Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Elizabeth (Peggy) Gregg
Floral designer
Elizabeth Anne "Peggy" Gregg, a floral designer and Sharon Heights resident for 33 years, died November 25 at The Forum Healthcare Center in Cupertino. She was diagnosed a month earlier as having pancreatic cancer. Mrs. Gregg had moved from Sharon Heights to the Forum last June.
Mrs. Gregg spent most of her childhood in Shanghai, China, where her father was in business. She met her future husband, Godfrey Gregg, while a schoolgirl in Shanghai, where both families lived and were friends. She and Mr. Gregg were marriage after she graduated from Stanford University and he graduated from University of California at Berkeley.
The Gregg family moved to Sharon Heights 33 years ago. Mr. Gregg died 27 years ago.
Along with family and friends, Mrs. Gregg's special joy was her garden, according to her son, Peter. She was also a talented flower arranger and floral designer. Together with her good friend Marge Posthauer, they formed a business specializing in flowers for weddings. Mrs. Gregg also often assisted Mrs. Posthauer in creating floral arrangements for the Menlo Country Club.
Mrs. Gregg was a member of Friends of Filoli and Elizabeth Gamble Garden Center, and a sustaining member of the Woodside-Atherton Auxiliary to Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. She will be remembered for her "quiet strength and joy for life that touched all she knew," said her son, Peter. She is survived by her sons, Peter Gregg of Los Altos; Chris Gregg of Bellingham, Washington, and three grandchildren. At her request, there was no funeral service.
Contributions in her memory may be made to Friends of Filoli, Canada Road, Woodside, California, 94062, or to Elizabeth Gamble Garden Center, 1431 Waverley, Palo Alto.
Robert E. McFarland Sr.
Pennsylvania native
Robert E. "Mac" McFarland died November 16 in Menlo Park. He was 88 years old.
A native of Pennsylvania, Mr. McFarland is survived by his wife Clara McFarland; children Kenneth McFarland of Washington, Marilyn McFarland of Menlo Park, and Nancy Mouser of Palo Alto; sisters Marjorie Detwiler of Three Springs, Pennsylvania, and Katheryn Johnson of Rock Creek, Maryland; and two grandchildren.
His son Robert McFarland Jr. died just nine days after his father.
Memorial contributions to further research into lung disease may be made to the Office of Medical Development, Stanford University Medical Center, 770 Welch Road S400, Palo Alto, CA 93404-1545.
Robert McFarland Jr.
Menlo Park resident
Robert "Bud" McFarland Jr. died at his Menlo Park home on November 25. He was 54 years old.
He is survived by his mother, Clara McFarland of Menlo Park; brother Kenneth McFarland of Washington; sisters Marilyn McFarland of Menlo Park and Nancy Mouser of Palo Alto; and son Robert McFarland III.
His father, Robert McFarland Sr., died November 16. Services have been held. Memorial contributions directed toward cirrhosis research may be made to the Office of Medical Development, Stanford University Medical Center, 770 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1515.
John 'Jack' Harlan
Insurance agent
John Sherman "Jack" Harlan of Menlo Park died quietly at home on December 4 at age 79. He had been an area resident for more than 50 years.
Mr. Harlan was born and raised in Trinidad, Colorado. In 1939 he entered the Army Air Corps, which brought him to the Bay Area. It was while he was stationed at Moffet Field that he met and marriage Vivian Erickson of Palo Alto. After the war the couple settled permanently in the Menlo Park area.
For many years Mr. Harlan was affiliated with Friedman & Co. insurance agency in San Francisco, later joining Boring-Reifenrath & Vreeburg Inc. insurance agency in Redwood City. He retired in 1994. Mr. Harlan also served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, retiring as a colonel in 1962.
Mr. Harlan is survived by his wife of 57 years, Vivian; daughters, Patricia Solari of Sunnyvale and Elizabeth Hemmerling of Menlo Park; son, Col. John Harlan Jr. of San Antonio, Texas; two sisters Meredith Davis of San Diego and Elizabeth Harlan of Phoenix; six grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.
A graveside service was held at Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto. Arrangements were made under the direction of Roller, Hapgood & Tinney, Palo Alto. The family requests remembrances in the form of donations to either Mid-Peninsula Hospice Foundation, 65 El Camino Real, Menlo Park; or the American Cancer Society, San Mateo County Unit, 1720 Amphlett Boulevard, San Mateo.
