Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Rudolph Horst
Physicist, Woodside resident
Rudolph Horst, a physicist, died January 30 at Sequoia Hospital. He was 71.
Born in Germany, Mr. Horst lived in Woodside for the past 13 years. He was a member of the Palo Alto Elks Lodge, the Lyratones Big Band, the Palo Alto Community Band, the Los Altos Town Band and the Woodside Village Band.
Mr. Horst is survived by his wife M. Barbara Horst; his daughters Nadiene Horst-Van Dyke of New Orleans and Dawn Horst-Reyen of Redwood City; his sons R. David Horst of Missouri, Shawn D. Horst of El Salvador and Eric B. Horst of Mountain View; and seven grandchildren.
Private services were held. The family prefers memorial donations be made to the donor's favorite charity.
Irene Saperstein
Retired social worker
Irene Saperstein, a longtime resident of Portola Valley and retired social worker for the Veterans Affairs hospitals in Menlo Park and Palo Alto, died January 25 at the Stanford Hospice. She was 71.
Mrs. Saperstein worked in various departments of the hospitals, including long-term care, neurology, hospice care and spinal-injury care.
She managed the home-care program for spinal injuries out of the Palo Alto veterans hospital, and was one of the founders of the social work group of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Mrs. Saperstein also taught English as a second language at the Menlo Park Public Library.
Born in Binghamton, New York, Mrs. Saperstein grew up in Brooklyn. The Sapersteins first came to California in 1948, then lived in Elgin, Illinois, and Hartsdale, New York, before returning to Portola Valley in 1971. Mrs. Saperstein completed her college work at San Jose State University and earned a master's degree in social work at San Francisco State University. She was licensed in social work by the state of California.
Mrs. Saperstein is survived by her husband Sidney; three children, Susan of San Francisco; Karen of Tacoma, Washington; and son Mark of Santa Monica; and a granddaughter. She is also survived by four sisters and a brother.
A memorial service will be held on her birthday, Sunday, March 5.
Helen McCaffrey
Allstate employee
Private services were held for Helen M. McCaffrey of Menlo Park, who died January 19. She was 74.
Mrs. McCaffrey was a native of Kansas and had lived in Menlo Park for 50 years. She was employed by Allstate Insurance for 41 years, retiring in 1989.
Survivors include her son Terry G. McCaffrey of Menlo Park; sisters Margaret McMillian and Mary Christianson, both of Kansas; and brother Richard Noone, also of Kansas. Her husband of 38 years, Hugh McCaffrey, preceded her in death.
Services were under the direction of John O'Connor's Menlo Colonial Chapel. Memorials may be made to San Mateo County Catholic Charities, 600 Columbia Drive, San Mateo, CA, 94402.
T. Ron Nisbet
Silicon Valley entrepreneur
Private family services were held for T. Ron Nisbet, who died at his Menlo Park home January 27. He was 82.
A native of Great Britain, Mr. Nisbet served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and emigrated to Australia after the war.
He came to San Francisco in 1956 and worked for several engineering companies, including Alto Scientific Company, Shockley Semiconductor Corporation, and Lockheed Corporation. In 1960 he co-founded Edex Corporation.
Mr. Nisbet's hobbies included becoming a licensed amatuer radio operator, beginning in Scotland in 1935, and renewing his interest in his 80s as #NK6D. He and his wife, Jean, had lived in Menlo Park for 42 years.
Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Jean; son Jim Nisbet of Menlo Park; daughter Barbara Berk of Durango, Colorado; and three grandchildren.
Services were under the direction of John O'Connor's Menlo Colonial Chapel.
Dr. Charles Beal
Medical missionary and AIDS researcher
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 22, at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church for Dr. Charles Beal, who died of a heart attack January 30 during a business trip to Toronto. He was 77.
The Beals lived in Menlo Park for 40 years, moving to Pacific Grove just six months ago.
Throughout his life, Dr. Beal worked to improve health care in developing countries and invented a number of low-cost medical treatments, family members said. The inventions include a rapid HIV test, and a capsule that is swallowed to detect gastrointestival parasites.
Dr. Beal was born in Tucson, Arizona. He marriage Lucerne Smith while attending Harvard Medical School. After earning his medical degree, he served as squadron surgeon with a U.S. Air Force rescue team.
