Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Narinderpaul Singh Dhillon
Services will be Sunday for Narinderpaul Singh Dhillon, who died Tuesday in Watsonville. He was 19.
Mr. Dhillon was born in Padori, Punjab, India, and lived in Watsonville. He was a high school graduate, and worked for Dhillon and Sons Trucking.
He enjoyed golf, racing, bowling and sports.
He is survived by parents Makhan S. and Surinder K. Dhillon; brother Davinder S. Dhillon; and sister Manjit K. Dhillon.
Services will be 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Davis Memorial Chapel, 609 Main St., Watsonville, and 2-4 p.m. Sunday at the San Jose Temple. Cremation will be at Soquel Cemetery.
August 22, 2003
Juanita Mae Keldsen
Services will be Monday for Juanita Mae Keldsen, who died Tuesday at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. She was 69.
She was born in Anthony, Kan. She moved to Aromas as a young girl, and attended grammar school there. She graduated from Watsonville High School.
She was a homemaker and caregiver for her grandchild. She enjoyed crocheting, stamping, and arts and crafts.
She is survived by husband Frank Keldsen of Aromas; daughters Linda Correa of Watsonville, Ruth McKay of Port Orchard, Wash., and Delores Conley of Taylor, Mich.; stepchildren Margaret Erta of Paradise, Frances Bethany of Las Vegas, Frank Keldsen of Salinas and Bill Keldsen of Salinas; 17 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Monday at Mehl’s Colonial Chapel, 222 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville.
Burial will follow at Pajaro Valley Memorial Park.
Friends may call 1-5 p.m. Sunday and noon to 2 p.m. Monday at Mehl’s.
August 22, 2003
Jan Ellen FitzGerald
Services were held for Jan Ellen FitzGerald, who died Aug. 9 at Tara Home, the hospice at Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel. She was 52.
She was born in Rochester, N.Y., and moved to this area about 10 years ago to work at the International Office of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. The foundation is the parent organization of Land of Medicine Buddha.
She enjoyed traveling and studying language. She took her first trip abroad at age 16, and she later served two tours in the Peace Corps. She served in Colombia from 1973-75, and in Paraguay from 1977-79.
She taught Spanish at a high school in New York, and English in Indonesia and Japan.
She earned a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language from the State University of New York, Cortland, and a doctorate in linguistics at the University of New Mexico. A Fulbright scholarship supported her doctoral research in Ecuador.
A journey to Nepal introduced her to Tibetan Buddhism, which she adopted as her path. She established a Tibetan translator-training program in Dharamsala, India, before moving to Santa Cruz.
She taught English as a second language at UC Santa Cruz and San Jose State. She also was studying silk painting, Web design and healing arts at Twin Lakes College.
On Oct. 28, her Tibetan spiritual leaders allowed her to take the novice vows of a nun so she would have the power of those vows at the end of her life. Her sisters in the order guided her daily prayers when she became too weak to do them. Her community will continue to do prayers for her for 49 days after her death.
She is survived by mother Marion Rita FitzGerald of Rochester, N.Y.; father Lawrence W. FitzGerald of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; sister Nora J. Glennon of Connecticut; and two nephews.
Contributions are preferred to Tara Home, Land of Medicine Buddha, 5800 Prescott Road, Soquel, CA 95073.
August 22, 2003
Muriel S. Strum
Services will be private for Muriel Simonson Strum, who died Aug. 11 in Santa Cruz. She was 91.
She was born in Massachusetts and lived in Aptos.
One of six children, she was raised in Bethlehem, Pa. She spent summers in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, developing a lifelong love for the outdoors.
She met and marriage Edward A. Strum in Massachusetts, and they raised their first two children in Connecticut. They moved to Santa Barbara in 1959, where they raised their two younger children.
In her 50s, while raising two teenagers and working full time as a medical secretary, she enrolled at Santa Barbara City College. She particularly enjoyed classes in English and biology, and she earned her associate’s degree.
She moved to Santa Cruz County in 1989 to be near her children.
She enjoyed classical music, reading, writing, sewing, baking bread and cookies, making jams and chutneys, and her daily crossword puzzle. She was interested in health and nutrition, and credited her long life to eating lots of vegetables.
