science at the University of Chicago when he met Frank. The two decided to break into the entertainment industry because Frank already had written a novel and Panama had dabbled in playwriting.
They arrived in Hollywood in 1938 and began writing sketches for Bob Hope's "The Pepsodent Show" and the show's guests, such as Judy Garland and Groucho Marx.
The writing team eventually left the show to work for comedian Phil Baker and singer Rudy Vallee. Later, after writing a story treatment for Hope that became the 1942 comedy "My Favorite Blonde," they signed with Paramount Pictures.
The team's screenwriting earned them three Oscar nominations, for "The Road to Utopia," "Knock on Wood" and "The Facts of Life."
Among the other films Frank and Panama wrote were "The Court Jester" and "That Certain Feeling."
"Panama and Frank were one of the most successful writing teams in Hollywood history, maybe one of the most successful teams in show business," entertainment historian Jordan Young said.
Frank and Panama produced and co-wrote the book for the 1956 Broadway musical "Li'l Abner," and also produced the less successful 1959 film version, which Frank directed.
In 1966, after working together for nearly 30 years, Frank and Panama amicably broke up as a team.
Panama directed Hope and Bing Crosby in "The Road to Hong Kong" and Hope and Jackie Gleason in "How to Commit a Marriage."
Panama also directed "The Maltese Bippy" and "I Will, I Will ... For Now," starring Elliott Gould and Diane Keaton.
Panama is survived by his son, Steven; a daughter, Kathleen Williams; and two grandchildren.

Virginia Heinlein
Virginia Heinlein, who gave her husband, science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, the idea for his acclaimed 1961 novel "Stranger in a Strange Land" and inspired many of the strong women characters in his stories, died Jan. 18 at a retirement community in Atlantic Beach, Fla. She was 86.
Heinlein died in her sleep after a long struggle with respiratory illness and a broken hip sustained on Thanksgiving, said David M. Silver, secretary-treasurer of The Heinlein Society.
Her husband's muse, manager and literary guardian, she was widely known and respected in the science fiction community for her devotion to the Heinlein legacy after the prolific writer's death in 1988 at the age of 80.
She was responsible for the posthumous publication of the original, uncut manuscript of "Stranger in a Strange Land" in 1990, as well as for "Grumbles From the Grave," a selection of his letters, the travel memoir "Tramp Royale," and a political handbook, "Take Back Your Government."
Robert Heinlein was considered by many to be the most influential author of science fiction since H.G. Wells. During a five-decade career that produced 37 novels and 11 short-story collections, he won an unprecedented four Hugo awards, given by popular vote of science fiction fans for the best novel of the year.
"Stranger in a Strange Land" was his best-known work. It became, to the author's dismay, a favorite of the iconoclastic '60s generation, in part for its apparent advocacy of free love and cynicism about organized religion.
The story behind the novel began with the November 1948 issue of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. In keeping with the speculative nature of the genre, a letter writer complimented the editor on an issue a year in the future, going so far as to mention stories by specific writers. The editor, John W. Campbell Jr., decided to fulfill the letter writer's fantasy and have the stories written for the November 1949 issue.
The letter writer said one of the stories was titled "Gulf" by Robert A. Heinlein. Heinlein accepted the assignment, then held a brainstorming session with his closest adviser -- his wife.
"Among other unsuitable notions, I suggested a story about a human infant, raised by an alien race," Virginia Heinlein wrote years later.
Her husband liked the idea, made some notes, but then set them aside. The idea was "too big" for a short story, so he pursued a different theme for "Gulf."
He returned to the notes for the other story in fits and starts over the next decade. The eventual result was "Stranger in a Strange Land," which introduced the character Valentine Michael Smith as an infant raised by Martians on Mars with a wisdom far beyond that of any Earthling.
The Heinleins marriage in 1948, a few years after they met at the Naval Air Experimental Station in Philadelphia, where she was a chemist and aviation test engineer and he a civilian engineer.
The daughter of a Brooklyn dentist, she majored in chemistry at New York University and was an accomplished swimmer and diver who reached national competitive levels in figure skating. She spoke seven languages and studied for a doctorate in biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Athletic throughout her life, she saved her husband's life once when he collapsed on a hill in Tahiti. Although shorter than he was, she threw him over her back and carried him down to the beach, where he was flown to Australia.
She was the model for many of the superwomen who crop up in her husband's stories, such as Maureen Johnson Smith, mother of the immortal Lazarus Long in "Time Enough for Love," published in 1973.
These women characters tended to have red hair, like Virginia's, as well as great wit and an ability to overcome adversity with aplomb.
The Heinleins had no children. 

January 8, 2003

My Tieu Lai-Dang
My Tieu Lai-Dang, a hard-working mother of four who always made time to help others, died Saturday in a car accident while returning from her job in Hopland. She was 44.
Her husband John Dang said the one word that comes to mind in describing My (pronounced May) is "selfless."
"She was very giving," he recalled. "If anybody needed help in anything, she would give her all, especially to people who don't understand or speak the language."
Lai-Dang would help people who couldn't read or write English make phone calls or fill out forms to obtain services. It was something she did informally, on her own, for people she would come across in her day-to-day life.
As an immigrant herself, she knew the struggles of assimilation in a new country and culture. Born in Vietnam to Chinese parents, she was one of what came to be known as "the boat people," who fled persecution by Vietnam's Communist regime after the takeover in the 1970s.
Many died making the perilous journey to freedom, encountering pirates or drowning in overloaded and rickety boats. Lai-Dang's family survived, landing first in Malaysia and then making its way to the United States, where the family went first to Florida and then to San Francisco.
She attended Heald Business College and then worked for the Salvation Army. She met John Dang in 1986 and a year later they were marriage and she moved to Santa Rosa.
She did accounting for the California Human Development Corp. before taking time off to be home with her growing family, which came to include Alexander, 11; Benjamin, 9; Dylan, 4; and Elani, 3.
She was active in the Redwood Empire Chinese Association, performing with them in the Rose Parade and participating in fashion shows.
In 1998, the Dangs opened the Mandarin Restaurant in Bennett Valley. John Dang cooked and My Lai-Dang managed things up front. A year later, they acquired Crystal Lil's, a nearby pub, and maintained the two restaurants for several years until the demands and the hours became too much.
Most recently, she worked as a card dealer and gaming operator at the Sho-Ka-Wah casino in Hopland. She was commuting home with a co-worker when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel and the car veered off the road.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the chapel at Santa Rosa Memorial Park.
In addition to her husband and children, she is survived by her parents, Anh Tran and Ha Lai; brothers, Han Lai, Howard Lai and Brian Lai, all of San Francisco; and two sisters, Ann Lai of San Francisco and Catherine Choi of New York.

January 7, 2003

Roy Carson
Roy Carson, a longtime Sonoma County educator who came out of retirement to run a school district, died at his Sebastopol home Saturday. He was 80.
Carson came to the county in 1960 to take over as principal at Pine Crest School in Sebastopol. Two years later, he took a post with the Sonoma County Office of Education, where he retired in 1985.
"His heart was into being a teacher," said his wife, Mary Carson.
Carson was a natural teacher during the four years he served in the Navy during World War II. Following the war, he went into teaching after graduating from college.
Born in Cedro Woley, Wash., Carson grew up in Bellingham, Wash.
He enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and served with naval construction battalion units throughout the South Pacific.
The "Seabees" motto is "We build, we fight." The Seabees built entire bases, road and airstrips and took on a variety of other construction projects.
Carson graduated from Western Washington University after the war, and his first teaching job was in the fourth grade in Ferndale, Wash.
California was growing and offered the promise of better paying teaching jobs in its rapidly expanding suburbs.
The Carsons moved to Whittier in Southern California in 1952.
His first job was teaching junior high school math. Later, he went into administration after earning a master's degree and worked as an assistant principal and principal.
Looking for a smaller town to raise their four children, the Carsons settled on Sebastopol, where the school district was looking for an elementary school principal in 1960.
Carson's first job with the county schools office was as director of math. He was director of educational services when he retired.
"He headed up all the new things that were coming across the board. He was innovative. If it was no good, he would say so," Mary Carson said.
He wasn't out of education long: He was hired as interim superintendent for the Oak Grove Union School District in the West County. He stayed two years, until 1987.
"He was the greatest. He loved it, he loved children," said daughter Mary Kipp of Sebastopol.
In retirement, Carson fished lakes, rivers and the ocean and took up abalone diving. He also played plenty of golf and his wife was his best partner.
In addition to his wife and daughter Mary, survivors include daughter Patricia Heredia of Foster City; sons Michael Carson of Sebastopol and Robert Carson of Santa Rosa; and brothers Eugene Carson and George Carson, both of Washington state.
Friends and family are invited to attend a funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Sebastian's Catholic Church, 7983 Covert Lane, Sebastopol. Burial will be at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn, 7951 Bodega Ave. There will be a visitation from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary, 301 S. Main St., Sebastopol.

Douglas Martin
Douglas Martin, who was stricken with polio at age 5 and grew up to be a successful advocate for the disabled, helping pass the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1988, has died. He was 55.
Martin, who used a portable iron lung while sleeping, died Friday night in his Los Angeles home when the device accidentally detached, said his mother, Julia.
The advocate, who spent more than two years of his early childhood hospitalized in an iron lung, used a wheelchair the rest of his life.
The effects of the polio included low stamina and respiratory difficulty, although he could breathe on his own while he was awake.
A native of Naper, Neb., Martin earned a major scholarship to the University of Nebraska but was turned away when officials saw his wheelchair.
"I made a vow then and there that I would pursue my education and use it to make sure this would not happen to anyone else," Martin once told a publication at UCLA.
He moved west to attend UCLA, where he found "the climate was milder, the barriers were fewer and the environment was very accommodating."
Martin earned simultaneous bachelor's and master's degrees in 1973 and a doctoral degree in urban affairs two years later. He became a department scholar and in 1972 was the first disabled person to be named a UCLA Chancellor's Fellow.
Martin spent years as a lobbyist for passage of legislation to aid the disabled. In 1989 he returned to UCLA as special assistant to the chancellor in charge of compliance with those laws.
When Martin took the UCLA job to enforce what had been passed, 75 percent of the campus buildings were largely inaccessible to people with disabilities. He supervised the conversion of them all.
Under his tenure as disabled affairs compliance officer at UCLA, enrollment of students with disabilities increased markedly, from 237 when he arrived in 1989, to 1,082 by 1996.
Martin considered his most gratifying achievement the decadelong effort that led to the signing of the Employment Opportunities for Disabled Americans Act in 1986.
The act revised Social Security laws and Supplemental Security Income regulations to eliminate rules that halted benefits when disabled people were employed. Under revisions Martin helped achieve, the new rules encouraged the disabled to seek and retain jobs.
Martin was awarded the national Distinguished Service Award from President George Bush's Committee for Employment of People With Disabilities in 1990.

Jean Kerr
Jean Kerr, whose wry wit and unerring eye for life's everyday absurdities kept legions of readers and theatergoers laughing with books like "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" and plays like "Mary, Mary," died on Sunday at a hospital in White Plains, N.Y. She was 80.
The apparent cause was pneumonia, her son Christopher said. She lived in Larchmont, N.Y.
Kerr, who was the widow of the drama critic Walter Kerr, was well acquainted with the glamour, grit and egocentric follies of life in the theater and capitalized on that experience. She wrote entertainingly and often about show business, musing about what to say when lunching with a prospective producer (order a drink, so you look relaxed, but don't touch it lest he think you're an alcoholic), or gloomily anticipating negative reviews of her latest work ("If I have to commit suicide, I have nothing but Gelusil").
But she had an unquestioned gift for finding the comic in the commonplace anxieties of suburbia and marriage life. She cheerfully acknowledged doing most of her writing in the family car, parked blocks away from the scrambling chaos of children and pets.
The Kerrs made their debut as a team on Broadway in 1946 with "Song of Bernadette," a dramatization of Franz Werfel's novel about a young French woman who was canonized after claiming to have seen visions of the Virgin Mary in a grotto near Lourdes. It was not a success, nor was her solo writing effort two years later, a comedy called "Jenny Kissed Me," about a priest who finds his household disrupted by the arrival of his housekeeper's niece.
Brooks Atkinson, writing in the New York Times, called it "pedestrian" and "a machine-stitched job."
Jean and Walter Kerr teamed up again in 1949 with "Touch and Go," a revue for which they wrote the sketches and lyrics and which Mr. Kerr directed.
Kerr scored her first really big success outside the theater with the publication in 1957 of "Please Don't Eat the Daisies," a witty and wide-ranging collection of pieces about everything from the pet dogs in her life, to the oddities of the Kerrs' home in Larchmont, N.Y.

January 4, 2003

Edward Guildford
Edward J. "Ted" Guildford, a longtime Santa Rosa resident who once delivered milk door-to-door in Sonoma County as a driver for Clover-Stornetta Farms, died Tuesday at a Santa Rosa hospital following a long battle with cancer. He was 75.
Guildford worked for Clover-Stornetta Farms for 24 years, doing home milk delivery in the early days and later driving large transport trucks filled with ice cream and other dairy products. He retired from Clover-Stornetta Farms in 1993 and enjoyed the past 10 years traveling and watching sporting events, particularly youth soccer.
"My father loved soccer. If there was a soccer game going on somewhere, he would get out and watch it," said his son, John E. Guildford of Santa Ana.
Guildford coached soccer in the '70s and along with Charles Slender coached one of Sonoma County's first traveling soccer teams. The two coaches would arrange soccer matches with other teams around the Bay Area.
Guildford is remembered as a dedicated family man who was kind, caring and enjoyed life.
"He would do anything for anybody. He was easy-going and always enjoyed a good laugh," his son said.
Guildford was a familiar figure as he walked his golden retriever, JD, in his Larkfield neighborhood.
He was born Jan. 6, 1927, in London. He worked on the docks during the bombing of London in World War II and helped prepare equipment for the invasion of Normandy. He served in the British Army from 1945 until 1948 and for a time was stationed in Palestine, where he did transport and guard duty.
In 1954, he marriage Patricia Cox, his wife of 48 years. The couple emigrated to the United States in 1957, settling in Santa Rosa because family members were living in the area. He went to work for his brother-in-law Orvan M. Berry, who owned a construction business that built many of the homes in the Larkfield area.
He worked in construction until 1969, when he got a job as a driver with Clover-Stornetta Farms. He was a member of the Teamsters Union.
In addition to his wife and son, Guildford is survived by his daughter, Beverly A. Perez of Windsor, and two grandchildren.
A memorial service celebrating Guildford's life will be at noon today at the Mark West Neighborhood Church, 5901 Old Redwood Highway in Santa Rosa. Private Burial is at Oak Mound Cemetery in Healdsburg.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Mark West Neighborhood Church building fund, 5901 Old Redwood Highway, Santa Rosa 95403; the American Cancer Society, 1451 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa 95401; or the American Heart Association, 1400 North Dutton Ave., Suite 20, Santa Rosa 95401.

Bea Schwartz
Bea Schwartz, whose business and secretarial skills contributed significantly to Temple Beth Ami and to the Sonoma County Restaurant Association, died Wednesday at a Santa Rosa hospital.
A resident of Sonoma County for nearly half a century, Schwartz was 73.
With her husband, Norman, she was an early member of Temple Beth Ami in Santa Rosa and for 16 years was its head of operations.
"She was the right hand for the rabbis that came through. She was very well liked and a good confidante for a lot of people. She was a key part of that place for a lot of years," said her middle son, Fred Schwartz of Woodland Hills.
She later had her own secretarial business for about 15 years, and it was during that time that she became secretary for the Sonoma County Restaurant Association.
A native of Brooklyn, she attended Brooklyn College and worked for several companies in New York, one based in the Empire State Building, before meeting and marrying Norman Schwartz 52 years ago.
In the early 1950s, she moved to Petaluma with her family to be closer to her parents, who at one time operated a chicken ranch.
The Schwartzes have lived in Santa Rosa since 1960.
"She was a very positive person, and very bright," Fred Schwartz said. He recalled she was an accomplished knitter, and a familiar presence in the stands at her sons' sports games, cheering them on while knitting beautiful blankets and clothing.
She also liked to bowl and participated in a bowling league.
Services were Friday at Eggen & Lance Mortuary. Internment was in the Beth Ami section of Santa Rosa Memorial Park.
In addition to her husband and son Fred, she is survived by her sons Lee Schwartz of Santa Monica and Paul Schwartz of Corona; her sisters Sally Weitzman and Shirley Miller, both of Coral Gables, Fla.; and seven grandchildren.
The family suggests contributions to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, 3300 E. Sunrise Drive, Tucson, AZ 85718.

Mary Brian
Mary Brian, a romantic leading lady whose memorable career began in the era of silent and early sound films, died Monday at a retirement home in Del Mar. She was 96.
Brian, a longtime resident of Studio City, appeared in more than 70 films between 1924 and 1947. She co-starred with leading men of the era including Gary Cooper, Cary Grant and James Cagney, and at different times during the 1930s was engaged to Grant and to Dick Powell.
She played Wendy in the first screen version -- a silent -- of "Peter Pan," released by Paramount in 1924. She also portrayed Molly Wood opposite Gary Cooper in "The Virginian," the first major Western with sound, produced in 1929.

December 6, 2002

Paul Lao
Friends, colleagues and patients of the late Dr. Paul N. Lao are invited to attend a memorial service today at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Rosa.
The 12:30 p.m. service will be held on the front lawn near the flag pole, rain or shine, hospital spokesman Carl Campbell said.
Lao, a respected and popular pulmonary and critical care specialist at the hospital, died Nov. 26 from injuries suffered in a cycling accident four days earlier.
Colleagues and loved ones are still trying to come to grips with his death.
"He was sort of like the grease in our wheels. He made everything smoother and easier," said Dr. Monica Minguillon, a friend and fellow pulmonary specialist. "I think all of us still expect to see him. He was supposed to be on vacation this week, and I think all of us just expect him to come back in."
Minguillon said Lao was genuine, caring and upbeat, and had an effortless appeal. "People just sort of fell all over themselves trying to get a little closer to him," she said.
While talented and professional in his work, he also had a full life outside the hospital as a loving husband and father of two young boys, aged 8 and 10.
He was passionate about anything he got involved in, and friends used the phrase "hobby immersion" to describe his full-bore approach to various pastimes he had picked up in recent years: scuba diving, skiing, snowboarding and, most recently, cycling, going on 100 mile rides before he had his road bike a year, she said.
"I don't think there's a soul who knows him who didn't think he was a great guy, and who didn't want to spend time with him," she said.
Born and raised in Queens, N.Y., Lao attended medical school at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Brooklyn, where he met his wife, Dr. Veronica Ng, who was a fellow student.
He earned his medical degree in 1989 and received board certification in internal medicine, pulmonary disease and critical care.
Lao and his wife came West in 1992 so he could accept a fellowship at UC Davis, Ng said. He was on the staff at UC Davis in 1995-96.
He accepted his post at Kaiser in September 1998 after two years at a Veterans' Administration hospital in West Palm Beach, Fla., she said.
A Santa Rosa resident, Lao frequently rode his bicycle to work and was on his way the morning of Nov. 22, when he rounded a bend on Chanate Road and collided with an oncoming big-rig as he swerved to avoid a school bus.
Besides his wife, he is survived by sons Chris and Steve Lao of Santa Rosa; parents Check and Lucy Lao of New York; sisters Dara Lao of San Francisco and Cynthia Lao of China; and brother Sinclair Lao of Boston.
A private funeral has been held.
Contributions in Lao's memory may be made to the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, P.O. Box 3088, Santa Rosa 95402-3088.

Edward M. Keyes, writer
Edward M. Keyes, a writer who followed New York City narcotics officers into the dangerous underground world of drug smuggling and helped write the best-selling book "The French Connection," has died.
Keyes, 75, died of cancer Monday. The New York City native and longtime resident of New Rochelle, N.Y., lived in San Diego's La Jolla neighborhood for the past decade.
Keyes teamed up with Robin Moore, author of "The Green Berets," to pen the story of a 1962 historic heroin ring bust by Harlem narcotics officers that netted 112 pounds of drugs worth $32 million.
Although Keyes was not credited on the book's jacket, Moore regarded him as a co-author and acknowledged his work as crucial to its publication, said Keyes' son, Stephen. The two shared the book's royalties, he added.
The book takes readers on a journey through New York City's underground drug world as officers tracked down a Mafia-backed French drug operation.
"The French Connection" inspired a 1971 movie of the same name, which won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Gene Hackman's portrayal of a New York City police officer.
Keyes is survived by his wife, Eileen; daughters Dara Keyes of New York City; Jeanine Keyes-Plante of West Springfield, Mass.; and Lisa Keyes of New Rochelle, N.Y.; as well as sons Stephen of Encinitas; Edward Keyes of San Diego; and Terrence Keyes of New Rochelle, New York.

Richard Lazarus, psychologist
Richard Lazarus, an influential psychologist who studied cognition and emotion, has died. The professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, was 80.
Lazarus, who died Nov. 24 in Walnut Creek, wrote 13 books, including his classic, "Emotion and Adaption," which showed how appraisal enters into the generation of emotions.
The book explained that a single response, such as a smile, can be used for different emotions; different responses, such as retaliation and passive aggressiveness, can be used in service of the same emotion.
Lazarus was an early champion of the study of cognition and his studies in unconscious processes in perception have been frequently cited. He also studied coping and stress.
He won a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 1989 was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution to Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association.
Lazarus joined the Berkeley faculty in 1957.
He is survived by his wife, Bernice, two children and four grandchildren.

December 5, 2002

Gerald Skoff
Gerald Joseph Skoff, a car fanatic since high school and the owner of Skoff Trucking in Petaluma for more than 40 years, died at his Petaluma home Nov. 30 from cancer of the liver and pancreas. He was 67.
When he was still a teen-ager attending Petaluma High School, Skoff and several buddies created the Pacers of Petaluma, a hot rod club that raced at a drag strip in Cotati.
"He didn't actually race them, he just liked working on them," said Gayle Skoff, his wife of 40 years, who met her husband in high school. "They would work on the car as a group during the week and then they would go to the drag strip. They would be the pit crew."
His passion for cars never faded, his wife said. Skoff was an avid racing fan and owned a '35 Ford Street Rod that he liked to bring to car shows, especially the annual Hot August Nights show in Reno.
Skoff was born and raised in Petaluma, graduating from Petaluma High School in 1954. He joined the Army in 1959, driving tanks at Fort Lewis, Wash. Skoff had hoped to travel overseas in the Army, his wife said, but he never left the country.
In 1961, Skoff and his father started Skoff Trucking with just four trucks and the two of them as drivers. But over time Skoff became more of a truck broker, specializing in hiring drivers to haul rock, sand and gravel. The business is now run by Skoff's wife and a son.
Skoff enjoyed traveling around the country in his motor home, his wife said. He was especially interested in visiting Gold Country sites, she said, and he knew all about the tools miners used to search for gold.
In addition to his wife, Skoff is survived by a daughter, Wendy Lee Mauvais of Santa Rosa; two sons, Martin Skoff of Rohnert Park and Daniel Skoff of Petaluma; four aunts, Dolly Atkinson of Sebastopol and Mary Ronsheimer, Jane Monticello and Anne Zala, all of Petaluma; three grandchildren and one step-granddaughter.
A funeral service is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory, 850 Keokuk St. in Petaluma. Visitation is 5-8 p.m. Friday at the mortuary. Inurnment will be private.
Donations may go to Memorial Hospice, 821 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa 95401; or the American Cancer Society, 400 N. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma 94954.

Former Myanmar dictator Ne Win
YANGON, Myanmar -- Gen. Ne Win, Myanmar's former military dictator who dragged his country into poverty during his 26 years in power, died today while under house arrest, family members said. He was 91.
The family members said he died at 7.30 a.m. at his lakeside villa, where he had been confined along with his daughter since March 7 following the arrest of his three grandsons and son-in-law on charges of attempting to overthrow the military government. The family members spoke on condition of anonymity.
No other details of the circumstances of his death were immediately available.
His enormous behind-the-scenes clout began to wane a few years ago and he stood totally discredited earlier this year with the arrest of his relatives.
His son-in-law -- Aye Zaw Win, 54, the husband of Ne Win's daughter Sandar Win, and the couple's three sons -- Aye Ne Win, 25, Kyaw Ne Win, 23, and Zwe Ne Win, 21 -- were sentenced to death Sept. 26 after being convicted of treason on the coup charges. They have appealed the verdict.
The barbed-wire fence that had blocked the road to his house since his arrest was opened slightly today, making enough space for cars to go through. Three soldiers stood near the barricade.
There was no sign of unusual activity at the house. Funeral arrangements were not immediately known, and the government did not make any announcement.
Ne Win had suffered a heart attack in September 2001 and had a pacemaker attached. He was last seen in public in good health March 21, 2001, when he offered lunch to 99 Buddhist monks and more than 500 friends, most of them his socialist cronies.
Ne Win was at the forefront of Myanmar's struggle for independence from Britain, achieved in 1948. He seized power in a bloodless coup in 1962, starting an era of authoritarianism that would sully his reputation as a national hero.
He also achieved notoriety as a playboy and a reclusive eccentric.
A deep belief in numerology prompted him once to issue bank notes in 45- and 90-kyat denominations because the numbers were divisible by his lucky number, nine.
He retired from politics in 1988, just before a popular uprising for democracy triggered by his quarter-century of misrule that catapulted Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the late independence hero Gen. Aung San, to political prominence.
Thousands of civilian protesters were gunned down in the military crackdown that followed and many more fled into exile.

Henry Chauncey
SHELBURNE, Vt. -- Henry Chauncey, the man credited with turning the SAT into an admission standard used by thousands of colleges and universities, has died. He was 97.
Chauncey died Tuesday at his home in Shelburne.
Chauncey founded the Educational Testing Service to administer the SAT out of a belief that access to the nation's colleges should be decided through merit, rather than through family connections.
"Henry believed that higher educational opportunity should not be limited to the children of the wealthy," ETS President Kurt Landgraf said.
A former assistant dean at Harvard University, Chauncey started Princeton, N.J.-based ETS in 1947 and served as its president until 1970. He also was a director of the New York-based College Board, the organization that sponsors the SAT.
During his tenure with ETS, higher education embraced standardized tests as a determining factor in the college admissions process. 

December 4, 2002

Charles L. Moore
Charles L. Moore came to Sonoma County as a teen-ager in the 1920s and later operated his own beauty salon in downtown Santa Rosa for 43 years.
Moore died Friday in a local hospital. He was 93.
Moore's life began in 1909 on a homestead near the Klamath Indian Reservation in northwest California. His family moved to Klamath Falls, Ore., and at age 10, he traveled with family by covered wagon to Corning in Tehama County. The family came to Bennett Valley in Sonoma County during Moore's high school years.
Finding himself out of work during the Great Depression, Moore enrolled in beauty school, possibly in Oakland. In 1993, he opened the Elite Beauty Salon on Fifth Street between B Street and Mendocino Avenue. During World War II, the shop grew to 11 operators.
In recollections written in 1997, Moore related that in his early years of business he felt compelled to try to help those begging money for food. Eventually, he devised a plan where he would give the needy a signed business card and a restaurant across the street would feed them and place the amount on his bill.
"He was a very generous man," recalled his daughter Sylvia Moore Fitzpatrick of Colorado.
He contracted tuberculosis in 1940 and spent six months in a sanitarium in Redwood City. During that period, he converted to Christianity and later became a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church in Santa Rosa.
In 1944, he marriage his wife of 46 years, the late Alexandra Moore.
A former amateur boxer, he enjoyed hunting, fishing and golf. His travels with his wife took him to Latin America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.
He was a member of Rotary International of Santa Rosa and the Exchange Club.
Along with his daughter, survivors include two other children, Linda Moore Morey of Minnesota and Russell Lewis Moore of Colorado; three sisters, Hazel Coryell of Oregon, Pearl Burroughs of Santa Rosa and Ella Duncan of Washington; and two grandchildren.
At his request, no formal services will be held. Arrangements were under the direction of Daniels Chapel of the Roses.
The family prefers memorial contributions to Sutter Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice, 1110 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa 95403.

Bill Greene, former lawmaker
Bill Greene, a longtime state legislator and former civil rights marcher, is dead at age 72.
Greene, a big man with a deep, booming voice, died Monday at a Sacramento hospital from complications of several long illness, including heart attacks, strokes and pneumonia.
A Democrat, he represented a Los Angeles district from 1967 to 1992, first in the Assembly, then in the state Senate.
Greene was born in Kansas City, Mo., and attended the University of Michigan.
He took part in civil rights demonstrations in the South during the 1960s and was arrested at least twice, said his wife, Yvonne Greene. His activism led to a prison term in Mississippi. He also was jailed briefly in Louisiana but escaped.
When they became engaged, "I couldn't take him to meet my mother and family because he was a fugitive," Yvonne Greene said.
"I spent most of our honeymoon sewing up his ragged clothes. He was one of the larger guys, and the police force always went for him first."
Greene was hired as the first black desk clerk in the California Assembly.
He succeeded his longtime friend and mentor, Mervyn Dymally, when he won his Assembly seat in 1967. He again succeeded Dymally when he was elected to the Senate in 1975.

December 3, 2002

Corinda Gleason
Corinda T. Gleason, a lifelong Sonoma County resident known for her exuberance and charm whether selling jewelry or managing girls' softball teams, died Saturday at her Sebastopol home following a brief battle with cancer. She was 64.
Gleason, who grew up in Occidental as a member of the Fiori restaurant family, never lost the family's knack for entertaining and hospitality. Her Sebastopol home was a gathering place where family and friends could get coffee and counseling any time of the day or night.
"If my mother had a penny for every person she counseled around her kitchen table she would have been the wealthiest woman in Sonoma County," said daughter Lori Silveira of Healdsburg.
A woman of determination and high energy, Gleason worked with others to start girls softball in Sebastopol, raised thousands of dollars for local charities and was active for many years in the Analy Boosters Club. She worked for many years as the manager of The Whitehall Co. Jewelers in the Santa Rosa Plaza, where she was the store's top saleswoman.
But her life was dominated by her devotion to family and friends.
"Corinda was my hero. She was a very giving, outgoing person who was always there for her family and friends. She loved her home and opened it to everyone," said longtime friend Tia Polley of Sebastopol.
She was born Corinda Theresa Fiori on Dec. 19, 1937, in Santa Rosa's "Little Italy," the daughter of Tony and Clara Fiori. When she was 5, she moved to Occidental, where her family eventually established Fiori's Restaurant, a popular Italian eatery through the '40s, '50s and into the '60s. She lived in the apartment above the Italian restaurant managed by her parents and in later years by her brothers Raymond Fiori and the late George Fiori.
Gleason was a founding member of the Xi Epsilon Lambda Sorority, Upsilon Tau Sorority, the Wednesday Night Womens Poker Group in Sebastopol and the Analy Boosters Club.
In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by her son, William G. Gleason of Sebastopol; her brother, Raymond Fiori of Sebastopol; and five grandchildren.
A funeral mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Sebastian's Catholic Church in Sebastopol. Entombment is at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn.
A Vigil Rite Service is at 7:30 p.m. today at St. Sebastian's Church.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the American Cancer Society, 1451 Guerneville Road, Suite 220, Santa Rosa 95403.

Ellen Straus
Ellen Straus, matriarch of a Marin County dairy ranching family and a woman of conscience who for decades fought for farmland preservation and environmental causes, died Saturday at her ranch in Marshall following a short illness. She was 75.
Family members said she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in September.
Straus, one of the founders of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, was a nationally recognized leader in efforts to save farmland from urban development. In 1998, she received America's highest honor for land stewardship from the American Farmland Trust in Washington, D.C.
A woman of energy, social conscience and impish humor, Straus became involved in community issues while raising four children and helping her husband manage the 660-acre ranch and 270 milk cows.
It was at her urging that her son Albert Straus in 1994 turned the family dairy into the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi River. Today, the Straus Family Creamery produces organic dairy products sold throughout the Bay Area.
"My mother's excitement for new ideas was contagious, giving her children and neighbors the confidence to live out their own dreams whether it was organic farming or fighting massive development schemes. She led by example," said her son Michael Straus, a communications specialist who lives in Marshall.
Straus was born Ellen Tirza Lotte Prins on Feb. 21, 1927, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 1940, her family fled the Netherlands just ahead of the Nazi invasion, settling in New York. She graduated from Bard College in New York, with plans to practice medicine. But she fell in love with a young German Jewish immigrant named Bill Straus who had dreams of owning a dairy farm. The couple settled on the shores of Tomales Bay in 1950 and started their milk herd.
For more than 20 years, Straus guided the Marin Agricultural Land Trust or MALT, the first farmland preservation organization established in the United States. She served on MALT's board of directors from 1980 to 1990 and was its chairwoman from 1999 to 2001.
In addition to her husband, Bill Straus, and sons Albert and Michael Straus, all of Marshall, she is survived by her daughters, Vivien Straus of Los Angeles and Miriam Straus of Salt Point, N.Y.; her sister, Anneke Prins Simons of New Jersey; and by four grandsons.
Private services will be held.
The family suggests memorial contributions to MALT, P.O. Box 809, Point Reyes 94956.

December 2, 2002

Donald E. White, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, has died. He was 88.

December 1, 2002

Jonathan Townsend
Memorial services are planned today in Santa Rosa for Jonathan Townsend, who died Nov. 15 at the age of 18.
Townsend, a Windsor resident, was shot to death after he gave chase to a group of people he discovered tampering with his car.
Police are still investigating the crime, which occurred while Townsend was visiting his mother and younger brothers in Santa Rosa.
"He was an incredible older brother," said his mother, Marie Goldberg. "He always had time for them. He would get down on the floor for hours and play with them."
Townsend was born Jan. 23 in Daly City. His family moved to Sonoma County when he was 2. An avid athlete, Townsend played football and baseball while attending schools in Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa.
He spent his senior year in Red Bluff, graduating from high school there in May.
He had returned to Sonoma County to live with a friend and was taking classes at Santa Rosa Junior College, his mother said.
Besides his mother, survivors include his father, Gregory Townsend of Santa Rosa, and three brothers, Devin, Gregory and Joshua Townsend of Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa.
Today's service, set for 3 p.m. at Foothill Community Church, 2100 Petaluma Hill Road, is "a celebration of his life, because Jon was always about living," Marie Goldberg said.
Formal services are 1 p.m. Monday in Rohnert Park at Abbey Chapel of the Redwoods Mortuary, 6250 State Farm Drive.

Character actor George Hall, 85
NEW YORK -- George Hall, a character actor who performed for more than six decades on Broadway and stages elsewhere, on television and in movies, died Oct. 21 in Hawthorne, N.Y. He was 85 and lived in Manhattan.
The cause was complications after a stroke, Christopher Alden, a friend, said.
Hall's last role was in the Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical "The Boys From Syracuse," presented by the Roundabout Theater Company, which opened Aug. 18 and closed Oct. 20. Hall performed in it until two weeks before he died.
A native of Toronto, he performed in vaudeville early in his career.
In 1946 he started out on Broadway in "Call Me Mister." He went on to appear in more than a score of Broadway productions, including "Lend an Ear," "High Button Shoes" and "Touch and Go." He was in three highly successful Broadway productions, "Bent," "Noises Off" and "Wild Honey."
His work in television included the role of the very elderly Indiana Jones in George Lucas' series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" on ABC and the part of Tom Eldridge in "Remember WENN," a series that ran for five years on the American Movie Classics cable channel.
His wife, Cordelia, a Broadway dancer, died in 1969.
No immediate family members survive.

News producer Ernest Leiser, 81
NEW YORK -- Ernest Leiser, a CBS News producer who hired the network's current anchor, Dan Rather, has died. He was 81.
Leiser, who lived in South Nyack, N.Y., died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack, a CBS spokesman said Saturday.
"Ernest Leiser was a wonderful family man and friend, a classy gentleman, a thorough scholar, an integrity-filled journalist and visionary leader of other journalists," Rather said. "He repeatedly proved he was one of the bravest and best American journalists in history."
During his 29-year career, Leiser reported mostly from Europe, where he was jailed briefly by communists while covering the revolt in Hungary in 1956.
In 1964, he was named director of the news division, where he hired Rather, and later became executive producer of the "CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite."
He left CBS to become an executive producer at ABC News in 1972, but returned in 1975 to head the CBS News department covering political conventions and elections. He retired in 1985, but remained active in journalism through teaching.
Leiser was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1941. He served in the Army from 1942 to 1946 and was a correspondent for Stars & Stripes.
He is survived by his wife, Caroline, two daughters and a granddaughter.