Dr. Beal went on to earn a diploma in tropical medicine and malariology from the University of Paris and then traveled to West Africa in 1952 to become a medical missionary. With his wife, he founded a hospital on the Ivory Coast where he treated up to 200 patients a day. He served as hospital director for six years. In the 1960s he returned to the Ivory Coast to train Peace Corps volunteers to provide health services in West Africa.
He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Commander in Health Services from the Republic of Ivory Coast in 1998.
In the United States, Dr. Beal served as an assistant professor and associate clinical professor at the University of California at San Francisco. During that time he taught tropical medicine in Mexico and Central America and worked at local community medical clinics.
Dr. Beal also founded and worked with several companies, developing inexpensive diagnostic, contraceptive and infection-preventing devices, including a test for HIV that can be read within 10 minutes. He also worked to improve a device to treat viral diseases.
In 1996, Dr. Beal founded Stop AIDS Worldwide, a nonprofit corporation that develops non-reusable needles, provides AIDS education and distributes low-cost HIV tests to people in developing countries.
After moving to Pacific Grove, Dr. Beal worked part-time at the Preventive Medicine Clinic of Monterey.
Dr. Beal is survived by his wife, Lucerne, of Pacific Grove; a daughter, Marcia Cody of Pacific Grove; a son, Timothy McKinley Beal of Stockton; and four grandchildren.
Memorials for continuing Dr. Beal's work may be sent to the Charles Beal Memorial Fund at Monterey Bay Bank, 1400 Munras Avenue, Monterey.
Irene L. Ford
Retired court clerk
Irene L. Ford died at her home in Menlo Park February 8 following a long illness. She was 86.
A resident of Menlo Park for more than 20 years, Mrs. Ford was born in Greeley, Colorado. She worked as a Superior Court clerk in San Mateo County for 12 years prior to her retirement. She had lived in San Mateo County since 1948.
Mrs. Ford is survived by her daughter, Julie Johnson of Menlo Park; her brother, Earl White of Redwood City; and two granddaughters.
A funeral service was held at Redwood Chapel in Redwood City. The family prefers that memorial donations be made to Midpeninsula Pathways Hospice, 201 San Antonio Center, Mountain View, CA 94043.
John Bohrer
Portrait artist
John Busch Bohrer, whose portraits, landscapes and animal studies, have hung in many exhibits, died February 2. A resident of Menlo Park since 1960, he was 87.
Mr. Bohrer was born in Kirksville, Missouri. He completed three years of pre-medical studies before switching his focus to fine arts. Moving to Michigan, Mr. Bohrer took jobs as a commercial artist and worked his way through the Detroit School and Society of Arts and Crafts. From there he transferred to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.
In 1940 he marriage Mary Irwin. The couple returned to Michigan and Mr. Bohrer opened a portrait studio in Grosse Point, a suburb of Detroit. During World War II he moved to California, where he produced technical aeronautic drawings of the F-80 fighter plane for Lockheed.
After the war he resumed his career as a portrait artist, moving to the Bay Area in 1949. He made twice-yearly trips to Michigan, Missouri and Pennsylvania to fulfill commissions for portraits. Many families commissioned a new work for every marriage and birth, and now have three generations of John Bohrer portraits hanging in their homes.
He had numerous commissions from Stanford University and from his home state of Missouri, which asked him to paint the official portraits of then-Governor Philip Donnelly and Mrs. Donnelly.
In addition to the fine arts, Mr. Bohrer was a musician who played the cornet. He was a member of the Menlo Park Rotary Club, the Society of Western Artists, and Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Bohrer will be remembered for "his silly jokes, engrossing stories, talent and his unflagging loyalty to friends in need," says family friend Kathy Roddy. He is survived by his daughter, Katherine Lee, and granddaughters, Jenny and Rebecca Lee, of Oahu, Hawaii. Mary Bohrer died in 1953.
A memorial service was held February 10 at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. Donations may be made to The Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, 2425 Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento, California, 95817, or Saint Jude Research Hospital, 322 North Lauderdale Street, Memphis, Tennessee, 38105.
Eva M. Rongey
Longtime Woodside resident
Eva M. Rongey, who lived in Woodside for 45 years, died at home February 11. She was 86.
