Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Walter Jelich Jr.
Portola Valley pioneer
It was the end of an era for Portola Valley when Water Jelich Jr., whose fruit orchards have been a valley landmark for generations, died January 5 in Stanford Hospital after a month's illness. He was 84.
Born in 1915, Mr. Jelich was the oldest resident of Portola Valley who was actually born there. He was an old-time farmer who worked his own land himself, and grew apples and pears and apricots that drew people from all over the Bay Area.
"He was tough. He worked every day of his life," recalls his daughter, Jeanne Ladley, who still lives up the street. "He really loved working at the ranch."
"He was a real institution, a gentleman of the old school, polite and helpful," says Bill Lane, one of Portola Valley's founders who remembers being given apples at the ranch during scout trips in the 1930s. "He was just great with kids."
Walter Jelich's story is a story of Portola Valley over the last century. His father, Walter Jelich Sr., emigrated from Croatia near the turn of the 20th century and set up farming at the foot of the hills where the Jelich Ranch still raises a few apples today.
He was followed by other emigrants from Croatia -- Skrabos, Duzanicas, Jurians -- tough, hard-working folk who farmed the valley and worked the big estates.
Amazingly, the family has stayed together, even to the fifth generation. Zelda, Walter Jelich's wife of 57 years, their two daughters and their husbands, together with three grandchildren and one great-grandchild, still live within a mile of the old Jelich Ranch in Portola Valley.
Walter grew up working the ranch with his three brothers and sister. He attended school in the historic, one-room "Little White Schoolhouse." In an interview three years ago, he remembered driving a little four-wheel racing car around the baseball field. Asked the high point in his school careers, he replied succinctly, "Girls."
The Croatian community in Portola Valley was very close and supported each other in happy and hard times. The late John Skrabo and others recalled Christmases, when the Croatians would start with Mass at Our Lady of the Wayside. They would then continue to each family's house in turn, where they would eat and drink and sing Croatian songs. "That night everyone would gather at Walter Jelich's house -- which is still beside the fruit stand for more eating and drinking and Croatian dances."
Walter Jelich later attended Sequoia High School, where he played tackle on the Cherokees football team.
About that time he met his future wife, whose father was a hay farmer outside of Redwood City where Canada College is now. Mrs. Jelich remembers after she was Redwood City's first Rodeo Queen in 1940, Walter drove with her to Salinas to compete in the California Outdoor Girl contest. She came in fourth in horsemanship, and marriage Walter two years later.
Walter Jelich was the kind of farmer you don't see today. He plowed fields and grew hay all over Portola Valley, including the meadow at the foot of Windy Hill and over Westridge before it was developed. "He loved his tractor," Mrs. Jelich says.
Besides managing his own orchards, Mr. Jelich took care of other orchards all over the Peninsula, from San Jose to Woodside to La Honda, for owners who couldn't care for them.
Thanks to Walter Jelich's love of children, thousands of adults from Portola Valley and the Bay Area have happy memories of visits to the ranch. For Brenda Lane, now Brenda Munks of Woodside, it was feeding the Jelich pigs. For junior trail riders, it was being given an apple as they rode by. For Eddy Cohen it was being able to ride his horse to the Jelich Ranch, and work there summers and winter weekends, and have lunches in the ranch house with the family and other young people.
"I've been riding my horse over there for 35 years," says Mr. Cohen, who operates a boarding stable on Stanford land adjacent to the freeway.
And for children in the 70s and 80s, it was visiting the Jelich ranch before Halloween to pick a pumpkin and receive an apple -- personally shined by Walt Jelich in his mechanical apple polisher -- to munch on.
Mrs. Ladley remembers that she and her sister Joyce used to take reservations for schools from all over the Bay Area to visit the ranch at pumpkin time. "Buses lined up along Portola Road. The orchard was packed with kids," she recalls. "But it got to be too much."
In recent years as Mr. Jelich has not been able to do as much, his daughter Joyce and her husband Jack Pilkington, who live at the old ranch house, have kept up the property somewhat, but the remaining orchards are old and run down. They are no longer selling apples.
Until just recently, Mr. Cohen enjoyed driving Mr. Jelich to Half Moon Bay and the Coast to visit the farms and orchards he loved so much. "Walter truly was a man of the land, and a devoted husband and father," he says.
