Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Dannie Juanita Kay
A former St. Helena Teen Center chaperone and one-time owner of Dannie Kay Laundry, Dannie Juanita Kay, died in Angwin Dec. 6. She was 93.
Ms. Kay, a native of Oklahoma, was a graduate of Oklahoma St. University and taught school for 12 years before moving to Wichita and going to work at Boeing Aircraft. Following a move to Oakland she worked as production manager for Oakland Towel Company and in 1950 moved to St. Helena and took over the management of the Old Steam Laundry. In 1974 she built the laundry on Oak Avenue that bore her name. She served as a chaperone for the Teen Center for 10 years and was a member of Soroptimist International and the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce.
She is survived by a sister, Christine Clark, of Tahlequah, Okla.
Allen K. Parks
Funeral services were held at Morrison Funeral Chapel Dec. 8. for Allen Kennedy Parks, who died at St. Helena Hospital Dec. 3. He was 80.
A native of Sacramento, Mr. Parks worked for Pacific Bell Telephone Company in St. Helena and Napa for 42 years until his retirement as fleet supervisor. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge of St. Helena, and an avid hunter of abalone and mushrooms.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Norma; two sons, Richard Parks of Middletown and Patrick Parks of Sebastopol; a daughter, Valerie Truscott of Sacramento; a stepson, Calvin Buss of Florence, Ore.; two sisters, Dorothy Newbell and Betty Leeper, both of Sacramento; 17 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by two sons, William A. Parks and Paul E. Parks.
Arrangements by Morrison Funeral Chapel.
Jose Barajas-Macias
Services were held at the St. Helena Catholic Church for Jose DeJesus Barajas-Macias, who died Dec. 11 in Yountville. He was 23.
A native of Jalisco, Mexico, he graduated from the Bell High School in Bell, Calif., and was a member at the St. John’s Catholic Church of Napa.
Mr. Barajas-Macias was employed as a prep cook at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena.
His parents, Jesus and Margarita Macias Baragas of Fontana, Calif., said they will remember him as a kind and loving man who worked hard to succeed.
In addition to his parents he is survived by two brothers, Miguel Angel Barajas of Long Beach and Juan Barajas of Fontana; sisters Maria Barajas of Middletown, Griselda Barajas of Bell and Margarita Barajas of Stockton; and seven nephews.
Interment was in the Holy Cross Cemetery, St. Helena.
Arrangements by Morrison Funeral Chapel.
Homer Denton
A memorial service will be held at the St. Helena Masonic Temple, 1335 Main St., St. Helena, Saturday, Dec. 22., at 2 p.m. for longtime St. Helena resident Homer Denton, who died at his home Monday, his family at his side.
Mr. Denton is survived by his wife, Helen; a son, Dan, of Pope Valley; two grandchildren; a brother, Don Denton and a sister, Nadine Faria, both of Grants Pass, Ore..
Mr. Denton served consecutive terms on the Napa County Planning Commission and was a member of the St. Helena American Legion as well as the Disabled American Veterans.
Arrangements by Morrison Funeral Chapel.
John A. Mazza
Funeral Mass was celebrated Wednesday at St. Helena Catholic Church for John A. Mazza, who died Dec. 16. He was 84.
Mr. Mazza was the fourth of six children born to Filomena and Rocco Mazza of Willard, Ohio.
He graduated from Mansfield High School in 1935 and three years later joined the Ohio National Guard. He saw active duty from September 1940 through July of 1941. The following year he enlisted in the Army Air Force, trained as a flight engineer/gunner, was promoted to tech sargent and in February 1944, was sent to Italy, where he was assigned to the 301st Bomb Group of the 15th Air Force. He flew 51 combat missions over Italy, Germany and Eastern Europe, including four missions to Ploesti, between February and July 1944. He was rotated home in 1944 and marriage Rosemary Wood.
Mr. Mazza was recalled to active duty briefly in 1951 and remained in the reserves until 1963. In civilian life he worked as a service engineer at Ford Motor Company in Richmond, Calif., instructing automobile mechanics.
He and his wife moved to St. Helena in 1965. Follow-ing his retirement in 1980, he enjoyed model railroading, traveling and building/restoring clocks.
He was active in the American Legion Post 199, did volunteer work with the St Helena Hospital and restored aircraft at the Travis AFB museum.
In addition to his wife of 57 years he is survived by sons John Jr. of San Francisco and Michael of Lafayette; daughters Kathryn of Maryland and Jean of Florida; two grandchildren Mike and Elizabeth; a sister, Jenny, of Ohio, and a brother, Joe, of Florida.
Arrangements by Morr-ison Funeral Chapel.
Helen Portolas Alissandratos
There will be a memorial service Dec. 15 in Milwaukee, Wis. for Helen Portolas Alissandratos, who died Nov. 20. She was 87.
Born in Milwaukee to John and Vassiliki Portolas, Mrs. Alissandratos graduated from Holy Angels Academy in Milwaukee and briefly attended Marquette University. Mrs. Alissandratos served in the US Department of Defense in Austria, France and Turkey, later moving with her daughter and granddaughter to Miami, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Las Vegas and later St. Helena.