Gladys M. Dodds
Retired schoolteacher
Gladys Dodds, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died at Sharon Heights Convalescent Hospital in Menlo Park November 28 after a long illness. She was 98 years old.
A native of Pacific Grove, she moved with her family to Hollister as a young child. The family later moved to San Jose, where she graduated from high school and then from San Jose Normal (now San Jose State.)
She taught first grade at the Lytton School in Palo Alto for several years until she marriage Lauren H. Dodds, a widower with two children, in 1935. Her husband and stepson, Henry T. Dodds, preceded her in death.
She is survived by her stepdaughter, Martha D. Wheeler of Menlo Park; and her granddaughters Victoria Cone of Leucadia, California; Martha Suihkonen of Boise, Idaho; Barbara Buckley of Ashland, Oregon; Anne Wheeler-Waddell of Ethiopia; and Joan Griffin of Novato, California. She also is survived by eight great-grandchildren.
A date for family services has yet to be set.
Memorial contributions may be made to All Saints Episcopal Church, 555 Waverley Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301.
Arrangements were made under the direction of Roller, Hapgood & Tinney in Palo Alto.
Richard Alvin Jensen
Retired school superintendent
A memorial service for Richard Alvin Jensen, superintendent of the Las Lomitas School District for 21 years and later an advocate on aging issues, will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, December 21, in the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church where he was a longtime member.
Surrounded by family and his pastor, Mr. Jensen died November 27 from complications after his struggle with cancer. He had celebrated his 70th birthday October 5 at a family gathering. He was born and raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
In 1953, Mr. Jensen began his teaching and administrative career with the Las Lomitas School District. He came to Las Lomitas School in Atherton as an eighth-grade teacher after earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in education from the University of Chicago, where he was named a Danforth Foundation Fellow.
He was the assistant principal at Ladera School and a fifth-grade teacher in 1955-56, and returned to Las Lomitas School as principal in 1956.
Mr. Jensen was appointed the elementary district's superintendent in 1965. He completed work for his administrative credential at Stanford University and pursued doctoral studies at the University of California. Berkeley.
During his 21-year tenure as district superintendent, Mr. Jensen early on faced the challenge of managing a growing district with four schools, and later dealing with the district's severely declining enrollment and the closure of two schools, La Loma and Ladera. District enrollment peaked in 1969-70 at 1,600 students, and then began a decline to a low of 567 students in 1984. Current enrollment is 984.
After retiring from the district in 1986, he became an advocate on aging issues, and was selected as California's delegate to the White House Conference on Aging.
He also became involved in leisure activities, such as taking tap and ballroom dance classes, spending time with grandchildren, golfing and surfing on the Internet. He and his wife, Magen Gong-Jensen, traveled from their Palo Alto home to Denmark, the home of his forebears.
Mr. Jensen continued to use his time and talents to serve others as a board member of the Whitney Foundation, chair of the Council of Aging, a member of the Allocations Committee of the United Way of Santa Clara, and on the State Legislative Committee of the Association of Calfornia School Administrators.
He was a regional consultant and coordinator for the American Association of Retired Persons, conducting workshops and conferences throughout the 12 western states, helping others understand the challenges and richness of life after retirement.
He was an active member of the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, serving as a deacon and volunteer greeter. For many years he had lived in Menlo Park.
Mr. Jensen is survived by his wife of 16 years, Magen Gong-Jensen of Palo Alto; his mother, Agneta Jensen of Cedar Falls, Iowa; three children from his marriage with his late wife, Edith Nielsen Jensen: Rodney Jensen of Ben Lomond, Susan Kreutzer of Danville and Kristin Jensen of El Granada; and his extended family of three children, Diana Chan of Los Gatos, Bubba Gong of Palo Alto and Sherrie Taguchi of San Mateo; and eight grandchildren.
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to The Council on Aging of Santa Clara, 2115 The Alameda, San Jose, 95126; Mid-Peninsula Hospice, 201 San Antonio Circle, No. 135, Mountain View, 94040; or Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, 950 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, 94025.
Robert Steiner
Bechtel engineer
Robert O.C. Steiner, 81, who worked on the design and construction of power facilities throughout the world for Bechtel Corp., died Dec. 10 at the Forum in Cupertino. A memorial gathering will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, December 19, at the Forum, 23500 Cristo Rey Drive.