Mr. Jelich is survived by his wife, Zelda of Portola Valley; his brother, Ed Jelich of Walnut Creek; daughters Joyce Pilkington and Jeanne Ladley of Portola Valley; grandchildren Karry Ladley, Shawn Forrest, and Frank Pilkington; and great grand-daughter Megan.
Mr. Jelich was remembered at a Rosary at Crippen and Flynn January 9, and a funeral Mass at Our Lady of the Wayside Church January 10.
The family prefers donations to a charity of choice.
Ray Richardson
Respected homicide investigator
Memorial services for tenacious homicide investigator Ray Richardson will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, January 13, at St. Pius Church, 1100 Woodside Road in Redwood City.
A 29-year veteran of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, Lt. Richardson died on January 5 of an apparent heart attack. He was 55.
Lt. Richardson is best known as the down-to-earth, determined investigator who cracked some of the Bay Area's toughest cases, including a number of high-profile homicides, according to Lt. Don Leed of the Sheriff's Office.
Locally, he was known as part of the team that tracked down the murderer of Menlo Park's Vincent Damante and Atherton's Edward Colley, both in 1996. Charles Joseph Miller was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murders.
"We're still in shock, there's no question about that," said an emotional Lt. Leed last week. "Ray was just a fantastic guy. Anybody who knew him would say that professionally, he was the best. The best."
Stephen William Veitch
World War II vet
Services for Stephen William Veitch of Atherton are set for Wednesday, January 12, at 3 p.m. at St. Bede's Episcopal Church, 2650 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park.
Mr. Veitch died January 6 at the age of 73.
He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and in the Air Force during the Korean War. He later attended Stanford University's law school and graduated in 1957.
Mr. Veitch was chairman of the board of directors of San Francisco-based Van Strum and Towne, Investment Counselors, where he worked for 40 years. He also served as chairman of the Oxnard Foundation, and was a board member of the Holt Foundation.
An active member of the Menlo Circus Club, he also belonged to the Pacific Union Club, Villa Taverna and the Napoleonic Alliance.
Mr. Veitch is survived by his wife Nancy; a son, Christopher Veitch of Balboa, California; a daughter, Julie Veitch of Carmel; a sister, Caroline Mead of Albuquerque; and three grandchildren.
The family prefers that memorial donations be made to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, 200 Pine St., suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94104.
Tod Surmon
Stanford wrestler
Tod Surmon of Menlo Park, a former Stanford wrestler, died of electrocution on January 1 while climbing an electric pole on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas. He was 26.
Born in Albany, Oregon, Mr. Surmon moved to Menlo Park in 1993. He attended Stanford University, where he was a 1996 All American wrestler, rated fifth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and first in the Pac-10 at 142 pounds.
He took first place in the Midlands Wrestling Championships, held in Chicago on December 29 and 30. Mr. Surmon was celebrating the win with friends in Las Vegas just before his death.
In 1996, Mr. Surmon earned a bachelor's degree in computer systems engineering from Stanford. He was a computer programmer at Aeris Communications in San Jose. Up until his death, he was wrestling with the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club at Stanford.
Mr. Surmon is survived by his parents, David and Linda Surmon of Albany, Oregon; his sisters, Dawn DeFord and Amber Surmon of Albany; his grandmother, Anita Surmon of Lebanon, Oregon; his grandmother, Patricia Smith of Federal Way, Washington; and his grandparents, Howard and Flora Smith of Brookings, Oregon.
Funeral arrangements were made by Fisher Funeral Home of Albany, Oregon. Contributions to the Tod Surmon Wrestling Fund can be sent to Fisher Funeral Home, 306 SW Washington, Albany, OR 97321.
Edward B. Arntsen
Retired airline pilot
Edward B. "Buzz" Arntsen, a Woodside resident and retired airline pilot, died at his home January 4. He was 81.
Mr. Arntsen was a captain for United Airlines for 38 years, and a Woodside resident since 1961. After his retirement, he enjoyed traveling, working on mission and Christian service projects, and spending time with his grandchildren.