Folk-blues legend Dave Ray, 59
MINNEAPOLIS -- Dave "Snaker" Ray, an influential figure of the folk-blues scene of the 1960s who won quiet renown for his virtuoso guitar work, has died at 59.
Ray, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in May, died at home Thursday, said his longtime band partner, "Spider" John Koerner.
The two, plus harmonica player Tony "Little Sun" Glover, formed the acoustic trio Koerner, Ray & Glover in 1962 and the next year released the landmark "Blues, Rags and Hollers" album.
Recording several albums and performing at folk festivals around the country, the trio never achieved more than cult status. But they influenced such legends as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt and Beck.
They parted ways in the late 1960s but periodically reunited over the years and also recorded individual albums.

December 3, 2002

Corinda Gleason
Corinda T. Gleason, a lifelong Sonoma County resident known for her exuberance and charm whether selling jewelry or managing girls' softball teams, died Saturday at her Sebastopol home following a brief battle with cancer. She was 64.
Gleason, who grew up in Occidental as a member of the Fiori restaurant family, never lost the family's knack for entertaining and hospitality. Her Sebastopol home was a gathering place where family and friends could get coffee and counseling any time of the day or night.
"If my mother had a penny for every person she counseled around her kitchen table she would have been the wealthiest woman in Sonoma County," said daughter Lori Silveira of Healdsburg.
A woman of determination and high energy, Gleason worked with others to start girls softball in Sebastopol, raised thousands of dollars for local charities and was active for many years in the Analy Boosters Club. She worked for many years as the manager of The Whitehall Co. Jewelers in the Santa Rosa Plaza, where she was the store's top saleswoman.
But her life was dominated by her devotion to family and friends.
"Corinda was my hero. She was a very giving, outgoing person who was always there for her family and friends. She loved her home and opened it to everyone," said longtime friend Tia Polley of Sebastopol.
She was born Corinda Theresa Fiori on Dec. 19, 1937, in Santa Rosa's "Little Italy," the daughter of Tony and Clara Fiori. When she was 5, she moved to Occidental, where her family eventually established Fiori's Restaurant, a popular Italian eatery through the '40s, '50s and into the '60s. She lived in the apartment above the Italian restaurant managed by her parents and in later years by her brothers Raymond Fiori and the late George Fiori.
Gleason was a founding member of the Xi Epsilon Lambda Sorority, Upsilon Tau Sorority, the Wednesday Night Womens Poker Group in Sebastopol and the Analy Boosters Club.
In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by her son, William G. Gleason of Sebastopol; her brother, Raymond Fiori of Sebastopol; and five grandchildren.
A funeral mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Sebastian's Catholic Church in Sebastopol. Entombment is at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn.
A Vigil Rite Service is at 7:30 p.m. today at St. Sebastian's Church.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the American Cancer Society, 1451 Guerneville Road, Suite 220, Santa Rosa 95403.

Ellen Straus
Ellen Straus, matriarch of a Marin County dairy ranching family and a woman of conscience who for decades fought for farmland preservation and environmental causes, died Saturday at her ranch in Marshall following a short illness. She was 75.
Family members said she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in September.
Straus, one of the founders of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, was a nationally recognized leader in efforts to save farmland from urban development. In 1998, she received America's highest honor for land stewardship from the American Farmland Trust in Washington, D.C.
A woman of energy, social conscience and impish humor, Straus became involved in community issues while raising four children and helping her husband manage the 660-acre ranch and 270 milk cows.
It was at her urging that her son Albert Straus in 1994 turned the family dairy into the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi River. Today, the Straus Family Creamery produces organic dairy products sold throughout the Bay Area.
"My mother's excitement for new ideas was contagious, giving her children and neighbors the confidence to live out their own dreams whether it was organic farming or fighting massive development schemes. She led by example," said her son Michael Straus, a communications specialist who lives in Marshall.
Straus was born Ellen Tirza Lotte Prins on Feb. 21, 1927, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 1940, her family fled the Netherlands just ahead of the Nazi invasion, settling in New York. She graduated from Bard College in New York, with plans to practice medicine. But she fell in love with a young German Jewish immigrant named Bill Straus who had dreams of owning a dairy farm. The couple settled on the shores of Tomales Bay in 1950 and started their milk herd.
For more than 20 years, Straus guided the Marin Agricultural Land Trust or MALT, the first farmland preservation organization established in the United States. She served on MALT's board of directors from 1980 to 1990 and was its chairwoman from 1999 to 2001.
In addition to her husband, Bill Straus, and sons Albert and Michael Straus, all of Marshall, she is survived by her daughters, Vivien Straus of Los Angeles and Miriam Straus of Salt Point, N.Y.; her sister, Anneke Prins Simons of New Jersey; and by four grandsons.
Private services will be held.
The family suggests memorial contributions to MALT, P.O. Box 809, Point Reyes 94956.

December 1, 2002

Jonathan Townsend
Memorial services are planned today in Santa Rosa for Jonathan Townsend, who died Nov. 15 at the age of 18.
Townsend, a Windsor resident, was shot to death after he gave chase to a group of people he discovered tampering with his car.
Police are still investigating the crime, which occurred while Townsend was visiting his mother and younger brothers in Santa Rosa.
"He was an incredible older brother," said his mother, Marie Goldberg. "He always had time for them. He would get down on the floor for hours and play with them."
Townsend was born Jan. 23 in Daly City. His family moved to Sonoma County when he was 2. An avid athlete, Townsend played football and baseball while attending schools in Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa.
He spent his senior year in Red Bluff, graduating from high school there in May.
He had returned to Sonoma County to live with a friend and was taking classes at Santa Rosa Junior College, his mother said.
Besides his mother, survivors include his father, Gregory Townsend of Santa Rosa, and three brothers, Devin, Gregory and Joshua Townsend of Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa.
Today's service, set for 3 p.m. at Foothill Community Church, 2100 Petaluma Hill Road, is "a celebration of his life, because Jon was always about living," Marie Goldberg said.
Formal services are 1 p.m. Monday in Rohnert Park at Abbey Chapel of the Redwoods Mortuary, 6250 State Farm Drive.

Character actor George Hall, 85
NEW YORK -- George Hall, a character actor who performed for more than six decades on Broadway and stages elsewhere, on television and in movies, died Oct. 21 in Hawthorne, N.Y. He was 85 and lived in Manhattan.
The cause was complications after a stroke, Christopher Alden, a friend, said.
Hall's last role was in the Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical "The Boys From Syracuse," presented by the Roundabout Theater Company, which opened Aug. 18 and closed Oct. 20. Hall performed in it until two weeks before he died.
A native of Toronto, he performed in vaudeville early in his career.
In 1946 he started out on Broadway in "Call Me Mister." He went on to appear in more than a score of Broadway productions, including "Lend an Ear," "High Button Shoes" and "Touch and Go." He was in three highly successful Broadway productions, "Bent," "Noises Off" and "Wild Honey."
His work in television included the role of the very elderly Indiana Jones in George Lucas' series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" on ABC and the part of Tom Eldridge in "Remember WENN," a series that ran for five years on the American Movie Classics cable channel.
His wife, Cordelia, a Broadway dancer, died in 1969.
No immediate family members survive.

News producer Ernest Leiser, 81
NEW YORK -- Ernest Leiser, a CBS News producer who hired the network's current anchor, Dan Rather, has died. He was 81.
Leiser, who lived in South Nyack, N.Y., died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack, a CBS spokesman said Saturday.
"Ernest Leiser was a wonderful family man and friend, a classy gentleman, a thorough scholar, an integrity-filled journalist and visionary leader of other journalists," Rather said. "He repeatedly proved he was one of the bravest and best American journalists in history."
During his 29-year career, Leiser reported mostly from Europe, where he was jailed briefly by communists while covering the revolt in Hungary in 1956.
In 1964, he was named director of the news division, where he hired Rather, and later became executive producer of the "CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite."
He left CBS to become an executive producer at ABC News in 1972, but returned in 1975 to head the CBS News department covering political conventions and elections. He retired in 1985, but remained active in journalism through teaching.
Leiser was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1941. He served in the Army from 1942 to 1946 and was a correspondent for Stars & Stripes.
He is survived by his wife, Caroline, two daughters and a granddaughter.

Folk-blues legend Dave Ray, 59
MINNEAPOLIS -- Dave "Snaker" Ray, an influential figure of the folk-blues scene of the 1960s who won quiet renown for his virtuoso guitar work, has died at 59.
Ray, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in May, died at home Thursday, said his longtime band partner, "Spider" John Koerner.
The two, plus harmonica player Tony "Little Sun" Glover, formed the acoustic trio Koerner, Ray & Glover in 1962 and the next year released the landmark "Blues, Rags and Hollers" album.
Recording several albums and performing at folk festivals around the country, the trio never achieved more than cult status. But they influenced such legends as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt and Beck.
They parted ways in the late 1960s but periodically reunited over the years and also recorded individual albums. 

October 13, 2002

Robert Allan Griffiths, a 28-year Petaluma resident active in many of the city's community groups, died Oct. 9 in a Santa Rosa hospital at the age of 63. The cause of death was heart disease, the family said.

October 12, 2002

Albert Mihaly, a longtime Santa Rosa architect whose work is indelibly etched in the face of the community -- from Montgomery High School to St. Eugene's Cathedral -- died Sunday at home at the age of 94.

October 11, 2002

LaVonne Boisvert, a longtime businesswoman and a co-owner of the Classic Duck shop in the Coddingtown Mall, died Oct. 2 after a long battle with cancer.

October 10, 2002

Charl E. Rhode, a pioneer in the field of social work and a resident of Santa Rosa for 41 years, died Oct. 2 of lung cancer. She was 94.

October 9, 2002

Zenona Robledo, a successful Sonoma County businesswoman who ran a chain of Mexican restaurants with only a year's worth of formal education, died of heart failure in her Santa Rosa home Sunday. She was 73.

October 8, 2002

Lois Hostetter
On the last day of Lois Marie Hostetter's life, 40 well-wishers visited her hospital room, while family members maintained a vigil, sang with her and played music.
"It was just a wonderful day," said her daughter, Roxanne Nassan of Santa Rosa.
Hostetter, 71, died Sept. 30 at a Santa Rosa hospital after an eight-month battle with lung cancer. Four days earlier, she had seen her last client as a marriage and family counselor, and three days before she had her nails done.
That spirit was typical of Hostetter's life as a single mother of two, a Christian and a counselor who always put her patients' needs first, Nassan said.
At her memorial service on Saturday, someone said: "It seems like half of us here are saying she's my best friend," her daughter said.
When she was fighting cancer and people would call to ask how she was, Hostetter would turn the conversation around and ask how they were doing. "She had a hard time focusing on herself," Nassan said.
Hostetter even kept from her children how ill she was, and was planning a trip to Mexico to undertake a new treatment when she was hospitalized.
"We're grieving but we know where she is," Nassan said. "We just feel so confident she's in God's presence. It was like walking her up that last day."
Born in Longmont, Colo., Hostetter moved to Washington state as a child and attended college in Oregon and Washington. She moved to Santa Rosa in the early 1950s and graduated from Sonoma State University in 1971.
She worked with Young Life, a ministry to high school students, and as a dental office receptionist in Sebastopol. After her children were grown, Hostetter earned a master's degree in marriage and family counseling from University of San Francisco in 1986.
She most recently worked with Christian Counseling Associates in Larkfield. A Christian since childhood, she was a member of the Bethel Baptist Church in Santa Rosa.
Survivors, in addition to Nassan, are: a son, Jay Hostetter of Santa Rosa; brother, Ken Arfsten of Jacksonville, Fla.; and three grandchildren.
Memorial donations may be made to the Pregnancy Counseling Center, 750 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 95404.

Tony Mazzocchi
Tony Mazzocchi, a longtime advocate for workplace safety whose disenchantment with traditional politics led him to organize the United States' first labor party in 70 years, died at his home in Washington, D.C., Saturday. He was 76 and had pancreatic cancer.
Mazzocchi brought 1,400 union leaders to a Cleveland convention hall in 1996 to form the Labor Party. Labeled a foolhardy idea by union leaders and political analysts, it was conceived in an era of waning union strength and has fewer than 14,000 members.
Although disappointed by the fledgling party's slow growth, Mazzocchi remained committed to its pro-worker agenda, focused on single-payer national health insurance, free higher education and worker rights.
His slogan: "The bosses have two parties. We need one of our own!"
He was considered "the Ralph Nader of industrial safety." Along with Nader and other activists, he was a key figure behind the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, often called the most far-reaching pro-labor law of the past half-century.
"Over the last 30 years, nobody comes close to him," said Nader, who praised Mazzocchi's leadership on the drives to pass OSHA, the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act and other major legislation.
"He is an icon," said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association. "More than anyone, he is the unsung hero of organized labor."
A former secretary-treasurer of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, Mazzocchi advised its most famous member, Oklahoma plutonium plant worker Karen Silkwood, whose struggles to ensure plant safety and tragic death inspired the 1983 Oscar-nominated movie "Silkwood."
During the 1980s, Mazzocchi drew attention to efforts in industry to make women working around toxic materials undergo sterilization. He was cited by Ms. magazine in 1982 as one of the "40 Male Heroes of the Decade" for "exposing exclusionary corporate 'fetal protection policies' " that restricted the hiring of women of childbearing age.

August 2, 2002

Celeste Colombi
Celeste Colombi, a hard-working businesswoman and a devout Christian, died of heart failure Sunday in Fort Bragg. She was 70.
Colombi was born in her family home in Fort Bragg and remained a resident of the coastal city for life. The youngest of four children and the only girl in an Italian immigrant family, she grew up to run the family's grocery store with her oldest brother, Robert.
Robert Colombi, who at age 80 still manages the Colombi Market in Fort Bragg, remembered his sister as a quiet and empathetic person who donated to charities and didn't hesitate to aid people in need.
"She was a big donor of the local food bank. She liked to help people," Robert Colombi said.
Celeste Colombi attended local schools and graduated from Fort Bragg High School in 1948. She then joined the family's grocery business.
She never married, but had a supportive circle of friends, Robert Colombi said.
She enjoyed going to the Mendocino Presbyterian Church, her family said, attending regularly until a few years ago, when her health began to fail from a debilitating type of asthma.
In her spare time, Colombi loved to take shopping trips to Santa Rosa and San Francisco for clothes and other items.
Colombi also loved animals and owned several cats and dogs, her brother said.
Colombi was entombed at Rose Memorial Park in Fort Bragg on Wednesday.
In addition to her brother Robert, Colombi is survived by two other brothers, William F. Colombi and Edward Colombi, both of Fort Bragg.
Memorial donations may be made to the Mendocino Coast Humane Society, 19691 Summers Lane, Fort Bragg 95437. Contributions also may be made to the American Lung Association, 115 Talbot Ave., Santa Rosa 95404.

William Mallow, inventor, 72
SAN ANTONIO -- William A. Mallow, a prolific inventor who helped develop some of the most ubiquitous products for commercial and household use, including Liquid Paper and a clumping cat litter, Scoop Away Clean, died of acute leukemia July 30 at a San Antonio hospital. He was 72.
A polymer chemist, Mallow spent nearly 40 years with the Southwest Research Institute, where he worked on a variety of projects, from tiles for the space shuttle to improving the silicone rubber skin covering on the robotic dinosaurs in the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
Liquid Paper, the typewriter correction fluid, was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham, but at her request, Southwest Research helped refine it. Southwest Research is an independent, nonprofit development center based in San Antonio.
More recently, Mallow, who retired from Southwest Research in 1998 but remained a technical adviser, was working on a slippery gel designed to thwart rioters or enemy attacks on military installations.
Mallow also worked on a biocidal coating that destroys infectious viruses, fungi and bacteria.
James Lankford, director of the Materials Engineering Department at the institute, called Mallow a great scientist.
A native of Akron, Ohio, Mallow was a good enough violinist to be accepted by the Cleveland Orchestra. Instead, he enlisted in the Air Force.

Charles Wysocki, painter, 73
LOS ANGELES -- Charles Wysocki, a painter of American life who favored mass appeal and commercial growth over critical acclaim, has died. He was 73.
Wysocki died of organ failure Monday at USC Research Hospital following complications from stomach surgery.
Wysocki put his artwork on everything from popcorn tins and T-shirts to jigsaw puzzles and wallpaper, generating a wide and loyal fan base.
He was earning more than $7 million yearly from sales of the products, and his original acrylics have sold for as much as $30,000.

August 1, 2002

Services will be Saturday for Mary Edna Wilson, a member of Sonoma County's pioneer Purrington family and a real estate agent in Petaluma for about 25 years.

July 31, 2002

Charles Rardin
Charles Ernest Rardin, an Adobe Christian Center founder and 40-year member of the Petaluma Masons, died after a brief illness. He was 86.
Rardin was admitted to a San Rafael hospital July 9 with gall bladder problems, said his daughter, Kathryn Baldes of Petaluma. He was later diagnosed with a blood infection and died Saturday of lung failure, she said.
Services for Rardin are 11 a.m. today at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma.
Rardin and his wife of 66 years, Mary Maxine Rardin, came to Sonoma County four decades ago with their two daughters, selling their farm in Baxter Springs, Kan., and moving to Petaluma in 1960.
Once in Sonoma County, Rardin supported his family as a tractor mechanic and construction worker. He eventually became employed by the Basalt Rock Company, where he worked for 17 years before retiring.
"He was a very hard worker," Baldes said. "He wore out both his shoulders shoveling rock."
Active in his church and with the Masons, Rardin sat on the board of the Adobe Christian Center for many years and was a member of the Hamilton Lodge No. 180 since 1962.
He helped distribute food at the Petaluma Veterans Building and was an avid gardener.
Rardin is survived by his wife and daughters. He is also survived by a brother and a sister, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The family asked that contributions be made to the Adobe Christian Center, 2875 Adobe Road, Petaluma 94954.

Myrle Dillingham
Myrle Dillingham, an accomplished artist and popular secretary of the English department at Santa Rosa Junior College, died July 24 of stomach cancer. She was 88.
"She adopted that English department, and they loved her," said daughter Carol Herrman of Kenwood. "Her family and the school were her life."
Dillingham was born in Salt Lake City in 1914. Her father, a barber, moved the family frequently during the Depression, and she attended seven high schools, including four in California.
She marriage Harry Logan in Los Angeles in 1937. They moved to Redding in 1952, and Dillingham became a legal secretary for a blind attorney.
Logan died in 1956, leaving Dillingham to raise two daughters, ages 9 and 15. After the older daughter married, Dillingham and Herrman decided in 1963 to find another place to live. "We went up and down California, and we picked Santa Rosa," Herrman said.
Dillingham got a job with the district attorney. In 1965 she got her real estate license and, soon thereafter, her broker's license. For several years she made her living in real estate.
In 1967, she marriage Frank Dillingham and they spent time traveling before settling in Greenbrae and then Reno. After her husband died in 1973, Dillingham moved back to Santa Rosa.
She applied for the secretary position at the junior college, even though it was no longer open, and she was hired on the spot, Herrman said.
"The job had been closed, but she was so qualified they hired her," Herrman said. "It was a big part of her life."
She retired in 1982, at age 68.
Dillingham was a talented artist, working in sculpture, acrylics, oil and pottery. Her favorite medium was acrylics. She enjoyed painting Sonoma County landscapes, birds, the ocean, some still lifes and trees.
She also was a seamstress, sewing upholstery, drapes, wedding gowns and bridesmaids' gowns, Herrman said.
"She really loved life. Every year she had kites for my kids. She took my kids out fishing, and at 73 she was going down Windsor Waterworks. My children were a big part of her life, and my husband and I took her on all our vacations," she said.
In addition to Herrman, Dillingham is survived by daughter Beverly Andersen of Reno; stepson Scott Dillingham of Orland; stepdaughter Gaye Kenny of Santa Rosa; sister Louise Dole of Santa Rosa; brothers Paul Thomas of Bodega Bay and Lewis Thomas of Auburn; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be 1 p.m. Friday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa.
Memorial contributions may be made to Santa Rosa Junior College English Department, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa 95401.

July 30, 2002

Wallace W. Winkler
Wallace W. Winkler, a farmer and lifelong Sebastopol resident, died Friday of a stroke.
Raised on his father's Sebastopol farm, Winkler was a natural athlete and a lover of the outdoors. At Analy High School, he balanced his studies with baseball, football and the farm work expected of him at home.
"He loved it," his wife, Jean Winkler, said about the farm work over which he would labor for most of his life. "He was a hard-working man."
In 1940, Winkler volunteered for the U.S. Air Corps. He worked as a mechanic on fighter planes as a staff sergeant in Europe.
When he returned from service, Winkler marriage his high school sweetheart Jean Sterrett and went into business with his father, Walter Winkler, farming apples, pears and prunes.
It was a change in career paths for Winkler, who had studied at Santa Rosa Junior College with the hope of become a veterinarian. "He just loved animals," said his son, Jim Winkler of Sebastopol.
Though veterinary work was not in his future, Winkler managed to apply his passion for animals to his farm work. In an era of farm machinery, Winkler insisted on using mules when cultivating the nursery stock.
"It just did a better job then what you could get from a tractor," his son said.
A community-minded man, Winkler helped found the El Molino Boosters in the late 1960s, providing funding for student athletics and other activities at the high school that all three of his sons eventually attended. He was also a member of Masonic organizations, including LaFayette Masonic Lodge No. 126, where he was a Past Master.
In addition to his son, Winkler is survived by his wife, Jean Winkler of Sebastopol; other sons Scott Winkler of Sebastopol and Steve Winkler of Santa Rosa; sister Gertrude Duckhorn of Sebastopol; and two grandchildren.
Memorial services are at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Pleasant Hills Memorial Chapel, 1700 Pleasant Hill Road in Sebastopol. Donations may be made to the El Molino Boosters Lighting Fund, 7050 Covey Road, Forestville, CA 95436.

Lorna J. Marshall, studied Bushmen
Lorna J. Marshall, a college English instructor turned homemaker who in her 50s began a new life as an anthropologist studying the Bushmen of Africa, died on July 8 at her home in Peterborough, N.H.
She was 103.
Marshall's anthropological career began when her husband, Laurence K. Marshall, a founder and president of the Raytheon Corp., retired in 1950 with the thought that it was time to get reacquainted with his family.
"Where is the remotest place we can go and be a family again?" Mr. Marshall asked, said Irven DeVore, the More research professor of anthropology at Harvard.
The Kalahari Desert was the answer he found. He decided he would take his family to live among the legendary Bushmen.
"They became a sort of Swiss Family Robinson of the Kalahari," DeVore said.
The family's accomplishments made it more than that. Mr. Marshall helped the Bushmen start a fine-wool industry. The Marshalls' son, John, began his career as a leading maker of ethnographic documentary films. Thomas, who would go on to write best sellers like "The Hidden Life of Dogs," wrote a well-received book on the Bushmen, "The Harmless People" (Knopf, 1958).
Meanwhile, Mrs. Marshall began the painstaking process of documenting the culture and behavior of the Bushmen, sometimes called !Kung. (The "!" represents a clicking sound in their language). She was the first of dozens of scholars who have made the Bushmen one of the world's most studied populations of traditional hunter-gatherers.
"To say she started it is not a mistake," DeVore said. "By standards of ethnography, she did as well or better than any monograph I know, and she was there early."
Over the next two decades, the Marshall family made eight trips to the Kalahari, a desert the size of Spain in what is now Namibia, Botswana and the Republic of South Africa, staying for as long as a year and a half at a time. Then the family would return to Cambridge, where Mrs. Marshall would employ the best graduate students to organize her voluminous notes, which resulted in two books and many articles.
Mr. Marshall said he wanted to do something with his family when he retired, and its members were interested in anthropology. So he asked his wife to take some courses at Harvard, which she did between trips to Africa.
The family was at first apprehensive about tales of poison darts and trance dances, but found the Bushmen polite and kind. The Marshall family lived in tents, even as temperatures ranged from freezing to 125 degrees.
Mrs. Marshall published her first book, "!Kung of Nyae Nyae," in 1975 (Harvard University Press), and her second, "Nyae Nyae !Kung Belief and Rites," three years ago (Peabody Museum Press).

Buddy Baker, musical director
Buddy Baker, musical director for nearly 200 Disney movies and TV shows including a "Daniel Boone" miniseries and "The Mickey Mouse Club," has died at age 84, the studio said Monday.
Baker died Friday at his home in Sherman Oaks from unspecified natural causes, said studio spokesman Howard E. Green.
The composer penned incidental music for "The Mickey Mouse Club" show and special songs sung by its child stars and was responsible for music in the 1981 cartoon feature "The Fox and the Hound."
He was nominated for an Academy Award for the score to the 1972 children's drama "Napoleon and Samantha."
He also scored incidental music for the Disney theme park attractions "Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln," "It's a Small World," and "The Haunted Mansion."
"Anyone who has ever been to a Disney theme park has enjoyed his music and his scores," said Roy E. Disney, vice chairman of Walt Disney Co. "I had the privilege of working with Buddy on scores for several projects that I produced and he always came through with something original and appropriate."
Although Baker did not write the famous "Mickey Mouse Club March" or the jingly, repetitious "It's a Small World" song, he would adapt those melodies for use at other places in the show or ride.
Raised in Springfield, Ill., he began piano lessons at age 4 and was playing trumpet as well when he was 11 years old. He studied music at Southwest Baptist University and moved to Los Angeles in 1938 to work in Hollywood.
He wrote arrangements for radio programs starring Bob Hope, Jack Benny and Eddie Cantor.
In 1954, he was hired by Disney Studios, where he worked on arrangements for the TV show "Davy Crockett" and three "Winnie the Pooh" cartoons.
He also composed original music for movies that included 1960's "Toby Tyler," 1975's "The Apple Dumpling Gang" and 1976's "The Shaggy D.A." 

July 29, 2002

Troy Patrick Elder
Troy Patrick Elder, who died Thursday in a car crash, lived the last hours of his life in perfect character, say those who knew and loved the 25-year-old man.
At his suggestion, he was following his best friend, Milo Lopez, who was having car trouble, from Santa Rosa to Sebastopol to ensure his friend arrived safely.
"That's the kind of guy he was; he always put other people first," said Lopez, who witnessed the collision on Highway 12 near Llano Road.
And Elder was driving his beloved 1985 Mazda RX-7, a sports car to which he'd devoted hundreds of hours of work inside and out.
"He loved his RX-7," said Elder's older brother, Nathan. "He was always working on it."
Years before his brother received his driver's license, he demonstrated the kind of talents he would later bring to bear on his sports car, said Elder.
"He was mechanically-minded, an abstract thinker and real problem solver," said Elder, now of Santa Rosa.
When he was 11/2 , Troy was discovered in the family garage -- riding a bicycle.
"He never ever had training wheels," Elder said.
An avid skateboarder since the fourth grade, he was good enough that his older brother and friends urged him to turn professional.
He showed the same aptitude for skiing, and as a teen-ager was, with his brother, a member of the Alpine Meadows Ski Team, in Lake Tahoe.
"I remember that point when I looked at him and said, 'Wow, my little brother's better than me at some of these things,'" said Nathan Elder, who is two years older.
Elder was born May 21, 1977 in Santa Rosa but grew up in Sebastopol. He graduated from Analy High School in 1995 and had lived for the past four years in Santa Rosa.
While many things came easily to his younger brother, school work didn't, said Nathan Elder. Nevertheless, with the support of his parents, Elder, who was dyslexic, achieved top grades.
"He was a very hard worker, and that's all it came down to, working harder," said Lopez, Elder's best friend and classmate since the third grade.
"He always looked you in the eye, he never made you feel as if you weren't equals," Lopez said.
Elder studied the culinary arts at Santa Rosa Junior College and worked for the past year at the Parkside Cafe in Santa Rosa.
Before that, he worked for two years at Borolos Original Pizza, owned by his brother.
In the often-chaotic atmosphere of a busy restaurant, Elder retained both his easy-going demeanor and his fascination for things mechanical.
"He never felt the pressure," said Elder, who recalled that when kitchen machinery broke, Troy Elder would "insist on fixing things" rather than calling in repair technicians.
Besides his brother, Elder is survived by his parents, Gary and Rebecca Elder, of Sebastopol.
A visitation service will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. today at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park Chapel, 1700 Pleasant Hill Road, Sebastopol, with a funeral service to follow.

July 28, 2002

Stanislaw Hejnowicz, a Forestville man who was seized by the Nazis in his native Poland and forced to work in a coal mine throughout World War II, died of leukemia Wednesday at Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol. He was 83.

July 27, 2002

Patricia A. Maxwell, a 40-year resident of Sonoma County and a devoted volunteer, died in Palo Alto on Monday. She was 65.

June 3, 2002

Arthur Barboni, a hard-working dairyman who rarely took vacations and knew all of his cows by name, died of heart failure May 31 at Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa. He was 89.

June 2, 2002

Michael Hromalik
Michael Francis Hromalik, who brought his love for baseball to a generation of Petaluma kids, died Wednesday of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in San Rafael. He was 73.
Hromalik moved to Petaluma 35 years ago and coached Little League baseball for years.
"There's tons of kids around town that say, 'Your dad coached me.' He was a really good role model," his son, Mark Hromalik of Baltimore, said Saturday.
Hromalik was born in Johnson City, N.Y., and served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He was stationed in Half Moon Bay and met his wife, Nanette, on a blind date.
After he was discharged from the service, Hromalik enrolled at the University of San Francisco. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in history and a teaching credential. Later he obtained a library credential.
Hromalik taught at high schools and middle schools in Healdsburg, San Jose and San Rafael. He was the Davidson Middle School librarian in San Rafael for 25 years, until he retired in 1992.
Hromalik's friends and family members remember him as a man who spent thousands of hours pitching baseballs to youngsters.
"I'm one of six kids and he coached all of us," Mark Hromalik said. "We all were pretty good baseball players."
In addition to his son Mark, Hromalik is survived by his wife, Nanette Fredette Hromalik of Petaluma; three other sons, Martin Hromalik of Novato, Matthew Hromalik of Healdsburg and Michael Hromalik of Petaluma; two daughters, Monica Heggli of Cotati and Mary Longo of Suisun City; nine grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A vigil for Hromalik will take place at 7 p.m. tonight at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 35 Liberty St. in Petaluma. Burial at Calvary Catholic Cemetery will follow.
Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 400 North McDowell Blvd., Petaluma 94954.

Ex-CIA official John Hart, 81
Washington -- John Limond Hart, the Central Intelligence Agency's station chief in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968 who called the agency's treatment of a top KGB defector an "abomination" in a sensational report in 1978 for which he came out of retirement, died May 27 at the Ingleside at Rock Creek assisted living community in Washington. He was 81 and had Alzheimer's disease.
Over the years, Hart served as head of CIA operations in Korea during the Korean War and later as chief of a Cuban task force. He was head of the CIA's European division from 1968 to 1971, when he was asked by then-CIA chief Richard Helms to review the case of Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko.
Nosenko contacted the CIA in Geneva in 1962, looking to trade secrets to replace Soviet money he had spent on a drinking spree. He defected in early 1964, and just months after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he said he could prove a link between suspected killer Lee Harvey Oswald and the KGB.
As that link was debated furiously, CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton and others suspected that Nosenko had been planted by the Soviets to provide disinformation. He subsequently was held for three years while agents examined his claims.
Eventually, he was released and given a new identity and a well-paid consulting job in the Washington area, but not before his handling poisoned relations within the Soviet division of the CIA.
At a 1978 hearing of the House committee on assassinations, Hart testified that the Nosenko treatment was "counterproductive and created a lot of misinformation" at a critical time for the agency.
Hart declined to characterize a potential link between Oswald and the Soviet intelligence agency. Angleton disputed many of Hart's conclusions.
Hart's expertise in the Nosenko case stemmed from his larger interest in the psychology of Soviet defectors. He was author of a top-secret report from the early 1970s that sought to delineate the motivations of clandestine turncoats.
Hart retired from the CIA in 1973. His CIA decorations included two awards of the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.

June 1, 2002

Gordon Swartz
Gordon P. Swartz, a teacher, artist and musician who founded the Burbank Center for the Arts' California Art Museum and served as its director for three years, died Wednesday at his Santa Rosa home following a long illness. He was 77.
Swartz had been in declining health since suffering a stroke in 1994. He moved to Santa Rosa 21 years ago from Southern California and became active in art circles, fairs and farm groups.
Swartz was a familiar figure at farmers markets around Sonoma County, accompanying his wife of 39 years, Hilda Swartz, who has managed farm markets for nearly 20 years and now oversees the Sonoma Valley and Oakmont markets.
"When Gordon was in better health he was always there to help and support me," Hilda Swartz said. "And when he couldn't physically help me, he gave me an emotional boost with his magnificent sense of humor. He kept me in stitches for 39 years."
The couple had no children, but had "adopted" Larry and Linda Carniglia of Kenwood and their seven adopted children. The two families supported each other in good and bad times.
"Gordon was interested in others and was encouraging and attentive to our children. He was a caring and devoted husband to Hilda, always encouraging her in her work," Linda Carniglia said.
Swartz was born Feb. 1, 1925, in Columbus, Ohio, where he was raised and educated. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Ohio State University and embarked on a teaching career that spanned more than 20 years. He held a teaching position in Ohio before moving to Southern California, where he taught at Samuel Gompers Junior High and Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. He met his wife at Gompers Junior High, where she was a home economics teacher. Later they both taught at Hamilton High, where Gordon instructed English classes and coached girls and boys track.
"Gordon was a real Renaissance man, deeply interested in art, literature and music. A born teacher, he took a personal interest in kids and challenged them to become interested in the fields of art and literature," said longtime friend Jim Dishun, a Santa Rosa resident who traces his friendship with Swartz back to Ohio.
Gordon and Hilda Swartz moved to Sonoma County in 1981. They worked at the Sonoma County Fair and were involved in art groups. In 1983 Swartz founded the California Museum of Art and served as the director until 1986.
Swartz painted in acrylics and exhibited his work throughout Northern California. He also did art projects based on moving black light sculptures.
In addition to his wife, Swartz is survived by his sister, Frances Ensign of Columbus, Ohio; and his mother-in-law, Clarian Standing of Beaumont.
A memorial tribute is planned for June 30, with the time and place to be set at a later date. Memorial contributions are suggested to Heartland Hospice of Santa Rosa, 825 Sonoma Ave., Suite B, Santa Rosa 95404.

Olivia Erikson
Olivia Christine Erikson, widely considered the oldest living member of the Coast Miwok Tribe, died May 22 in San Rafael. She was 95.
The great-granddaughter of Captain Stephen Smith, who settled Bodega Bay in 1841, and Marie Cheka (whose Native American name was Tsupu), Erikson was born in San Francisco in 1906 and moved with her family to Bodega Bay that year.
Her grandfather, William Smith, founded Smith Brothers' fishing fleet and the family property was located where the Bodega Bay Yacht Club and Bodega Bay Lodge now stand.
In 1909, she moved to Sebastopol, where her father operated a fish market. She lived in Sebastopol for 26 years before leaving in the 1930s to work as a seamstress at Simmons Mattress Factory in San Francisco.
She lived in San Francisco for more than half a century, residing in San Rafael the last 12 years of her life.
Her nephew Gene Buvelot, vice-chairman of Miwok Tribe, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, said his aunt was the oldest of the nearly 600 remaining members of the tribe.
"She was very caring and interested in the family members and always had words of wisdom to say," he said.
In addition to her nephew, Erikson is survived by numerous nephews, nieces, great nieces and great nephews.
Private services were held May 26 in Novato. Memorial gifts can be sent to the Coast Miwok Scholarship Fund, 2255 Las Gallinas Ave., San Rafael 94903.

Gunnar Jarring, Swedish diplomat
Gunnar V. Jarring, Sweden's former ambassador to Washington and the Soviet Union who served as a special U.N. envoy to seek peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors in the wake of the Six-Day War in 1967, has died. He was 94.
Jarring, dubbed the Silent Swede because of his talent for quiet diplomacy, died Wednesday of undisclosed causes at his home in Helsingborg, Sweden.
A career diplomat and linguist who spoke a dozen languages, Jarring was Sweden's ambassador to the Soviet Union in November 1967, when U.N. Secretary-General U Thant appointed him as special U.N. representative to the Middle East.
Jarring's mission was to persuade Israel and the Arab countries to agree to peace negotiations in accordance with a U.N. Security Council resolution, which called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories occupied during the six-day conflict.
It also asked for every country in the area to recognize the right of all Middle Eastern states to live within secure and guaranteed boundaries free from threats or acts of force.
"I hope to accomplish something within the framework of the resolution," Jarring said at the time. "It's impossible to say now what success I will have."
After four months -- and 40 trips to the warring Arab and Israeli capitals -- Arab and Israeli positions did not change, causing Jarring to sever his direct contacts and leave the region.
His attempts to solve the Arab-Israeli deadlock, however, only added to his reputation as "a master of the art of quiet diplomacy," as Thant called him.