Mrs. Alissandratos is survived by her daughter Alexandra Alissandratos Turkington of St. Helena; her granddaughter, Vittoria d’Aste-Surcouf of New York City, and her son-in-law, Ned Turkington.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be send to the Helen Portolas Alissandratos Scholarship Fund, c/o Mount Mary College, Development Office, 2900 North Menomonee River Parkway, Milwaukee, Wis. 53222.
Arrangements by Morrison Funeral Chapel.
Jean Ariel Gross Larkin
A memorial service was held for Jean Ariel Gross Larkin on Dec. 20, resident of St. Helena, who died on Dec. 16. She was 74.
Born to Robert and Clara Gross in Topeka, Kans., in 1928, Mrs. Larkin was a former resident of Sycamore and Glen Ellyn, Ill., before moving near her children three years ago. Mrs. Larkin was the owner of the Storeybook Antiques and Books in Sycamore, Ill., for 25 years, the member of Caxton Book Club in Chicago, Ill., author and editor of "Pages From Storeybook," and a member of the Grace Episcopal Church of St. Helena.
Mrs. Larkin is survived by three daughters, Barbara Larkin, of Napa, Midge Sheahan and Jody Smith of Shawnee, Okla.; and five grandchildren, Brandy, Stacey, Heidi, Mike and Eric; to brothers, Phil Gross, of Costa Mesa, Calif., and Dr. Robert Gross, of Las Vegas Nev. Mrs. Larkin is preceded in death by her husband Storey Larkin and daughter, Marilyn.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Grace Episcopal Church, 1314 Spring Street, St. Helena, CA 94574.
Arrangements made by Morrison Funeral Chapel.
Clare Ann McCann Talcott
A Funeral Mass was held on Saturday, Dec. 21, for Clare Ann McCan Talcott of St. Helena, who died on Dec. 17.
Mrs. Talcott moved to St. Helena in December of 1946 when her husband opened his practice in Veterinary Medicine in their home on Meadowood Lane. She was active in the YLI, the Altar Society and taught Catechism at the St. Helena Catholic Church.
Mrs. Talcott was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Robert Talcott, who died in 1978. Mrs. Talcott is survived by her sister, Sister Mary Esther McCann; her four children, Suzanne Anderson, of Seattle, Wash., Father Peter Talcott, of St. Helena, Dr. James Talcott, of St. Helena, and Sarah Randt, of Beijing, China; her eight grandchildren, Eleanor Anderson of Seattle, Wash., Christian Anderson, of Boca Raton, Janet Benegiamo, of Rome, Italy, Max Talcott of St. Helena, Adrian Talcott, of St. Helena, Clark Randt, Paul Randt and Clare Randt all of Beijing, China; and four great-grandchildren.
Arrangements by Claffey and Rota Funeral Home.
Sylvan A. Jacques, M.D.
A memorial service for Sylvan A. Jacques, M.D., will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 27, at the St. Helena Cemetery, 2461 Spring Street, St. Helena, with his brother, Pastor Oliver Jacques, officiating. He was 80.
Dr. Jacques served in the U.S. Army during World War II from 1943 to 1948. He marriage Muriel Alice Coult on March 31, 1946, in Alhambra, Calif., and graduated from Loma Linda University in family practice in 1947. Dr. Jacques practiced medicine in Lamont, Calif., from 1948 to 1951, in Baldwin Park, Calif., from 1951 to 1955, served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Ala., from 1955 to 1957, then returned to Baldwin Park until 1977. Moving to Deer Park with his wife in 1977, Dr. Jacques worked at the St. Helena Hospital emergency department until 1984, when they moved to Santa Rosa. After an automobile accident in 1993 triggered Parkinson’s disease, the couple moved to Visalia in 1997 to be near their son, Jon and his family. Dr. Jacques was a member of the Visalia Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Dr. Jacques is survived by his wife, Muriel Jacques of Visalia; his children, sons Sylvan Jacques, Jr. and Jonathan Jacques; daughters Janice Jacques (Jan), and Lisa Jacques Sochos; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Arrangements by Morrison Funeral Chapel.
Marjorie Dillon Gillespie
Marjorie Dillon Gillespie died December 16, 2002, in Saint Helena, at age 92. A twenty-year Angwin resident, she was a Pacific Union College Seventh-day Adventist Church member.
Born April 16, 1910, in Phoenix, Arizona, the daughter of native California pioneers Isaac Parry Dillon, a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist in the West and a missionary in Cuba, and Edith Bond Dillon. Marjorie lived in Cuba for two years and then lived and attended schools in many California and Arizona places. She graduated from the Pacific Union College Norman Course in 1931 and Humboldt State University in 1960. For over 40 years, mostly after her marriage to the late James Gillespie, who was her college classmate and a teacher, she taught elementary school in California, the Southwest, and Alaska.
She was the mother of three children, a late son, Stanton Gillespie, of Zacatecas, Mexico; a daughter, Zoe Glavach, of Cloverdale; and a son, Dr. Donald Gillespie, of Saint Joseph, Michigan. In addition to her daughter and son, her survivors are son-in-law Dr. Matthew Glavach, daughter-in-law Sharon Gillespie, five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, other relatives, and many friends.
A memorial service will be held in Angwin on a future date. Memorial contributions may be made to the Pacific Union College Worthy Student Fund, Pacific Union College, Angwin, California 94508.
Arrangements are being cared for by Morrison Funeral Chapel, St. Helena 963-3536.