Mr. Arntsen is survived by his wife of 53 years Alice; his children Mary, Bob and Martha; and eight grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, his family prefers that memorial donations be made to Partners International, P.O. Box 15025, San Jose, CA 95115-0025; Mission Aviation Fellowship, Box 3202, Redlands, CA 92373-0065; or MidPeninsula Pathways Hospice Foundations, 65 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
A memorial service was held at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.
Madeline Carcione
Madeline Carcione
Active in community and church organizations
A Mass of Christian Burial is set for 10 a.m. Tuesday, January 18, at St. Raymond Church, Menlo Park, for Madeline Marie Carcione of Atherton, who died January 13 at Stanford Medical Center. She was 85.
Mrs. Carcione was the first president of St. Raymond's Mothers' Club, a past president of the Atherton Dames and the TSG club of San Francisco, and active in numerous organizations, from serving as a Cub Scout den mother to volunteering as a "pink lady" at Stanford Medical Center.
She funded the St. Raymond's Youth Center and the Student Union at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. Both are named in memory of her husband, television personality Joe Carcione, The Green Grocer, who died 11 years ago. The youth center, serves as many as 100 teen-agers a day, who drop in to talk over everything from career choice to crisis intervention with its youth minister.
Born in Monte Rio, Mrs. Carcione lived in San Francisco for many years before moving to Atherton 33 years ago. She and Mr. Carcione were marriage in 1937. When raising her family in San Francisco, she was president of the Mothers' Club and Sodality at St. Anne of the Sunset Church.
Mrs. Carcione is survived by three children: Barbara Carcione Erle of San Mateo; Peter M. Carcione of San Carlos; and Joseph W. Carcione Jr. of Menlo Park. Of her nine grandchildren, Joseph W. Carcione III is owner of the Juice Patch in downtown Menlo Park and John Carcione is president of the West Bay Sanitary District Board. She is also survived by eight great-grandchildren.
Entombment was to be in Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to the Bellarmine College Preparatory Scholarship Fund or to St. Raymond's Youth Center, 1100 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park.
Dorothy Fossum
Homemaker
Private services were to be held for Dorothy K. Fossum of Menlo Park, who died January 13. She was 87.
Mrs. Fossum, who was born in Rockford, Illinois, is survived by daughters Nanci Odishoo of Menlo Park and Caryl Carlig of Florida; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to Ronald McDonald House, 520 Sand Hill Road, Palo Alto, 94304, or MidPeninsula Pathways Hospice Foundation, 65 El Camino Real, Menlo Park 94025.
Myrtle Reese
Former Menlo resident, ballerina
A memorial service for Myrtle Reese, a 15-year Menlo Park resident, will be held at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, January 20, at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, located at 960 Santa Cruz Ave.
Mrs. Reese died of Alzheimer's Disease at Lytton Gardens in Palo Alto on January 8. She was 94.
Born in Evanston, Illinois, as one of three daughters, Mrs. Reese danced in touring New York productions as a prima ballerina, according to family members. She also worked as a salesperson in an apparel store. She moved from Berkeley to Menlo Park in order to be closer to her daughter, Marilyn Wong, a teacher at Laurel School.
Mrs. Reese is survived by her daughter Marilyn Wong and her husband Herbert; two grandchildren; and a nephew.
The family prefers that memorial donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association, Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, 330 Distal Circle, Suite A, Los Altos, CA 94022; or to Rosener House, 1060 Middle Ave., Menlo Park CA 94025.
Margaret M. "Midge" Valenti
Menlo Park resident
A funeral Mass for Margaret M. "Midge" Valenti will be held Wednesday, January 19, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Denis Catholic Church, located at 2250 Avy Ave. in Menlo Park, followed by Interment at the Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery.
There will be a visitation beginning at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, January 18, with a vigil service at 7:30 p.m. at the Redwood Chapel, 847 Woodside Road, in Redwood City.
Mrs. Valenti died at her home in Menlo Park on January 14, at the age of 58. A San Francisco native, she was the daughter of the late Kathleen M. and Oscar O. Otto.
Mrs. Valenti is survived by her husband of 38 years, Peter J. Valenti.
Robert Leaver
Chevron executive
Robert Neely Leaver of Menlo Park, who worked for the Chevron Corporation for 37 years, died January 18. He was 79.