May 2, 2002

A-J Levinson, living will advocate
A-J Levinson, who led a New York-based patients' rights group that developed the now-common living will and who served as a national spokeswoman for bringing dignity to dying, has died. She was 73.
Levinson died of cancer Monday at her home in Manhattan.
As executive director of Concern for Dying from 1976 to 1987, Levinson urged family members, doctors, nurses and other caregivers to honor a dying person's wishes.
The now-defunct Concern for Dying, which grew out of the Euthanasia Educational Council, was founded in 1967. Levinson, who had been on the board, became executive director the same year that the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in the nation's first major right-to-die case that the parents of Karen Ann Quinlan had the right to remove her from life support.
Concern for Dying distributed more than 7 million copies of the living will, a document in which people express their wishes not to have their lives prolonged through the use of artificial or heroic means if there is no hope of recovery.
"The important point," Levinson told television newsman Robert MacNeil in 1985, "is that it is most helpful to family members as well as physicians if they have a clear indication of what the patients would have wanted, because the decision has to be made, or should be made, rightfully, on the basis of that patient's feelings and directions."
Levinson and her organization also stressed the need for dying patients to have sufficient pain medication.
Levinson, however, denounced mercy killing. There are, she told the Los Angeles Times in 1986, moral and practical reasons to oppose a law allowing mercy killing. Such a law, she said, would have enormous potential for abuse and the category of those eligible for euthanasia inevitably would grow.
"I don't think society should be in the business of killing people," she said. "If society were to do a better job of treating pain and treating the suffering of terminal illness, we wouldn't have patients saying, 'Kill me.'"
Born Ann Jane Rock in Boston in 1929, Levinson (who preferred to go by the hyphenated A-J) graduated from Bryn Mawr with a degree in history.
She retired in 1988, a year after she suffered a major stroke.

George Higgins, 'labor priest'
Monsignor George G. Higgins, dubbed "the labor movement's priest" for his longtime commitment to union causes, died Wednesday at 86.
Higgins spent more than half a century as a staunch supporter of the labor movement and speaking out for social justice. He served on committees and boards of several groups, including the United Auto Workers and the Bishops' Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations.
In August 2000, Higgins received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton.
Higgins' death, in his hometown of La Grange Park, Ill., was announced by Catholic University of America, where he earned a master's degree and a doctorate and had lectured.
"His oftentimes controversial presence as a priest in the forefront of the organized labor movement in this country earned him both distinction among and respect from people of all faiths," said the Rev. David M. O'Connell, Catholic University president.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, praised Higgins' devotion to the labor movement. "I am sure that his voice will continue to echo for many, many years," McCarrick said.
A memorial Mass will be celebrated Saturday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

April 4, 2002

John Luvender
John T. Luvender volunteered for the army during the Vietnam War, and battled through the jungles on foot during some of the fiercest fighting.
He returned home with a passion for peace and a lifelong commitment to breaking down the barriers that divide people, ethnic groups and nations.
He became active in the fledgling community media movement, which helps citizens produce and air their own films, and in 1993 helped begin the process that led to the creation of Santa Rosa's Community Media Center.
Luvender, 55, died Sunday after a long battle with chronic hepatitis. He was honored Tuesday by the Santa Rosa City Council for his contributions.
"Community meant everything to John, and he understood that multimedia and television are tools with incredible power for strengthening communities," said Laurie Cirivello, executive director of the Community Media Center.
Luvender was born in eastern Pennsylvania and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1968. He volunteered to serve in Vietnam with the 182nd Airborne Brigade, and saw ground combat during the 1969 Tet offensive.
After returning home, he became active in Vietnam Veterans Against the War and earned a degree from Kings College in Pennsylvania.
He received national awards for documentary work at Boston Neighborhood Network TV and Malden Community Access TV for a series of interviews with residents of Boston's then-segregated ethnic neighborhoods and a program about the Vietnam experience.
"He wanted people to understand each other as people," Cirivello said.
Luvender moved to Sonoma County with his wife and daughter in 1991, and began community education and organizing work that led to the formation of community media centers in Napa, Berkeley and Santa Rosa.
While working on a masters degree at Sonoma State University, Luvender assisted in the development of Santa Rosa's community media plan.
"He was a soft-spoken, unassuming man who found a way to connect people. He helped create the vision that would become our Community Media Center," said Marc Richardson, Santa Rosa's assistant city manager.
Luvender served as executive director of Berkeley Community Media from 1994-1996 and then became operations manager for the Community Media Center of Santa Rosa, where he facilitated and created community programming, including a local oral history project for the Sonoma County Museum.
He was a drummer and member of Carnival Samba, a member of the Santa Rosa Church of Religious Science and of Friends of ArtQuest, a parents' organization at Santa Rosa High School. He served as a regional board member for the national Alliance for Community Media, and was a founding parent at Willow Wood Waldorf School in Sebastopol.
Luvender is survived by his daughter, Molly Miranda Hull Luvender of Santa Rosa and Sebastopol; his mother, Ann Luvender; sisters Sherry Luvender and Patsy Luvender; and brother Daniel Luvender, all of Scranton, Pa.
A memorial celebration will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Community Media Center in Santa Rosa, 1075 Mendocino Ave.
A memorial fund has been established to help support his 15-year-old daughter. Contributions may be made to the "Molly Luvender custodial account - BayView Bank," c/o the Community Media Center.
Donations also may be made to Home and Family Funerals. For information, contact Jeri Lyons at 823-7709.

Clara McLendon
Clara McLendon loved to cultivate colorful blooms in her garden, but her family cherishes her most for the love of arts, humanity and nature she cultivated in their hearts. McLendon died Monday at age 93.
Raised in San Francisco, McLendon and her late husband Jesse moved to Santa Rosa in 1955. Her husband of 56 years, a former fire chief, was then working for the Federal Civil Defense Administration.
Living in a small new home on Melbrook Way, the two took the opportunity to pursue their passion for gardening.
"Every square inch was planted with flowers. My mother loved roses," and anything that blossomed, said her son Douglas, of San Carlos.
Whenever friends or family came to visit she took them to see the Luther Burbank gardens. His mother was active in the Santa Rosa Garden Club and philanthropic women's organizations like the Saturday Afternoon Club and the P.E.O. Chapter in Santa Rosa.
One of the longest-living Alzheimer's patients in America, she inspired her son Heath to join the board of an organization seeking an effective treatment for the disease. Knowing that it would not help his mother, he sought to stem the pains of future families. His mother would have done the same.
Douglas recalls McLendon's baking talents, patience and support and calls her "the world's greatest mother."
When their father was busy working odd hours to support their small clan as a fire chief in San Francisco, his mother gave him a way to escape "the cold, cold fog hanging outside." When he was young, she would read to him, and later when he was a teen-ager, the two would sit reading silently together.
"She instilled in me an appreciation of literature and arts that will last my life long," Douglas said.
He credits his mother's long life in spite of a debilitating disease to the loving care she received from the family of Maria and Donald Martinez, who invited her into their home to care for her full-time in her later years.
McLendon is survived by sons Heath of Summit, New Jersey and Douglas of San Carlos; and six grandchildren.
Services will be held at noon Monday at the Santa Rosa Memorial Park Chapel. Memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimer's Respite Resource Center, P.O. Box 4900, Santa Rosa, CA 95402.

Broy Rhia
A memorial service for Broy Rhia, Santa Rosa's former public works director, will be held Sunday.
Rhia, 72, is presumed dead after failing to return from a scuba diving expedition in Mexico last week.
Family members said his body was never recovered after he went on a March 25 diving trip about 250 miles south of Cabo San Lucas.
"It's not real clear what happened," said his daughter Cynthia Riha.
She said his diving partner noticed him floating face down in the water and not breathing.
"She tried to resuscitate him. She floated with him for about an hour and they drifted about two miles away from the boat," Cynthia Riha said. "It started to get dark and she couldn't see the boat any more so she let him go ... She was picked up by the boat 20 minutes later."
An overnight search failed to locate him.
Riha was a world traveler and veteran deep-sea diver.
He worked for nearly a decade as Santa Rosa's assistant city engineer. In 1970 he was promoted to Public Works director and city engineer.
He stepped down in 1986 and became a consultant.
In the early 1990s he was part of a team that assessed the infrastructure needs of cities in Poland and Slovakia. He also did engineering work in Thailand.
Riha was a pilot and volunteered with Angel Flight, which transports people needing medical care.
He combined his professional expertise with his interest in aviation on a $3.2 million project to repave runways and taxi lanes at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.
Family members are planning a celebration of Riha's life at 4 p.m. Sunday at Paradise Ridge Winery, 4545 Thomas Lake Harris Drive, Santa Rosa.
Memorial contributions may be made to Angel Flight, 3237 Donald Douglas Loop South, Santa Monica 90405. 

April 3, 2002

Edward Novak
Rohnert Park resident Edward J. Novak, a longtime leader in local Boy Scout and Girl Scout circles, died of a heart attack Friday at his home.
He was 70.
Novak, a native of Cleveland, moved with his family to Rohnert Park in 1971 after retiring from a 20-year career in the Navy, where he attained the rank of machinist's mate first class.
He worked for a machinist's shop in Petaluma for five years before joining Optical Coating Laboratories in Santa Rosa. He worked there as a master machinist before retiring in 1994.
For most of his life in Sonoma County, Novak was active with his wife, Barbara, in the Konocti Girl Scouts Council, of which he was a life member. He also was a Scoutmaster of Rohnert Park Boy Scout Troop 68, of which his three sons were members.
"He would take them water skiing all the time at Lake Mendocino," his wife said.
Novak also loved to fish for striped bass in the Napa River, and pursued golf with a passion after retirement.
"He was out there golfing three days a week," Barbara Novak said.
The highlight of his golfing career came when he made a hole-in-one on the Wikiup golf course and didn't know it.
"He and his playing partners were all looking for his ball when the foursome ahead of them said it had gone right in the hole. They hadn't seen it go in," she said.
Besides his Scouting affiliations, Novak also was a member of American Legion Post 338 of Rohnert Park and the 40X8 of Sonoma County.
Besides his wife, he is survived by sons, Ronald Novak of Santa Rosa, Philip Novak of Coarsegold and Tony Novak of West Jordan, Utah; brother, Gilbert Novak of Solon, Ohio; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Services are at 10 a.m. today at Lafferty & Smith Chapel in Santa Rosa. Burial will follow at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Donations are suggested to the Cancer Society or the Konocti Girl Scout Council Camp Property Fund.

Chester Lambert
Chester Ortis Lambert, an oil distributor and World War II veteran who served under Gen. George Patton, died Saturday at Fircrest Convalescent Hospital in Sebastopol.
Lambert was 83.
A lifelong Sonoma County resident, Lambert lived mostly in Guerneville with his wife of 62 years, Lena.
He graduated from Analy High School in 1937, marriage in 1940 and was drafted into the Army two years later, his wife said.
He served in Europe as a radio operator in the 5th Armored Division until the end of the war.
Upon his return, the couple built their Guerneville home and raised two sons.
Lambert was an avid outdoorsman who played baseball and the clarinet.
He was a founder of the Edotti Hunting Club and a member of the local Odd Fellows Lodge.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by sons, Frank and Henry; sisters, Frances Saunders and Jane Bjorum; five grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Outdoor services are at 11 a.m. Saturday at Redwood Memorial Gardens in Guerneville.
Donations may be made to the Russian River Fire Department in Guerneville.

February 5, 2002

James Blackwood, gospel singer
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- James Blackwood, the last founding member of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet and one of the giants of Southern gospel music, died of complications of a stroke. He was 82.
Blackwood suffered with several health problems the past few years, including colon cancer. He died Sunday at Methodist Healthcare-Central Hospital, said spokeswoman Ruth Ann Hale.
The Blackwood Brothers Quartet recorded more than 200 albums, toured the world, and helped form the Gospel Music Association in 1964. They were a favorite of Elvis Presley, who sang briefly with James' nephew Cecil in another quartet, the Songfellows.
The group was formed in 1934 by James, his brothers Roy and Doyle, and Roy's son R.W. The family then lived in rural Choctaw County, Miss., where James Blackwood was born.
The group toured successfully until World War II, when it temporarily disbanded. After the war the Blackwoods regrouped, and moved to Memphis in 1950.
In June 1954, the Blackwood Brothers Quartet appeared on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" on television, and won the competition. But two weeks later, R.W. and bass singer Bill Lyles died in a plane crash in Alabama.
The surviving Blackwoods regrouped again, adding Cecil Blackwood and J.D. Sumner. In 1970, James Blackwood retired because of health problems and was replaced by his son Jimmy.
The Blackwood Brothers Quartet won eight Grammies from 1966-1982, some for backup singing for country stars such as Barbara Mandrell and Porter Wagoner.
He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1974 individually, then again in 1998 as part of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet.
Blackwood is survived by his wife of 62 years, Miriam; sons, Jimmy and Billy; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Baxter Ward, journalist, politician
LOS ANGELES -- Baxter Ward, a broadcast journalist who won election to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in the 1970s and pushed for the return of commuter rail to Southern California, died Monday in Kirkland, Wash. He was 82.
Ward died in his sleep at Evergreen Hospital. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer, but also had other ailments including a heart condition, said his son, Torrey.
Ward was a news director and anchorman for several Los Angeles stations before he began his political career and served on the county board from 1972 to 1980. In the late 1980s Ward unsuccessfully sought to regain his seat on the Board of Supervisors and also failed in a bid to unseat Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.
Ward was born Nov. 5, 1919, in Superior, Wis., and grew up in Washington state where he got a job as a radio news announcer at age 16, his son said.
He served in the Army during World War II and then returned to broadcasting, in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore before moving to Los Angeles in the 1950s.
Ward is also survived by his wife, Karen. Funeral arrangements were pending.

February 3, 2002

When William A. Miller retired in 1988, it marked the end of a Sonoma County tradition.

February 2, 2002

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Hildegard Knef, a smoky-voiced actress and singer who starred in Germany's first post-World War II movie and scandalized church officials with a 1951 nude scene, died Friday at a Berlin hospital. She was 76.

February 1, 2002

Florence Badger
Florence Mae Badger, a longtime Sonoma County homemaker and widow of former Healdsburg Mayor Douglas Badger, died Monday after a lengthy illness.
She was 79.
Badger died at the Pheasant Pointe Care Center in Molalla, Ore., where she had lived for seven months since moving from Windsor, said her daughter Nancy Muller of Camby, Ore.
Badger was born to Carl and Viola Fiege in Healdsburg on May 31, 1922. She was raised on the Fiege Ranch on Old Redwood Highway and graduated from Healdsburg High School in 1940.
She moved to Beaverton, Ore., briefly and returned to Sonoma County in 1941 to marry Douglas Badger, an electrical contractor and Healdsburg councilman from 1952-1976.
Badger was the mother of two sons and three daughters. She enjoyed cooking, had a good sense of humor and was supportive of the political career of her husband, who died in 1985, Muller said.
"She kept us kids in line," Muller said. "And she was really supportive of all my father's endeavors."
Muller said her mother also had many friends.
"When Healdsburg used to be 3,000 people, everybody knew everybody," she said.
Florence Badger suffered from a blood disease and died of complications after a transfusion, Muller said.
She is survived by her two sons, Timothy Badger of Santa Rosa and Stephen Badger of Healdsburg; three daughters, Kathy Boatman of Geyserville, Donna Farrell of Potter Valley and Nancy Muller of Oregon; a sister, June Fiege of Healdsburg; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Services will be in Molalla and at a later date in California. Molalla Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Oscar-winner Harold Russell, 88
Harold Russell, who received two Academy Awards for his sensitive portrayal of a wounded veteran in "The Best Years of Our Lives" after losing his hands in World War II, has died. He was 88.
Russell, who rarely acted again but used his celebrity to push for the rights of the disabled, died of a heart attack Tuesday at a nursing home in Needham, Mass., his family said Thursday.
Russell joined the Army on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as an instructor in the parachute corps.
He was working as an explosives expert in 1944 when a defective fuse exploded a charge of TNT he was holding as he instructed a demolition squad at Camp Mackall, N.C. Both hands were amputated.
Russell, who had hooks to replace his hands, was featured in an Army documentary, "Diary of a Sergeant," on the rehabilitation of an amputee.
Though Russell didn't say a word in the film, producer Sam Goldwyn saw it and wanted Russell to play Homer Parrish in "The Best Years of Our Lives."
The 1946 film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best director for William Wyler and best actor for Fredric March.
It also starred Myrna Loy. The film depicted how WWII veterans coped with the aftermath of the war and their return to changed families and community.
Russell spent his life working as an advocate for the disabled.

December 17, 2001

Paul J. Levine, a periodontist who sold his 25-year-old Santa Rosa practice last April, died Friday at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after a long battle with cancer. He was 54.

December 16, 2001

Jules Fisher, who co-owned the Green Mill Inn in Penngrove for nearly 30 years, died Wednesday from natural causes at the Petaluma home where he had lived for almost 50 years. He was 93.

December 15, 2001

SAN DIEGO -- Adm. Ulysses Grant Sharp Jr., a former commander of U.S. Pacific forces in the Vietnam War who became an outspoken critic of American strategy, has died. He was 95.

December 13, 2001

Lifelong Santa Rosa resident Tony Buzzini, an exceptional golfer and an optimist to the end, died Sunday at age 86.

December 12, 2001

Wendell Gauthier, 58, attorney
NEW ORLEANS -- Wendell Gauthier, an attorney who won billions of dollars for victims in court battles over silicone breast implants and hotel fires before taking on the tobacco industry, died Tuesday of liver cancer. He was 58.
Gauthier had a striking record of legal victories, winning huge judgments for victims of the 1982 crash of Pan Am Flight 759 in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, hotel fires in 1980 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and in 1986 at the DuPont Plaza in Puerto Rico, and for women claiming injuries from the silicone implants.
But it may be a lawsuit that he lost that made Gauthier's legal mark. Secret tobacco company documents unearthed by his legal team provided valuable ammunition to force cigarette-makers into a historic $246 billion settlement with the states.
Although there had been previous suits focusing on smoking as a cause of illness or death, Gauthier changed direction.
His suit targeted manufacturers for consumer fraud, claiming the cigarette industry had hidden its knowledge of the health hazards of smoking for years and had manipulated the nicotine level of cigarettes to keep smokers hooked.
Gauthier's suit was dismissed. However, others based on the same legal claim were later filed in the name of all 50 states, leading to the 1998 settlement.

British actress Rachel Gurney, 81
LONDON -- Rachel Gurney, the British actress best known to U.S. audiences as the elegant Lady Marjorie Bellamy on the popular 1970s serialized drama "Upstairs, Downstairs," has died, according the Daily Telegraph of London. She was 81.
With fine features and a delicate stiff upper lip, Gurney was a natural for the role of Lady Marjorie, the wealthy Edwardian matriarch at the heart of the show, which chronicled three decades in the lives of an upper-class British family (upstairs) and their servants (down).
Produced by London Weekend Television, the series was imported to the United States in 1973 as part of the Public Broadcasting Service's "Masterpiece Theater," and instantly became one of most popular shows on public television.
Gurney's character proved particularly popular with viewers, who regularly sent fan mail addressed to her -- or her character -- to the show's fictional address, 165 Eaton Place, London. After two seasons with the show, however, Gurney left the program in a dramatic finale, as Lady Marjorie sailed to America -- almost -- on the maiden voyage of the Titanic.
Gurney's career proved considerably more buoyant. She was born in Eton, where her father was a housemaster at the school and where she was raised among the all-male student body. Her mother was a concert pianist, and Gurney soon found herself drawn to the arts, taking classes at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and later gravitating to London's West End.
For years before "Upstairs, Downstairs," Gurney found steady work in the theater, playing modern and classical roles. She also performed in several roles on television series for the BBC, though none as popular as Lady Marjorie.
She was marriage briefly, but divorced in 1950. She is survived by a daughter, according to the Telegraph.

Jerome Moskovitz, store founder
OAKLAND -- Jerome Moskovitz, who helped found Rochester Big and Tall clothing stores, died Thursday at a Burlingame hospital of pneumonia. He was 91.
Moskovitz was born in 1910 in Oakland. His father, Louis Moskovitz, was a poor tailor who immigrated from Hungary and founded a small clothing shop in San Francisco. Jerome and his three older brothers all worked in their father's store as teen-agers.
In 1957, Moskovitz took over as president, and over the next decade, he helped transform the clothing company from a general men's clothier to one specializing in clothes tailored to fit larger men. The company quickly became popular with bigger athletes.
The 5-foot-4 Moskovitz was too small to wear the clothes he sold. He once posed for a photograph standing with two of his brothers inside a pair of slacks with a 70-inch waist.
Moskovitz stepped down as president in 1967, but remained chairman until 1999. Rochester Big and Tall now has 26 stores and annual sales of $60 million.
Moskovitz helped found Temple Beth El in San Mateo. He is survived by Esther Adelson Moskovitz, his wife of 65 years.

John Mitchum, actor and poet
LOS ANGELES -- Character actor John Mitchum, author of patriotic poems and brother of late star Robert Mitchum, has died, his family said Thursday. He was 82.
Mitchum, who had suffered a series of crippling strokes, died early Tuesday at Barlow Respiratory Hospital, according to family spokesman Kelly Billingsley.
Known to his friends as "Big John," the bulky performer appeared in nearly 50 movies and television shows, including "Dirty Harry," "Telefon" and the TV comedy "F Troop."
He also penned a number of patriotic poems about America, many of which actor John Wayne recorded on the 1973 album "America, Why I Love Her."
John Mitchum's health had been failing ever since he was devastated by the death of his older brother Robert in 1997, Billingsley said.
The brothers worked together in a number of projects, including the 1967 western "The Way West" and the 1989 TV movie "Jake Spanner, Private Eye."
John Mitchum is survived by his wife, Bonnie; two daughters, Vicky and Cindy, and several grandchildren.

Michael Rogin, 64, UC teacher
BERKELEY -- Michael Rogin, a political science teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, for more than three decades, has died after contracting hepatitis in Paris. He was 64.
Rogin began his career at UC Berkeley in 1963 teaching American politics. He later taught courses on film, Marxism, fascism and feminism.
Revered as a master teacher by his colleagues, Rogin authored eight books and several essays on politics during his tenure.
In 1998, Rogin co-authored "Race and Representations" with UC Berkeley law professor Robert Post.
"He invented ways of thinking about things," Post said. "He was just so perceptive and so much his own vision. No one can duplicate that."
Rogin is survived by two children, Isabelle Rogin, 29, of Honolulu and Madeleine Rogin, 27, of Berkeley; a brother, Edward Rogin of Honolulu and sister, Andrea Stanger of Monroeville, Pa.

John Dawson, 71, pioneer physicist
LOS ANGELES -- Dr. John M. Dawson, a leading authority on plasma physics, died Nov. 17 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 71.
The cause of death has not been determined, said Dr. Warren Mori, a professor of physics and electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was a colleague of Dawson's.
Dawson is considered the father of computer-simulated plasma models and of plasma-based particle accelerators.
In the late 1950s, as a research physicist at Princeton, Dawson helped create what is now regarded as a new area of experimental science. He was among the first to realize that computers were becoming powerful enough to perform experiments on clouds of particles that had been the province of laboratory studies. The method has since spread to many areas of science and technology.
Dawson first applied the technique to simulate the physics phenomena of plasma, a gaseous collection of free-moving electrons and ions that makes up 99 percent of the visible universe.
He was also one of the earliest and most creative thinkers in the effort to extract energy from plasmas for peaceful purposes, a process called nuclear fusion, said Dr. Nathaniel Fisch, a professor of astrophysical sciences and the director of the program in plasma physics at Princeton.
Born in Champaign, Ill., John Myrick Dawson earned both his bachelor's degree, in 1952, and a doctorate, in 1957, from the University of Maryland. He was the director of UCLA's center for plasma physics and fusion engineering from 1976 to 1987, and was associate director of its institute for plasma and fusion research from 1989 to 1991.
Dawson's wife, Nancy Wilds, died in 1994.
He is survived by two brothers, Edward, of Beltsville, Md., and Fred, of Rockland, Md.; two sisters, Irene Leland of Lansing, Mich., and Ruth Phillips of Accokeek, Md.; a son, Arthur, of Glen Ellen; a daughter, Margaret Dawson, of Walnut Creek; and four grandchildren. 

December 11, 2001

Karen Hartman
Kindergarten teacher Karen Hartman grappled for eight years with the ravages of cancer, many days going to class though it was difficult just getting out of bed.
Hartman continued working with her students at Petaluma's La Tercera School until just more than a month ago. She died Saturday at age 45.
Her husband, Jeffrey, with whom she celebrated a wedding 25th anniversary on Nov. 20, said she was thoroughly dedicated to kindergarten and to the youngsters in her charge.
"She thought it was so important to get them started on the right foot," he said. He said his wife never let her disease stop her from pushing to find new approaches to teaching.
Karen Hartman was born in Angels Camp and came to Santa Rosa as a child.
She taught the past four years at La Tercera. Prior to that she was a teacher for three years at Sebastopol Christian School.
Before becoming a teacher she worked about 10 years as a teacher's aide at Healdsburg's Fitch Mountain, Westside and Healdsburg elementary schools.
Her husband said she worked constantly on new programs, lessons and other opportunities for learning. She regularly attended International Kindergarten Conferences.
"She was always willing to do something for somebody, not just talk about it," Jeffrey Hartman said.
Karen Hartmans was diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 1993. Despite the debilitating and sickening effects of the treatments and of the disease, which spread to her bones and liver, she remained upbeat and kept teaching.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her daughter, Melissa Linnet Hartman of Santa Rosa; her mother, Janet Louise Wagner of Oakhurst, and her stepfather, Bill Wagner, also of Oakhurst.
Coronation Services are at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Assembly of God Church in Sebastopol. Visitation is from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Sebastopol's Parent-Sorenson Mortuary.
Hartman's family suggests memorial contributions to the American Cancer Society, 1415 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa 95403.

Duane Ringler
Duane Ringler, who came to Santa Rosa fresh out of high school in Pennsylvania and worked decades as a heavy equipment operator, died Dec. 3 in Nevada. He was 69.
Ringler spent 20 years of his career with the former Basalt Rock Co. in Healdsburg. A disability forced his retirement in 1971.
He had lived for 52 years in Santa Rosa when he and his wife, Joyce, relocated 10 years ago to Sparks, Nev. He loved little more than to spend the day tending his yard and garden.
He served four years with the U.S. Navy before starting his career as an operating engineer.
In addition to his wife of 42 years, Ringler is survived by his son, Brian Ringer of Santa Rosa; daughter, Mauri Gilmore of Reno; and seven grandchildren.
No services are planned.

Don Tennant, created cereal icon
"That's my boy," Don Tennant always said with justifiable pride as he drove past the cereal maker's headquarters in Battle Creek, Mich., or walked down the cornflakes aisle of any grocery store on the planet.
The "boy" was Kellogg's lovable Tony the Tiger, his brainchild of 1952.
"I don't know that Tony is the best thing I've ever done, but it sure gives me a kick to see how well he's aged," he said in 1988. "(Seeing) his face on the Frosted Flakes box . . . can make my whole day."
Tennant, the versatile ad man who not only created such sales icons as Tony the Tiger, but also gave the Marlboro Man his memorable name and place in the American lexicon and coined such catchy tunes as "Nuthin' says lovin' like something from the oven," has died. He was 79.
Tennant died Saturday at his Los Angeles home. No cause of death was given.
Throughout his half-century career, Tennant found entertaining ways to sell products and services for international brands such as Kellogg's, Nestle, Green Giant, Pillsbury, Keebler, Campbell's Soup, United Airlines and Procter & Gamble.
Born in Sterling, Ill., he earned a degree at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., and then served as a Navy lieutenant during World War II. Moving to Chicago after the war, he began his career writing and producing for network radio programs.
It was Tennant who wrote the Pillsbury jingle equating baking with love and urged travelers to "Fly the friendly skies of United."

December 9, 2001

Sol Fishman
Sol Fishman, a Petaluma chicken rancher who founded the largest family-owned janitorial supply company in the North Bay, died Friday of complications from a blood disorder. He was 83.
A year after Fishman was born in San Francisco, his family moved to Petaluma and began ranching. After graduating from Petaluma High School in 1936, Fishman continued to work with his father while taking correspondence courses in accounting.
Fishman enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 and shipped out to the South Pacific. Although he was trained as an aircraft mechanic, his commanding officers made him the company clerk when they learned of his typing skills.
During the war, he corresponded with a romantic interest from Philadelphia. He had met her before the war when she visited relatives in California, and they marriage in 1946.
Sol and Rose Fishman settled in Petaluma and operated a chicken ranch. But by 1965, he had made up his mind to find a more profitable enterprise. The couple opened Fishman Supply Co., which initially consisted of nothing more than the old granary and a pickup.
"Their skills complemented each other," said son William Fishman. His father was the organizer, he said, while his mother "had the chutzpah to go out and sell anything."
One of their four sons now runs the company, which has grown into a multimillion-dollar enterprise with about 40 employees.
Fishman and his wife also were active in Congregation B'nai Israel.
As his health declined over the past two years, Fishman found strength and buoyed others with his sense of humor. "He was real tough through it all. He never gave up," William Fishman said.
Over the years, Fishman was a member of the Penngrove school board, the Petaluma school board and the Petaluma Valley Hospital Foundation board. He also was active in other charitable organizations.
In addition to William, he is survived by sons Leland Fishman of Penngrove, Gregg Fishman of Sacramento and Neal Fishman of Piedmont; brothers Julius Fishman of Petaluma and Morris Fishman of Seattle; sister Selma Cader of Petaluma; seven grandchildren; and his companion, Dorothy Pathman.
Rose Fishman died in 1997.
A funeral service will be at 1 p.m. today at the Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory at Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street in Petaluma.

December 8, 2001

Loretta Bettinelli
Former schoolteacher Loretta Bettinelli, who started her 42-year career instructing youngsters at tiny country schools west of Petaluma, died Thursday. She was 96.
Fun-loving but strict and demanding in front of a class, Bettinelli taught from 1926 until 1968 at schools in Valley Ford, Chileno Valley and Petaluma.
She was born in Novato to a pioneer Marin County ranching family and grew up in Nicasio. One of 12 children of the late Henry and Elizabeth Rogers, she remained close all her life to her many brothers and sisters.
She graduated from Petaluma's St. Vincent de Paul High School and went on to San Francisco Normal School, the current San Francisco State University, for her teaching credential.
After teaching for a number of years in country schools in west Sonoma and Marin counties, she transferred to Petaluma and worked at Washington and McNear schools.
She and her late husband, Lawrence Bettinelli, lived in Chileno Valley and in Point Reyes before moving to Petaluma in 1941.
In their free time, they enjoyed traveling to Lake Tahoe and gathering with family. Loretta Bettinelli also loved to play bridge and knit.
Lawrence Bettinelli died in the mid-1970s.
Loretta Bettinelli is survived by her daughters, Claire Lucchesi and Joan Silva, and sons Lauren Bettinelli and James Bettinelli, all of Petaluma; a sister, Elinore Cheda of San Rafael; eight grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Petaluma. Entombment will be at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
A vigil service will be at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Bettinelli's family suggests memorial contributions to St. Vincent de Paul High School, P.O. Box 517, Petaluma 94953, or to favorite charities.

December 7, 2001

Sidney Kelley, 92
Sidney H. "Buster" Kelley, who built the world's largest used car business by the 1940s and helped develop the Kelley Blue Book as the bible of automobile values, has died. He was 92.
Kelley died Wednesday at the Norco home of his daughter, Deborah Sanchez.
A resident of Huntington Beach, Kelley had been battling cancer and related illnesses for several years, said his son, Robert.
"Dad was a goer, always saying, 'Let's go for it,' " Robert Kelley said. "He was very innovative. If told he couldn't do something, he'd ask, 'Why not?'"
Kelley was among the first auto dealers to take to the new medium called TV some 50 years ago. He was featured in the commercials, showing off his huge Los Angeles car lot and ticking off prices of cars for sale.
He also pioneered the five-year auto loan, offered auto insurance and extended warranties and started an auto club for customers. At its peak after World War II, the Kelley Kar Co. had 600 employees and was selling 600 used cars and 400 new cars each month, the younger Kelley said.
The success of Kelley Kar set set the stage for the increased popularity of the Kelley Blue Book, his son said.
The first Blue Book, which was published 75 years ago, has become the key reference for the automotive industry in assessing the value of new and used cars.
Buster Kelley is survived by his son, his daughter, eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

December 3, 2001

Dick Day, 67, leaves legacy of political activism
For 35 years, Santa Rosa attorney Richard "Dick" Day was the ultimate governmental watchdog and environmental leader.
Day, whose fingerprints are all over the political and environmental landscape that has shaped Sonoma County since his arrival, died Saturday at Kaiser Hospital. He was 67.
The cause of death is undetermined.
His son, Doug Day, said Sunday that his father was driving home Nov. 13 from a visit with family in Oregon when he stopped at a hospital in Klamath Falls complaining of abdominal pain.
It turned out to be a leak in his aorta and he was airlifted to UC Medical Center in San Francisco, where he had a stent inserted on Nov. 16. He was transported by ambulance to Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa Wednesday to recuperate further, his son said.
"Everything was looking good," said the younger Day, who said his father died unexpectedly at around 4:20 a.m. Saturday. Services are pending.
The Idaho-born Day arrived in Rohnert Park in 1968, a 32-year-old attorney fresh out of U.C. Berkeley's Boalt School of Law.
He had barely set foot on Sonoma County soil when he won election to the Sonoma County Board of Education in 1969, and just a year later sought election to the county Board of Supervisors.
He lost and later moved to Santa Rosa, but his campaign set a tone for the three decades of political activism that followed when he urged that he and his opponents abandon their use of campaign signs, charging they were a blight on the landscape that did nothing to inform voters about the issues.
It was, in a sense, Day's warning shot that it was the issues that mattered, nothing else. From that time on, if there was a major political or environmental fight in Sonoma County, it's almost certain Day was going to be involved.
"He was my hero," said his son, a teacher in Santa Rosa's Mark West School District. "If he believed in something, he would put out the effort. He didn't ask others to do it. He walked the talk."
During his more than nearly four decades of activism, Day's legal and political skills helped open the state's coastline to public access; surrounded eight of the county's cities with voter-approved boundaries to protect against urban sprawl; pushed adoption of stricter campaign finance laws by the county and Santa Rosa; and fought all attempts to pass a sales tax increase to widen Highway 101 without the benefit of other transit improvements.
His skills, said good friend Bill Kortum, a former county supervisor considered the father of Sonoma County's environmental movement, were even more amazing considering he often was fighting underdog causes against entrenched forces.
Who else would take on the chairmanship of Sen. John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in the Republican-dominated bastion of Orange County?
"Dick was quite capable of sticking his neck out," Kortum said. "It was a classic case of the role he played."
Kortum's own group, Californians Organized to Acquire Access to State Tidelands, was fighting county attempts to keep 13 miles of beachfront as the exclusive domain of the Sea Ranch community in the late '60s.
Kortum credits Day's legal acumen with convincing the state Supreme Court to order county supervisors to reverse that decision, and for COAAST's successful statewide ballot measure that formed the California Coastal Commission and guaranteed public access to beaches.
Part of Day's power came from the pulpit of two groups he helped form. Sonoma County Conservation Action, the county's largest environmental lobbying group, has worked on anti-sprawl measures, while Concerned Citizens for Santa Rosa won city support in 1992 to restrict construction to 1,000 homes a year, after years of runaway growth.
"He was in on all the big issues," said longtime friend Kate Sater, a member of Conservation Action's board of directors.
"He was never afraid to challenge people on the issues," she said.
His list of losses was just as impressive. Battles to stop construction of Warms Spring Dam and the incorporation of Windsor on growth-related grounds, and the failure to win support for district elections in Santa Rosa to lessen the political dominance of one geographic segment of the city were among them.
His most painful loss, however, was more personal. A lifelong Democrat and integral part of the county's Democratic Party machinery, Day was appointed to fill a Sonoma County Municipal Court judge vacancy in 1979 by then-Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.
A year later he lost the judgeship when a deputy district attorney challenged him for the seat in a mid-year election.
Day rarely minced words. He said what he thought and was quick to protest what he perceived as government wrongdoing or misguidedness.
But even those he often battled with, including former Santa Rosa City Manager Ken Blackman -- whom Day once accused of running an "anti-democratic" form of city government -- said every city needs its Day.
"At times I don't think his criticisms were completely justified, but there needs to be somebody on the other side," Blackman said.
"There needs to be a Dick Day or someone like him raising questions and challenging those making the decisions. Our system works best when it has those checks and balances," he said.
Santa Rosa Councilwoman Noreen Evans credits Day for helping her successful effort to get county supervisors and her own council to adopt stricter campaign finance laws.
Besides that and other changes Day helped bring about, Evans said, he leaves one other important legacy: "the number of public officials in all nine cities and the county he helped elect who will carry forward the vision he had," she said.
Day is survived by his son, five brothers and sisters and one grandson. His wife, Jean, a retired Sonoma State University librarian, died last year.