Mr. Steiner and his wife, Dorothy, moved to the Forum two years ago after having a home in Atherton for 45 years.
Born in Nome, Alaska, son of a gold miner and a school teacher, Mr. Steiner financed his college education by returning to Alaska and working on gold dredges. He was a graduate of Sequoia High School and Stanford University with a degree in engineering.
During the 1940s he worked on the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he met his future wife, Dorothy. They were marriage in 1945.
A 29-year employee of Bechtel Corp., Mr. Steiner worked on projects overseas, as well as in the United States. On one of his assignments, he was able to take his wife and children to live in Australia for two-and-a-half years.
After retiring in 1980, he and his wife traveled to many destinations around the world.
Mr. Steiner is survived by his wife Dorothy, son Alan Steiner of San Jose, daughter Barbara Steiner of Augusta, Georgia, and his son from an earlier marriage, Robert Otto Caldwell Jr. of Pleasant Hill.
Mary Helen Richards
Educator through music
Mary Helen Richards, a longtime resident of Portola Valley, died September 26, surrounded by her family.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1921, she grew up with a mischievousness that stemmed from insatiable curiosity, optimism, and a gleeful sense of adventure, say family members.
In 1944 she graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in music. The following year she marriage Cedric W. Richards (Ricky) and began a career in teaching music in the public schools. In 1946 they moved to California, where they lived for the rest of her life.
In 1962, Mrs. Richards visited Zoltan Kodaly in Budapest, Hungary, where she studied his methods of teaching music. She based her own philosophy of teaching on Kodaly's methods.
As her work evolved, she established the Richards Institute of Music Education and Research, a nonprofit organization with branches in many parts of the world. She called her way of teaching "Education Through Music" or ETM, and wrote 17 books to support her ideas.
The University of Nebraska awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1978. As a result of her work, say family members, she will be remembered and loved by countless teachers and students throughout the world.
In addition to being dedicated to her work, Mrs. Richards was a "loving, exciting and often surprising wife, mother, and friend," says her son John Richards. "With her undying optimism and belief in the goodness of humankind, she managed to convey the concept of joy and a great love of life to many people."
She is survived by her husband Ricky; their four children, Trudi, John, Suzanne and Robin; and seven grandchildren: Galen, Katie, Jenny, Megan, Juan, Benjamin and Kara. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, October 17, at Ladera Community Church in Portola Valley.
Kent Auge Zimmerman
Psychiatrist
A memorial service will be held October 11 for Dr. Kent Auge Zimmerman, who died September 21 after a brief illness. He was 86.
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Dr. Zimmerman received a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. His interest in pediatric medicine and psychiatry developed during medical training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and subsequent study at Johns Hopkins Hospital and New York Hospital.
During World War II he served in the Navy and Merchant Marine under the auspices of the U.S. Public Health Service. After the war he became the director of the U.S. Children's Bureau Mental Health Unit in Washington, D.C.
Returning to California in 1946, he joined the California Department of Public Health, rising to the position of chief of the Mental Health Service. In 1954, he began 23 years as chief of psychiatry and clinical director of family guidance services at Children's Hospital of the East Bay.
During this time, he also had a private practice specializing in working with children and families. He served as lecturer at Stanford and UCSF medical schools, and also held numerous positions in professional organizations with local, county, state and international scope.
He is survived by his wife Katherine Cook Zimmerman of Menlo Park; his sister Mary Roche of Springfield, Mass.; his daughter Katherine Miles Lincoln of La Canada; his sons Kevin of Berkeley, Eric of Potter Valley, and Jeff of Lafayette; four grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren.
Services will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, October 11. Memorial donations may be sent to the Children's Hospital Foundation of Oakland.
Willard "Bill" Gere
Geologist
Willard C. "Bill" Gere died in Menlo Park September 20 at the age of 77.
A native of Kansas, Mr. Gere served in the U.S. Army during World War II. A graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree in geology, he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington, D.C., and Menlo Park for 30 years. He was a member of the American Association of Petro-Geology, and was known to have "liked the entire Earth, but preferred the crust."
Family services were held at Holy Cross Cemetery under the direction of John D. O'Connor's Menlo Colonial Chapel. Memorial donations may be sent to ACT for Mental Health, a nonprofit organization for low-income adults and children who are mentally disturbed, at 441 Park Ave., San Jose, CA 95111.