Mr. Leaver was born in Salt Lake City. He was an Eagle Scout and, at 16, moved to Palo Alto to attend Stanford University on a full academic scholarship. He received an MBA from the university in 1941. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
A resident of Menlo Park for 43 years, Mr. Leaver is survived by his wife of 56 years, Joan; and seven children: Grady of Pacifica; Michael-Ann of Berkeley; Janet of Mountain View; Cindy of Fairfield, Iowa; Pat of Moorpark; Scott of Orange; Mark of Menlo Park; and 11 grandchildren.
Private services will be held. The family prefers memorials be made to The Father O'Halloran Scholarship Fund at Mercy High School, Burlingame; The Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford; or a charity of the donor's choice.
Betty G. Lynch
Musician and writer
Betty G. Lynch, a longtime resident of Atherton, died January 13 at age 78. A private memorial service will be held.
Mrs. Lynch was born in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, and spent her childhood in Pennsylvania and Ohio. She graduated from Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia, and worked for the Cunard Steamship Company in Cleveland before marrying Harry C. Lynch in 1950.
Active with the Junior League of Cleveland, she continued that relationship with the Junior League of Palo Alto when she moved to Atherton in 1961. Her family remembers her as a courageous woman who survived two bouts of cancer when she was in her 40s.
Mrs. Lynch had a passion for writing, documenting her life in personal journals. She particularly enjoyed creating poems and limericks, often substituting family-related lyrics to the tunes of popular songs. She played the harp and piano. "Music and song abounded in her home," says a family member.
A longtime member of the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, Mrs. Lynch is survived by her husband of 49 years, Harry; daughter Holly Lynch of Redwood City; son Loring Lynch of Fremont; and four grandchildren.
Memorials contributions may be made to the Betty Lynch Fund, American Cancer Society, 235 Montgomery St., #320, San Francisco, CA 94104.
Rudolph Epprecht
Master mechanic
Services were held January 21 for Rudolph A. Epprecht of Woodside, who died January 17. He was 71.
Mr. Epprecht was a master mechanic and a member of Operating Engineers Union, Local #3. A native of San Francisco, he resided in Woodside for 39 years.
Survivors include daughter Mary Jones of Redwood City; son Todd Epprecht of Coberg, Oregon; twin sister Helen Epprecht of San Francisco; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Crippen & Flynn of Redwood City. Internment was a Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma. Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1720 South Amphlett Blvd., #220, San Mateo 94402.
Robert Fitzjames Faulkner
Ophthalmologist, veteran
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 29, at the Congregational Church of San Mateo, 225 Tilton Avenue, San Mateo, for Dr. Robert Fitzjames Faulkner of Atherton, who died in Palo Alto January 7 from complications of Parkinson's Disease. He was 74.
Born in San Mateo, Dr. Faulkner earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in optometry from U.C. Berkeley. He received his medical degree from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1957. He practiced ophthalmology for many years in San Mateo.
Dr. Faulkner served in the U.S. Army during World War II, where he received the Bronze Star for valor, according to family members. He later served in the U.S. Army's medical service at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco and at Fort Wainright Hospital in Fairbanks, Alaska.
He was a diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology, and was a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Medical Association, the California Medical Association, and the San Mateo Medical Society. Dr. Faulkner published research articles in the Journal of Neurophysiology and the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
Dr.Faulkner was a former assistant clinical professor of surgery at Stanford University and a consultant to the California State Medical Board.
His family remembers him as an ardent student of history, science and the arts with a passion for music, travel and gardening.
Dr. Faulkner is survived by his wife of 49 years, Marion; son, Brian of Costa Mesa; daughters, Gwendolyn of Menlo Park and Cynthia; brother Thomas Faulkner; and four granddaughters.
The family prefers that memorial contributions be made to the National Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Box 450, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006.
Services for T. Kevin Mallen
A memorial service for T. Kevin Mallen, who died at his Menlo Park home on January 18, will be held on Wednesday, January 25, at 6:30 p.m. at the Church of the Nativity, located at 210 Oak Grove Ave. in Menlo Park. Following the service, a wake will be held at Little House, 800 Middle Ave., Menlo Park. A requiem Mass will be held on Thursday, January 26, at 10 a.m. at the Church of the Nativity.