November 28, 2001

Richard S. Lieb, a prominent Petaluma architect and civic leader who helped shape the city during a long career of building design and volunteer service, died Saturday at his Petaluma home. He was 69.

November 26, 2001

LOS ANGELES -- William Read Woodfield, who produced and wrote episodes of television's "Mission: Impossible" and "Shaft," and photographed Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Jayne Mansfield, has died, his wife said Sunday. He was 73.

November 25, 2001

Celeste Coe
Celeste "Pearl" Coe, who owned Hamilton's Sales Co. in Santa Rosa, died of complications following a stroke Tuesday at Memorial Hospital. She was 85.
Coe was born in Indiana, where she met her first husband, Hubert Hamilton.
They moved to Daly City in the late 1940s and opened a dry cleaning business there. Coe was handy with a needle.
"She used to love to sew," said her daughter, Deborah Chandler of Healdsburg. "She made all of our clothes when we were kids."
After relocating to Santa Rosa in 1958, the couple launched another business, Hamilton's Sales Co., at the south end of Santa Rosa Avenue. They specialized in new and used hardware.
Pearl and Hubert Coe shared a love of travel. They saw much of the world together, including biblical sites in the Middle East.
Hubert Hamilton died in 1984. Shortly thereafter, Pearl met Robert Coe, who was recently widowed.
Pearl and Robert were marriage in November 1988. "She was a beautiful woman. Man, she was good-looking," Robert Coe recalled.
They enjoyed walking together until Pearl suffered her first stroke several years ago. She suffered another stroke in September and was bed-ridden.
She and her husband celebrated their wedding anniversary this month in a hospital room.
"I took her some roses," Robert Coe said. "And she kissed me 24 times. There were 24 roses."
Coe, who was a member of the Santa Rosa Bible Church, enjoyed church events and spending time with her congregation.
In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by a son, Stephen Hamilton of Sacramento; a brother-in-law, Wib Hollingsworth of Santa Rosa; and three grandchildren.
Services will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Eggen and Lance Mortuary at 1540 Mendocino Ave. in Santa Rosa.

Joseph Furia
Joseph Louis Furia, a lifelong resident of Sonoma County and an accomplished stonemason, died Wednesday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center of complications following heart surgery. He was 75.
"Joe," as he was known, was born to Sebastopol farmers. His father died when he was 4, forcing him to grow up quickly.
"He worked as soon as he was old enough to help his mother," said his wife, Virginia Furia. That usually meant tending the chickens.
He joined the Army just as World War II ended, and was stationed in Japan.
After he returned, he delivered milk for Clover Dairy and worked as a journeyman carpenter. He soon settled into his life's work, masonry, which he performed for 36 years.
"He was really a craftsman," and his specialty was stonework, his wife said.
Furia enjoyed camping with his family. He had two daughters and a third "adopted" daughter, Susan Matthews of Santa Rosa, who lived nearby.
He was an outdoorsman, and he loved experiencing nature with his wife.
"Anything he did, I did too," Virginia Furia said. And those activities were numerous.
"He and I loved fishing. We could sit on a boat all day," she said.
They also hunted elk and deer in Wyoming, gardened a quarter-acre plot, and shared many other activities.
"When he put a new roof on the garage, he and I did it," she said.
Furia's daughters described him as "gregarious." He loved to talk, to tell a story.
"If we were out to dinner with a group of people, he entertained them all," his wife said.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Betty Clark and Dana Furia, both of Santa Rosa; two sisters, Mary Rossi of Santa Rosa and Olga Kraiter of Klamath Falls, Ore.; and two grandchildren.
The funeral will be at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Lafferty and Smith Colonial Chapel at 4321 Sonoma Highway, Santa Rosa. Visitation will be from noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the chapel. 

November 24, 2001

Wayne Goodnight
Wayne Goodnight cruised Sonoma County as a deputy sheriff for 14 years, then traded his patrol car for a Santa Rosa Transit bus.
The peace officer turned bus driver died Tuesday at his Santa Rosa home. He was 61.
He had endured failing health since he was diagnosed with diabetes in 1981, and in 1998 he was disabled by a stroke.
The affable Goodnight, a native of Salinas, joined the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department in the early 1970s. He worked previously for the Monterey County Sheriff's Department and the Healdsburg Police Department.
As a Sonoma County deputy he worked for about five years out of the Sonoma Valley substation. His wife of 37 years, Lori Goodnight, said he was in his element when he was suited up and working with the public.
"There was nothing about law enforcement he didn't enjoy -- even the wacky hours," she said. "He was 100 percent a police officer."
Goodnight wrapped up his law enforcement career as a bailiff in the courtroom of former Judge Gayle Guynup. He retired in the mid-1980s and took a job as a Santa Rosa CityBus driver.
He had been promoted to a Transit Department field supervisor when the stroke forced him to stop working.
On his own time, Goodnight enjoyed working out at a gym or shooting at a firing range.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by sons Michael Goodnight of Santa Rosa and Brian Goodnight of Elk Grove, and by his mother, Vel Garrett of Las Vegas.
At his request, there will be no formal services. Private Interment will be in Hollister.
Goodnight's family suggests memorial contributions to Memorial Hospice, 558 B St., Santa Rosa 95401.

O.C. Smith
O.C. Smith, best known for singing a Grammy Award-winning rendition of "Little Green Apples," died Friday. He was 65.
A minister at the City of Angels Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles since 1985, Smith was considered in good health. He presided over an hourlong Thanksgiving Day service, during which he told jokes and appeared in good spirits, a church member said.
Smith was preparing to go for his morning walk when he suffered a heart attack, said a family member, who did not give her name.
"He was a very lovable, very nice person," said Pearl Wirrie, a parishioner who works two days a week at the church. "He was in good spirits (Thursday). He was talking about his wife cooking -- she hadn't cooked in a long time."
Smith, who was born June 21, 1936, in Louisiana, began his musical career as a jazz vocalist and later worked in country and rhythm and blues.
Smith replaced Joe Williams as the lead singer for the Count Basie band in the early 1960s and had a hit with the country song "Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp."
Smith's biggest hit was "Little Green Apples," which he recorded with Roger Miller and Patti Page. The song won Grammys in 1968 for song of the year and best country song and was No. 2 on the pop and R&B charts in 1968.
Smith's other big R&B single was "Daddy's Little Man" in 1969, which reached No. 9.
He continued to perform over the years and released an album just a year ago entitled "Beach Music Classics and Love Songs."
Information on survivors and funeral arrangements was not immediately available.

Ibrahim Kamel
Mohammed Ibrahim Kamel, a former foreign minister who quit in 1978 to protest the Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel, has died. He was 74.
Kamel died Thursday at a Cairo hospital of an unidentified illness, according to a Foreign Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
An associate of the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Kamel was named foreign minister in 1977 after his predecessor, Ismail Fahmy, quit to protest Sadat's peacemaking visit to Israel.
Kamel accompanied Sadat to the U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations at Camp David, but resigned to protest what he saw as the accords' vagueness on the Palestinian issue.
The accords signed in 1978 were formalized in a 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel -- the first between an Arab nation and the Jewish state.
In 1984, Kamel published his memoirs, denouncing the accords for falling short of guaranteeing Palestinian rights.

November 18, 2001

Robert Burris, an avid golfer who loved the sport so much he collected golf balls that landed in his front yard, put them in egg cartons and gave them to friends as gifts, died Wednesday of cancer. He was 76.

November 17, 2001

Sonoma County native Etta Ann Shaffer, whose passions started with her children and grandchildren and ran to Harley Davidsons, beading and baseball cards, died Nov. 8 in Santa Rosa.

November 16, 2001

Born in Windsor 99 years ago, Bertha Mae Hoskins discovered shortly after learning to talk that she loved to sing.

November 14, 2001

Athlete and youth sports advocate Margaret Jane Freeman of Santa Rosa died Nov. 6 after a decadelong battle with breast cancer.

November 13, 2001

Robert Treuhaft, an attorney prominent in San Francisco leftist circles and the region's civil rights movement since the 1940s, died Sunday after a brief illness. He was 89.

November 12, 2001

Arthur B. Whitmore, who had a lifetime interest in cars and for 20 years owned Cal-West Motors, a Santa Rosa used car dealership, died Thursday from heart problems and other health complications. He was 76.

November 11, 2001

Derral Lewis
Derral "Tex" Lewis, a World War II veteran and a barber for 50 years, died of lung cancer Friday in Santa Rosa. He was 79.
Lewis was born in Menard, Texas, one of nine children. He left home at the age of 14, earning a living first as a dishwasher and later as a cook.
During World War II, Lewis served as an Army cook in the South Pacific. He received an honorable discharge after falling ill with malaria on the island of New Guinea.
He returned to Texas and enrolled in barber school. For Lewis, cutting hair was more than a profession, it was also an important social outlet.
"He was a people lover," said his wife, Jean Lewis.
Lewis moved to California in the early 1960s but never lost his drawl, hence the nickname "Tex."
He settled in Santa Rosa in 1969 and, after his second divorce, marriage Jean Lewis two years later.
Lewis worked at the old Occidental Hotel, before it was razed, and later opened "Texarcana Barber Shop" on Sebastopol Road. He knew most of his customers by name.
He sold his shop and retired after suffering a heart attack in the 1980s.
Lewis was a member of the Stony Point Christian Fellowship Church, the American Legion in Cloverdale and the Rincon Valley, Bellevue and Pomona granges.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Derral Raye Lewis of Menard, Texas, and Kent Lewis of Abilene, Texas; four daughters, Leah Holmberg of New York, Mona Adams and Corrina Martin, both of Eureka, and Darla Gibbs of Santa Rosa; two brothers, Damon Lewis of Burnett, Texas, and Dan Lewis of Menard, Texas; three sisters, Jean Seals of Salinas, Maxine Allen of Roswell, N.M., and Mae Morring of Lompoc; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. today at the Stony Point Christian Fellowship Church, 4090 Stony Point Road, Santa Rosa.

November 10, 2001

Bobby Bass
Veteran stuntman Bobby Bass, who appeared in scores of movies and television shows with such stars as John Wayne, Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone, has died at age 65, his family said Friday.
Bass, who worked on such films as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Scarface," "Thelma & Louise" and "Lethal Weapon," died Wednesday.
He had been ill with Parkinson's disease.
"He was a remarkable man," said actress Bo Derek, Bass' stepdaughter.
"He's an absolute legend in the business. Everyone just revered him."
Bass did stunts in more than 40 films and worked on about 30 others, often as an assistant director, second unit director or stunt coordinator, sometimes training actors in the martial arts and the handling of weapons.
The actors he helped train included Mel Gibson, Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Burt Reynolds and Danny Glover.
He also acted in a number of television commercials and shows, including "The A Team," "The Twilight Zone," "Fantasy Island," "Mission Impossible," "Star Trek" and "McGyver."
But it was his stunts that made him famous within the industry, Derek said.
He did them for such movies as "Smokey and the Bandit," "Sharkey's Machine," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Scarface."
"His sense of adventure was just so fantastic," Derek said.
"He always had new stunts he was inventing."
The family said funeral services would be private.

November 9, 2001

Linda Tremari-Barbera
Linda Tremari-Barbera, lifelong resident of Sonoma County, mother of two, former Future Farmers of America Sweetheart and dedicated baton twirler, died last week at her parents' home in Bloomfield. She was 48.
Tremari-Barbera, in otherwise good health, suffered a brain hemorrhage and never recovered consciousness.
"There was no warning, no nothing," said her mother, Dot Tremari. "She had two headaches and that was it."
Friends and family packed St. Vincent's Catholic Church to overflowing last week for a funeral Mass.
Born at Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol in 1953, Linda Tremari grew up on her parents' ranch in Bloomfield, attended Bloomfield and Tomales schools and worked for an insurance company in Petaluma.
In 1976, she marriage Chuck Barbera and they had two children, Lori Anne and Gino Joseph.
Among family and friends, Tremari-Barbera developed a reputation as the first to offer help in times of need, the first to visit a sick relative in the hospital.
"Linda was more generous and loyal than anyone I know," said Kathy Lucchesi, who grew up with her. "We were best friends for 34 years. I can't and won't tell you everything we've done but I will tell you we did all of our important things together. I will miss her more than anyone can imagine," Lucchesi said.
"If anyone, family or friends, were in the hospital or home with an illness, she was at their side," said her uncle, Leroy Cerini. "She was there for us during family illnesses and never missed a hospital visit," said her aunt, Joan Cerrini.
The Cerrinis, frequent recipients of phone calls day and night from Tremari-Barbera, remember one in particular from the former cheerleader and baton twirler.
"This one was wonderful only because her house was always in perfect order and I couldn't imagine her throwing a baton around," Joan Cerini said. "But she was and broke the light above her dining room table. This was a brand new house."
She is survived by her daughter, Lori Anne Barbera of Santa Rosa, her son, Gino Barbera of Petaluma, parents Joe and Dot Tremari of Bloomfield and brothers Glenn Tremari of Petaluma and Joseph Tremari Jr. of Modesto.
Tremari-Barbera was buried at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park in Sebastopol.
The family asks that contributions be made to Memorial Hospice, 821 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa 95401.

Eve Rannells
Eve Ann Rannells, who worked many years as a law librarian in San Francisco and Papua New Guinea, died of liver failure at St. Helena Hospital on Wednesday. She was 65.
She and her husband, Jack, had moved from Santa Rosa to Calistoga, where he grew up, in February.
Rannells was born in Phoenix but spent much of her youth overseas -- in Brussels, Paris and Tokyo -- where her father, Robert Eunson, was a reporter and bureau chief for the Associated Press.
In 1956, Eve and Jack met as journalism students at Stanford University and worked together on the student-run Stanford Daily. She served as publicist for the Stanford Summer Festival of the Arts in the 1960s.
Later, when her husband was a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Eve Rannells worked as a librarian for the California State Public Defender's office. There, she compiled a major expert witness directory called ARSNL.
In 1984, after her two children had finished college, Rannells noticed a classified ad for a librarian in Papua New Guinea.
"She said, 'I'm going to apply to this. Will you go with me if I get it?'" her husband recalled. "And I said, 'Oh sure.' Well, she got it.
"I thought we would be there three months," he said.
Eve and Jack Rannells spent the next 14 years on that island north of Australia. She worked first at the national library and later at a university law library.
She was much loved by the students, many fresh from tiny villages deep in the mountains, who leaned on her for help with the British jurisprudence upon which their young nation's laws were based.
Rannells and her husband returned to the United States and settled in Santa Rosa in 1998.
In addition to her husband, Rannells is survived by her son, Buck Rannells of Toronto, Canada; her daughter, Nina Rannells of San Rafael; sisters Dale Eunson of Santa Monica and Lisa Eunson of Millbrae; and three grandchildren.
The family will hold a private remembrance.

November 8, 2001

Lois Hostetter
On the last day of Lois Marie Hostetter's life, 40 well-wishers visited her hospital room, while family members maintained a vigil, sang with her and played music.
"It was just a wonderful day," said her daughter, Roxanne Nassan of Santa Rosa.
Hostetter, 71, died Sept. 30 at a Santa Rosa hospital after an eight-month battle with lung cancer. Four days earlier, she had seen her last client as a marriage and family counselor, and three days before she had her nails done.
That spirit was typical of Hostetter's life as a single mother of two, a Christian and a counselor who always put her patients' needs first, Nassan said.
At her memorial service on Saturday, someone said: "It seems like half of us here are saying she's my best friend," her daughter said.
When she was fighting cancer and people would call to ask how she was, Hostetter would turn the conversation around and ask how they were doing. "She had a hard time focusing on herself," Nassan said.
Hostetter even kept from her children how ill she was, and was planning a trip to Mexico to undertake a new treatment when she was hospitalized.
"We're grieving but we know where she is," Nassan said. "We just feel so confident she's in God's presence. It was like walking her up that last day."
Born in Longmont, Colo., Hostetter moved to Washington state as a child and attended college in Oregon and Washington. She moved to Santa Rosa in the early 1950s and graduated from Sonoma State University in 1971.
She worked with Young Life, a ministry to high school students, and as a dental office receptionist in Sebastopol. After her children were grown, Hostetter earned a master's degree in marriage and family counseling from University of San Francisco in 1986.
She most recently worked with Christian Counseling Associates in Larkfield. A Christian since childhood, she was a member of the Bethel Baptist Church in Santa Rosa.
Survivors, in addition to Nassan, are: a son, Jay Hostetter of Santa Rosa; brother, Ken Arfsten of Jacksonville, Fla.; and three grandchildren.
Memorial donations may be made to the Pregnancy Counseling Center, 750 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 95404.

Safety advocate Tony Mazzocchi
Tony Mazzocchi, a longtime advocate for workplace safety whose disenchantment with traditional politics led him to organize the United States' first labor party in 70 years, died at his home in Washington, D.C., Saturday. He was 76 and had pancreatic cancer.
Mazzocchi brought 1,400 union leaders to a Cleveland convention hall in 1996 to form the Labor Party. Labeled a foolhardy idea by union leaders and political analysts, it was conceived in an era of waning union strength and has fewer than 14,000 members.
Although disappointed by the fledgling party's slow growth, Mazzocchi remained committed to its pro-worker agenda, focused on single-payer national health insurance, free higher education and worker rights.
His slogan: "The bosses have two parties. We need one of our own!"
He was considered "the Ralph Nader of industrial safety." Along with Nader and other activists, he was a key figure behind the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, often called the most far-reaching pro-labor law of the past half-century.
"Over the last 30 years, nobody comes close to him," said Nader, who praised Mazzocchi's leadership on the drives to pass OSHA, the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act and other major legislation.
"He is an icon," said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association. "More than anyone, he is the unsung hero of organized labor."
A former secretary-treasurer of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, Mazzocchi advised its most famous member, Oklahoma plutonium plant worker Karen Silkwood, whose struggles to ensure plant safety and tragic death inspired the 1983 Oscar-nominated movie "Silkwood."
During the 1980s, Mazzocchi drew attention to efforts in industry to make women working around toxic materials undergo sterilization. He was cited by Ms. magazine in 1982 as one of the "40 Male Heroes of the Decade" for "exposing exclusionary corporate 'fetal protection policies' " that restricted the hiring of women of childbearing age. 

November 6, 2001

John N. Rosekrans, a San Francisco arts patron and heir to the Spreckels sugar fortune who co-founded a company that produced Frisbees, Power Wheels, Morey Boogie Boards and other famous toy and sports brands, has died. He was 73.

November 5, 2001

Debra Sweeney, a hospice worker and longtime volunteer for Bennett Valley schools, died from a brain tumor Thursday at home. She was 45.

November 4, 2001

Paul Mullane, a Navy pilot who was chased by Soviet MiG jets during the Cold War and later flew into hurricanes on research missions, died at home in Santa Rosa on Wednesday after battling kidney and heart disorders for several years.

November 3, 2001

Patricia Locke, an American Indian of Hunkpapa Lakota and White Earth Chippewa heritage and former MacArthur Fellow who worked to preserve indigenous languages and helped 17 American Indian tribes start colleges, has died. She was 73.

November 2, 2001

He was there during Marilyn Monroe's brief marriage to Joe DiMaggio in 1954, and when Monroe died in 1962, he helped DiMaggio make the funeral arrangements.

November 1, 2001

Theda L. Olson, a retired nursing assistant, died Saturday in Santa Rosa. She was 82.

October 21, 2001

Rosemarie Finch
Rosemarie Finch, a fixture at McKinley Elementary School in Petaluma for 25 years, died Wednesday after entering Petaluma Hospital with pneumonia.
Finch, who suffered from chronic pulmonary disease, was 65.
Born in South Dakota and raised in Napa, she met her husband, Al Finch, when he was stationed at a Navy installation on Skaggs Island. They marriage in 1957 and settled in Petaluma four years later.
The Finches had two sons and three daughters, and her love of children drew her to McKinley Elementary, where she volunteered as a teacher's aide.
After a couple of years, she was hired by the school. She worked in kindergarten through sixth-grade classes until she retired in 1997.
Finch was kind-hearted but no softie. She was proud of her nickname, "Mrs. Bench," earned for sending students to the bench for misbehaving during recess.
Outside school, Finch served as a Cub Scout den mother and Camp Fire leader.
"She never lost that enthusiasm with kids," her husband said.
Finch, an avid quilter, was also a member of a sewing club comprised mostly of co-workers from McKinley Elementary. She was particularly fond of "quillos," a combination lap quilt and decorative throw pillow, but also stitched traditional designs, including her grandchildren's baby blankets.
In addition to her husband, Finch is survived by two sons, Jon Finch of Petaluma and Allan Finch of Florida; three daughters, Michelle Wagner and Jacqueline Reedy of Petaluma and Alicia Weinert of Washington; a sister, Maxine Bardessono of Yountville; a brother, Cecil Roberts of Nevada; and nine grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 6 p.m. Monday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory at Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street in Petaluma.

Otis Young, pioneer black TV actor
LOS ANGELES -- Otis Young, who became the first black actor to co-star on a television Western series during a time of racial unrest, has died. He was 69.
Young died of a stroke in Los Angeles on Oct. 12, the Los Angeles Times reported. A memorial service was to be held Saturday at the chapel at Pepperdine University.
Young was a cast member of "The Outcast" with Don Murray in the late 1960s before becoming a minister.
His best-known film role was as a career sailor transporting a prisoner to the brig with Jack Nicholson in the 1973 movie, "The Last Detail."
The Rhode Island-born Young was an unknown actor when he auditioned with several better-known performers for the part in "The Outcast."
"He just stood out among all the rest because he was the one actor who was totally unapologetic about this hostility" between the two characters, Murray said.
The hourlong Western ran for one season on ABC. It featured Murray as a former Confederate officer and slave owner who lost his estate during the Civil War and teamed up with Young's character, a former slave turned bounty hunter.
Throughout the season Young made clear his discomfort with the show's portrayal of his character. In an interview with Sh-Boom magazine, Young said he was asked to play "a real tough black cowboy, but they also wanted me to say things that a black man wouldn't say."
During a scene being shot in front of a group of 60 black children visiting the set from Watts, Young refused to say a line that included a racist reference to black people.
"Here was these kids watching this black cowboy in action, and I didn't feel that line was valid for the character, so I refused to say it," Young told the magazine.
Young continued to act occasionally in the 1980s, including a role in the 1981 miniseries "Palmerstown USA." But he eventually decided to stop pursuing his career in acting, said his daughter Saudia Young.
"His focus became more spiritual," she said.
Young is survived by his wife, Barbara, and children El Mahdi, Jemal Lucien, Lovelady and Saudia.

Jose Vargas, 70, Mexico's 'Bozo'
MEXICO CITY -- In full makeup, red hair and his usual smile, Jose Manuel Vargas Martinez, also known as Mexico's beloved Bozo the clown, was buried Saturday. He died at the age of 70.
Vargas died Friday of respiratory problems, Reforma newspaper reported.
"For me, to be a child is a part of my life, because children fill my life," he told Mexico's state-run news agency, Notimex, before he died.
The famous clown began his career as an actor, and had considered becoming a tango singer or a bullfighter before finding his calling as Bozo. Still, he told Notimex, he had no regrets.
"If I had to be born again, I would like to be the same person," he said.
Vargas was working as an actor at a cabaret in 1961 when a friend asked if he could play a clown. He eventually became Bozo, starring in television programs and entertaining several generations of kids.
Bozo was also a famous trademark in the United States, with more than 180 locally produced shows. Facing a lawsuit, Vargas changed the name of his show to Nino the clown.
Friends, family and fellow clowns -- dressed in their usual oversized shoes and brightly colored wigs -- showered Vargas with 20 minutes of nonstop applause and watched as fireworks and confetti rained down on the clown's coffin Saturday.
He was buried at El Panteon Cipreses Cemetery in the rolling hills outside Mexico City.

Bernard Fox, 83, cancer risk expert
Dr. Bernard H. Fox, a federal researcher who became a pioneer in investigating the effect of psychological problems on cancer risk, died Oct. 9 at a hospital in Everett, Mass. He was 83 and lived in the nearby town of Malden.
The cause was pulmonary fibrosis, his family said.
In 1978, Fox published what experts called a groundbreaking paper in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine. That work reviewed earlier studies and drew on evidence in statistics, immunology, virology and additional fields to consider whether stress, depression and other psychological factors contributed to cancer.
It determined that psychological problems might add to cancer risk, although Fox also pointed out that other factors, such as health habits, were more important.
The study of psychological factors in cancer risk was "kind of like astrology before he approached it as a real science," said Dr. Alan B. Zonderman, a senior investigator at the National Institute on Aging.

October 21, 2001

Sadako Fujita
Sadako Fujita, a resident of Petaluma for the past 60 years, died Monday. She was 86.
A native of Mountain View, Fujita came to Sonoma County as a young bride and worked with her husband in the egg business. The family owned Central Egg Company for many years. She retired in 1985.
A longtime member of the Enmanji Buddhist Temple and the Japanese-American Citizens League of Sonoma County, Fujita enjoyed simple pleasures such as gardening, cooking, knitting and, most of all, her family.
"She was a very special person who loved her family," said daughter Judy Yoshioka.
She is survived by her son Robert of Tucson, Ariz., and daughter Judy of Petaluma; three grandchildren; sisters Eiko Baba and Hisako Tsujihara, both of Petaluma, Kiyo Ito of Los Angeles and Tomi Hamaguchi of Atwater; brothers Kazuo Tsujihara of El Dorado Hills, Shiz Tsujihara, Mits Tsujihara and Jim Tsujihara, all of Petaluma; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services will be at 1 p.m. on Oct. 27 at the Parent-Sorensen Mortuary in Petaluma.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Enmanji Buddhist Temple, 1200 Gravenstein Highway South, Sebastopol 95472.

Leonard LaRue, hero to 14,000
NEWTON, N.J. -- Brother Marinus Leonard LaRue, who as a merchant marine captain in the Korean War evacuated 14,000 refugees from a besieged North Korean port, died on Oct. 14 at St. Paul's Abbey.
Marinus, who became a Benedictine monk after two decades at sea, was 87.
Three days before Christmas 1950, LaRue came upon what he likened to "a scene of Dante's Inferno" at the port of Hungnam. On Christmas Day, he delivered all 14,000 refugees to safety on a South Korean island some 500 miles away aboard the 455-foot Meredith Victory freighter. The U.S. Maritime Administration called his feat "the greatest rescue by a single ship in the annals of the sea."
Not one refugee died in the evacuation; the number of Koreans aboard had, in fact, increased by five babies.
LaRue looked back on the rescue as a turning point in his life. As he put it: "I think often of that voyage. I think of how such a small vessel was able to hold so many persons and surmount endless perils without harm to a soul. The clear, unmistakable message comes to me that on that Christmastide, in the bleak and bitter waters off the shores of Korea, God's own hand was at the helm of my ship."

J.B. Slowinski, expert on venomous snakes
Dr. Joseph B. Slowinski, an expert on venomous snakes who was in the middle of an ambitious inventory of the reptile and amphibian populations of Myanmar, died on Sept. 12 in the northern reaches of that country. He was 38.
Slowinski, who recalled hunting for snakes at age 4 in Kansas City, Mo., had survived previous bites from a rattlesnake, copperheads and a cobra.
But in the high jungle of Myanmar's, he was unable to reach the help he needed when he was bitten by a krait, a relative of the cobra. He died about 30 hours later.
Slowinski was an associate curator of herpetology at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

October 19, 2001

Etta Jones, 72
Etta Jones, 72, a jazz singer whose sinuous, after-midnight style could be heard on about 25 albums and at countless club dates, and who was best known for her 1960 recording of "Don't Go to Strangers," died of complications from cancer Tuesday at her home in Mount Vernon, N.Y.
"Don't Go to Strangers" earned more than $1 million for the Prestige label. Since then, Jones became a respected interpreter of standards like "Stormy Weather," "Say It Isn't So," "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You" and "But Not For Me."
Fond of improvising, she told the audience during a 1998 Kennedy Center concert with pianist Billy Taylor and his trio: "I never sing (a song) the same way again. I can't even sing along to my own records."
Jones received Grammy Award nominations for "Save Your Love For Me" (Muse, 1981) and "My Buddy: The Songs of Buddy Johnson" (HighNote Records, 1998).
She died on the day her most recent album was released, "Etta Jones Sings Lady Day" (HighNote), a tribute to Billie Holiday.
Of all those with whom she performed, including saxophonist Illinois Jacquet at Carnegie Hall, her most recognizable partner was tenor saxophonist Houston Person.
They were first booked together in 1968 at Jimmy McPhail's Gold Room in Washington, and until their final date together three weeks ago, their interaction was often likened to the fruitful pairing of Holiday and saxophonist Lester Young in the 1930s.
A St. Louis reviewer called their collaboration "one of those rare musical matches in which each artist complements the other -- without any battles for the spotlight."

October 17, 2001

Ray Cloud
Longtime Sonoma County resident Ray Cloud, who learned to use a welder's torch in World War II and after the war launched a 38-year career in the welding trade, died Friday. He was 83.
Cloud was born in Rocky Comfort, Mo., and migrated west at age 19, following the death of his mother. He went into the Army Air Corps and became a welder.
In 1946, he and his late wife, Hazel M. Cloud, built a home in Santa Rosa. They lived there 30 years while Ray Cloud worked for several firms as a welder.
He retired from Steve Zappetini & Son Welding and Ironworks in San Rafael. Though he did all kinds of welding, a daughter, Shirley Urton, recalled that he worked often on garbage-truck bodies and pipelines.
In his free time, Cloud relished deep-sea fishing, most often out of Bodega Bay. "He'd go out on the Sea Angler," his daughter recalled.
She said that right up to the end her dad was full of cheer, grateful for life and fond of people.
"He never met a stranger," Urton said. "He always had a smile. No matter what, he always had a smile."
In 1976, the Clouds moved from their Santa Rosa home to a mobile home in Petaluma. Hazel Cloud died in 1989.
Failing health forced Ray Cloud to move into a care home in Petaluma five months ago. A week before his death his daughters moved him to a convalescent hospital in Healdsburg, where he died.
In addition to Urton, he is survived by daughter Carol Brown of Healdsburg; two grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
A chapel service is at 1 p.m. today at Eggen & Lance Mortuary. Interment will be at Santa Rosa Memorial Park.
Cloud's daughters suggest memorial contributions to Guide Dogs for the Blind, P.O. Box 1200, San Rafael 94915.

Elizabeth Hunter
Elizabeth Lucile Hunter, a retired cook with the Ukiah Unified School District, died Oct. 8 of a stroke. She was 93.
Hunter, who was born in Nebraska, had lived in Mendocino County for 66 years. She loved gardening and children, said June Jacobs of Ukiah, Hunter's eldest child.
"She was a very vibrant lady," Jacobs said. "She was ready to try anything."
Hunter grew up in Nebraska with seven brothers. She met and marriage her husband, Arthur, in Nebraska. The couple moved to California in 1935, first to Potter Valley and later Ukiah. The couple raised two daughters and three sons.
Besides being a homemaker, Hunter also worked as a telephone operator for Pacific Bell in the 1940s. Later she became an elementary school cook for Ukiah Unified. She retired in the 1970s, Jacobs said.
Hunter was a member of the Ukiah Methodist Church and later the Presbyterian Church in Ukiah. She also belonged to the Ukiah Senior Center and the Liberty Rebekah Lodge.
Jacobs said her mother loved family gatherings. Hunter was surrounded by family and friends during her 93rd birthday celebration Sept. 22.
Hunter was preceded in death by her husband and two of her sons.
In addition to Jacobs, she is survived by a brother, Emil Meyer of Paradise; another daughter, April Allen of McKinleyville; a son, William Hunter of Ukiah; 16 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.
Hunter was buried at the Russian River Cemetery in Ukiah.

Margaret Aitcheson, Tipper Gore's mom
Margaret Ann Aitcheson, the mother of Tipper Gore, is dead at 77.
Aitcheson, who had been ailing, died Monday at her residence at an Alexandria, Va., retirement community, said Kiki McLean, a spokeswoman for the Gores. Aitcheson's son-in-law, former Vice President Al Gore, was with her at the time.
Tipper Gore was in Miami to accept a humanitarian award for her work on behalf of the mentally ill. The award was sponsored by the University of Miami's psychiatry department, the Jackson Memorial Hospital, the Florida Psychiatric Society and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
Tipper Gore often cited her mother's severe bouts of depression  -- as well as her own struggle with the disease  -- as one of her motivations for taking up the cause. Informed by her husband of her mother's death just before her appearance, Gore accepted the award in her mother's honor and returned to Washington.
Born in Battle Creek, Mich., Aitcheson moved to the northern Virginia area as a teen and spent the rest of her life there.
She is responsible for the nickname of her only child, Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson, who became known as "Tipper" after a Spanish lullaby.
She was a self-employed accountant, a Red Cross volunteer and, at one point, an alcoholism therapist, McLean said.
Aitcheson is survived by her daughter; two nieces, Page Bernow and Gail Romansky; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.She was divorced from Tipper Gore's father, John K. Aitcheson Jr. 

August 22, 2001

Irene Smith
Irene Smith, a Pomo Indian who lived in Sonoma County her entire life and was a tribe elder, died Thursday of a heart attack. She was 86.
Born on the Dry Creek Rancheria in Geyserville to Joseph and Rosie Lozinto, Smith, one of 13 children, attended elementary school there.
She became an accomplished blanket and quilt maker.
Smith later followed in the footsteps of her mother and sister, who were master basket weavers. Smith didn't sell her creations, but rather gave them to relatives.
At this year's Sonoma County Fair, Smith and her husband, Grant Smith, 95, received an award as the longest-married couple in the county. They were marriage 68 years.
Smith was active in and a co-founder of the Faith Tabernacle Church of Santa Rosa, established in 1951. It is the only Indian-founded church in Sonoma County.
Smith often traveled with her husband to visit other churches in the West and Northwest.
In addition to her husband, Smith is survived by a son, Ron Smith of Santa Rosa. She also is survived by many nieces and nephews.
Services will be held today at 1:30 p.m. at Eggen & Lance Mortuary in Santa Rosa. Interment will be at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn.

Jason McCulloch
Jason G. McCulloch of Petaluma loved the outdoors, and he filled his 21 years with as much of it as he could.
McCulloch died Saturday while deer hunting near Lake Pillsbury after the off-road vehicle he was riding crashed into an oak tree.
He was born in Santa Rosa but like his mother and a grandfather lived in Petaluma.
His mother, Gail McCulloch, said her son's love for all things outdoors began as a baby, when his father began taking him fishing at 6 months old.
"He loved hunting, fishing, camping, anything to do with nature. He'd have fun and live life to the fullest and took chances.
"He lit up a room when he walked in. He was the life of the party," she said. "He was a wonderful boy."
McCulloch was a graduate of Casa Grande High School. That's where he met Dominique Binsfeld, "the love of his life," said his mother. They had dated more than two years and planned to marry.
For the past 11/2 years, McCulloch worked for Clover- Stornetta Farms Inc.
"He liked being here just as much as we liked having him," dairy co-owner Herm Benedetti said. "He was a pleasant, happy person to be around."
McCulloch is survived by his parents, Byron and Gail McCulloch of Petaluma; a brother, Jeff McCulloch of Petaluma; grandparents Larry and Ruth Katen of Rohnert Park, and John and Irene McCulloch of Hawaii; and great-grandfather John Burkhart of Santa Rosa.
Services are at 3 p.m. Thursday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary in Petaluma. Inurnment will be private.
Memorial donations may be made to the United Anglers of Petaluma, 333 Casa Grande Road, Petaluma 94954.