Elena Dovydenas Fiant
Longtime librarian
A memorial celebration of the life of Elena Dovydenas Fiant, longtime librarian in San Mateo County, will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, October 10, at the Pescadero Community Church.
Ms. Fiant, longtime head librarian at the Half Moon Bay Library, died September 30 at her home in La Honda after a lengthy battle with ovarian cancer. She was 61.
She worked as a librarian in the San Mateo County library system since 1966, starting as children's librarian in San Carlos. Subsequently, she was bayside regional librarian for Portola Valley, Woodside, and Brisbane.
In Half Moon Bay, Ms. Fiant was librarian from 1978 until her retirement in 1995, which followed a serious fight against cancer in 1993 and 1994.
A native of Lithuania, she came with her family to the United States after World War II when she was 12 years old. She grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, attended Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, and received a master's degree in library science from Columbia in 1960.
Ms. Fiant began her library career while still in high school, working as a page at the age of 15 for 50 cents an hour. After graduate school and before coming to California, she served as librarian at E. Paterson Union High School in New Jersey, and as children's librarian at Brooklyn and Summit public libraries.
"Elena's great gifts of knowing truth and living with honor, to which all who knew her can testify, were attributable to her insight into things of the spirit," said her sister. "Another gift was her deep love of literature and reading and her passion for sharing that with others.
"Elena was a great believer in fostering a sense of community wherever she went, and the number of friends and acquaintances who survive her is countless."
Ms. Fiant is survived by her parents, Elena and Liudas Dovydenas of Vilnius, Lithuania; a brother, Jonas Dovydenas of Lennox, Massachusetts; a sister, Liuda Dovydenas of Brookline, Massachusetts, who stayed with her through her last days; and two nieces and a nephew; and many dear friends.
A potluck supper in the Pescadero church hall will follow the October 10 memorial celebration. Ms Fiant sang in the choir at Pescadero Community Church for many years.
In place of flowers, the family prefers contributions to the Sempervirens Fund, P.O. Drawer BE, Los Altos, CA 94023; the Pescadero Community Church; or a favorite environmental fund.
Margo Windt
Library volunteer
Graveside services will be held Wednesday, December 30, for Margo Windt, who died December 28. She was 85 years old.
Born in Hungary, Mrs. Windt lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and worked first with her husband, Edmond Windt, in their florist and landscape business and later in the language laboratory at Temple University before moving to Menlo Park.
She was a resident of Menlo Park for 14 years, volunteering for many years at Hillel Foundation at Stanford University and at the Menlo Park Library, family members said.
She is survived by her children Judith Windt of Menlo Park and Paul Windt of Allentown, Pennsylvania; granddaughter Rebecca Nathenson of Redwood City; and siblings Klari Friedman of Israel, Aranka Szekeres of Mt. Kisco, and Bela Grunwald of Israel. A sister, Olga Neuman, preceded her in death.
Services will be held at Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo at 2 p.m. Arrangements were made by Sinai Memorial Chapel.
George O. Gutohrlein
Longtime resident of Menlo Park
George O. Gutohrlein, a 37-year resident of Menlo Park, died December 17. He was 73 years old.
A native of New York City, Mr. Gutohrlein is survived by his wife, Zell Gutohrlein; his children George G. Gutohrlein of Clinton, Washington, and Karin Chase of Cupertino; a step-daughter, Betty Wright of San Francisco; a brother, Gene Gutohrlein of Miami; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Services have been held. Arrangements were made by Crippen & Flynn Chapel of Redwood City.
Brunetta Terry
Menlo Bake Shop owner
Brunetta Terry, a 45-year resident who once co-owned the Menlo Bake Shop with her husband, died December 21. She was 83 years old.
A native of San Francisco, Mrs. Terry was a member of the St. Raymond's Bridge Club, Sweet Charity Bridge Club, and I.C.F. of Menlo Park.
She is survived by her children Nancy Terry, Madeline Lucas, and Edmond Terry Jr; three nieces; and two nephews. Her husband, Edmond Terry Sr., preceded her in death.
Services were held under the direction of Spangler Mortuaries in Menlo Park. Memorial donations may be made to the Mid-Peninsula Hospice, 65 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