A native of California, Mrs. Rongey was born in San Bruno and lived there with her late husband, Harry Rongey, until they moved to Woodside in 1955. Mr. Rongey, who died in 1997, had a real estate office, Rongey Realty, in San Bruno for many years.
Mrs. Rongey was active in Woodside Village Church where she was a member of the Women's Fellowship and worked on annual rummage sales. When her children were in school, she was a Girl Scout and Brownie leader, and a volunteer at Woodside Elementary School.
She is survived by a son, Keith Rongey, and a daughter, Karen Rongey-Conner, both of Woodside, and four grandchildren.
There will be no services. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sempervirens Fund, Drawer BE, Los Altos, CA 94023.
Ruby Francis Pugh
Former resident of Menlo Park
Ruby Francis Pugh, a former Menlo Park resident, died in Palo Alto February 10. She was 92.
A native of Missouri, Mrs. Pugh lived on Sand Hill Circle in Menlo Park for 12 years, and was a longtime Palo Alto resident.
Mrs. Pugh was preceded in death by her husband, Vincent Pugh, and her daughter, Phyllis Petersen. She is survived by her daughter Jeane Allen of Menlo Park; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.
Private services were held, with arrangements by John O'Connor's Menlo Colonial Chapel. The family prefers memorial donations be made to the American Cancer Society, 1720 S. Amphlett Blvd., #220, San Mateo, CA 94402-2719.
Genevieve L. Robertson
Former high school teacher
Genevieve L. Robertson, a former high school teacher and a 39-year Menlo Park resident, died in Menlo Park January 31. She was 99.
Mrs. Robertson was a graduate of Mills College, earning her bachelor's degree in 1922 and her master's degree in 1924. She taught physical education for 15 years at Sequoia High School, and was a member of CRTA and the Mills College Alumni Association.
Mrs. Robertson is survived by her son Alfred L. Robertson of Menlo Park; her sister Gladys Stankowski of Colombia, Missouri; and six nieces and one nephew.
Private services were held, with arrangements by Redwood Chapel. The family prefers memorial donations be sent to Shriners Hospitals for Children, 2425 Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95187.
Lytalee Fuller
Portola Valley, Woodside resident
Visitation is scheduled for Tuesday, February 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the chapel of Roller, Hapgood & Tinney, Palo Alto, for Lytalee V. Fuller, who died February 24. She was 82.
Mrs. Fuller was born in Chicago and later moved to Palo Alto with her family. She was marriage to the late Alfred Warren Fuller, an electronics engineer at SRI International. Mrs. Fuller lived in Portola Valley and Woodside from 1969 to 1997.
She is survived by a daughter, Denise Fuller of Woodside; sisters, Marie Gasivoda of Menlo Park; Bettylou Randell of Arroyo Grande; brothers, Richard Meskimen of Palo Alto and Ronald Meskimen of Saratoga. Her son, Curtis Ward Fuller, is deceased.
Private interments was to be in Alta Mesa Cemetery, Palo Alto.
Eveleen E. von der Lieth
Menlo Park centenarian
Eveleen E. von der Lieth, a resident of Menlo Park for 15 years, died March 7. She was 101.
A native of San Francisco, she was preceded in death by her husband Walter von der Lieth and two step-sons. Mrs. von der Lieth is survived by her brother George Commins; and two step-grandchildren.
A funeral Mass was held at Church of the Nativity. Arrangements were by John O'Connor's Menlo Colonial Chapel.
Byra J. Wreden
Stanford libraries volunteer
Byra J. Wreden, volunteer and founding member of the Associates of the Stanford University Libraries, died at Stanford Hospital of pneumonia on March 1. She was 85.
A memorial service for Mrs. Wreden, a resident of Atherton and Menlo Park for 55 years, is planned for Saturday, April 15, at 2 p.m. at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 330 Ravenswood Ave., in Menlo Park.
Born in Spokane, Washington, Mrs. Wreden moved with her family to San Francisco. It was while on frequent visits to her grandmother in San Francisco that she gained her life-long love of reading. She attended Burlingame High School and San Mateo Junior College after her family moved to Hillsborough in the late 1920s.