August 12, 2001

Wendel Ozier
Friends and family will gather Aug. 25 at the Brook Haven Park tennis courts to remember Daniel Wendel Ozier, a retired college professor and longtime tennis instructor.
Ozier, a Sebastopol resident, died Monday of Parkinson's disease. He was 73.
Among Ozier's tennis students was Justine Caruso. She was Analy High School's top-seeded player last year. She is helping lead a $110,000 campaign to replace the school's tennis courts.
The community will gather at the new courts Sept. 8 and Caruso plans to dedicate her work to Ozier, a man credited for inspiring many to take up tennis.
Her mother, Kim Caruso, who helped her in the tennis court campaign, was Ozier's life partner for nine years.
"I met him on Brook Haven's tennis courts," Kim Caruso recalled.
Born in Decatur, Texas, Ozier had been a professor at Fresno City College and Fresno State University, where he also helped coach tennis. He later taught at UC Santa Cruz before retiring about 13 years ago, Caruso said.
He lived in Sonoma County for 12 years.
Survivors include three sons, Nick Ozier of Piedmont, Dix Ozier of Auckland, New Zealand, and Joe Ozier of Sarasota, Fla.; a brother, Whitfield Ozier of Lawton, Okla.; and four grandchildren.
The Aug. 25 service will begin at 2 p.m. at the tennis courts and the Garzot/Duffield Building next to the park's Super Playground.
Memorial donations may be made to the Analy Tennis Court Project, Sebastopol Community Center, P.O. Box 2028, Sebastopol 95473.

Space food designer Howard Bauman, 76
MINNETONKA, Minn. -- Howard Bauman, the man who led the Pillsbury Co.'s effort to design space food for astronauts, died Wednesday of complications from pulmonary disease. He was 76.
Bauman was a Pillsbury food scientist for 36 years. His team designed food for 1960s space flights that could resist high temperatures and humidity, be thrown against walls without breaking and last 30 days without refrigeration.
One of Bauman's daughters, Vicki Zobel, said the Smithsonian Institution in Washington has in its space exhibit an example of the "gunk-covered brownie cubes" -- as a newspaper once described them -- that her father made decades ago.
Born in Woodworth, Wis., Bauman received a Ph.D. in microbiology at the University of Wisconsin in 1953.
Bob Wooden, who worked as a scientist for Bauman, said Bauman's early efforts at Pillsbury led to ready-made doughs that would last up to 90 days in a refrigerator, compared to seven days in the 1940s.
But what made Bauman famous, Wooden said, was his work at Pillsbury on behalf of the space program in the early 1960s. NASA wanted food that was microbe-free, which led to Bauman's revolutionary efforts in food production and testing, he said.
When Bauman retired in 1989, he was vice president of science and regulatory affairs for Pillsbury.

Mexico millionaire Hank Gonzalez, 73
MEXICO CITY -- Carlos Hank Gonzalez, a flamboyant millionaire and politician who helped shape the political party that ruled Mexico for seven straight decades has died. He was 73.
Gonzalez, famous for coining the phrase "A politician who is poor is a poor politician," died of prostate cancer at his ranch in the central Mexican city of Santiago Tianguistenco on Saturday, his family announced.
Gonzalez was a behind-the-scenes force in the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico from 1929 until last year, when President Vicente Fox became the first opposition candidate ever to win the presidency.
He served as Mexico City's mayor, governor of Mexico state, agriculture secretary and head of Mexico's tourism ministry.
He exemplified the PRI's old-guard leaders who built careers on doing small favors for supporters in rural areas.
"He personified Mexico's political businessman," said Homero Aridijis, a political analyst. "He was the most powerful fixture in Mexican politics for 30 years because his influence extended beyond the length of any one presidential term."
Battling cancer since 1986, Hank Gonzalez had been sick and fallen out of public view in recent years.

August 11, 2001

Edith Nichols
Edith Nichols, wife of former Sonoma County Administrator David Nichols, died Aug. 4 of complications from pneumonia at her home in San Carlos. She was 73.
The Nicholses spent 23 years in Santa Rosa, beginning in 1955 when David Nichols was first hired as an assistant county administrator. Edith Nichols, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, was a homemaker who volunteered with local schools and charities.
"She was a beautiful person. I knew and admired her for 50 years," said Shirley Rush, a Santa Rosa neighbor who lived around the corner from the Nicholses. "She was very much a home mom and raised four wonderful kids. But she also gave a lot to the community too."
Raised in Concord, Edith Nichols received an alumni scholarship to Berkeley in 1946. She was selected queen of her sophomore class and elected vice president of the student body during her senior year. She met her future husband while at college. They lived in Contra Costa County before moving to Santa Rosa.
The family moved to San Carlos in 1978, after David Nichols accepted the job of running San Mateo County.
In addition to helping with school and the PTA, Nichols was active in foreign student exchange programs. She sponsored children from Australia, Germany and Norway while sending her own children to homes in Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Philippines.
"Mom was very active in all the community events, but especially the schools," said her son Stuart. "She was in the PTA, even the school librarian once."
She served as a coordinator of volunteer programs in both Sonoma and San Mateo counties. She was also active in the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women in both counties.
She also maintained her ties to her university, serving on the board of directors of the Cal Alumni Association and as president of the Alumni Club of Sonoma County as well as the Alumni Association of the Peninsula. In 1984, she received the Citation Award for outstanding service to the university and to the Alumni Association.
In addition to her husband of 50 years, who still lives in San Carlos, she is survived by sons Mark Nichols of Portland, Ore., Paul Nichols of Hillsborough and Stuart Nichols of Los Altos; daughter Beth DeGolia of Alamo; and seven grandchildren.
Services will be private. Memorial donations may be made in Edith Nichols' name to the American Cancer Society.

Nora Sayre, 68
Nora Sayre, a cultural historian, essayist and film critic who wrote acutely observed analyses of America in the 1950s and '60s, died of emphysema Wednesday in New York. She was 68.
Sayre came of age in the 1950s as the only child of writers whose circle included many of the leading Hollywood writers and literary figures of the period. Observing their struggles with the social and political dislocations of the McCarthy era led her to focus on the culture of the Cold War years in her writing.
She wrote four books: "Sixties Going on Seventies" (1973), "Running Time: Films of the Cold War" (1982), "Previous Convictions: A Journey Through the 1950s" (1995), and "On the Wing: A Young American Abroad" (2001).
She also was a frequent contributor of book reviews to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, where her last published piece ran earlier this month, and other publications, including the Nation and Esquire.
Known for her chain-smoking and irascible personality, Sayre grew up among New York's literary illuminati of the 1930s and '40s. The critic Edmund Wilson was a family friend, as were James Thurber, E.B. White, Graham Greene and Dorothy Parker.
Her father, Joel, was a staff writer for the New Yorker and sometime screenwriter who wrote the 1935 movie "Annie Oakley" for Barbara Stanwyck and co-wrote the 1939 classic "Gunga Din." Her mother, Gertrude, was a reporter for the New York World whose career was hindered by frequent mental breakdowns.
Sayre, a film critic for The New York Times from 1973 to 1975, examined the effect of the Cold War on Hollywood filmmaking in the '50s in an earlier work, "Running Time." Considered essential reading for students of the period, it described the intricacies of blacklisting and how pressures from the House Committee on Un-American Activities affected themes, content, relationships and the bottom line in Hollywood.

Robert Rimmer, 'Harrad' author, 84
QUINCY, Mass. -- Robert Henry Rimmer, author of the 1960s bestseller "The Harrad Experiment," which explored the idea of men and women living together in a college dorm, has died.
Rimmer died Aug. 1 at his home in Quincy. He was 84.
Rimmer's writings, preaching sex without guilt and exploring alternative models of intimacy in and out of marriage, were popular reading among the free-love generation.
A Boston native, Rimmer served in the Army during World War II and later became president of the family business, Relief Printing Corp. He started a publishing company, Challenge Press.
He is survived by his wife, Erma Rimmer; two sons; and four grandchildren.

August 10, 2001

The Rev. Homer McLaughlin, minister of Bennett Valley Baptist Church for more than 25 years, believed in practicing what he preached.

August 9, 2001

Victor Delgado
Victor Delgado of Santa Rosa, who played basketball across the Mexican state of Chihuahua as a teen and as a young man came to America to become a newspaper printer, died Monday. He was 59.
Delgado retired in April from The Press Democrat. He had worked at the paper for nearly 16 years, creating layouts of advertisements and pages.
He was born and reared in the town of El Porvenir in Chihuahua. His daughter, Antonieta Gilley of Shrewsbury, Pa., said he played on several youth basketball teams -- and in 1960 scored the winning basket in a state championship game.
He immigrated to Texas and in 1963 took his first job as a printer at the El Paso Times. He subsequently worked at newspapers in New Mexico, Washington, Colorado and Montana. He started at The Press Democrat in 1985.
On his own time, Delgado enjoyed playing poker and blackjack, watching boxing and soccer, and reading.
A period of failing health preceded his death Monday at Santa Rosa's Sutter Medical Center.
In addition to his daughter, he is survived by a sister, Nancy Delgado of Cockeysville, Md., and a nephew he considered a son, Juan Marquez, also of Cockeysville.
There will be no services. Interment will be private.

Dorothy Burke
Petaluma resident Dorothy Giraud Burke, who grew up on a Gossage Avenue chicken ranch and worked for decades in nursing, died Tuesday. She was 94.
Four years ago, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors commended her for her contributions as a nurse and for the other achievements of her long and full life.
Burke was born March 11, 1907, in Battle Mountain, Nev. She was one of six children of French immigrants Julien Giraud and Veronica Bidart.
The Girauds settled in Petaluma shortly before World War I and started a chicken ranch. Burke graduated from Petaluma High School in 1924, then trained as a nurse at Franklin Hospital in San Francisco.
She marriage William Grant and they had two daughters. The children were still young when Grant died in 1947.
His widow supported her daughters by working as a Red Cross nurse.
Over the course of her career in Petaluma, she also worked at the former Petaluma General Hospital and for private doctors.
Burke moved to Napa in the 1960s and marriage Harry Burke. She finished her nursing career at Napa State Hospital.
After her second husband died in 1981, she returned to Petaluma.
She was active in a number of professional and community organizations, the American Association of Retired Persons and the Republican Women's Organization.
She died at Santa Rosa's Kaiser Hospital from complications of heart surgery.
Burke is survived by her daughters, Carol McDowell of Petaluma and Muriel Cranor of Windsor; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
Interment will be at the veterans' lawn at Cypress Hill Memorial Park.

Joseph Kniffin
Joseph K. Kniffin, a San Francisco native who spent most of his life in Sonoma, died Friday after a long bout with cancer. He was 51.
Kniffin moved to Sonoma Valley as a child. He was a graduate of Sonoma Valley High School.
He was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, but "was one of the lucky ones" who remained in the United States, said his wife, Karen Kniffin of Sonoma.
They were marriage for eight years.
He was bartender and manager of the Town Square in Sonoma for 15 years.
Kniffin was also a car buff who rebuilt several cars over the years. He was past treasurer of the Devils Darlings Car Club.
"He restored a number of cars. The last one was a 1923 Bucket T. We showed it and had a lot of fun with it," Karen Kniffin said.
Kniffin also was a golfer, participated in the annual Relay for Life fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society and enjoyed cooking, gardening and camping.
"He had a lot of friends, and was well loved," Karen Kniffin said.
In addition to his wife, Kniffin is survived by his parents, Joseph G. and Joyce M. Kniffin of Sonoma; a son, Kris Kniffin of Sonoma; a brother, Jeffrey L. Kniffin of Middletown; and a sister, Joni A. Mayfield of Sonoma.
Services were Tuesday. Burial was in Valley Cemetery in Sonoma.

Gen. Minh, former S. Vietnam president
PASADENA -- Gen. Duong Van "Big" Minh, who was president of South Vietnam for just a few days before the country fell to Communist invaders in 1975, has died. He was 86.
Minh, who used a wheelchair, fell at his home Sunday, his daughter Mai Duong said Tuesday. He died Monday night in Pasadena.
Minh was installed as the South Vietnamese president in April 1975 as the country crumbled under the onslaught from North Vietnam's Communist forces.
In a matter of days, Minh's short political reign ended as Communist troops overran Saigon and captured the country's leaders. He was arrested and put in detention, but allowed to emigrate to France in 1983.
Minh's military career began in the 1940s when he was commissioned in the French colonial army.
After French colonial rule ended in 1954, Minh ascended through the ranks of the new South Vietnamese military.
Minh helped lead a U.S.-backed coup in 1963 that overthrew then-South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, who was killed along with his brother, police chief Ngo Dinh Nhu, while trying to escape.
Minh, the second-highest ranking general at the time, took power under a military junta. Two months later, Gen. Nguyen Khanh took control of the country. Minh went into exile.
He resurfaced in 1971 and challenged President Nguyen Van Thieu, who was supported by the United States. Minh eventually withdrew from the race after alleging the election was rigged. Thieu ran unopposed.

August 8, 2001

Lorenzo Music, 64, voice of Garfield
He swore he didn't know Garfield the Cat from Charlie the Tuna. Nevertheless, the former folk singer and comedy writer with the voice once described as "kind of cutely stupid" became television's animated Garfield.
Lorenzo Music, who was also the unseen voice of Carlton the drunk doorman of the television series "Rhoda" as well as a crash dummy and a pig Latin-spouting tout for the Queen Mary, has died. He was 64.
Music died Saturday of bone cancer at his home in Los Angeles.
Garfield creator Jim Davis chose Music as the orange cat's sardonic voice for the comic strip's first animated television special in 1982.
Building on Garfield and the popularity he had already achieved as the unseen Carlton on "Rhoda" from 1974 to 1978, Music became the pet rock of vocal commercial advertising.
He could earn hundreds of dollars uttering merely three words -- "Hello adoring fans" in the guise of Garfield, for example, welcoming tourists to Universal Studios, or urging a stop at McDonald's.
Music played a crash dummy in a public service ad urging automobile passengers to buckle their seat belts -- and collected a cash court settlement from Universal Pictures after the likeness was used without permission in the 1987 film "Harry and the Hendersons."
"Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get so overexposed that no one will want me," Music told the Los Angeles Times in 1987, a little embarrassed by his newfound success. "But it seems that the more you do in this business, the more people want you."
On the rare occasions when the well-known voice allowed himself to be photographed, he carefully hid his face behind hat brims, sunglasses, coffee cups or other props and his own scruffy beard.
"Anonymity works for me," Music said. "That way I never grow old."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in Duluth, Minn., Music studied at the University of Minnesota. While in college, he met his wife, Henrietta, and performed with her for several years. In 1976 they had a syndicated variety program, "The Lorenzo and Henrietta Music Show."
Music was a folk singer working in San Francisco when he met Tommy Smothers, to whom his voice has been compared. Smothers hired him to write for his "The Smothers Brothers Show" with brother Dick.
The show earned Music an Emmy in 1969, and he went on to write and work as story editor for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Bob Newhart Show." Music and his wife also wrote the theme song for the Newhart show.
Working on the Mary Tyler Moore spinoff "Rhoda," Music had no intention of acting in the sitcom. But producers who liked his unusual voice asked him to try it, and he became Carlton the Doorman.
After "Rhoda" was canceled, a Paramount executive suggested Music capitalize on the fondness for the Carlton voice by making radio commercials -- which he did until about a month ago.
Music is survived by his wife and their four children, Roz, Fernando, Sam and Leilani. 

August 7, 2001

Wayne Thompson
Kenwood resident Wayne Thompson, a former city administrator whose advocacy helped bring about the Oakland Coliseum and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, died Wednesday.
Thompson, who worked 20 years in city government before switching to private industry and becoming vice president of the Minnesota-based firm that operates Target and Mervyn's stores, was 85.
He retired to Oakmont in 1999 and subsequently had a house built in Kenwood.
Thompson was born in St. Paul, Minn., and grew up in Oakland. He earned a degree in public administration and political science at the University of California at Berkeley, and during World War II served a tour of duty with the Navy.
After he war, he was hired as Richmond's assistant city manager. He became the nation's youngest city manager at age 27 when, in 1944, his boss died and he was named successor.
During his 10 years as Richmond city manager, Thompson battled post-war unemployment caused by the closure of four major shipyards, and he pushed for the construction of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which was completed in 1957.
He was chosen as Oakland's city manager in 1954, a post he kept for 11 years.
"He was most most proud of bringing professional sports teams to Oakland," said a daughter, Christine Thompson Lee of Kenwood. "He thought sports were extremely important to the morale of the citizens."
Thompson headed Oakland's drive to build the sports complex that became home to the Golden State Warriors, the Oakland Raiders and the Oakland Athletics.
In 1965, he left Oakland and became senior vice president of Dayton Hudson Corp. in Minneapolis. While he was with the department-store firm, he served on national management review task forces under two presidents: Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.
Thompson left Dayton Hudson in 1981 and returned to Oakland, where he became chief executive of the Merritt Hospital Foundation and the Merritt Peralta Medical Center.
In addition to his daughter, he is survived by his wife, Ann Thompson of Kenwood; a son, Wayne Charles Thompson of Pacific Grove; his sister, Bette Eastman of San Francisco; and two grandchildren.
Services on Monday in Oakland were followed by Interment at the city's Mountain View Cemetery.

Roy D. Chapin Jr.
Roy D. Chapin Jr., who retired in Geyserville after serving as chairman and chief executive of American Motors Corp., died Sunday of heart failure in Michigan. He was 85.
For the past dozen years, he and his wife, Loise, had enjoyed spending most of the year at their 200-acre ranch in Geyserville.
Described by friends as always smiling and neighborly, he was a kind-hearted rancher who once bought a burro to keep an old horse company when the horse's stall mate died of old age.
Chapin was born in Grosse Pointe, Mich., in 1915. His father was one of the founders of the Hudson Motor Car Co.
As a 1937 Yale University graduate, Chapin entered the automotive industry as an experimental engineer with Hudson in 1938. Following the merger of Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson in 1954, he became assistant treasurer and a director of American Motors. Chapin subsequently served as treasurer, vice president and executive vice president before becoming AMC chairman and chief executive in 1967.
Over the next decade, Chapin was instrumental in introducing many successful lines of cars. In 1970, he spearheaded the acquisition of Jeep Corp. from Kaiser Industries.
"My father's efforts to integrate Jeep into AMC were a major factor in the success of today's sports utility vehicle market," said his son, William R. Chapin. "AMC dealers were the first with a line of SUV products starting in the early 1970s."
Chapin retired as chairman and CEO in 1977 but continued in a leadership role at AMC as chairman of the board for an additional year and served as a director until 1987.
In addition to his career at AMC, Chapin also served on the boards of Whirlpool Corp., American Natural Resources Corp., Coastal Corp. and Gould Corp.
Long active in the field of conservation, he served as a trustee of a number of organizations dedicated to the preservation of natural resources, including the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Ducks Unlimited, the Ruffed Grouse Society and Trout Unlimited. He was also active with the Boy Scouts of America, and served as president of the Fontinalis Club.
Chapin's hobbies included hunting and fishing and book collecting. He was assisted in his ranch management duties by Oreo, the family's Jack Russell terrier.
Chapin is survived by his wife, Loise of Geyserville, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., and Nantucket, Mass.; sons, Roy D. III, William R. and Christopher K.; daughter Penny Chapin de Estrada; stepson, Robert L. Wickser, Jr.; stepdaughters, Alexandra Balantine, Lita Toland and Hope Wickser; six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He is also survived by brothers John C. and Daniel; and sisters Joan C. Hutton and Marian C. Higbie.
A funeral service is planned for 4:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Paul's Church, 209 Matheson St. in Healdsburg. A memorial service at Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., will be held at a future date.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Atlantic Salmon Federation, P.O. Box 807, Calais, Maine.

June 19, 2001

Jackie Morehouse
Jackie Morehouse used art to communicate beyond his disability, so effectively that his strong, bright abstracts that were exhibited in shows and galleries drew many serious collectors who were unaware of the artist's mental limitations.
Morehouse, 78, died Thursday at a Santa Rosa convalescent hospital. He had continued to work on his drawings and paintings through the Becoming Independent art program until a year ago when he became ill and was diagnosed with colon cancer, said his long-time instructor Michael Rinaldini.
Artistic ability ran in the family. The late Bill Morehouse of Bodega, Jackie's younger brother, was a nationally known landscape artist who taught at the San Francisco Art Institute and was chairman of the art department at Sonoma State University.
Until his illness Jackie Morehouse lived in a group home but went daily to the Becoming Independent Art Works studios in Santa Rosa to paint and draw. A client of Becoming Independent since 1982, he always wore a hat, usually as wildly colored as his artwork, and did his best work after eating a snack, preferably tapioca pudding.
Born John Leroy Morehouse in Salida, Colo., he was disabled since birth from a condition his family believed came from a thyroid deficiency.
It wasn't until his 60s, however, that he started drawing, according to another brother, Keith Morehouse, who lives in Falmouth, Mass.
"Going to Becoming Independent and doing his art was Jack's life," Keith Morehouse said.
His instructor Rinaldini worked with Morehouse for almost 10 years, but said, "He was self-inspired. When he was doing his art is when he most expressed himself. All we really did was provide him the materials and minimal instruction. Jackie had a natural talent and he was driven to create art."
Becoming Independent plans to hold an art memorial in the future to showcase the artist's collected works, but there will be no memorial service. His ashes will be buried in a family plot in New Brunswick, Canada.
Memorial contributions may be made to Becoming Independent Art Works, 1425 Corporate Center Parkway, Santa Rosa.

June 15, 2001

John Attilio Calegari
Bartender and professional hobnobber John Attilio "Til" Calegari welcomed patrons for decades to his taverns in Santa Rosa and Sonoma Valley. When he quit working, this was his idea of retirement:
Blessed with good health and the gift of gab, he went nearly every day to Sebastiani Vineyards near Sonoma and hailed tourists as a volunteer greeter. Visitors from around the world remarked that their trip wouldn't have been complete without Calegari's hospitality, directions and Wine Country lore.
Calegari was 91 when he died Wednesday in Sonoma.
For more than a quarter century, starting in the 1940s, Calegari owned and operated a tavern -- Til's Cork and Bottle -- on Mendocino Avenue near College Avenue in Santa Rosa.
There were about 30 watering holes in downtown Santa Rosa back then.
"It was different in those days," said one of his daughters, Debbie Young of Santa Rosa. She remembered her dad's bar as a social place whose regular clients included many of the town's judges and attorneys.
Calegari, who was born in San Francisco but came to Santa Rosa as a child, was in his element pouring, talking, laughing and listening from behind the bar. "He sure liked to talk to people," said Florence Calegari, his wife of 38 years.
The barkeep, who before going into business for himself worked at the Til Two bar at Third Street and Santa Rosa Avenue, sold the Cork and Bottle in 1963 and moved to Sonoma Valley. For about the next 10 years he ran Til's, a tavern in Boyes Hot Springs.
He wasn't retired long when he started showing up more and more frequently at Sebastiani Vineyards, greeting visitors as they arrived in tour buses and cars. The Sebastianis eventually printed some business cards identifying Calegari as the winery's Honorary Goodwill Ambassador.
Visitors from across the nation and around the globe wrote and thanked him for enhancing their visit to Wine Country.
When he wasn't making visitors feel at home at Sebastiani Vineyards, Calegari enjoyed an occasional bicycle ride or round of golf.
In addition to his wife and daughter Young, he is survived by his son, Tim Calegari, and daughter Tamara Garrigan, both of Santa Rosa; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma.

Mary Lee Higgins
Mary Lee Higgins, a consummate English teacher who left the classroom four years ago to become an assistant principal at Rohnert Park's Rancho Cotate High School, died Thursday.
Higgins, a resident of Santa Rosa for nearly three decades, was 61.
She worked for more than 25 years at Rancho Cotate, primarily teaching English, before being named assistant principal in 1997. Complications from a long struggle with cancer forced her to retire this past winter.
Fellow Assistant Principal Laurie Fong said that as a teacher, Higgins brought English alive.
"She read literature aloud to her students so they could get the cadence and the excitement," said Fong. "She loved the language and was extremely literate, and she conveyed that to her kids."
Fong said the qualities that served Higgins as an administrator were her astonishing intellect, sense of humor and attention to detail.
"She was the most organized person I ever met," Fong said. "She knew everything, remembered everything. You need somebody like that on your staff when everybody else forgets."
Higgins was the eldest of seven children born to a couple in Wyoming. "I think she developed a love of children through her family life," said a sister, Laura Krall of Ventura.
Higgins earned a degree in English from Mundelein College in Chicago and a master's in management from Sonoma State University. At the time of her death, she was working toward a doctorate at UC Berkeley.
She started her teaching career in Iowa in 1962. She taught also in Illinois and in Southern California before coming to Santa Rosa in the early 1970s.
She taught briefly at Petaluma's Kenilworth Junior High before joining Rancho Cotate in 1972. She left the high school for a year to work as a Fulbright Exchange Teacher in Ontario, Canada.
Other professional honors presented to Higgins included a Mensa regional scholarship in 1990. In 1994, she placed first in an essay contest with a piece on how she would improve public schools.
Higgins took a break from teaching from 1988 to 1992, then returned to Rancho Cotate. From 1992 to 1997, she worked also at Sonoma State, teaching and acting as an adviser to future teachers.
Dedicated chiefly to her students, she also enjoyed reading, her family, her friends and her two cats.
Her death came at the Palliative Care Unit of North Coast Health Care Centers.
In addition to her sister Krall, she is survived by her mother, Agnes Hendricks Higgins of Oxnard, and siblings Molly LaChance, Kathleen Nigh, Andrew Higgins and Michael Higgins, all of Ventura.
A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses in Santa Rosa.

June 4, 2001

Ernest Saunders, a familiar face to Healdsburg residents during 40 years as a business owner, died Tuesday. He was 94.

June 3, 2001

Edna M. Joost
Longtime Santa Rosa resident Edna M. Joost died Thursday at home, with her family at her side.
Joost, 90, died 11 days shy of her 67th wedding anniversary to John Joost.
The couple relocated from San Francisco to Sonoma County in 1947.
Over the years, their house became a gathering spot for picnics, polka dances and social events with the German Club and the Redwood Empire Camera Club.
The couple was a fixture at polka dances at Little Switzerland in El Verano and Heidelberg on Old Redwood Highway.
"They had lots and lots of friends," said daughter Linda Mori of Healdsburg.
The couple also owned commercial property in Santa Rosa, including Joosts' Roseland Center on Sebastopol Road, current site of a beauty salon and stores selling western wear, paint and statues.
Edna Joost was from a pioneer family. Her grandfather was a 49er who homesteaded in Placer County and her mother also mined for gold.
Joost was born and raised in Alameda and moved to San Francisco, where she met her future husband. They eloped to Reno in 1934.
In Sonoma County, Joost was a homemaker, Cub Scout den mother and supporter of the Fremont Elementary School PTA.
In addition to her daughter and her husband, she is survived by children Karl Joost of Santa Rosa and Donna Lynn of Boulder, Colo.; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Memorial services are pending.
Donations are suggested in her name to Heartland Hospice, 825 Sonoma Ave. Santa Rosa 95404.

Imogene Coca
Imogene Coca, the elfin actress and satiric comedian who co-starred with Sid Caesar on television's classic "Your Show of Shows" in the 1950s, died Saturday. She was 92.
Coca died of natural causes at her Westport, Conn., residence, said longtime friend Mark Basile.
"She was a humanist," Basile said. "Her humanity was so strong, so giving. She made people want to be with her."
Coca's saucer eyes, fluttering lashes, big smile and boundless energy lit up the screen in television's "Golden Age" and brought her an Emmy as best actress in 1951. Although she did some broad burlesque, her forte was subtle exaggeration.
A talented singer and dancer, her spoofs of opera divas and prima ballerinas tiptoed a fine line between dignity and absurdity until she pushed them over the edge at the end.
With Caesar, she performed skits that satirized the everyday -- marital spats, takeoffs on films and TV programs, strangers meeting and speaking in cliches.
"All the wonderful times we shared together meant the world to me. It was a pleasure to work with her. I will miss her dearly," Caesar said in a statement released Saturday in Beverly Hills.
Coca and Caesar complemented each other marvelously.
"The chemistry was perfect, that's all," Coca once said. "We never went out together; we never see each other socially. But for years we worked together from 10 in the morning to 6 or 7 at night every day of the week. What made it work is that we found the same things funny."
Show business came naturally to Coca, who was born in Philadelphia on Nov. 18, 1908. Her father was an orchestra conductor, her mother an actress and vaudeville dancer; she was their only child.
She began piano lessons at age 5, singing lessons at 6 and dancing class at 7. She made her stage debut as a dancer at 9 and did a solo singing stint in vaudeville at age 11.
Coca's last Broadway appearance was in 1978 in "On the Twentieth Century," a lavish musical based on Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's show-business farce and set on the Twentieth Century Limited luxury train as it sped from Chicago to New York.
She was marriage in 1935 to Robert Burton. Burton died in 1955, and five years later she marriage actor King Donovan. He died in 1987.
Coca had no immediate family.

June 2, 2001

Jim Ghilotti
A memorial Mass for engineering contractor Jim Ghilotti will be said June 8 at 10 a.m. at St. Francis Solano Catholic church, 469 Third Street West, Sonoma.
A reception will follow at Ramekins, 450 West Spain St., Sonoma.
Ghilotti, 46, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday in Inglewood. He is survived by his wife, Diane, and a teen-age son and daughter.
Ghilotti was the co-founder, vice president and general manager of Ghilotti Construction Co., the third-largest construction company in Sonoma County.
The third-generation construction executive also was the driving force behind Measure B, the unsuccessful effort in March 2000 to pass a sales tax to widen Highway 101.
In October, he lost a race for a seat on the Sonoma City Council.

Irma Arigoni
Irma Arigoni, a longtime Sonoma County resident and former dairy rancher who was known to family and friends for her caring ways, indomitable spirit and generosity, died Friday in a Petaluma convalescent hospital. She was 96.
She had been in failing health for the past 14 months.
She was born Irma Biasca in Prosito in the Canton of Ticino in Switzerland. She came to the United States in 1930 and settled in Marin County. There she met her husband, Tony Arigoni, also a native of Switzerland who, like many Swiss people, knew about cows.
Tony Arigoni worked on North Bay dairies until the couple could start their own dairy. For more than 20 years they operated dairies in Petaluma and Bennett Valley before retiring to a home in southwest Santa Rosa.
"Feeding the calves on the dairy was my mother's big job," said daughter Lydia Camozzi of Petaluma.
After retiring from the dairy business, Arigoni did baby sitting, not because she needed the money but because she wanted to help young working families. She became a grandmother and a friend to families in her care.
"She was a godsend to us. We were young, poor and struggling with two kids and Irma came into our lives," said Judy Handley of Santa Rosa.
She said Arigoni was always there with homemade soup, pies, jams and bouquets of her home-grown flowers. She played dolls with Handley's daughter and caught worms with her son.
"This woman was such an example of strength and honor, possessing all the qualities one would ever want in a grandmother and friend," Handley said.
Arigoni also did volunteer work by visiting the elderly and crafting handmade towels for church bazaars. She loved gardening and even in her 90s would climb into the ditch in front of her home to hoe weeds.
In addition to her daughter Lydia Camozzi, she is survived by daughter Dorie Telucci of San Jose; her sisters, Regina Biasca and Miriam Barassa, both of Switzerland, and by 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her son, Dante Arigoni, and her foster son, Walter Bernasconi.
A funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. today at St. Sebastian's Catholic Church in Sebastopol. Entombment is at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Petaluma.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Catholic Charities, P.O. Box 4900, Santa Rosa 95404.

June 1, 2001

Memorial services are planned at 11 a.m. June 9 at Double Decker Bowling Alley in Rohnert Park for Joann B. Dempsey, an avid bowler who participated in the Wednesday night "Reno League."

May 31, 2001

Joseph Schultz of Petaluma, a retired California Cooperative Creamery worker who pursued many interests but none more fondly than making his signature barbecued chicken at family gatherings, died Tuesday. 

May 30, 2001

Bruce Kuschner threw himself 100 percent into everything he did, whether it was teaching, coaching, tending his garden, reading, being a dad or hand-crafting birdhouses and stained glass stars as gifts for his friends.

May 29, 2001

A memorial service is set for today in Cloverdale for Daniel Edward Keyes, a craftsman and artist who died Saturday, a day short of his 58th birthday.

April 30, 2001

Lillian Vendice
Lillian G. Vendice, a longtime Sonoma County resident who was active in the Catholic Church and the Fun After Fifty Club of Rohnert Park, died Wednesday at a Petaluma care facility after a long illness. She was 86.
Vendice had suffered from diabetes for many years.
A native of Charlestown, Mass., she moved to the Petaluma-Cotati area 48 years ago with her husband, the late Salvatore Vendice. She was a homemaker all of her adult life, dedicated to raising her children and then assisting with the care of her grandchildren.
"Her family was very important to her. She was a wonderful grandmother," said her daughter, Josephine Ruminson of Rohnert Park.
In addition to her family, she enjoyed reading and the company of a close circle of friends.
Vendice was a member of St. Josephs Catholic Church and the Fun After Fifty Club, a social group for seniors that meets weekly for bingo and other activities.
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her son, William Vendice of Los Angeles; her sister, Marie Foley of Arlington, Mass.; and by three grandchildren and one great-grandson.
A funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. today at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Cotati. Burial is at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Petaluma.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952, or the Fun After Fifty Club, 6800 Hunter Drive, Rohnert Park 94928.

April 13, 2001

Longtime Rohnert Park resident Michael Cicanese did something few people do in mid-life: He gave up a steady job and pursued his dream -- cooking.

April 12, 2001

For the family and friends of Lauren Alyse Charp a light has gone out.

City's first police chief dies
Cotati's first police chief, "Honest John" Curtis, a lifelong Sonoma County resident who made headlines nationwide as a teen-ager when he found $2,000 on a Santa Rosa street and returned it -- and got a 5 cent tip, died Tuesday at age 77.

April 11, 2001

Petaluma rose grower Gianni "John" Neve, founder of Sonoma County's first and largest cut-flower nursery, died Sunday at age 76.

April 10, 2001

Jack Domenichelli, a four-time mayor of Cloverdale, liked being in the middle of things.

April 9, 2001

Brecht memorial service Thursday
A memorial service is being scheduled for Thursday for James Brecht, the Santa Rosa developer, architect and community leader who died Saturday while bicycling.

April 8, 2001

Edwin Lawson Duckles, who had a long career working for the American Friends Service Committee, died March 26. He was 86 years old.

April 7, 2001

Veteran jockey Hummel succumbs to cancer
Veteran Northern California jockey Chris Hummel died Monday of cancer at his mothers' home in Burbank.

Sylvia Hanshaw, one of the women personified by "Rosie the Riveter" during World War II, spent two years riveting airplane parts at Lockheed in Los Angeles.

March 9, 2001

Eben Rising Bloom
Eben Rising Bloom was a young man who had such passionate feelings about the environment that he lived for a time in old-growth forests to prevent logging.
Bloom, a 22-year-old Sonoma man, was killed March 1 in Fresno while apparently trying to catch a ride on a moving freight train.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. today at the Sonoma Community Center's Andrews Hall, 276 E. Napa St.
Originally from Connecticut, Bloom lived most of his life in Sonoma County and graduated in 1997 from Sonoma Valley High School.
He attended the Marin Waldorf school in San Rafael, which emphasizes arts and music. The school had a lasting effect on Bloom, said his brother, Jesse Bloom of Santa Cruz.
"He was a very artistic young man," Jesse Bloom said, "and that gave him chance to express himself freely through painting and drawing."
He was always an activist for environmental causes, Jesse Bloom said, and that showed in his art.
"He was not your average materialistic conformist," his brother said. "He was a little nontraditional, interested in having opinions that were different than the mainstream. He was definitely an independent thinker."
While attending the College of Redwoods in Humboldt County, Eben Bloom became active with the environmental group Earth First!
At times during the two-year period Julia Butterfly Hill was perched in a tree, Eben Bloom participated in the logging protest, his brother said.
The train accident occurred when Eben Bloom was apparently trying to catch a ride back to Sonoma.
Eben Bloom is also survived by his parents, Linda and Charlie Bloom of Sonoma; a sister, Sarah Bloom of Santa Barbara; his grandmother Hilda Lipman of Sonoma; his grandfather Abraham Cooper of Pompano Beach, Fla.; and several cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Circle of Life Foundation, P.O. Box 1940, Redway 95560.