She is survived by two daughters; two sons; a brother; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Her husband died in 1971 after 35 years of marriage.
August 22, 2003
John B. Ortega
Services will be Monday for John B. Ortega, who died Tuesday at Watsonville Community Hospital after a long illness. He was 78.
Mr. Ortega was born in Harlingen, Texas, and had lived in Watsonville since 1953.
He worked as a field foreman for more than 48 years, last working for Sakata Ranches. He retired in 1993.
He is survived by wife Anita Noriega Ortega of Watsonville; sons John Ortega Jr. of Corralitos and Joe Ortega of Watsonville; daughters Yolanda Ortega of Watsonville, Linda Ramirez of Visalia and Mary Helen Raya of Aptos; sister Imelda Alvarado of Texas; eight grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.
Brothers Jesus Ortega and Cristova Balderas died before him.
A rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Sunday at Mehl’s Colonial Chapel, 222 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville. Friends may call 5-9 p.m. Sunday and at 8:30 a.m. Monday at Mehl’s.
A graveside service will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Valley Cemetery.
August 22, 2003
Mark Owens
Services will be Aug. 30 for Mark Kenneth Owens, who died Aug. 13 in Santa Cruz. He was 45.
He was born in San Francisco, and moved to Santa Cruz after serving in the U.S. Army in the late 1970s.
He was raised in San Francisco, the eldest of 13 children.
He enjoyed spending time on the beach, traveling, shooting pool, reading and being with friends.
He is survived by mother Mary Owens of Carson City, Nev.; brother Barry Owens of Petaluma; sisters Pamela Owens of Sacramento, Barbara Flynn of Texas, Mary Owens of San Francisco, Laura Owens of Sacramento, Irene Owens of San Francisco, Paula Diem of Michigan, Kathleen Owens of San Francisco, Karen Hansen of Nevada and Alanna Brady of Nevada; four aunts; two uncles; nine nieces and six nephews.
His brother, Patrick Owens, died July 1, and his father, Kenneth Owens, died in 1996.
Friends will be celebrate his life at 1 p.m. Sunday at Ocean View Park in Santa Cruz.
Services will be 11:30 a.m. Aug. 30 at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in San Francisco.
California Cremation Services is in charge of the arrangements.
August 23, 2003
Stephen J. Brown
A memorial service was Aug. 9 for Stephen James Brown, who is presumed lost at sea after his sailboat was found adrift 800 miles off Point Conception with no one aboard. He was 53.
A native of Los Angeles, Mr. Brown grew up in Ojai, Los Angeles and Indio. His family described him as a curious, mischievous and independent child who had a strong interest in nature.
He moved to Santa Cruz in the 1970s to attend UC Santa Cruz and had lived here on and off since then. He earned his degree in Earth sciences from UCSC in the late 1970s. Moving to Santa Cruz was a decision that changed his life, family said. He became a frequent visitor of Bonny Doon Beach, where he enjoyed playing backgammon, swimming and diving from the sea cliffs, and where he was an avid surfer.
A meticulous craftsman, Mr. Brown designed and built his first sailboat, Southbound. He set to sea on his first solo circumnavigation in 1984, a trip that lasted four years. He held the distinction of solo circumnavigating the world twice on the 38-foot sailboat.
When in Santa Cruz, Mr. Brown typically lived on his sailboat at the Small Craft Harbor. But he lived on the water wherever he could find work.
He worked as a machinist at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., between 1992 and 1994, and later at the Naval Shipyard at St. Mary’s, Ga., living in nearby Amelia Island, Fla. While in Puget Sound, Mr. Brown suffered a knee injury that eventually led to a disability.
He returned to Santa Cruz in 1995. In 1999, Mr. Brown left again, to Hawaii, where he frequented Sunset Beach.
He is survived by mother Eleanor Brown of Los Osos; brothers Michael Brown of Tucson, Ariz., Gary Brown of Aztec, N.M., Thomas Brown of Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii, and Harold Brown of Los Osos; sister Valerie Noronha of Sunnyvale; one nephew; and three nieces.
August 23, 2003
