Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Philip O'Donnell
SRI executive
A memorial service will be held Saturday, January 4, at the Crippen & Flynn Memorial Chapel, 400 Woodside Road, Redwood City, for Philip J. O'Donnell, 80, who died November 20. A reception will immediately follow at Woodside Terrace, 485 Woodside Road, Redwood City.
A native of Butte, Montana, Mr. O'Donnell earned a scholarship to Stanford University in 1940. He volunteered for the Army Air Corps in 1943 and flew 35 missions with the Eighth Air Force as a bomber pilot, earning five air medals. After the war, he graduated from Stanford School of Law.
He was an attorney in private practice until 1961, when he became a contract administrator for Lockheed Martin. He concluded his career at SRI International, retiring in 1978. He lived in Menlo Park and Atherton with his family for 51 years.
Mr. O'Donnell is survived by his wife Beatrice; sons James and Scott of the San Francisco Bay Area and William of Idaho Falls, Idaho; and one grandson.
Donations in Mr. O'Donnell's name may be made to the Beatrice B. and Philip O'Donnell Scholarship Fund, Account 2000303152 at Wells Fargo Bank, 735 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025.
D. May Phillips Phillips
Native of Barbados
D. May Phillips, a 20-year resident of Menlo Park, died December 13 at the age of 86.
Born in Barbados, West Indies, Mrs. Phillips grew up on a sugar-cane plantation in the colonial days of the British Empire. She marriage John David Hunter Phillips and moved to Guyana, formerly British Guiana, in South America. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Phillips left England to be with her two daughters in the States.
Mrs. Phillips was an active and well-liked member of Trinity Parish, and enjoyed spending time with her many friends, children and grandchildren, her family said.
She is survived by her daughters, Ellie Ferrari of PortolaValley and Heather Borcherds of Menlo Park; a brother, Charles McKenzie of Victoria, Australia; a sister, Eulalie Evans of Great Britain; and four grandchildren.
A memorial service was held December 21 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Menlo Park.
Dorothy Francis
Executive secretary
Dorothy A. Francis of Menlo Park, an executive secretary with Ampex Corp. in Redwood City for 28 years, died December 27. She was 88.
A native of Joliet, Illinois, she was a secretary for large corporations in Chicago and Connecticut before joining Ampex. After retiring, she enjoyed daily walks and visiting with her friends at Ann's Coffee Shop in downtown Menlo Park, said family members.
Mrs. Francis is survived by her son John W. Francis and two grandchildren. Services were held January 5 at St. Bede's Episcopal Church in Menlo Park with Interment at Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo.
The family prefers memorials to the American Heart Association, 1710 Gilbreth Road, Burlingame, CA 94010. Arrangements were under the direction of Sneider & Sullivan Funeral Home, San Mateo.
Robert Simpson Sr.
Draftsman
Robert S. Simpson of Menlo Park died December 31 at age 95.
A native of Massachusetts, Mr. Simpson was a draftsman for Bethlehem Shipyards.
He is survived by his sons, Robert Simpson Jr. of Menlo Park and Philip Simpson of Escondido; a brother, Walter Simpson of Sunnyvale; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Graveside services were held January 6 in Escondido. The family prefers donations to a favorite charity. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Los Altos chapel of Spangler Mortuaries.
William Goss
Canada College's first president
William Goss, who served as the first president of Canada College, died December 23 in El Paso, Texas. He was 91.
A former resident of San Carlos, Mr. Goss and his wife of 66 years, Virginia, moved to El Paso five years ago to be closer to their only daughter, Lynda.
A longtime educator and administrator, Mr. Goss was very involved in overseeing the planning and construction of the College of San Mateo campus, completed in 1963, and Canada College in Woodside, completed in 1968.
He served as vice president of the College of San Mateo and as the first president of Canada College from 1968 until his retirement in 1971.
Mr. Goss was born in Glendale and attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where he met his wife Virginia.
He served in World War II and helped write a history of the U.S. Air Force. In the 1940s the couple moved to the Peninsula.
"He was a gentle man, very bright, with a marvelous sense of humor. He was a real scholar, expert on world history, and an excellent speaker," says Robert Stiff of Woodside, who served as president of Canada College from 1983 to 1990.
Mr. Goss was a longtime member of the Congregational Church of San Mateo.
Henriette C. Westlund
Longtime Menlo Park resident
Henriette C. Westlund, a Menlo Park resident for 60 years, died December 22 at the age of 90.
Born in Manitoba, Canada, she became a United States citizen in the 1930s. She met Charles B. Westlund in 1937 in San Francisco, and the couple marriage in 1943.
Mrs. Westlund is survived by four of her five children, Eric Westlund of Redwood City, Joan Riffle of Marietta, Ohio, Donald Westlund of San Rafael and Charles Westlund of Menlo Park; and four grandchildren.
Services were held at the Woodside Chapel of Crippen & Flynn December 27.
George J. "Bud" Presley
Former Menlo College coach
George J. "Bud" Presley, a basketball coach and defensive strategist, died December 21 in Redwood City. He was 80.
Mr. Presley coached the Menlo College Oaks from 1971 to 1983, and led the team to a state championship in 1974.
Mr. Presley began his coaching career in 1951 in Pennsylvania, subsequently coaching at Sequoia and Cubberley high schools before moving on to coaching college teams. He was a member of the California Community College and California Coaches Association halls of fame, and the San Mateo County Sports Hall of Fame. He served as a defensive consultant to the Golden State Warriors during their 1974 title season, and ended his full-time coaching career as a defensive specialist for University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 1983.
A native of San Francisco, Mr. Presley was a three-sport athlete while a student at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico, and at Texas A&I. He served in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper during World War II.
He is survived by his wife Gloria Presley of Palo Alto; his daughter Virginia of San Francisco; and one grandchild.
Memorial services are pending.