February 21, 2001

James Alberigi
Living just a few miles from the epicenter of the great earthquake of 1906, James Richard Alberigi felt the full force and lived to tell the story. He died Feb. 5 at age 99.
Alberigi was 4 when the quake hit, centered not far from Inverness Park, where his family lived. The tiny town is between Point Reyes Station and Inverness in west Marin County.
While much of San Francisco was leveled and burned, the Alberigi family's two-story home also was hit hard. Alberigi was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom when the house was moved 6 feet off its foundation.
"It was a really scary moment. He remembered being knocked out of his bed. He heard his father hollering downstairs, 'Earthquake, earthquake.' He went into his parents' bedroom and his mother was on the ground praying," said Alberigi's eldest son, James Alberigi of Petaluma.
Alberigi would recall those scary moments during the annual commemorations of the quake in San Francisco. Either he or other family members attended faithfully, with Alberigi making last year's event.
Alberigi lived much of his life in the Inverness and Point Reyes Station area, where he worked and raised five children with his late wife, Margaret.
He worked in hardware and grocery stores before finding his niche as an independent distributor of gasoline, oil and propane gas.
Alberigi's son, who worked with his father in the early years, said it was hard work. Yet Alberigi stayed at it until he retired at age 70.
Ranchers, garage owners and homeowners all were customers.
Gasoline was used for motor vehicles and farm equipment. Oil and propane heated homes.
He carried gasoline and oil in 5-gallon buckets to tanks and carted propane tanks to remote areas that were often hard to reach.
Alberigi's son said his father worked six-day weeks. He took over for his father sometimes so his parents could take occasional vacations to Lake Tahoe.
"He was strictly on a commission. He really had to work hard," James Alberigi said.
Alberigi also was involved in his community for decades. He was a member of the Point Reyes Lions Club and the Point Reyes Knights of Columbus.
He also was instrumental in helping found the Olema Cemetery Association to preserve and restore the Burial ground. He was past president of the association.
Alberigi moved to Novato with his wife in 1972. He celebrated his 99th birthday with family in his home Jan. 20.
A funeral Mass was Friday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Olema. Alberigi was buried at the Olema Cemetery.
Alberigi is survived by sons James of Petaluma and Michael of Sonoma, and a daughter, Marie Gibson of Rohnert Park.

February 7, 2001

Albert G. Woltzen, 81, a retired postal worker, lived and worked in Healdsburg more than half a century.

February 6, 2001

Mildred Peterson
Mildred Peterson, a rancher who raised thousands of animals over the years, died of pneumonia Fridayat Sebastopol Convalescent Hospital. She was 89.
Peterson was born in San Francisco and moved with her family to the farming community of Roblar near Petaluma when she was 2. She attended Dunham Elementary School, Petaluma High School and Sweet Business College. Peterson and her late husband Jake started a poultry ranch on Canfield Road in Sebastopol, raising as many as 40,000 chickens, cows, pigs and sheep over the years.
As a child she was a member of the Roblar 4-H Club and later became a community leader of the club. Peterson also was active in the Sonoma County 4-H Council and other 4-H activities, including the junior department at both the Petaluma and Santa Rosa fairs.
"She was dedicated to helping young people," said her daughter, June Bertoni of Sebastopol. "Her main goal in life was helping young people mature. She just loved kids."
Aside from Bertoni, Peterson is survived by sons Arthur Peterson of Sebastopol and Rich Peterson of Mena, Ark.; 18 grandchildren; and 21 great-grandchildren.
Services were Monday at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park's Chapel. Donations are preferred for Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol, the Sonoma County 4-H Center in Rohnert Park or the Hessel Church Building Fund.

February 5, 2001

Thomas Torgerson
Thomas M. Torgerson, an old-fashioned physician who made house calls and worked tirelessly to help improve the lives of the elderly, died Jan. 31 of pneumonia at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. He was 90.
Torgerson touched the lives of many people in Sonoma County over six decades of community work and 38 years in medical practice.
As a young internist, Torgerson admitted the first patient to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital when it opened in 1950. He later went on to serve as the hospital's chief of staff and helped to found its coronary care unit.
In 1968, Torgerson organized a team to plan a 14-story retirement home for low-income elderly in Santa Rosa. The retirement home, Bethlehem Towers, opened in 1972. Torgerson served as chairman of the board for the retirement home from its opening until he left the board in 1999.
Torgerson also served as a consultant to several other retirement homes, including the Chanate and Oakmont Gardens.
Patients and colleagues will remember Torgerson as "a very kind and generous person," said daughter Kathleen Ellen Marley of Santa Rosa.
"He was willing to help not only organizations, but also individuals," Marley said. "He had an ability to speak to anyone. He always was very interested in people and wanted to know about them. He would know a person five minutes and he would know where they went to school, where they grew up, about their family, and what they did. It was amazing how he could draw people out."
Torgerson was active in many community groups, including the Redwood Empire Mission, the Salvation Army, the Redwood Empire Heart Association, and the California and American heart associations.
He was an active member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church from his arrival in Santa Rosa in 1939. He served as president of the congregation several times and chairman of the building committee for two of its churches.
Born in 1910 in Grafton, N.D., Torgerson graduated from St. Olaf College and the University of North Dakota. After earning his medical degree in 1936 from the University of Chicago Medical School, Torgerson moved to San Francisco, where he did his residency at St. Luke's Hospital. He met his future wife, Sandra, while treating her at the hospital in 1938 and marriage his sweetheart a year later on Valentine's Day.
The couple moved to Santa Rosa, where Torgerson established a medical practice with longtime partner Dr. W.E. Rogers. He was a member of the California Academy of Medicine, an honorary organization.
During World War II, Torgerson left Santa Rosa to serve as a medical officer in the Army Medical Corps in El Paso, Texas, from 1942 to 1946.
Torgerson retired from medicine in 1977 because of illness, but continued to work actively in community groups.
He was one of the founding fellows of California Lutheran University and served on its board of regents.
In addition to daughter Kathleen, Torgerson is survived by his son, Thomas Torgerson Jr., and daughter Sandra Maria Torgerson, all of Santa Rosa; three granddaughters and one great-granddaughter.
A memorial service will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 1300 St. Francis Road in Santa Rosa.
Donations in Torgerson's memory may be made to the American Heart Association, Redwood Empire Chapter, P.O. Box 844, Santa Rosa 95402 or to the charity of your choice.

Harriette DeWitt-Peck
Harriette Lorraine DeWitt-Peck, a retired bookkeeper and lifelong Petaluma resident, died Friday at her home of natural causes. She was 70.
The daughter of a caterer and a housekeeper, Peck was born at General Hospital and grew up in Petaluma, said granddaughter Janine Weiler of Sonoma. Peck graduated from Petaluma High School in 1948 and later graduated from Santa Rosa Business College.
Peck worked 20 years as a bookkeeper at H&L Sheet Metal in Petaluma. She was an active member of the Moose Lodge in Petaluma, and could regularly be found dining at the lodge Wednesday nights with her husband, Roy, a former governor of the lodge.
"It was where they lived, practically," Weiler said.
Peck enjoyed taking her grandchildren out for dinner at the lodge and celebrating birthdays with a meal at McGoo's. Though she relished her privacy, Peck was actively involved with her grandchildren, Weiler said.
"She did a lot for us growing up. She was always very much a part our lives," said Weiler, recalling trips with her grandmother to shop for school clothes.
"She didn't like anything I picked, but said, 'You have to wear it,'" Weiler said with a chuckle.
Peck is survived by her daughter, Lorraine Sowells of Penngrove; five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
A visitation will be Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma. A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Parent-Sorensen.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St. in Petaluma.

February 4, 2001

Oscar Hazelrigg
Oscar H. Hazelrigg, a missionary who traveled nine months a year building homes, schools and churches for the poor, died Jan. 25 after a long illness. He was 79.
Hazelrigg, a 39-year Santa Rosa resident, was a member of the Mobile Missionaries Assistance Program.
The group is made up of retired senior citizens who own trailers and motor homes and are willing to travel the country to build for the poor.
Hazelrigg and his wife worked with the nonprofit group for 10 years, and made a number of friends in the process.
"They were there on one of these projects with at least two other couples and sometimes more," son Robert Hazelrigg said. "They just liked to donate their time."
Hazelrigg was an Army veteran who served in the 263rd chemical service platoon, cleaning up after chemical warfare in the Philippines in World War II.
He was raised in Seaside and worked for many years as a forest ranger for the California Division of Forestry.
Robert Hazelrigg said his father stayed in Santa Rosa because he loved the small-town feel and its many golf courses.
"He really liked the fact that it was not a big city, (and) there were a lot of chances to play golf," Robert Hazelrigg said.
He and his wife also were dedicated members of the Santa Rosa Alliance Church.
In his spare time, he enjoyed gardening, completing crossword puzzles and listening to classical music.
Along with his son Robert Hazelrigg, he is survived by his son John Hazelrigg of San Pablo; his sisters, Dorothy Smith of Solano, Lilly Klingsporn of Seal Rock, and Helen Jacobson of Monterey; and five grandchildren. His wife, Helen Hazelrigg, preceded him in death.
A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. today at Santa Rosa Alliance Church.
Memorial donations may be made in his name to the Santa Rosa Alliance Church, 310 Fulton Road, Santa Rosa 95401. 

February 3, 2001

Elden "Buck" Phillips, a longtime Sonoma County resident and active volunteer, died Dec. 30 in Exeter. He was 57.

Herbert W. Clough hiked up Mount Lassen with his children, and 30 years later took his grandchildren to the peak, too.

February 1, 2001

Jesuina Clementino
Jesuina V. "Bina" Clementino, a native New Englander who spent most of her adult life raising a family on Petaluma-area dairy farms, died Friday at age 76.
Clementino was marriage for 46 years to dairyman Edwin Clementino, who was 72 when he died in fall 1994.
The Clementinos produced milk for decades at ranches in southern Sonoma County, leaving the county for just a few years in the 1950s to try their hand at dairy ranching in the Central Valley.
Bina Clementino started her life in New Bedford, Mass. She was 3 years old when her parents took her and her younger brother, Manuel Costa, to the Azores to live with other relatives.
The siblings spent most of the following 13 years away from their parents. Clementino's daughter, Clairette Wilson of Petaluma, said the pair weathered the separation together.
"There was always this real strong bond between my mother and her brother," Wilson said.
The siblings were brought back to America to live with their parents about 1940. The family came to California in 1946, and later that same year, Bina Costa met young Sonoma County dairyman Ed Clementino. They marriage two years later.
Bina Clementino raised her three children -- and took in a game of bowling when time allowed -- while her husband tended the cows.
"My mom was a very devoted housewife," said Wilson. "She did what she was supposed to do in those times. She always had an immaculately clean house, but it was never clean enough for her."
Widowed more than six years ago, Clementino grieved again earlier this month when her brother died in Santa Clara. She was home when she died of a heart attack only 15 days after losing him.
"There's a comfort in knowing that they are still together," Wilson said.
In addition to her daughter, Clementino is survived by son Eno Clementino of Orland, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her second son, Howard Clementino.
A vigil service is at 7 p.m. today at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Petaluma.
Interment will be at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Clementino's family suggests memorial contributions to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952.

Nancy Kennedy
Former Petaluma librarian Nancy Eveleth Kennedy, whose affection for books was rivaled by her love of classical music, died Friday at age 72.
Kennedy had worked 15 years at the Petaluma Regional Library when she retired in November.
"She loved all the people she worked with," said her daughter, Betsy Kennedy Brahm of Vallejo. "She loved being surrounded by the books, and she loved being part of the community."
A native of San Francisco, Nancy Kennedy settled in Petaluma in 1972, after her husband, John J. Kennedy, retired from a military career.
"She was an information junkie, which is what made the library so perfect for her," Brahm said.
Kennedy also savored music and history, amassing a collection of about 2,500 classical CDs and 500 history videos. Her daughters will now donate them to the Petaluma library.
Kennedy's husband died in 1986. She is survived by her daughter in Vallejo, daughter Mary K. Kennedy-Briener of Berkeley, sister Susan Eveleth of Albion; brother David Williams of San Rafael; and two grandchildren.
A funeral liturgy will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma. Interment will follow at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Kennedy's family suggests memorial contributions to the Petaluma Regional Library, 100 Fairgrounds Drive, Petaluma 94952.

Marie Graham
Lifelong Jenner resident Marie Graham, who was born on Goat Rock Beach to a fisherman and a Coast Miwok woman and grew up on the Russian River's Penny Island, died Wednesday in Santa Rosa. She was 86.
She was born Dec. 17, 1914, to Nora Santos and Guam-born fisherman Joseph Santos. The couple lived at the time in a house on what would become Goat Rock State Beach, just south of the mouth of the Russian River.
Joseph Santos was among a group of Filipino fishermen, referred to as "Manila Men" by residents of the Sonoma coast, who formed a small colony at the river mouth in 1900.
When Marie Graham was still a young child, her parents acquired and moved their family onto Penny Island, which stands in the river at Jenner.
"They fished, they raised vegetables and they had a dairy farm," said Grahams' daughter, Beverly Tamagno of Santa Rosa. She said her mother attended school at Jenner's old one-room schoolhouse.
As a young woman, Graham worked for a time at the Bridgehaven Restaurant before she met Arkansas native William G. Graham. They marriage in 1937 and lived for a short while on Penny Island.
The Grahams moved ashore in 1950, settling into a hillside house in the middle of Jenner.
"My dad built this whole house with a handsaw," said the Grahams' son, William Graham Jr., who lives still in the house.
His mother's parents, the Santoses, died in the 1940s. A law firm representing a gravel firm bought the 28-acre Penny Island from Joseph Santos' estate in 1961 for $52,150.
For years after the purchase, Utah Construction & Mining Co. and then the island's subsequent owner, Northern California Aggregates, promoted a controversial gravel-dredging plan that would have eliminated the island entirely. That proposal was put to rest in 1972, when the state bought Penny Island and declared it an ecological refuge.
William Graham died in 1974. His widow stayed on in the house on the Jenner hillside.
"She loved fishing, and she loved baking pies," said daughter Tamagno.
Marie Graham fell ill about three years ago, and lived since in a rest home in Santa Rosa, where she died.
In addition to her daughter and son, she is survived by sister Josephine Wright of Jenner, five grandchildren, one stepgrandchild and three great-grandchildren.
Services are at 1 p.m. Feb. 7 at Guerneville Redwood Chapel.
Graham's family suggests memorial contributions to the Alzheimer's Association, the Diabetes Society or to favorite charities.

Donald Alexander
Donald J. Alexander, who played baseball at Santa Rosa High during the early years of World War II and eventually let go of a dream of making the big leagues, died Jan. 22. He was 75.
After accepting that he would not make a career of baseball, Alexander went to work in the beverage and produce business and fed his love of the sport by coaching Little League, Babe Ruth and women's softball teams.
His wife of 51 years, Beverly, and others of his loved ones were with him when he died at his Santa Rosa home.
Alexander was born in San Francisco but grew up in Santa Rosa. His dad, Mendocino County native Samuel Alexander, distributed Weilands and Falstaff beer in Santa Rosa.
Donald Alexander attended Roseland School and went through Santa Rosa High with the Class of 1943. He played baseball at the high school and later went semi-pro with the Santa Rosa Rosebuds and teams from the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
His position was second base.
"Baseball was his first love," his wife said. "He wanted to play in the pros but he never had an opportunity to do that."
The war was on when Alexander graduated from high school. He went into the Navy and served in Alaska and in the Pacific as a radio man. He came home in 1946.
He worked for a time for his father's beer distributorship before starting his own business, Don's Produce. Subsequent to that he operated the liquor departments at three Park Auto Markets in Santa Rosa.
He later became a salesman for PepsiCo, a position he held until his retirement in 1988. He bowled for about 40 years and in retirement played a fair amount of golf.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by son Gary Alexander and daughter Lori Alexander-Winkler, both of Santa Rosa; sister Ruth Bartolomei and brother Ronald Alexander, also of Santa Rosa; and three grandchildren.
Services have been held.
Alexander's family suggests memorial contributions to the men's and women's baseball programs at Santa Rosa High. Donations can be send to SRHS Foundation, P.O. Box 11002, Santa Rosa 95406.

October 18, 2000

Edward S. Hochuli, a conservative businessman and former naval officer who served as assistant to the first president of Sonoma State University during the school's early days, died Saturday at his home in Oakmont. He was 86.

October 17, 2000

Dr. James B. Adamson, a longtime pastor in Santa Rosa and a respected leader in the city's religious community, died Friday at a Petaluma hospital following a long illness. He was 76.

October 16, 2000

Longtime Bodega Bay resident Edith Phillips Arnold died Oct. 2 at her home in Hillsboro, Ore. She was 95.

October 13, 2000

Ray Pukanic practiced yoga, ate well and eschewed prescription drugs, preferring to find health in exercise and herbal remedies.

October 12, 2000

For much of his life, Kay Sidney Johnson called Gualala's old Seaside Hotel home. And it was, in the fullest sense of the word.

August 12, 2000

Donna B. Hall, a local business owner and socialite who made Santa Rose her home for 40 years, died Aug. 4.

August 11, 2000

John Lengyel, a Pearl Harbor survivor who worked as a printer for The Press Democrat for more than 36 years, died of emphysema Sunday at Warrack Hospital in Santa Rosa. He was 83.

August 10, 2000

Ellen Gibson Woodbury loved children and was always willing to help with activities involving kids. She volunteered as a teacher's aide at Dunbar School and helped the students present their annual fifth grade play. She also assisted with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts activities.

August 5, 2000

Jack Murphy, a well-loved music teacher in Santa Rosa who performed with the Santa Rosa Symphony for 25 years, died at his Santa Rosa home Thursday after a long battle with cancer. He was 88.

August 4, 2000

Santa Rosa native Cynthia Marie Stra Tlahuitzo, who worked nearly two decades as a nurse's aide at convalescent hospitals, died Saturday. She was 52.

August 3, 2000

Petaluma native Carl August Friedrichsen, who worked as an accountant as a young man and went on to operate his own retail stores, died Saturday at his home in Santa Rosa. He was 90.

August 2, 2000

Madeline L. Dado, a Petaluma hostess and world traveler known to many friends as Topsy, died Saturday at 93. Just a year ago, she was still dancing in Jazzercise classes twice a week.

July 31, 2000

Georgiana M. Silva, a daughter of dairy farmers, a mother and grandmother of dairy farmers and a Petaluma dairy farmer herself, died Friday of cancer in Oakdale. She was 80.

July 27, 2000

William Turney sold meat and seafood for almost five decades in Petaluma, where his Washington Street kiosk was a hub of local activity.

July 26, 2000

A public memorial is planned at 11 a.m. Saturday at Howarth Park on Summerfield Road for Walt Guanella, general manager and co-sponsor of the two-time American Softball Association champion Guanella Bros. fastpitch softball team.

July 24, 2000

Henry Walraven, a longtime manager with a passion for collecting wire insulators, died Friday. He was 78.

July 20, 2000

Marta Brians lived almost her entire life within a single-mile stretch of Petaluma Hill Road. But even though she didn't travel far, her 85 years in Penngrove were rich with farm chores, gardening, raising children and expressing herself creatively through poetry, drawing and photography.

July 19, 2000

Adopted just after birth, Maxine Chiaroni of Santa Rosa came nearly to the end of her life without knowing who her birth parents were or meeting any of her brothers or sisters.

July 17, 2000

Evelyn P. Abrams, who spent most of her life in the North Bay and her later years working in a Santa Rosa group house for retarded adults, died July 4 in Citrus Heights. She was 74.

Jun. 6, 2000

For 23 years, Fred Z. Wright saw much of the United States from high altitudes as he flew B-29 and B-36 bombers and C-124 cargo planes for the military.

Jun. 5, 2000

Ted Graber, a Beverly Hills interior designer who refurbished the White House family quarters for first lady Nancy Reagan, died Saturday in Sonoma where he had retired. He was 80.

Jun. 4, 2000

Godfrey Emerson Boehm was a founding member of the Newspaper Guild and devoted a lifetime to journalism and labor organizing. 

Jun. 2, 2000

FORT BRAGG -- Frank Angelo Lucchesi, a lifelong resident of the Mendocino coast, was remembered Wednesday by family members as a "gentle giant" who loved tramping the woods picking mushrooms and wild huckleberries.

Jun. 1, 2000

Fritz Brand, a lifelong Sonoma County resident who never strayed far from his family's ranch in eastern Santa Rosa, died at his Santa Rosa home on Saturday.

May 31, 2000

Former Sonoma State University President Tom McGrath, 82, who guided the college through difficult times in the early 1970s, died Friday in Long Beach after a battle with cancer.

May 30, 2000

Services are scheduled today for Robert W. "Robbie" Nielson Jr., of Petaluma who died Wednesday of injuries suffered in a construction accident.

May 26, 2000

Frances Vanderbeck and her husband, a Navy man whom she met at a dance in 1945 and marriage later that year on Christmas Day, shared a bond that others took notice of.

May 25, 2000

Betty J. Fasana, a fixture in the Santa Rosa Housing Authority for 20 years who brought a special human touch to finding affordable housing for some 2,500 families, died at her Santa Rosa home May 21. She was 69.

May 24, 2000

Lucile Kaufman Logan, a Fort Bragg teacher who friends called refined and elegant, died May 17. She was 88.

May 23, 2000

In the spirit of his ancestors who helped establish the state of California, Larry Green lived a life of creativity. He was an artist, muralist, sign-maker, boat-builder, pilot, jewelry maker, geologist and family man.

May 22, 2000

Margaret Horstmann, a well-known Forestville resident since moving there in 1947, died May 17 at a convalescent home after a long illness. She was 89.

May 21, 2000

Henry W. Gilfillan, a longtime resident of Occidental, died May 14 of congestive heart failure. He was 85.

May 20, 2000

Rachel Piotrkowski was the type of person who made friends with just about anyone -- even a mortal enemy.

May 18, 2000

Crockett Blacklock was ahead of his time. He and his wife Addelle began collecting antiques when they were called second-hand furniture, before the buying and selling of old stuff became trendy.

May 17, 2000

Wine matriarch Benziger, 73, dies
Helen Benziger, the gracious matriarch of one of Sonoma County's leading wine families, died Tuesday at her home in Glen Ellen. She was 73.

May 16, 2000

Patricia Anne Haines, a 25-year resident of Sonoma County and former co-owner of a San Francisco book shop, died in a hospital in Vacaville on May 4.

May 14, 2000

Patricia Anne Haines, a 25-year resident of Sonoma County and former co-owner of a San Francisco book shop, died in a hospital in Vacaville on May 4.

May 13, 2000

Dominic Lizzi, a Sonoma County custom homes builder for more than 30 years, died May 5 in Port Townsend, Wash. He was 77.

May 12, 2000

A memorial service for Marsha Anne Carney, who died at her Santa Rosa home Sunday, will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Santa Rosa High School Auditorium.

May 10, 2000

Freda Stratos Hanelt, a 31-year resident of Mendocino County and longtime school nurse, died April 30 in Yountville. She was 88.

May 9, 2000

Marsha Carney, a longtime activist in Santa Rosa school and youth programs, died of cancer at her home on Sunday.

May 8, 2000

Jeanne Reidy Simons, a popular Santa Rosa Junior College philosophy teacher who helped make history as one of the first U.S. nuns to wear regular clothing rather than a habit, died Thursday. She was 71.

May 5, 2000

Lavelle Marie Donovan, a Petaluma native and lifelong Sonoma County resident, died Monday at Petaluma Valley Hospital after a long illness. She was 82.

Mar. 3, 2000

Andrew Triacca
Andrew "Andy'' Triacca, a lifelong Santa Rosa resident who worked for several years at Oakmont Golf Course Pro Shop, died Monday at his home after a long bout with cancer. He was 80.

Mar. 2, 2000

Duncan Olmsted, former publisher of Argus-Courier
Duncan Houx Olmsted, a Petaluma native and former publisher of the Argus-Courier newspaper, died Feb. 23 at home in Petaluma. He was 94.

Mar. 1, 2000

Carl Carlsen
Carl "Charlie'' N. Carlsen, a lifelong Petaluma resident who worked for many years in the poultry and cattle business, died Thursday at Petaluma Valley Hospital from cancer. He was 86.

Feb. 29, 2000

Anthony Ferra
Anthony J. "Tony'' Ferra, a 44-year resident of Sonoma County, died Feb. 17 in Petaluma. He was 81.

Feb. 28, 2000

Peter Petersen
Peter J. Petersen, a member of the Petersen farming family of upper Dry Creek Valley, worked as a logger and construction foreman for PG&E Co. but in retirement returned to his agricultural roots to grow vegetables for the Santa Rosa Farmers' Market.

Feb. 27, 2000

Harriet Pellascini
Harriet Cameron Pellascini, a Sonoma County native and former owner of Tombe Realty in Sebastopol, died at home Feb. 9 in Sebastopol from congestive heart failure. She was 87.

Ida Mae Yates Colvin
Ida Mae Yates Colvin, who spent most of her adult life in Sonoma County, died Wednesday, Feb. 23 after a long battle with emphysema. She was 76.

Feb. 26, 2000

Charlotte Evans
Charlotte Ann Evans, a longtime Cloverdale resident, died Feb. 17 at a Cloverdale convalescent hospital. She was 88.

Feb. 25, 2000

Ambrose Nichols
A memorial service for Ambrose "Amby'' Nichols Jr., the founding president of Sonoma State University, will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Evert Person Theater on the SSU campus in Rohnert Park.

Leah Vail
Leah M. Vail, a longtime Santa Rosa resident, died Feb. 13 at a Santa Rosa convalescent hospital following a short illness. She was 96.

John Kelly
For most of the 20th century, John and Doris Kelly lived and worked in Sonoma County, raising a family, joining fraternal organizations, participating in community life, then helping to raise their grandchildren. Two months ago, Doris Kelly died at the age of 87. On Monday, John Kelly died in Santa Rosa at the age of 89, a month shy of his 90th birthday.

Feb. 24, 2000

Barr memorial
A celebration of the life and art of Roger Barr is scheduled 3 p.m Saturday in Santa Rosa.

Feb. 23, 2000

Eleanor Sverko
Mendocino Coast native Eleanor Sverko split her time between chronicling the history of the beautiful area where she lived for most of her 79 years, and working to preserve it.

Feb. 22, 2000

William Blair
Longtime Sonoma County resident William A. Blair, 71, came from a family of movie theater owners and continued the tradition, building two Santa Rosa theaters and several others outside the county.

Feb. 20, 2000

Alex Fassio
Alex Fassio, a longtime Sonoma County resident who earned his high school diploma at age 75, died Feb. 1 at home in Cloverdale. He was 90. 

Feb. 19, 2000

Eda Wilkinson
Eda M. "Edy'' Wilkinson, who with her husband built and operated Dr. Wilkinson's Hot Springs Resort in Calistoga for five decades, died Feb. 2 at her home after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 82.

Feb. 18, 2000

Betsy Robertson
Betsy Ann Robertson, a longtime resident of Sonoma County, died Feb. 7 at her home. She was 42.

Nancy Marker
Nancy L. Marker, a resident of Sonoma County for 38 years, died Sunday in a San Francisco hospital of heart failure. She was 73.

Alice Hamamoto
Alice Misaye Hamamoto, a longtime Sonoma County resident, helped her family survive three years in an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II and aided in operating her family's grocery store for five decades.

Nikke Salerno
As a young woman, Nikke Salerno was regarded one of the best female accordionists in the world, touring the South Pacific during World War II with John Wayne and Bob Hope and an instrument etched with her name.

Feb. 17, 2000

Daniel Lacey
Daniel R. Lacey, a Santa Rosa eye surgeon for 20 years, died Sunday of a heart attack. He was 55.

Alfred Soldati
Alfred W. Soldati, the owner of Andersen Drilling Co. Inc., in Petaluma, died at his Bloomfield home on Friday of complications from diabetes. He was 67.

Feb. 16, 2000

Harris, founder of the Actors' Theater, dies
Tom Harris, a founding member of Actors' Theatre, which grew to become one of Sonoma County's most respected repertoire groups, died Sunday in Sacramento. He was 72.

Feb. 15, 2000

Regina Malm
Regina E. Malm, who lived in Santa Rosa for 60 years, died at her daughter's home in Washington on Feb. 5 from emphysema. She was 76.

Alma Anderson-Meissner
Alma M. Anderson-Meissner, a longtime resident of Healdsburg, died Feb. 10 of pneumonia and lung disease. She was 83.

Feb. 14, 2000

Don Ralke
Two memorial services are planned for Don Ralke, composer, arranger and producer of popular music for almost 50 years, who died Jan. 26 in Santa Rosa. He was 79.

Feb. 13, 2000

Donna Marie Binkley
Donna Marie Pettibone Binkley, who with her husband was an active member of Santa Rosa's Rincon Valley neighborhood, died Jan. 23 of pneumonia and other ailments. She was 89.

Sep. 23, 1999

Monsignor Tillman
Monsignor Clyde F. Tillman, former pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Petaluma, died Sunday. He was 88.

Sep. 22, 1999

Ruth Sherwood
Santa Rosa native Ruth Frazier Sherwood, who lived for 50 years in Calistoga and served a number of the town's community organizations as a volunteer, died Sept. 15 at the age of 94.

Sep. 21, 1999

Kenneth Kehoe
The smiling face of dairy farmer Kenneth P. "Skip'' Kehoe became familiar to thousands of people this year when he posed with his granddaughter for the poster promoting the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma. Kehoe died Friday night at his ranch in Inverness in Marin County. He was 66.

Henshaw, well-known volunteer, dies
Nancy Henshaw, a tireless and ever-cheerful volunteer for some of Santa Rosa's best-known institutions, including Memorial Hospital and the Sonoma County Community Foundation, has died at age 80.

Dorothy Mossler
Dorothy R. Mossler, a longtime Santa Rosa resident who spent her life taking care of others, died Friday in Oroville. She was 94.

Sep. 19, 1999

Rev. Daniel McCarthy
A funeral Mass will take place Monday for the Rev. Daniel P. McCarthy, who served as pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Church for 21 years. He died on Wednesday at the age of 83.

Sep. 17, 1999

Alice Reiser-Hogarty
When Alice Marie Reiser-Hogarty gave birth to a developmentally disabled son and discovered that few schools existed for such children, she dedicated herself to correcting that situation.

Sep. 16, 1999

Francis Cornett
Francis William "Buddy'' Cornett, a fourth-generation Marin County sheep and cattle rancher who also worked as a sheep shearer for many years on North Coast ranches, died Saturday at his ranch in Fallon, west Marin. He was 61.

Doroylene Ruggles
Doroylene Groom Ruggles, a longtime Sonoma County resident who taught school in the Sonoma Valley for 37 years, died in her sleep Friday surrounded by family at her home in Rio Dell. She was 86.

Sep. 13, 1999

Jean Cline
Private services were held for Sebastopol artist Jean Cline, 82, who lived in Sonoma County for 52 years. She died Aug. 29 at Kaiser Hospital after a short illness.

Sep. 12, 1999

Malcolm King
Malcolm David King's passion for farming and the outdoors drew him to the Ukiah Valley ranch where he and his wife lived together for 35 years. He died Thursday at the age of 59.

Sep. 11, 1999

Floyd Walker
A memorial service will be held Sunday for Floyd J. Walker, a quiet man who helped many charitable causes during his 31 years in Santa Rosa. He died on Monday at the age of 85.

Hazel Abel
Hazel Abel, a longtime Sebastopol resident, died suddenly of heart failure Sept. 3. She was 90.

Barry Harker
Services will be held today for Barry L. Harker, a fourth-generation Petaluman who was active in his community. He died Sept. 4 at a local hospital. He was 40.

John Diederich
After launching a promising career in civil and aerospace engineering, John Diederich changed course in midlife and dedicated himself to improving schools and the quality of life in Fort Bragg.

Stephen Dreyer
The 48-year-old Dreyer, who died Sunday at his Sebastopol home after an 18-month battle with cancer, left behind a legacy of finely crafted kitchen cabinetry and furniture found in some of the finest custom homes in Sonoma County, said his wife, Chris Dreyer.

Sep. 10, 1999

Lindsay Strout
Lindsay J. Strout, who helped develop Howarth Park and restore the Luther Burbank gardens, died of lung cancer Aug. 27 in Petaluma.

Vernon Floerke
Back when Adolf Hitler was dealing misery to Europe, Vernon R. Floerke was among the American boys too anxious to get into uniform to wait for their 18th birthdays.

Donald Stuart
Donald B. Stuart, a native of Point Arena who earned a living shearing sheep and logging trees during the days of big ranches and tall timber on the North Coast, died Monday at his home on the Garcia River in Point Arena. He was 89.

Sep. 9, 1999

Minnie Lynd
Minnie Pearl Lynd of Rohnert Park, a dedicated volunteer driver for shut-ins and an accomplished biologist with a 1939 degree from the Harvard School of Public Health, died Aug. 23 from complications following surgery. She was 89.

Arlette Brandenburg
A memorial service will be today for Arlette Brandenburg, a longtime Sonoma County resident who died Saturday at her home of cancer. She was 75.

Lena Cain
Services will be today for Lena Geneva Cain, a retired clerk for the former Community Hospital who died Friday in Santa Rosa. She was 97.

Donna Hall
Donna B. Hall, a local business owner and socialite who made Santa Rose her home for 40 years, died Aug. 4.
Hall and her husband, Ben F. Hall, ran Hall's Sporting Goods and later, Hall's Trophies and Awards.
She was born in Ritzville, Wash., and moved to Southern California as a child.
While she was working in South Lake Tahoe after World War II, she met her future husband. Ben Hall was visiting South Lake Tahoe with a friend.
According to her daughter, Candice Dahlstet, Ben had a boat and Donna had rationed gas stamps to get it to run. They had a short courtship and were marriage in 1947.
Together, they built a house in Proctor Heights and later lived on Grace Drive. They raised their family in the Grace Drive home.
"She was a great mother. She was a very positive person, very upbeat," said Dahlstet.
Hall was active in many community and sporting events. She loved to bowl and golf and was an excellent trap shooter. She was a life member of the Saturday Afternoon Club and helped start the Neptune Swim Club.
She was also a hard-working woman.
"She was a businesswoman before that was a very popular thing to do," Dahlstet said. Often, Hall would go to bowling alleys and golf clubs to sell her trophies.
After retiring in the 1970s, the Halls moved to Lower Lake and spent their summers in Fort Bragg. They enjoyed salmon fishing, volunteering with the Clearlake Coast Guard Auxiliary and talking with HAM radio friends.
The couple also enjoyed sailing on Tomales Bay.
When Ben Hall died in 1970, Hall moved back to Santa Rosa to be close to her family.
She is survived by her daughters, Candice Dahlstet of Santa Rosa and Bobbie Lynn of Willits; her brother, Donald Adams of Santa Ana; her stepdaughter, Cathy Decker of Sacramento; three grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. today at Church of the Incarnation, 550 Mendocino Ave.
Donations can be made to Noyo Women for Fisheries, P.O. Box 1087, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. 

John Lengyel
John Lengyel, a Pearl Harbor survivor who worked as a printer for The Press Democrat for more than 36 years, died of emphysema Sunday at Warrack Hospital in Santa Rosa. He was 83.
Born in Brilliant, Ohio, where his father worked as a coal miner, he served in the Navy for eight years, where he received training in gunnery and ballistics.
During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he was on the battleship West Virginia -- right next to the Arizona -- when it was sunk. A third of the crew was lost, and many were badly burned.
Later, he was transferred to the cruiser New Orleans and served in the battle of Coral Sea, Midway, Savo Island and Guadalcanal.
"The bow was shot off, so he came home to Seattle," said his wife, Barbara Lengyel, who met him in San Diego and marriage him during his Seattle leave.
He was discharged from the Navy in 1944 with battle fatigue, then settled in Santa Rosa, where he and his wife built a house on Barnes Road and raised a family.
Having worked as a printer for 50 years -- first at the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News -- he witnessed the industry's technological transition from hot type to paste-up.
At The Press Democrat, he served as president of the Typographical Union for two years and as night foreman for many years. He retired in 1984.
In his spare time, he enjoyed gardening, history, philosophy and watching the San Francisco 49ers and the Giants on TV.
"He was very smart, well read and well rounded," said his wife. "He loved history and music, and he would take us to the opera."
He was a member of the Theodore Roosevelt American Legion Post No. 21.
Besides his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Christine Stenlund of Durham; a sister, Margaret Shock of Steuvenville, Ohio; and two grandchildren. His son, Steven Butler Lengyel, died in 1978 at age 33.
No formal services will be held and inurnment is private.
Memorial contributions may be made to the International Typographical Union Retirees Club, 3450 Market St., No. 201, San Francisco 94114.