She marriage William P. Wreden in 1936, and while on their honeymoon, Mr. Wreden bought a collection of books with which he started his antiquarian book business. Mrs. Wreden was active in her husband's business, traveling with him on book-buying trips to Europe, acting as bookkeeper and playing hostess to an endless stream of booksellers, collectors and librarians, according to family members.
Mrs. Wreden's other interests included doll collecting and flower arranging. She was a president of the San Francisco Doll Club and helped organize a United Federation of Doll Clubs convention in 1957. She was president of the San Francisco Garden Club, and was a founding member and president of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Ikebana International. She served as a delegate to the first convention of Ikebana International in Japan in the 1970s. She was a member and president of the Strybing Arboretum Society and helped organize fund-raisers to build its Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture in Golden Gate Park in the early 1970s.
However, family members say she was best known for her work with the Associates of Stanford University's Libraries, where she was a long-time board member and past chair. She organized book tours and trips for the associations of Stanford and the Gleeson Library at the University of San Francisco, and as recently as 1997 led a Charles Dickens tour to London, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Mrs. Wreden was elected a Fellow of the Gleeson Library association in 1985 and was given the Warren R. Howell Award, for excellence in the world of books, by Stanford in 1997.
Mrs. Wreden survived her husband, who died in 1995. She is survived by her sons, William Wreden Jr. of Berkeley, Douglas Wreden of Santa Margarita and Phillip Wreden of Whitefish, Montana; her daughters, Paula Campbell of San Luis Obispo and Denise Wreden of Arcata; her sister, Betty J. Buckwalter of Palo Alto; her brother, Justus K. Smith of Jarrettsville, Maryland; 13 grandchildren; eight great-granchildren; and her companion Christopher C. Elliott of Concord.
The family prefers that memorial donations be made to a library fund in Mrs. Wreden's memory and sent to Stanford University, Memorial Gifts, 301 Encina Hall, Stanford, CA 94305-6076.
Paul Abrahamzon
Safeway wine steward
Bouquets of white flowers and votive candles stand at the entrance to the Sharon Heights Safeway as a memorial to Paul Abrahamzon, the store's wine steward, who died of a massive heart attack February 27 at Sequoia Hospital. He was 52.
Mr. Abrahamzon, who friends say had not been feeling well for several weeks, left work February 27 to drive himself to Sequoia Hospital. He collapsed and died at the hospital before he could be seen by a doctor.
A courtly and friendly man, Mr. Abrahamzon had worked at the Sharon Heights store for 10 years. "He was a real connoisseur. He knew anything and everything about wine," says fellow employee Tawny Doyle, adding he enjoyed going to tastings in the Wine Country.
Mr. Abrahamzon grew up in San Luis Obispo where his mother still lives. No services were held, at Mr. Abrahamzon's request. His family is planning to plant a tree in Golden Gate Park in his memory.
A notice of Mr. Abrahamzon's death and his photo hang above the makeshift memorial. It concludes: "We have lost another member of our family. Paul, you will always be in our hearts. God bless you."
Ed Hoffacker Jr.
Palo Alto Sport Shop owner
Ed Hoffacker Jr., the longtime owner of the Palo Alto Sport Shop and Toy World, died March 10 at his Woodside home. He was 84.
Mr. Hoffacker was found dead in his pool at about 12:20 a.m. A report on the incident is pending, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner and Coroner's office.
A Bay Area native, Mr. Hoffacker attended Palo Alto High School, where he excelled in football and baseball, his family said. He graduated from Menlo College, and acted as assistant football coach. During World War II, he was a physical trainer for the U.S. Army and the Air Force.
After the war, Mr. Hoffacker and his brother Berne took over the management of their father's sporting goods store on Waverly Avenue in Palo Alto. Around this time, Mr. Hoffacker also coached the Palo Alto softball league, according to family members.
He was one of the founders of Little League Baseball in Palo Alto and active in the Babe Ruth Baseball League. After retiring from the family store in 1995 after working there for 60 years, he enjoyed riding his horse through Woodside's trails, his family said.
Mr. Hoffacker is survived by his wife of 59 years, Gunhild of Woodside; his son Ed Hoffacker III of Woodside; his daughter Diane Keitz of San Carlos; his brother Berne Hoffacker of Palo Alto; two granddaughters; and three great-grandsons.
A private funeral service was held Tuesday; arrangements were by Roller, Hapgood and Tinney.