John Bates
A memorial service will be held Monday for John M. "Jack" Bates Jr., a longtime interior designer who taught his craft at Santa Rosa Junior College.
Bates, who enjoyed the Masonic Lodge almost as much as he loved his art, died Aug. 2 of pneumonia. He was 77.
Born in Susanville, Bates moved to Santa Rosa in 1950 to work for Stone's Furniture Co. He later was employed by Acme Window Coverings until his retirement in 1990.
But his interest in design went beyond his job, and he often worked on landscapes as a hobby in his free time, accenting back yards with fountains and playhouses, his daughter, Deborah Powers of Vallejo, said. Bates also put in extra time on the job, and particularly enjoyed furnishing model subdivision homes, she said.
"He just loved to create things in three dimensions," said Powers.
Bates' second love was the Masonic Lodge. He was a life member of the Santa Rosa Luther Burbank Masonic Lodge, rising to Master of the Lodge in 1982, chaplain from 1983 to 1990, and recipient of the Hiram Award in 1990, his daughter said.
He often recited liturgy and Biblical passages for the lodge, daughter Terry Swehla said.
He also was an avid fisherman.
Bates attended the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Chicago, later completing course work in interior design at La Salle University Extension School.
He served as a medical corpsman with the Navy during World War II.
Bates lived in Santa Rosa for nearly 50 years, until his move to a nursing facility in Novato last fall. He died at Novato Community Hospital.
Besides Powers and Swehla, Bates is survived by his wife, Mae Bates of Sebastopol; daughters, Jacqueline Svoboda of Santa Rosa and Brenda Orduno of Chico; a brother; and nine grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Church of the Nazarene in Santa Rosa. Interment was Wednesday at Santa Rosa Memorial Park in the Veterans' Lawn Addition.

John Arnold
Most anyone who has studied science at Sonoma State University has John "Jack" Arnold to thank.
The first scientist hired by the university when it opened in 1961, he was brought in to develop the School of Natural Sciences, taught there for three decades and personally established a reference collection of preserved birds and mammals.
It was Arnold who hired the first group of chemists, zoologists, biologists and others who taught at the university. He also designed the university's natural sciences building and saw to its completion.
"It was kind of a measure of who he was that when he retired, he didn't retire, he was still involved," friend and colleague Chris Kjeldsen said.
Incapacitated by a fall at the university about three years ago, Arnold died Monday of complications stemming from the accident. He was 90.
Never the stereotypical "lone scientist working as an individual in the ivory tower," Kjeldsen said Arnold was a generous teacher and scientist who viewed science "as an enterprise that he involved everybody else in."
Raised in the Central Valley community of Coalinga, Arnold studied biology at Fresno State University, earned a masters degree in zoology from UC Berkeley in 1934 and a doctorate in ornithology from Cornell University in 1938.
He taught high school and junior college science briefly before serving in World War II in the Army Signal Corps. Afterward, he worked at Stockton College and College of the Pacific before moving to Sonoma State in 1961.
Arnold's formal tenure with the university lasted until 1976, when he retired from full-time teaching. But he continued teaching ornithology part-time through the 1980s and was involved nearly daily in the maintenance of the vertebrate collection, training students in museum techniques along the way.
At the same time, he was active in the California Academy of Sciences, which named him a fellow in 1970. He also was the founder and leader in the Redwood Region Ornithological Society, and participated in field trips to Latin America and elsewhere.
He lent his expertise as a consultant for environmental planning and, right up until his accident, was working with Kjeldsen and the state Department of Fish and Game mapping wildlife and vegetation on the levies of the San Joaquin Delta.
When he wasn't consumed by science, Arnold was an avid gardener, fisherman and photographer who photographed beautiful landscapes to illustrate the poetry of his wife, Ardell, who died in 1992.
The couple had a son, John Arnold of Santa Rosa, who survives them, along with two grandchildren.
No immediate services are planned, but a memorial at the university will likely be scheduled this fall.

Ellen Woodbury
Ellen Gibson Woodbury loved children and was always willing to help with activities involving kids. She volunteered as a teacher's aide at Dunbar School and helped the students present their annual fifth grade play. She also assisted with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts activities.
"She was well known in the community mostly through her work with children," said her husband, Wayne C. Woodbury, of Sonoma. "She loved our kids and was always willing to help with other people's kids. She loved being around children."
Ellen died July 30 at Kaiser Hospital in San Rafael, just seven weeks after being diagnosed with cancer. She was 44.
"She was a gentle and caring person," said her husband. "She always treated people with respect."
Born in Illinois, she lived in Sonoma County 14 years. She worked 11 years in the accounting office of Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her two children, Duncan and Tess Louise Woodbury of Sonoma; her mother, Charlotte Gibson of Monterey; her sisters, Ann Steiner of Santa Barbara and Carol Timmerman of Encino; her brother, Robert P. Gibson of Los Angeles; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services were at Duggan's Mission Chapel in Sonoma. Donations may be made to the Duncan and Tess Woodbury Memorial Fund at Sonoma Valley Bank, 202 West Napa Street, Sonoma 95476.

Everett Fechter
But for a couple of years afloat in the Pacific during World War II, Everett J. Fechter spent his entire life amid the walnut trees of his family's Calistoga ranch.
The longtime manager and director of the North Coast Walnut Association, he promoted North Coast nuts and shared his stock with many people through graftings, his wife, Hilde Fechter, said.
Fechter was still growing walnuts when he died of cancer Monday. He was 74.
"He loved his orchard," Hilde Fechter said.
Born and raised in Calistoga, Fechter was 16 when he met a girl who'd come to visit the area one summer.
They marriage two years later but were wed only a short time before Fechter joined the Merchant Marines and was sent to the Pacific, where he served on a refrigerator ship traveling with Gen. Douglas MacArthur's troops.
In his absence, Hilde Fechter moved to San Francisco to work, but upon his return the couple went back to work on the family's Calistoga ranch, raising seven children.
Fechter also served as a rural mail carrier for 16 years and worked as chief and assistant chief of the Mountain Volunteer Fire Department for more than 25 years.
In addition, he was a member of the American Legion, the National Rifle Association and the Diamond Walnut Association.
Besides his wife of 56 years, Fechter is survived by daughters Karen Opel of Santa Rosa, Juli Fechter of Middletown, Robin Fechter of Petaluma and Janis Zeugin of Pleasanton; sons, Ernie Fechter of Shingle Springs, Russ Fechter of Citrus Heights and Dave Fechter of Colma; and 13 grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses in Santa Rosa. Inurnment will follow at Santa Rosa Memorial Park.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1451 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa 95403, or Hospice of Napa Valley, 3299 Claremont Way, Napa 94558.

Uldine Jensen
Uldine "Willie" Jensen was widely known as "Sarge" around campus at Petaluma High School for 25 years, owing to a brief stint in the Marine Corps.
But she had a tender heart and tried to use her post as campus supervisor to support those in need, according to her husband, George Jensen.
Jensen, who died of cancer Saturday at the age of 68, had a special place in her heart for the Latino kids, for example. "Sometimes she thought that they weren't getting a good shake or whatever, and some people picked on them or so forth, so she was just sort of their champion," he said.
When she retired three years ago, students turned out to thank her at a two-hour party. "That really got to her," he said.
She was raised in Oregon, staying there until the premature death of her first husband after six weeks of marriage. Jensen came to California as a clerical worker, stationed in San Diego with the Marine Corps, her husband said.
She raised three children in the Russian River area with her second husband before meeting and marrying Petaluma resident George Jensen, her husband of 38 years.
As their combined six children got older, Jensen decided to go to work in the schools, working first at Kenilworth Junior High School for a year.
The next year, "the principal got transferred to the high school and he took her with him," George Jensen remembered. "She served a little time in the Marine Corps, so the kids found out about that, and for years a good many of the kids and a good many of the staff, they called her Sarge," he said.
During summers, she and a colleague traveled around the country in a little pickup. "They traveled every summer," George Jensen said. "They traveled all over."
Besides her husband, Jensen is survived by sons Jim Jensen of Rohnert Park, Tom Owens of Sebastopol and Robert Owens of Kentucky; a daughter, Marlene Pincoffs of Virginia; a stepdaughter, Judy Gustafson of Petaluma; a stepson, Bob Jensen of North Carolina; and a number of grandchildren.
At her request, no service will be held.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952 or The American Cancer Society, Greater Petaluma Unit, 400 N. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma 94954.

Cynthia Tlahuitzo
Santa Rosa native Cynthia Marie Stra Tlahuitzo, who worked nearly two decades as a nurse's aide at convalescent hospitals, died Saturday. She was 52.
Tlahuitzo, whose large family included five children and 15 grandchildren, died at a Santa Rosa hospital from complications of surgery.
A Native American, she was born in Healdsburg in 1949. She lived all her life in Santa Rosa.
Relatives said she was an avid bowler as a younger woman, and she loved visiting Reno. She never passed up an opportunity to spend time with her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and she relished having her extended family come together.
She is survived by daughters Margaret James of Santa Rosa, Elizabeth McCloud of Virginia and Denise McCloud of Oakland; sons David McCloud Jr. of Clearlake and Paul Tlahuitzo of Santa Rosa; sisters Debbie Stra of Santa Rosa and Mary McCloud of Clearlake, and brothers Joe Stra of Benicia and Larry Stra of Santa Rosa.
Evening vigil rites will be celebrated at 7 p.m. today at Daniels Chapel of the Roses. Visitation is after 9 a.m. today, also at the mortuary.
A funeral liturgy service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the mortuary. Inurnment will be private.

Carmen Rodriguez
Peruvian-born Carmen Silva Rodriguez, a seamstress who spent many late nights finishing gowns for anxious brides to be, died Monday at her home in Rohnert Park. She was 76.
She came to California from her hometown of Lima, Peru, in 1962 to assist a sister who was having a child. Granted permission by the government to stay in the United States, she settled for a time in San Francisco.
In 1963, she met Raul Silva Rodriquez at Mass. They were marriage the following year.
In 1969, the couple moved to Larkspur and Carmen Rodriguez opened a dressmaking and alterations shop, La Petit Jolli, in Corte Madera. She specialized in custom-made wedding dresses and prom gowns.
The Rodriguezes moved to Petaluma in 1977, and 11 years later relocated to Rohnert Park. Carmen Rodriguez continued working as a dressmaker until three years ago.
Her husband died in 1989. An athletic woman who loved to walk, she remained active until breast cancer stole her strength.
She is survived by her son, Robert Silva Rodriguez of Rohnert Park.
Services have been held. Private inurnment was at Mt. Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael.
Robert Rodriguez suggests memorial contributions to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma, 94952, or to the American Cancer Society, Greater Petaluma Unit, 400 N. McDowell Blvd, Petaluma, 94954.

Carl Friedrichsen
Petaluma native Carl August Friedrichsen, who worked as an accountant as a young man and went on to operate his own retail stores, died Saturday at his home in Santa Rosa. He was 90.
Friedrichsen was born May 6, 1910, to German immigrants who had come to America in 1902 and worked on a Petaluma chicken farm.
"At Petaluma High he was an excellent athlete," said his daughter, Carlene Kilpatrick of Georgia. "He lettered in football, basketball and track; he ran the 440."
Friedrichsen left Petaluma to study at Elmhurst College in Illinois. After graduating, he returned to Petaluma and took a job as an accountant at Rex Hardware. From there he moved to an accounting post with the Poehlman Hatchery.
"In 1947, he and his brother-in-law, Ted Matson, bought Knight Furniture in Willits," Kilpatrick said. Friedrichsen moved his family to Willits, and sold furniture and appliances.
In 1960 the family moved back to Sonoma County, settling in Santa Rosa. Friedrichsen became a partner in two Santa Rosa motels.
In 1964 he and his wife, Irene Matson Friedrichsen, moved again. They went to Fresno and operated a Baby News retail store. They retired in 1973, living for a time at Oakmont before being among the first residents to move into the Spring Lake Village retirement community.
Irene Friedrichsen died in 1988.
In addition to his daughter, he is survived by a son, Peter Friedrichsen of Tahoe City; two grandsons; and one great-granddaughter.
Memorial services are at 11 a.m. today at Spring Lake Village. Inurnment will be private.
Friedrichsen's family suggests memorial contributions to the United Church of Christ, 825 Middlefield Drive, Petaluma 94952.

Hazel Thompson
Hazel Thompson of Sebastopol dedicated her life to service for the benefit of others.
She died July 22 at Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol. She was 84.
Thompson worked for the Sonoma County Election Board for 30 years and was active in many charitable causes.
"My mother was always willing to give her time to the various organizations she belonged to," said her son, Glen "Bud" Thompson, of Petaluma.
Thompson and her late husband, Glen "Doly" Thompson, were marriage 55 years before his death in 1990.
A Sonoma County resident for 39 years, Hazel Thompson was born in Fort Bragg and lived many years in Marin and Mendocino counties. She was a graduate of San Rafael High School and a member of 4-H and was a 4-H leader for 29 years. During World War II she was a waitress at Hamilton Field.
She was a community leader for more than three decades, serving as a Sebastopol Grange master for eight years and a Bodega Bay Grange master this year. Her volunteer work kept her busy with organizations that included Autumn Leaves, United Cerebral Palsy, Hessel Church, the American Cancer Society and Fircrest Homeowners Association.
"Her family came first," said her son. "She had a sentimental heart and she loved her family, especially her grandkids and great-grandkids. She was always willing to teach them to cook and sew."
On the home front, Hazel Thompson enjoyed quilting, sewing and canning.
She also loved baking, was "famous for her wild blackberry pie" and baked and decorated wedding cakes for everybody in the family who got married, traveling all over the country to do it.
In addition to her son Glen, she is survived by her daughter, Barbara Sparrow of Novato; two other sons, Lee Thompson of Petaluma and Les Thompson of Sebastopol; a brother, Ivan Johnson of Novato; a sister, Lou Evans of McMinnville, Ore.; 11 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services were held under the direction of Pleasant Hill Memorial Park and Mortuary in Sebastopol. Donations may be made to the Hazel Thompson Memorial Scholarship Fund in care of any branch of Exchange Bank. The fund will benefit 4-H members.

Yoshio Sugioka
Yoshio "Yosh" Sugioka of Petaluma, who served with the Army in World War II and came home to sell feeds and foods for 40 years, died July 26. He was 83.
Work was hard to find for Sugioka following the war, family members said, because the military veteran was also a Japanese-American and for that reason was shunned by some potential employers. He took a job selling feed and seed for Sam Nissen in Petaluma.
After 16 years, Sugioka switched to the A&B Supermarket in Petaluma, where he worked 24 years as produce manager. He retired in 1982.
Sugioka was born in Hollister and reared in Cotati and Petaluma. He graduated from Petaluma High School and went on to the University of California at Davis.
His wife of 46 years, Shizuye Sugioka of Petaluma, said he always enjoyed hunting, fishing and football.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Dwight Sugioka of Petaluma; and two sisters, Masaye Yamamoto and Sally Noguchi, both of San Francisco.
Services have been held, with arrangements handled by Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory. Interment was at Cypress Hill Memorial Park.

Donald Nelson Sr.
Donald Hans Nelson Sr. of Santa Rosa worked hard all his life, mostly on dairies, and eased up only when cancer began to sap his strength.
Nelson, who in recent years was a friendly presence at the Target store in Rohnert Park, died Sunday. He was 69.
"He didn't wear down until the very end," said his daughter Lisa Ann Slayton of Santa Rosa.
Her father was born in Santa Rosa and was 6 when he began working on his parents' dairy. He continued to labor at dairies until a few years ago, when he went to work moving stock at the Target store.
He unloaded trucks, moved pallets and stocked shelves. "He made friends with everybody who walked by," Slayton said.
Nelson loved gardening, and relished running into a friend and sitting for hours and talking.
His soul mate and the mother of his children, Betty Nelson of Santa Rosa, was at his side when he died Sunday.
In addition to Slayton, Nelson is survived by another daughter, Deborah Murphy of Santa Rosa; two sons, Donald Nelson Jr. of Petaluma and John Nelson of Oregon; three sisters, Cecilia Walker of Windsor and Corinne Anderson and Joann Cole, both of Vallejo; two brothers, Gordon Nelson of Missouri and Charles Fillman of Alaska; and nine grandchildren.
There will be no formal services. Inurnment will be private.
Nelson's family suggests memorial contributions to the American Cancer Society, 1451 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa 95403. 

George DeBernardi
George DeBernardi, who grew up on a family dairy in Petaluma and was associated with the Sonoma County dairy industry all his life, died Monday at a Petaluma hospital following a two-month battle with bone cancer. He was 66.
A native and lifelong resident of Sonoma County, DeBernardi worked in the dairy industry for four decades, retiring in 1994 from Petaluma's Clover-Stornetta Farms, where he was valued as a conscientious employee.
DeBernardi learned about milk production at an early age. One of the four sons of the late Marino and Irene DeBernardi, he was born and raised on the family dairy ranch on Old Adobe Road in east Petaluma. He attended Petaluma grammar schools and graduated from Petaluma High School in 1953.
DeBernardi's career in milk processing started in 1960 when he got a job at the old Petaluma Cooperative Creamery, where he worked as the plant's pasteurizer.
After a fire at the creamery, he went to the Stornetta Dairy in Sonoma, working on the bottling line of the family-owned dairy. When the Stornetta Dairy became part of Clover-Stornetta Farms in 1977, DeBernardi joined the new company, where he worked until his retirement.
Friends and family remember DeBernardi as a good-natured guy who enjoyed nothing better than being surrounded by his family at a Sunday dinner.
He doted on his grandson, Christopher Ryan, 5, who was learning vegetable gardening from his grandfather.
"Family was everything to him," said Patricia DeBernardi, his wife of 40 years, who works in the entry office at the Sonoma County Fair.
Through his wife's association with the fair, DeBernardi often volunteered at fair events, including the annual steer weigh-in and Harvest Fair Awards Night Gala.
DeBernardi was an avid 49ers fan and loved hunting abalone on the North Coast with his two sons-in-law, Thomas Kehoe of Inverness and Jerry Ryan of Petaluma.
He was a member of the Petaluma Elks Lodge, the Clover Club, Teamsters Union, North Coast Teamsters Retirees Club and St. James Catholic Parish.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Darlene D. Kehoe of Inverness and Renee A. Ryan of Petaluma; two brothers, Vern and Don DeBernardi, both of Petaluma; one grandson; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Parent Sorensen Mortuary and continue to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, where a funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Entombment is at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
The vigil service is at 7 p.m. today at the mortuary.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952 or to the St. James Church Building Fund, 125 Sonoma Mountain Parkway, Petaluma 94954.

Georgiana Silva
Georgiana M. Silva, a daughter of dairy farmers, a mother and grandmother of dairy farmers and a Petaluma dairy farmer herself, died Friday of cancer in Oakdale. She was 80.
Silva was born and raised in Mill Valley where her father, a Portuguese immigrant, and her mother, a California native, owned a dairy farm. She graduated from Tamalpais High School.
Silva found romance close to home. In the mid-1930s, she marriage John J. Silva, a hand on her parents' farm.
The young couple soon moved to Petaluma to start a farm and a family of their own. They had a son and a daughter.
Operating the 40-acre, 100-cow farm was a team effort. John rose early to milk the cows, and Georgiana fed them and managed the books.
Her first priority was always her family. She encouraged her children and grandchildren in their various activities, from sports to agricultural contests.
"She was very supportive," said daughter Jean Hurtgen of Oakdale. "She went to ballgames and went to fairs and watched them show" dairy cattle.
Silva, a longtime member of the California Holstein Association, was particulalry proud to see two generations of offspring join the Future Farmers of America and the Four-H Club and later pursue careers in dairy farming.
Shortly after Georgiana and John Silva celebrated their 50th anniversary five years ago, John died.
Although Silva sold most of the Petaluma farmland, she kept a piece of it and continued to live there until she was diagnosed with cancer in February. She then moved to her daughter's house in Oakdale.
In addition to her daughter, Silva is survived by her son John J. Silva of Petaluma; sisters Dorothy Silva of Mill Valley and Grace Moraes of Novato; and five grandchildren.
Friends may call after 10 a.m. today at the Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory on Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street, Petaluma. A vigil service at the mortuary will start at 7 p.m.
Funeral services will start at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the mortuary, with a funeral Mass to follow at 10 at St. Vincent de Paul Church at 35 Liberty St., Petaluma.

William Turney
William Turney sold meat and seafood for almost five decades in Petaluma, where his Washington Street kiosk was a hub of local activity.
Known as "Jerry the Butch," William Gerald Turney took on other roles after the town's young men were called to duty in World War II, including postman, film projectionist and Boy Scout troop leader.
Turney, 95, died of pneumonia June 27.
He was once Petaluma's oldest rookie pilot, learning in his 50s to fly a two-seat Champ aircraft on a dirt runway.
In the 1950s, he was part of a research team for a friend who built from scratch a high-torque, highly efficient engine that Turney would mount to his speedboat and test by charging up and down the Petaluma River. In his 70s, he and his late wife drove from Santa Rosa to Mexico City in his Chrysler New Yorker.
"He was forever the optimist," said his son, Gerald Edwin Turney of Oakland.
Born in Oakland in 1904, he lived in San Rafael in his youth before moving to Petaluma and attending Petaluma High School.
He dropped out in the 11th grade to go to work for his father, a lifelong butcher who owned Turney and Co. in the 1920s.
Following in his father's tradition, Turney worked at the same shop for almost 40 years before opening Jerry's Fresh Fish, where he used rhymes to sell fish for almost 10 years.
Turney's son remembers being dispatched to buy seafood every morning, during crab season returning in an old truck full of 500 pounds of crab that his father would sell for $1 a crab fresh out of the cooker.
Turney met his wife, Helen Bernice Burns, at a 1920s dance hall, where they both were top dancers.
The couple started a family and in 1939 moved to a big farmhouse in Cotati, but continued their work and community service in Petaluma.
Turney was president of the meat cutters and chicken pickers union in the 1930s, held office in the Petaluma Rotary Club, was a leader in the Christian Science church and was a scoutmaster in the late 1940s.
He helped his friend, Russell Burke, create the Burke Cycle engine. Burke was developing a more reliable aircraft engine than the one powering the planes he saw so many young World War I pilots die in, Turney's son said. The project ended when Burke died in the 1950s.
During World War II, Turney delivered mail to Penngrove, Cotati and Two Rock. In the 1950s, he was projectionist at the State Theater, now called the Mystic Theatre, and the Cal Theater, now the Phoenix Theatre, his son said.
Fun-loving and hard-working, his secrets to living 95 years were avoiding alcohol and tobacco and growing his own vegetables, his son said.
He had an ingenious sense of the mechanical and would have succeeded as an engineer if he had continued his education, his son said.
Turney and his wife traveled on annual adventures after retiring in the 1970s, going to Central and South America, Europe, Asia and several Pacific Rim countries.
His wife died of complications from the flu after returning from China in 1988.
"He had a great appreciation for people of the working class," Gerald Turney said. On his trips abroad his father would befriend ordinary people at their jobs. "He was outgoing and sincerely interested in people," his son said. "He enjoyed seeing what was going on in the world."
Turney, who spent the last two years of his life in a Hayward convalescent home, is survived by his son and a daughter, Bernice Turney-Borgia of Albany, New York; a brother, Eugene Turney of Clearlake; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Friends and family are invited to a memorial service at 11 a.m. Saturday at Cypress Hill Cemetery, 430 Magnolia Ave., Petaluma.

Memorial planned for softball booster Guanella
A public memorial is planned at 11 a.m. Saturday at Howarth Park on Summerfield Road for Walt Guanella, general manager and co-sponsor of the two-time American Softball Association champion Guanella Bros. fastpitch softball team.
Saturday's service will be on the softball diamond that was home to the Guanella Bros. team and which Walt would water and care for on game days.
He died July 23, 2000 in Santa Rosa. He was 72.
A native of Sommers, Mont., he was co-owner of Guanella Bros. Floor Co. for 45 years, retiring in 1997.
He was a graduate of Todd Elementary School, graduated from Santa Rosa High School Class of 1946 and attended Santa Rosa Junior College.
He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the Army.
He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Carol Guanella of Santa Rosa; his children, Tina Clements, Toni Kahaulelio, Lou Guanella and Tracy Guanella, all of Santa Rosa; a brother, Ray Guanella of Santa Rosa; two sisters, Erma Bridgett and Rena Sieboldt, both of San Rafael; and grandchildren Jessica Magowan, Reika Clements and Alexys Magowan, all of Santa Rosa.
A vigil will be held at 6 p.m. Friday at the Eggen & Lance mortuary. Friends may pay their respects at the mortuary between noon and 9 p.m.
Interment at Calvary Catholic Cemetery will be at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Those desiring may make memorial contributions to the St. Rose Multipurpose Room Building Fund, 4300 Old Redwood Highway, Santa Rosa, 95403, or to the Santa Rosa Youth Athletic Field Trust, c/o Steele Lane Community Center, Attn: Chuck Rust, 415 Steele Lane, Santa Rosa 95403.

Henry Walraven
Henry Walraven, a longtime manager with a passion for collecting wire insulators, died Friday. He was 78.
An Alabama native, Walraven served in the Army in World War II. He was assigned to the 20th Armored and 20th Tank Battalion and drove a tank.
In addition to battles, the battalion helped liberate the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, a German city near Munich.
"It wasn't pleasant. It wasn't glamorous. Funny things happened to them and scary things happened to them," said his wife, Lamona Walraven.
"They were all young men who believed in their country and they were told to go and they went," she said.
Walraven moved to Santa Rosa from Alabama in 1955. A sister lived in Napa and he sought work in the region.
He was a production manager for an electronic parts manufacturer in Forestville. He then managed the maintenance department for the Twin Hills Union School Districtin Sebastopol until his retirement in 1980.
"He had a skill in working with people. He was a very funny guy, very likable," his wife recalled.
The couple marriage in 1956 and lived in Santa Rosa. They moved to Oakmont in 1973.
A passion for collecting wire insulators took Walraven and his wife across the country and around the world.
"We had a lot of fun doing that. It's very interesting," his wife recalled.
The glass devices insulate and support electric wires. Collectors prize insulators for their variety of colors and shapes.
Walraven amassed a collection of more than 1,000.
Friends are invited to attend funeral services at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa. Burial will follow at Calvary Catholic Cemetery, in Santa Rosa.
Friends may attend a visitation at Daniels Chapel of the Roses between 3 and 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Marta Brians
Marta Brians lived almost her entire life within a single-mile stretch of Petaluma Hill Road. But even though she didn't travel far, her 85 years in Penngrove were rich with farm chores, gardening, raising children and expressing herself creatively through poetry, drawing and photography.
Brians died July 12 at home at the age of 88, not far from the chicken ranch where she was raised after her parents moved up to the country from her native Oakland when she was 3 years old.
Family members said she enjoyed the outdoors, tending her roses and canning; she put up fruits and vegetables well into her 80s.
After graduating from Petaluma High, she worked at the Penngrove Hatchery. She marriage dairyman Ted Brians in 1936. The pair had been marriage 59 years when he died in 1995.
On the ranch, she was in charge of the chickens. She also was involved in a number of local clubs and organizations, from the Mothers Club of Penngrove Community Church and the Sonoma County Farm Bureau to the Maple Leaf Card Club.
She had a good eye with a camera, and left her family a treasured pictorial history of family events, large and small. She also faithfully chronicled the vicissitudes of farm and family life with drawings, poems and frequent letters.
"She tended to not always be on the front of things but she was active in her club work, making posters for bake sales or helping with refreshments," recalled her daughter, Rita McMillan of Santa Rosa. "She very much gave of her time and energy."
Private family services will be held, with arrangements handled by The Neptune Society.
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by another daughter, Ellen Harris of Penngrove; her son, Lee Brians of Penngrove; another daughter, Lorraine Meadows of Bloomfield; 16 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
The family suggests donations to the Penngrove Community Church or the Penngrove Social Firemen.

Ellis Chase Slayter
Ellis Chase Slayter, a Napa educator who devoted his life to children in the classroom and as a North Bay soccer official and administrator, died Monday of cancer. He was 69.
Slayter lived in Napa, where he taught fifth- and sixth-grade students since 1958, but he was known throughout the North Bay as an active umpire and soccer referee.
He was the longtime president of the Sonoma County Soccer Referees Association, teaching new referees and assigning referees to hundreds of high school boys and girls soccer games throughout Sonoma County.
His son, Matthew Slayter, said Chase, as he was known to his friends, was the consummate teacher.
"He was teaching to the end," Matthew Slayter said. "That was just his way," refereeing his last youth soccer game just 10 days ago.
"With the reffing, he just wanted a chance to show people that you can be competitive but at the same time be fair and treat people appropriately."
Slayter was born in French Camp and moved with his family to Napa when he was 17. He earned his bachelor's degree in education from San Francisco State College, then taught in San Bruno schools while he earned his master's degree in education and served as an infantryman in the National Guard. In 1958, he returned to Napa.
Slayter is survived by his wife of 39 years, Marianna Slayter of Napa; three sons, Matthew Slayter of Santa Rosa, Patrick Slayter of Sebastopol and Erik Slayter of Arroyo Grande; a daughter, Molly Slayter of Vacaville; his mother, Florence Slayter of Napa; two sisters, Margaret Lee Pearson and Carol Hall, both of Napa; and one granddaughter, Chloe Slayter of Arroyo Grande.
A service will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1226 Salvador Ave. in Napa. Matthew Slayter said he is trying to organize a blood drive after the service as a symbol of his father's contributions to the community.
The family has arranged the Chase Slayter Memorial to raise money for local youth soccer programs. Contributions to the memorial can be sent to Napa National Bank, 3263 Claremont Way, Napa 94558, Account No. 03228366. Contributions also can be made at www.ccsoccer.com.chase

Edgar Allen Imrie
Memorial services are scheduled today for Edgar Allen Imrie, who died Monday in Santa Rosa. He was 82.
Imrie was born in 1918 in Napa. During the Depression, he traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska, where he worked for the railroad.
He eventually returned to California and graduated from Santa Rosa Junior College, where he became business manager for two years, according to his daughter, Sue Chambers.
Imrie also served in the Navy during World War II. When he returned, he spent 33 years as the owner and operator of Santa Rosa Building Materials. But Chambers said he had a tremendous work ethic and never really retired.
He served on the Urban Renewal Board for Santa Rosa and was instrumental in the development of Northern Redwood Transport. He also participated with others to develop several subdivisions.
Chambers said her father was an avid fisherman and hunter. She said the family "will always remember happy times with 'Grampa' on the salmon boat or drifting the Rogue River." Imrie also enjoyed cultivating roses.
Chambers said Imrie was a true family patriarch. "Responsibility came naturally and he wasn't timid about giving good advice," she said.
Imrie is survived by his wife, Barbara Imrie; his children, Sue Chambers, Allen Imrie, Margi Lorey and Thomas Imrie; step-children Thomas Roth Unthank and Karen Unthank Colen; 12 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a sister.
Services are scheduled at 2 p.m. today at Lafferty & Smith Colonial Chapel, 4321 Sonoma Highway, Santa Rosa. Private entombment will be at Santa Rosa Memorial Park.
Donations in his memory may be made to the Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa 95401.

Maxine Chiaroni
Adopted just after birth, Maxine Chiaroni of Santa Rosa came nearly to the end of her life without knowing who her birth parents were or meeting any of her brothers or sisters.
Chiaroni, who died at home Saturday at age 78, was thrilled last fall to learn about her birth family and to embrace and visit with her one surviving sibling, an older sister from Minnesota.
"She was happy to find before she died that she hadn't hatched on a rock somewhere," said her husband of 55 years, Sonoma County native Melvin Chiaroni.
His wife was born in Minnesota in 1921. She was adopted as an infant by August and Clara Moehlenbrock, who reared her in Minnesota, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon.
She met her future husband in Tacoma during World War II. They settled in Sonoma County in 1945.
Melvin Chiaroni said his wife was 18 when the Moehlenbrocks told her they had adopted her from people they knew nothing about.
Nearly a decade ago, she learned something about herself. During the process of obtaining passports for a trip overseas, her husband found a helpful county official in Minnesota who uncovered her birth certificate.
It listed her as "Baby Aney" and indicated her birthdate was Aug. 4. She had always though it was Aug. 26.
"Since then I had two birthday presents to buy," her husband chuckled.
Melvin took it upon himself to see if he could learn anything about the Aney family. He used the Internet to issue a request for genealogical information on the name.
"I got responses from India, China, all over Europe," he said. But nobody could help them.
He persisted, and in 1998 connected with a man in Oregon who had done some research on a branch of the Aney family in Minnesota, where Maxine was born. The Oregon man located a sister of Maxine and arranged for them to speak by phone.
Last fall, Maxine's sister, Lorayne Dahlberg, came with her husband to Santa Rosa for a joyful visit. Maxine, who by that time was ailing from a number of maladies, learned that her parents were having trouble about the time she was born and they gave up for adoption not only her but her five brothers and sisters.
Later, the couple arranged to get back four of those children. But they didn't know where Maxine was, and Lorayne was old enough to decide for herself to stay with the couple who had adopted her.
All the other children had grown old and died before Maxine learned about her family.
In addition to her husband and her sister, Maxine Chiaroni is survived by her children, Dale Chiaroni and Kevin Chiaroni, both of Santa Rosa; Jimmy Chiaroni of Nevada and Ronna Chiaroni of Hawaii; and by numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
A graveside service is at 2 p.m. Friday at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary in Sebastopol.
Chiaroni's family suggests memorial contributions to Guide Dogs for the Blind or other organizations that serve the vision-impaired, or to the American Cancer Society or Memorial Hospice.

Evelyn Abrams
Evelyn P. Abrams, who spent most of her life in the North Bay and her later years working in a Santa Rosa group house for retarded adults, died July 4 in Citrus Heights. She was 74.
The second-to-youngest of 10 children, Abrams was born in Mill Valley to Portuguese immigrant parents who farmed a small parcel of land and operated a bed-and-breakfast.
She attended Tamalpais High School and marriage Charles Abrams, who owned the Ebb Tide newspaper in Tiburon. The couple had a son and three daughters.
The Ebb Tide was a family affair, said daughter Carol Weaver of Sacramento. Her father was the printer, her mother dabbled in editing and the kids delivered the paper, she said.
The Abrams sold the paper and moved to Petaluma in the late 1960s and then to Santa Rosa in 1972. Shortly after moving to Santa Rosa, Evelyn and Charles Abrams divorced.
Evelyn Abrams first supported herself by sewing alterations for a dry cleaner and later by assembling sling-shots for the Santa Rosa Pocket Rocket company.
At home, Abrams enjoyed crossword puzzles and crafts, especially creating ceramic tile mosaics for coffee tables and wall-hangings.
In the late 1980s, Abrams started a new career as an assistant in a private group home for retarded adults. It was a natural job for a woman who enjoyed helping other people, and animals too, said Weaver, who noted her mother provided a home to a number of stray cats over the years.
"She was meticulous in the ways she tried to help," said son Jim Abrams of Saratoga. For example, she kept a list of not only all her friends' birthdays, but also of all her friends' childrens' birthdays, he said.
Two years ago, Abrams became sick with with emphysema and moved into her daughter's home in Citrus Heights. But always the giver, she was embarrassed by sympathy.
"She never wanted anybody to know she was troubled," said granddaughter Ginger Havener.
In addition to her son and daughter, Abrams is survived by sons Skip Abrams of Santa Rosa and Paul Abrams of Citrus Heights and by eight grandchildren.
The family asks that remembrances be made in Evelyn Abram's name to a charity of choice. 

 LYONS
Rosemary Lyons died in Petaluma, Calif. January 12, 2001. Loving mother of Michael D. Lyons of San Francisco, Veronica Romero of San Mateo, Richard B. Lyons of San Francisco, Rita Ruiz of Petaluma, Georgina Lyons of San Francisco, Charles E. ?Charlie? Lyons of Petaluma and Stephen Lyons of Redwood City. Loving grandmother of 9 and loving great-grandmother of 2. Loving sister of Joseph Swinderman of Coos Bay, Oregon, Alice Piper of Pocatello, Idaho, Joyce Oddi of New York, Ruth Swinderman of So. San Francisco and the late George Swinderman, Gloria Stivers and Pauline Cunningham. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. A native of Butte, Montana. Aged 82 years. A member of St. James Catholic Church of Petaluma, C.L.A.S. and Y.L.I. Mrs. Lyons graduated from Healds Business College in San Francisco. She was married at St. Bridget?s Catholic Church in San Francisco. She worked for 25 years in retail sales at the Emporium in San Francisco and retired in 1985. Mrs. Lyons has lived in Petaluma for the past 7 years and volunteered her time at Sacks Thrift Avenue. She has been in ill health since December 2000. Friends are invited to attend the Funeral Services, Thursday, January 18, 2001 at 10:30 A.M. from the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street, Petaluma, thence to St. James Catholic Church, 125 Sonoma Mountain Blvd., where at 11:00 A.M., a Funeral Mass will be celebrated. A Vigil Service will be held Wednesday evening, at 7:00 P.M., at the mortuary. A Y.L.I. and C.L.A.S. service will be held Wednesday afternoon, at 3:30 P.M., at the mortuary. Those who prefer may contribute to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma, Calif. 94952 in memory of Rosemary Lyons. Friends may call at the mortuary, on Wednesday, after 10:00 A.M. passed away on January 12, 2001, at a local convalescent home, after a lengthy illness. Dr. Lee was born in Roseville, Illinois, October 23, 1919. Attended school in Denver, Colorado and graduated from Roseville High School in 1938. Graduated from Humbolt State University in 1942, with a BA Degree in Education, Special Credential in Physical Education. Earned eleven major letters at Humbolt State, and the second athlete to be voted into the Athletic Hall of Fame. Spent five years active duty as a Naval Aviator, and retired as a Lt. Commander in the Naval Reserve. Graduated from Northern Illinois College of Optometry cum laude in 1948. He practiced Optometry in Petaluma for forty-five years until his retirement. He was a member of the A.O.A., C.O.A., past-president of the Petaluma Chamber of Commerce, Petaluma Eagles, Petaluma Athletic Booster Club, and numerous fraternal organizations. Dr. Lee is survived by his loving and devoted wife, Lois Lee for 25 years. His children: Lani Clark of Arizona, Rona Griffin of San Luis Obispo, Calif., and his son, William H. Lee of Petaluma. Stepchildren: Sharon Adams of Escondido, Calif., Steven Terrill of Folsom, Calif. and Elizabeth Stott of Utah. Also survived by 12 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brother, Howard Lee. There will be a visitation at PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Magnolia Ave. and Keokuk St., Petaluma, Petaluma, on Friday January 19, 10:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M.; the family will be available for visitation from 7:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. There will also be a viewing at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 745 N. Webster St., Petaluma, on Saturday, January 20, from 11:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M., with the funeral service commencing at 1:00 P.M. passed away Dec. 30, 2000 in Petaluma, Calif. Wife of the late Herman Robert Jones. She leaves behind two sisters; Betty Johnson and her husband, Carl, Larry Wortham and her husband, Chuck; and a sister-in-law, Ruth Wheeler. Aunt of Karen Curtiss, Mike Curtiss, Heidi Curtiss, Larry Curtiss, Cindy Wells, Ron Tracy, Jan Staples, Linda King and Tiffan Wortham. Aged 86 years. Graveside Services were held on January 11, 2001 at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, Calif. Under the direction of PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Keokuk Street & Magnolia Avenue, Petaluma.

CRAWFORD
Marguerite Crawford passed away at her residence in Petaluma, Calif. Friday, February 16, 2001. Loving mother of John W. Davis of Louisiana. Adored grandmother of Keith Davis of Louisiana. Loving sister of Nell McKool, Daniel Simpson and Emma Jean Patterson. Ms. Crawford owned a beauty salon in Petaluma for many years. She was a Petaluma resident for 45 years. Aged 76 years. No services will be held locally. passed away in Santa Rosa, Calif. February 22, 2001. Loving wife of the late Joseph Lane. Beloved mother of the late Joseph Lane. She was pre-deceased by 3 sisters and 1 brother. She is survived by numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews. A member of the Beck-Wipner family, a pioneer Petaluma family. Dora was a member of various Kazoo Bands and musical & singing groups in the area. Aged 91 years. Friends are invited to attend Memorial Services, Saturday, March 3, 2001 at 11:00 A.M. at ADOBE CREEK FUNERAL HOME, 331 Lakeville St., Petaluma. The family prefers memorial contributions to be made to Home Health Plus Hospice, 825 Sonoma Avenue, Santa Rosa, Calif. 95401. Inurnment, Cypress Hill Memorial Park, Petaluma.
CHEDA & LYONS 707-789-9000

NELSON
James McKenzie Nelson died in Petaluma, Calif., February 20, 2001. Loving and devoted spouse of Lorrie Moreci of Petaluma. Dear brother of Nancy Brown and Susan Nelson. Dear uncle of McKenzie and Elizabeth Brown, and Robert J. McKenzie. A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Aged 56 years. Friends were invited to attend Funeral Services, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2001 at 9:00 A.M. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 35 Liberty St., Petaluma, where friends will be invited to speak. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society. Arrangements by ADOBE CREEK FUNERAL HOME, Petaluma, Calif. Inurnment will be private.
CHEDA & LYONS 707-789-9000

CLEMENTINO
Mary Frances Clementino A 54 year resident of Marin County passed away in San Rafael, Calif. Wednesday, February 21, 2001 surrounded by her loving family. She was 73 years of age. Born in Honey Grove, Texas and reared and educated in Northwest Texas, Mrs. Clementino came to San Francisco during W.W.II and in the 1940s moved to Marin County. In 1998 she retired to Cloverdale. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and homemaker. Mrs. Clementino was an avid outdoorswoman and was a member of the Novato Horsemans Association and the Marin County Sheriffs posse. She was also a member of womens bowling leagues in Novato and Petaluma. Her death was preceded by that of her husband, Fernando Clementino; by her son, Gary Clementino; and by her brother, Dale Milford. She is survived by her children, Michael Clementino and his wife, Barbara of Sonoma, Nancy Paris-Gardella and her husband, David of Novato, and Connie Heizer and her husband, David of Petaluma; her grandchildren, Lauren and Brian Clementino and Vanessa, Katharine, Matthew and Madelyn Heizer; her sister, Annie Smith of Texas and her cousin, Sidney Burrell. Friends are invited to attend Memorial Services Friday, March 2, 2001 at 11:00 A.M., at St. James Catholic Church, 125 Sonoma Mtn. Parkway, Petaluma. The family prefers memorial contributions in her memory be made to the Marin Humane Society, 171 Bel Marin Keys Blvd., Novato, Calif. 94949 or to the U.C. Davis Center for Veterinary Medicine, 1 Sheilds Avenue, Davis, Calif. 95616. Funeral arrangements under the direction of ADOBE CREEK FUNERAL HOME, 331 Lakeville St., Petaluma.
CHEDA & LYONS 707-789-9000

KING
Josephine A. King died on February 22, 2001. Josie King, 18 month old daughter of Sorrel and tony King of Baltimore, Maryland. A Memorial Service was held on February 24th at 3 P.M., at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Ruxton, Maryland. A private passed away on February 16, 2001 at her home in Petaluma, Calif. Aged 84 years. Devoted wife, of 58 years, to the late Arthur W. Baker, a local real estate broker. Beloved mother of Winton Baker of Petaluma and David Baker of Alexandria, Virginia. Loving sister of Betty Lewandowski of Sun City, Arizona, Louise Blackwell of Fernandina Beach, Florida, the late Jessie Swift of Sun City, Arizona, and the late Andrew Willison of Santa Rosa. Loving sister-in-law of Dr. Edward Baker of Modesto, Calif. Walter Baker of Fort Bidwell, Calif., and Evelyn Karsevar of Upland, Calif. Also survived by many nieces and nephews. Born and raised in Tacoma, Wash., she graduated from Stadium High School and attended the University of Puget Sound. She married Arthur Baker and moved to Petaluma in 1939. Mrs. Baker had extensive office skills, including bookkeeping, and worked at various times for different businesses in Tacoma and Petaluma. She also worked in the personnel department at Mare Island Naval Shipyard to help the war effort. Devoted mother and homemaker, she was a Den Mother for Cub Scouts and taught Sunday school. She was a talented organist who played at various local churches and other public gatherings. Member of the former Petaluma Organ Club. An expert knitter, she established her own business making custom designed knit hats, Baker Originals. Member of Soroptimists, a service organization for women in business. She loved flowers and enjoyed working in her garden. Member of the Petaluma Garden Club. No public services are planned. Private died at his home in Petaluma, Calif., on February 24, 2001, surrounded by his family. Devoted husband of Bobbie Sue Behrs. Loving father of Tom Behrs and his wife, Janis and John Behrs and his wife, Donna, all of Petaluma, Calif. Grandfather of Jonathan, Tim, Scott, Ken, and Michelle Behrs. Loving great-grandfather of Raymond and Doug West. Brother of Helen Gonsalves and Betty Olsson. Survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Mr. Behrs was a lifelong resident of Petaluma. Born and raised in Petaluma, he attended Waugh School on Old Adobe Road. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the Army Medicorp as a Technician 4th grade from 1943 to 1946. He met a very special lady named Bobbie Sue Steele at the Poultry Producers and on September 26, 1946, they were married in Petaluma. Mr. Behrs owned and operated the Steel Bear Deli on Old Redwood Highway, with the help of his sons, for the last 24 years. He was an avid San Francisco 49ers and Giants fan. He enjoyed watching his grandsons play little league baseball and basketball. Mr. Behrs was a member of the Laborers Union #291. Anyone that had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Behrs knew that he loved to ?talk about the weather?. He was 79 years old. Friends and family are invited to attend a Memorial Service on Friday, March 2, 2001 at 3:00 P.M., at the PARENT-SORENSEN MORTUARY & CREMATORY, Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street, Petaluma. The family prefers memorial contributions be made to the Petaluma Valley Little League, Petaluma American Little League, the National League or to a favorite charity.

HOLMES
Dorothy Holmes Longtime Petaluma resident Dorothy Holmes died peacefully the evening of February 21, 2001, with her children at her side. She was 81. Born Dorothy Isabella Gamble on September 24, 1919 in Redlands, Calif., Dot lived a long, rich, and fullfilled life. She was raised in Pasadena, Calif., where she graduated from Pasadena City College and was first runner-up in the 1936 Rose Bowl Queen competition. She married Colin Holmes in 1938, and after his military service in WWII the two settled in Petaluma in 1946, where they raised four children and spent much of the following five decades. Dorothys outside interests included extensive work on behalf of charities and service groups, including the March of Dimes, the Daughters of the Mayflower, the Walk for Heart Fund, and hospital volunteer work. She had a passion for golf as a longtime member of the Petaluma Golf and Country Club, a sure hand for card-playing, and a lifelong love of dancing. Friends remarked that she had a keen sense of humor and a smile that could light up a room. Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband, Colin, in 1992. She is survived by her daughters, Lynn Imm of Petaluma and Barbara Holmes Burkhard of Santa Rosa; sons, Craig Holmes of Carmel Valley and Mitchell Holmes of Branson, Missouri; grandsons, Greg Imm of Petaluma, Kevin Imm of Santa Rosa, and Ryan Holmes of Branson, Missouri; granddaughter, Blaire Holmes of Branson, Mo.; and great-grandsons, Colin and Cade Imm of Santa Rosa. Her relations by marriage include daughter-in-law, Jennifer Holme of Branson, Missouri; sons-in-law, Gary Imm of Petaluma, and Timothy Burkhard of Santa Rosa; and granddaughter-in-law, Mary Imm of Santa Rosa. The family suggests that donations in Dorothys memory may be made to the Petaluma Peoples Services Center.

Edna Pacheco
Dairy rancher
Edna M. Pacheco, a homemaker and former dairy rancher, died March 31, 2001. She was 80. Born in Oakville, Mrs. Pacheco was reared and educated in the Napa Valley. On July 18, 1954, she married William M. Pacheco in Napa. The couple lived in Napa until 1962, when they moved, first to Sears Point and then, in 1969, to Petaluma, where they operated a dairy. A member of St. Vincent de Paul parish and the Petaluma Holy Ghost Society, Mrs. Pacheco enjoyed spending time with her family and sewing. She was the wife of William Pacheco of Petaluma, mother of Dan Pacheco of Modesto, Margaret Baker of Novato, Jim Pacheco of Petaluma and Maryann Pacheco of Martinez, and the grandmother of six. She is also survived by siblings Mary Luiz and Marguerite Bertolucci of Napa, Ray Luiz of Lodi, and many nieces and nephews. A Vigil Service was held April 3 at St. Vincent de Paul Church. A Funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. this morning, also at the church. Burial will be at Calvary Catholic Cemetery. Memorials may be made to a favorite charity.

Donna McKinney
Nanny
Donna Joan McKinney died Sunday, March 30, 2003 at Sonoma Healthcare Center in Sonoma. Born in 1932 in Chandlerville, Ill., she married Ralph "Pete" McKinney in Alton, Ill. in 1951. In 1984 the couple moved to Petaluma, where she worked as a certified nanny. She was also an Avon representative in Illinois and in Petaluma. Mrs. McKinney loved working with children and dreamed of opening a professional nanny school in Petaluma. A member of the College Avenue Presbyterian Church in Upper Alton, Ill. and the First Presbyterian Church in Petaluma, she made many friends in the Jolly Over 50s church group. She also had a number of good friends at Essa's Restaurant, where she enjoyed lunching. Mrs. McKinney is survived by her sons, Brian McKinney of Edwardsville, Ill. and Kevin McKinney of Milton, Fla.; three grandchildren and brothers K. Wayne Cook of Godfrey, Ill. and Bruce Cook of Crawfordsville, Fla. Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at the First Presbyterian Church, 939 B St. Contributions in her memory may be made to First Presbyterian Church Health Ministry, 939 B St., Petaluma 94952. Arrangements were by Adobe Creek Funeral Home.

Aaron Gallagher
Artist, drummer, mechanic
Aaron David White Gallagher of Petaluma, died Friday, April 4, 2003, in San Rafael of complications from cystic fibrosis. He was 20. He was born Aug. 6, 1982, in San Francisco to Margo White. The natural son of David Creighton, who predeceased him, he was adopted and raised by Dennis Gallagher, a longtime Mill Valley firefighter, who died two years ago. He spent his early years in Marin, but primarily grew up in Petaluma attending McNear Elementary School and Valley Oaks High School. An artist, drummer and renowned lover of barbecue, Aaron was also a mechanic, rebuilding a classic Cadillac from the wheels up. He was a train enthusiast as well, and enjoyed attending model railroad events and exhibits. "Aaron had many lifelong friends in Petaluma -- Amanda Mastrup, Joe Ramey, Simon Feltman, Jason Vasquez and Jim Raby," said his mother, Margo Gallagher. "They were the most amazing people I've ever known ... they drove him to the hospital in the middle of the night. They were loyal to him to the end." He was loved, his family said, for his loyal companionship, creativity, tremendous humor and incredible courage. "Though he suffered from C.F. his entire life, he never complained, never expressed nor showed self-pity. The quality of his character can be measured by the many good people who were his devoted friends." In addition to his mother, he is survived by two brothers, James and Daniel of Petaluma, and two half-sisters, Leah Hassett of Modesto and Sarah Kirley of Vallejo. He is also lovingly remembered by his many aunts, uncles and cousins. Private services will be held at a future date. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to Cystic Fibrosis Research International, 560 San Antonio Road, No. 103, Palo Alto 93406, or The Carousel Fund, 17 Buckeye Court, Petaluma 94952).

Albert William "Bill" Foster
Former pastor, Petaluma United Methodist Church
Albert William "Bill" Foster, 92, of Sun City West, Ariz., died of heart failure at his home, March 27, 2003. Born in Calvert, Texas, he graduated from Asbury College with a degree in mathematics in 1939. While in college, he met his future wife, Eileen Kanuckel. The couple were married Sept. 1, 1939. Mr. Foster later earned his bachelor of divinity degree and began pastoring in Hubbel, Ky. During World War II, he was a chaplain on board the troop ship USS Panther. Following his discharge, he was appointed associate pastor of the Petaluma Methodist Church. While here, he earned his Th.M. degree, then served in Escalon and Patterson. In 1964, he returned to Petaluma, and remained with the church until his retirement in 1976. The couple lived first in Mount Hermon, then Allyn, Wash. Following his wife's 1992 death after developing Alzheimer's disease, Mr. Foster moved to Sun City West where he enjoyed sunshine and golf. He is survived by his children, Beth Johnson of Bozeman, Mont., Patty Cloyd of Seattle, Phil Foster of Santa Rosa and Dani Guilford of Olympia, Wash. Memorial services will be held at 1:30 p.m. April 17 at Shepherd of the Hills Methodist Church in Sun City West. Contributions may be made to Redwood Christian Park, 15000 Two Bar Road, Boulder Creek, Calif., 95006.

Charles Kilian
Career Army officer, insurance adjuster
Charles Jacob "Chuck" Kilian, a man of inner strength and courage, with a terrific sense of humor and deep love of his country, someone who knew no strangers, lost his battle with cancer March 23, 2001 and will be deeply missed by all who knew him. A resident of Petaluma from 1972 to 1983, Mr. Kilian was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on May 18, 1922 where he developed his love of nature, hunting, fishing and water sports. He joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and while stationed in England met his future wife, Joan Dixon. They were married in September, 1947. He briefly returned to civilian life in 1946, but was called back into service during the Korean War and stayed on to make a career of the U.S. Army, retiring after 26 years in August 1968. During his time in the service he was actively involved in "Hands Across the Ocean" building relationships between Europeans and Americans. He was awarded the key to the city of Darmstadt, Germany in 1964 and a meritorious award from the United States for his outstanding performance. Because of his deep love of children Mr. Kilian briefly worked at the San Rafael Military Academy as the assistant commandant after retiring. He then started a new career with Kemper Insurance as an automobile adjuster. Following his retirement from Kemper, he was able to fulfill his dream of building a log home above Oroville Lake. He continued to work on different parts of his home, make silver jewelry and latch hook rugs, as well as traveling throughout the United States where he and his wife continued their love of square and round dancing and rockhounding. He is survived by his wife, Joan Kilian, children Michele Jones of Sebastopol, Charles J. Kilian Jr. of Montgomery, Ala., Mary Anne Elwood of Santa Rosa, William Kilian of Petaluma, and Karen Kilian of Novato, four grandchildren and two step-grandchildren, sister and brother Geraldine Wilsey and Donald Kilian, both of Bayview, Idaho, and several nephews and nieces. Memorial service will be held at Oroville Memorial Cemetery, Oroville, at 2 p.m., April 6. Contributions may be sent to Sutter VNA and Hospice, 1110 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa 95401.

Mark West
Pianist, oboist
Mark T. West, son of Drs. James and Gilly West of Petaluma, has died accidentally at the age of 42. Mr. West was born and raised in Petaluma. He graduated from Petaluma High School and from The Athenian School in Danville. A pianist and oboist, he won a contest for composing "Down Sonoma Mountain Road" and performed his piano sonata in Hollywood. For 30 years, Mr. West was associated with Alcoholics Anonymous in Petaluma and Eureka. Most recently he was affiliated with Humboldt Recovery Center in Eureka and worked as a volunteer there and at the Eureka Art Gallery. Any donations in memory of Mark West may be addressed to the Humboldt Recovery Center of Eureka, Calif., 95501, attention Joel McDonough. A private memorial service was held. Mr. West is survived by his parents, Jim and Gilly West of Penngrove; sisters, Lyn Giammona of Point Reyes, Beth W. Miller of Salinas/Monterey, Candace West of Santa Cruz and brother Josh West of Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa, along with a large, extended family.

Timothy Barlow
Printer
Timothy Barlow of Petaluma died Sunday afternoon at Sutter-Solano Medical Center in Fairfield from injuries suffered in a crash at Sears Point Raceway. He was 55. Sears Point spokesman John Cardinale said officials displayed warning flags after Mr. Barlow's Formula Vee stalled, but the other drivers in the race did not have enough time to react to avoid crashing into Barlow's car. He was flown to the medical center immediately. None of the other drivers involved in the accident were seriously hurt, Cardinale said. Born in Leicester, England, Mr. Barlow was 7 when he and his family emigrated to Toronto. They later moved to Novato, where his father set up a small print shop. Mr. Barlow worked at the family shop during high school - almost missing his graduation because he was printing his class' graduation program. He met his future wife, Diane Dillman of San Rafael, in 1969 and courted her in his prized gold 1969 Dodge truck. They were married two years later, but delayed their honeymoon - a trip to the Indianapolis 500 - until his work schedule could accommodate it. In 1979, having outgrown the Novato shop, a bigger printing plant was built on First Street in Petaluma. In 1992, they moved again, this time to an ever larger shop in Cotati. Mr. Barlow had a passion for automobiles, his wife said, and loved the total concentration of racing. When they attended Reno's noted car jamboree, Hot August Nights, in his restored 1957 yellow Thumderbird, he insisted on a hotel room on the street so he could admire the other cars. He was as passionate about his home and family. A meticulous woodworker, he spent 30 years working on the family home, a westside country farmhouse, and was deeply involved with his children, son Shane and daughter Shawna. "I just can't think of anything bad about my dad," Shawna Barlow said. "Everything about him was so positive. He didn't know how to be negative. There were no problems, only solutions." In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Barlow is survived by his parents, Leslie and Josephine Barlow of Novato. A memorial service will take place at 10 a.m. Sept. 1 at the Barlow home on King Road. The family prefers donations to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952.

Mary Edna Wilson
Real estate agent, gardener
A member of the pioneer Purrington family and a third generation Californian, Mary Edna Wilson died July 19, 2002 in Santa Rosa. She was 87. A long-time Petaluma resident, Mrs. Wilson was July 10, 1915 in Mt. Olivet. She was prominent in local real estate circles, working for Petaluma Realty (now Century 21) and Larry Parks Realty. An avid gardener and an accredited flower show judge, her Eighth Street home was remembered as a garden showplace. Mrs. Wilson was also an active member of the Petaluma Garden Club; Morning Star Chapter, Order of Eastern Star and an antique collector. Mrs. Wilson is survived by her daughters Nancy McNamee of Granite Bay and Martha Howell of Healdsburg, seven grandchildren and one great-grandson, and sister Josephine Platt of Lucerne. She was predeceased by her husband, J. Earl Wilson, daughter Pamela Wilson and sister Barbara Purrington. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3 at the United Methodist Church, Fifth and D streets. Donations in Mrs. Wilson's name may be made to Shriner's Hospitals for Children, 2425 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento 95817.

Joel Ferrera
General contractor
Joel Thomas Ferrera, who was a third-generation general contractor, died at his Petaluma home Jan. 7, 2005, of pancreatic cancer. Born in Vallejo, he grew up in Petaluma, attending St. Vincent de Paul elementary and high schools. A graduate of Hogan High School in Vallejo, he followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and became a general contractor. A member of the carpenter's union, Mr. Ferrera built custom homes on the Tiburon peninsula. He is survived by his sons Jimmy and Jeffrey Ferrera; brothers Michael and John Ferrera; sister Jeanne Swindall and many other relatives and friends. An Irish wake will be held for Mr. Ferrera on Thursday, Jan. 13, in Penngrove. For details, call 763-1650. Burial will be private, with arrangements by Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma, 94952.

Mary Frates
Hunter, camper, traveler
Mary A. Frates, born and raised in Valley Ford, died recently in her Redwood City home at the age of 90. The daughter of a schoolteacher and dairy farmer, she was a 1931 graduate of Tomales High School. In 1936, she married Anthony Frates. The couple moved to Redwood City in 1940. They enjoyed traveling, camping and hunting. Mrs. Frates was a member of the 2nd Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. She is survived by sisters-in-law Helen Byrne of Santa Rosa and Nell Hilderbrandt of Petaluma, five nieces and nephews and two cousins. She was predeceased by her husband, and brother Edwin Byrne. Services have been held. died May 20, 2003 after a courageous struggle with cancer and complications. She passed away peacefully in her sleep at home with her husband, Chris, at her side. A Petaluma resident for 25 years, Edy was a familiar figure around town, promoting events and filming them with her video camera. Edy was involved with Petaluma's public access television from its earliest days a decade ago. She produced and hosted community affairs programs including "Speak Out" and "Talk of the Town." She produced video documentaries on local events such as Petaluma's Poetry Walk, skateboard park opening, wristwrestling tournament, "Hearts of the World" art exhibit, museum lectures, music and dance performances and public meetings. She enjoyed giving exposure to artists, musicians and writers through video and public access television and was an advocate for youth. She was in the process of editing a movie, "Women of Wanted Men," based on poems by Arthur and Kit Knight. She had won a fourth-place national award from the Hometown Film Festival Media Alliance for a documentary on the making of the movie. She organized an Earth Day celebration 10 years ago and was a judge for the Butter and Egg Days Parade the last few years. She enjoyed singing, playing the flute, bellydancing, traveling, painting, films, concerts, good friends and sipping a chai latte at one of her favorite downtown coffee cafes. She had been a member of Toastmasters, the Lakeville Yacht Club and Petaluma Community Access. "Edy was a model of courage, strength and fortitude throughout this medical ordeal," said her husband. "She was always positive and never complained. She had a beautiful spirit, a strong will, a love of life, an infectious laugh, a quest for adventure and travel, a flair for color and style and a generous nature." Willi Haye, a childhood friend, said, "There is a Dutch word that describes Edy's attributes of dealing with everything with such spirit. It is flink. And if there is one word that was always used in our family to describe her it was lief (loving) and flink. My parents did not use that word lightly but it was always used for Edy." "She was a kaleidoscope of color and love," said her close friend Julie Machado. "She was always there for me and my family." "Edy had this sparkling smile and twinkle in her eyes," said Diane Sims, her cousin-in-law. "She had a great sense of fun, adventure and beauty. She danced with her life. She skipped with her love of life." "We will miss her energy and skills so generously given to the community," said David Keller, former city councilman. Edy was born Jan. 23, 1952 in Rijen, a small town in the Netherlands. Her parents and two older brothers were born in Indonesia and immigrated to the Netherlands in 1950 to escape the aftermath of World War II. In 1961, the family immigrated to the United States and settled in Monrovia in Southern California. Edy graduated from Monrovia High School in 1970, then earned an A.A. degree at Citrus College in 1972. After college, she lived in Europe from 1972 to 1977, first in Holland, then in Switzerland, France and England. She returned to the United States in 1977 and attained U.S. citizenship in 1985. She worked for Sola Optical in Petaluma, first as an accounting clerk, then as senior accounts receivable clerk, for more than 20 years. Since 1999 she was a cost accountant at RS Technical Services, a video pipeline inspection company in Petaluma. Edy traveled extensively. Among the countries she visited were Kenya, Greece, Belgium, Nepal, Hong Kong, Russia, Curacao and the Dominican Republic. Edy is survived by her husband, Chris Samson of Petaluma, who she married in 1997; her brothers Robert Wynhamer of Santa Rosa and Frank Wynhamer of Fremont; nieces and nephews, in-laws and a large extended family of friends. A celebration of Edy's life is planned for 2 p.m. Saturday, May 31. Friends who wish to attend are asked to call Julie at 763-2047, Diane at 763-8037 or Erica and Paul at 765-2939 to RSVP and for further details. Donations in the memory of Edy Samson may be made to the Carousel Fund, 17 Buckeye Court, Petaluma 94952. The Carousel Fund is a Petaluma non-profit organization dedicated to helping families of children with life-threatening illnesses.

Victor Avilla
Landscaper
Petaluma resident Victor M. Avilla died suddenly at his home, Sept. 8, 2004, at the age of 63. Born and brought up in Marin County, he graduated from Marin Catholic High School, and worked for a number of years as a landscaper for the city of Belvedere. He moved with his parents to Petaluma 18 years ago. Mr. Avilla was predeceased by his parents, Victor and Mary Avilla. He is survived by several cousins. At his request, there were no services. Private inurnment was at Calvary Cemetery. Arrangements were by Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory. Memorials are preferred to the Petaluma Animal Shelter, 840 Hopper St., Petaluma, 94952.

John F. Brown
Lt. Col., U.S. Air Force
John F. Brown, past president and life member of the Petaluma Host Lions Club, died May 30, 2003 at his Petaluma home. A native of Oakland, he was 84. A member of the Petaluma community for 30 years, Mr. Brown was a graduate of Oakland High School. He attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated from the University of the Philippines. As a retired lieutenant colonel with the United States Air Force, Mr. Brown received numerous medals and the Air Force Commendation. During World War II he was a prisoner of war in Poland. After his retirement from the military, Mr. Brown worked for Crocker National Bank in Marin County and later in several Petaluma real estate offices. An avid sports fan, Mr. Brown was an original member of the Petaluma Coffee Cuppers. He was proud of his association with the Woodacre Improvement Club and Little League and Pony League coaching positions in Marin County. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Loise Brown; children Linda Martin and Patti Prichard of Petaluma, and John F. Brown Jr. of Alameda; grandfather of 12 and great-grandfather of four. The brother of Winifred Haag of Carmel, Robert Brown of Oakdale and the late William Brown and Doris Neslund, he is also survived by many nephews and nieces. Services have been held, followed by died March 13, 2004, at the age of 94. A native of Gravetty, Ark., she loved crossword puzzles, reading and sewing. Mrs. Donahoo is survived by her children, Jean Nunes of Novato, Keith Donahoo of Petaluma, Joann Wence of Greenfield and Frank Donahoo of Orangevale, 11 grandchildren, 14 great-granhchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. An open house celebration of her life will be held at 1 p.m. March 20 at 923 I St. Arrangements were by Adobe Creek Funeral Home.

Agnes D. Durando
Native Petaluman
Agnes D. Durando, 86, died March 21, 2004 in Petaluma. The daughter of the late Felix and Ellie Durando, Ms. Durando worked for 56 years in several local pharmacies, and developed many friendships as a result. Born and raised here, she was considered a knowledgeable community historian. Sister of the late Joseph Durando and Peter Durando, she is survived by many nieces and nephews. Visitation will be at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. March 24, and on Thursday morning. A funeral liturgy will be held at 2 p.m. March 25 at the mortuary, Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street. died Sunday, Sept. 19, 2004 at the age of 83. Born and brought up in Petaluma, Mrs. Emery worked for many years as a secretary at Kresky Manufacturing, then later at Kresky Sign Co., before retiring in 1979. Active for over 50 years with the Young Ladies Institute (YLI), she was an avid Giants and 49ers fan, and enjoyed her motor home. Mrs. Emery was a former president and secretary of the Top of the Bay SAMS RV group. She leaves her children, John Emery of Petaluma and Diane Hole of Penngrove, five grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren. Mrs. Emery was predeceased by her husband, John Lane Emery, and siblings Marie Petersen and Edward Kimberk. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews. A vigil service takes place at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 22, at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory, followed the next day with an 11 a.m. funeral Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 35 Liberty St. died June 25, 2003, at a local hospital, following a short illness. He was 91. Proud to have lived in Petaluma his entire life, Mr. Giacomini attended St. Vincent schools, and was an Eagle Scout. Later, he was Scoutmaster for Troop 7 for many years. In 1927, he began working for Tomasini Hardware as a plumber, and worked there until 1945. He also worked at a number of local ranches. In 1945, he moved to Adobe Road and ran a dairy there until retiring in 1976. Mr. Giacomini was devoted to his church, first St. Vincent's Parish, later St. James Parish. A past president of the Father's Club, he was active selling Christmas trees and starting bingo games. A founding member of St. James, he turned the first shovel of dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony and, later, started the St. James bingo games. He was also a member of the Italian Catholic Federation No. 127, Knights of Columbus and was the oldest member of the Petaluma Council No. 9, Y.M.I. An avid hunter and fisherman, he enjoyed these activities with his brothers, sons and nephews. Mr. Giacomini was the husband of the late Elizabeth Giacomini, father of Thomas Giacomini of Eureka, Cathy Giovando of Petaluma, Joan Lagle of Sacramento and the late Jon Giacomini. He is survived by siblings Esther Gambonini of Petaluma, Toby Giacomini of Point Reyes Station, Vivian Cetani of San Jose and Ralph Giacomini of Olema; eight grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and many nephews and nieces. He was predeceased by brothers Joseph Giacomini and Waldo Giacomini. Services have been held, with burial at Calvary Catholic Cemetery. The family prefers memorials to the St. James Church building fund, 125 Sonoma Mountain Parkway, Petaluma 94954, or a favorite charity. Arrangements were by Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory.

Alma Gibby
Laundry worker, homemaker
Alma A. Gibby, 86, a much-loved member of the Petaluma community and a parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, died Dec. 22, 2003. A native of Valley Ford, Mrs. Gibby graduated from Petaluma High School in 1935. She went to work ironing clothes at Starlight Laundry. In 1939, she married Clyde Gibby. While her husband served in World War II, she worked at Lace House Linen. Mrs. Gibby became a full-time homemaker when her sons Gary and Richard were born. Her husband worked for the Petaluma Fire Department and managed the Elks Lodge, and she had a well-deserved reputation for hospitality and good food. She was disabled by a stroke in 1974, and in ill health the past several years. In addition to her husband and sons, Mrs. Gibby is survived by four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, brother Alfred Lafranchi and a number of other relatives. Services have been held. died June 16, 2003 in Monrovia, Calif. Born in Omsk, Siberia, Russia in 1916, Mr. Isaak and his family immigrated under the duress of the Russian Revolution to Harbin, Manchuria (China) in 1919, joining the expatriate German Mennonite community there. His father, a physician, re-established in Harbin the hospital confiscated by the Bolsheviks in Omsk. Mr. Isaak immigrated to the United States in 1932, attending Reedley Junior College, then entering the University of California at Berkeley at 17 and graduating with a B.A. in English literature at 19. He went on to receive his master's degree there and joined the faculty as an instructor in English literature. During his graduate studies he wrote film reviews for the San Francisco Examiner and cultivated his lifelong interest in thoroughbred racing, which resulted in the publication of the anthology "Of Horses and Men," a compilation of thoroughbred short stories by such authors as Faulkner and Turgenev, which he edited. He also published articles on thoroughbred breeding in the Thoroughbred Record and wrote poetry all his life. In 1952 he resigned from the Berkeley faculty, announcing to his family that he was "sick of the adolescent mind," and moved to Petaluma to raise chickens. This unsuccessful venture resulted in his entering a second career as a waiter at the Green Mill Inn and subsequently maitre'd at the Blue Boar Inn in San Francisco, a position in which he continued for some 20 years. He also returned to teaching English literature on the faculty of UC Davis, where he also headed the University of California's system-wide Subject A committee addressing deficiencies in the English curriculum of incoming freshman, finally retiring in 1983. In 1988 he married his childhood friend Rita Stehr, who survives him. He is also survived by five children, Natalie Knott of Martinez, Anne Isaak of New York City, Thomas Isaak of Petaluma, Molly Asghar of Petaluma and William Isaak of Petaluma and four grandchildren. Services will be held in Monrovia on June 20.

Thelmer "Tim" Langie
Former manager, Rex Hardware
Thelmer "Tim" Langie, a Petaluma resident for almost 60 years, died Dec. 2, 2003. He was 87. A native of Mayfield, Minn., he had lived in Petaluma since 1945. Manager of Rex Hardware, he retired in 1981. Mr. Langie was a member of the Petaluma Elks Lodge, American Legion and SIRS, and an avid golfer. He was the husband of the late Joan Langie and Josephine Mazza Langie. He is survived by his daughter, Kim Smith, stepson Jerry Mazza, and many nieces and nephews. Services have been held, with inurnment at Cypress Hill Memorial Park. The family prefers memorials to a favorite charity.

Obituaries dated October 20, 2001:

Horace Henris, Owner, Henris Roofing
Thomas J. Lavezzoli, Police officer
Ursula Butler, Sonoma County resident
Myra Cade, Sonoma County resident
Helen Gabriel, Teacher
E. Dean Harms, Long-time resident
Zoe Jacobsen, Mother of three, manager of kitchen at Christian retreat farm

Obituaries dated December 1, 2001:

Dick Lieb, Well-known architectural planner, community volunteer dies of heart failure; memorial service to be held Saturday
Joseph Lawrence Martucci, IRS executive, golfer
Viola Slichter, Longtime Petaluma resident