Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Suzani Lindsey
Services will be Thursday for Suzani Lindsey, who died Monday after a long struggle with myotonic dystrophy and leukemia. She was 57.
She was born and grew up in Attleboro, Mass. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design and studied fine arts painting.
Mrs. Lindsey was a longtime member of the Christian Community and the Anthroposophical Society. She volunteered at the Christian Community Children’s Summer Camp and was one of the founding parents of the Summerfield Waldorf School in Santa Rosa. She also was involved with the Santa Cruz Camp Hill movement, working with handicapped children.
She took great joy in her two sons and grandson. She enjoyed singing, painting and knitting, and also loved to travel. She was an avid letter writer and kept in touch with family, friends and loved ones.
Her survivors include her sons Simon Lindsey of Occidental and Zachary Lindsey of Santa Cruz; grandson Matthew Lindsey of Santa Cruz and niece Linda Pickerill of Santa Cruz.
A memorial service will be 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the home of Daniel Bittleston at 102 Moore St., Santa Cruz.
Arrangements are by Benito & Azzaro Pacific Gardens Chapel.
November 5, 2003
Arlene Patten
Services will be Sunday for Arlene Patten, who died Oct. 28 at Dominican Hospital. She was 81.
Born in Harmony, Minn., she attended elementary school at Rural Harmony and later graduated from Harmony High School. She moved to the this area more than 50 years ago.
She completed courses at Cabrillo College and worked in the medical and dental fields.
She was an active member of the First Baptist Church of Santa Cruz until Parkinson’s disease kept her from attending.
She is survived by her husband, Paul Patten of Felton; stepsons Larry Vessel of Arizona and John Patten of Medford, Ore.; stepdaughter Paulette Devonshire of Ben Lomond; sister Karol Sersland of Decorah, Iowa; brother Orel Benson of Harmony; many grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Friends may call Saturday from 10 to 4 p.m. at Azzaro Pacific Gardens.
Services will be 3 p.m. Sunday at the First Baptist Church of Santa Cruz, 422 Roxas St., Santa Cruz. A reception will follow in the church hall. She will be buried at Stateline Cemetery in Harmony.
Contributions are preferred to the Parkinson’s Institute, 1170 Morse Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1605, ATTN: Development Department, or the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand Central Station, PO Box 4777, New York, NY 10163.
November 6, 2003
Mathew Kirsch
Services will be Friday for Mathew Kirsch, who died Sunday in Watsonville. The longtime Aromas resident was 70.
A native of Watertown, S.D., he loved watching NASCAR and was a Dale Earnhardt fan. He was a past commander of the Watsonville VFW, American Legion Post 121 and a life member of the Freedom VFW.
He liked camp and spend time in the outdoors, and to garden at home. He loved spending time with his grandchildren, great-grandchildren and the rest of his family.
He is survived by sons Mathew Mark Kirsch of Bakersfield and Rodney Allen Kirsch of Rosamond; daughters Darla Ann Garcia of Aromas and Susan Renee Mattox of Rosamond; sister Della Kucker of Watertown; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
His wife, Diane Kirsch, died in 1993.
Services will be 11 a.m. Friday at Mehl’s Colonial Chapel in Watsonville. Burial will be private.
Contributions are preferred to American Legion Post No. 121, 214 Center St., Watsonville, CA 95076.
November 6, 2003
Winifred Alexander
At her request, no services will be held for Winifred "Wynn" Alexander, who died Friday of natural causes. She was 88.
Mrs. Alexander was born in Ste. Annes, England, and owned a dress-making shop there before coming to the U.S. as a war bride on the Queen Mary.
Mrs. Alexander, a 58-year resident of Santa Cruz, co-owned Alexander’s jewelery on Pacific Avenue with her husband from 1945 to 1995.
Mrs. Alexander enjoyed gardening, cooking, talking to animals, camping and fishing. She always caught more fish than her husband.
She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Walter Alexander of Santa Cruz; daughter Lynda Alexander of Santa Cruz; and sister Sally Belmont-Maitland of London.
Contributions are preferred to the Lymphoma Society, 1311 Mamoroneck Ave., White Plains, NY 10605.
Arrangements are by Pacific Gardens Chapel, 1050 Cayuga St., Santa Cruz.
November 10, 2003
Marielouise ‘Rita’ Mitchell
Services will be Thursday for Marielouise "Rita" Mitchell, a leader in the local Italian-American community who died of cancer Nov. 7 at her home in Santa Cruz. She was 86.
She was born in San Francisco, where her father, Carlo Tirio, was well known in the Italian-American community and affiliated with La Italia newspaper. He instilled in his daughter an appreciation of her Italian heritage, which she would share with others over her lifetime.
At Half Moon Bay High School, she was valedictorian and a cheerleader, graduating in 1935. She attended art school for a year before her family joined her aunt and uncle in Santa Cruz to work in the family farming business.
She marriage William S. Giovannoni in 1940, and they developed a circle of friends, primarily in the Italian-American community, who shared their enjoyment of good food, music and friends. The group became known as the Que Sera Sera Club.
In 1949, she began working at F.W. Woolworth. During more than 30 years with the company, she served as a supervisor and as human resources manager.
Her husband died in a highway accident in 1968. Through mutual friends, she met a neighbor, widower William F. Mitchell, in 1973. Their marriage lasted for 30 years.
Devoted to her family, friends and her heritage, she was chosen Italian Woman of the Year in 1979.
A charter member of the Sons of Italy in America, Santa Cruz Lodge No. 1992, she held many offices, serving as president for more than 20 years. She also was an officer in the United Lodges of the Central Coast.
She raised funds for the Santa Cruz Sister City Committee, particularly programs for Riva Trigoso, Italy. She was active in the Young Ladies Institute for a number of years and served as a director of the group for younger girls.
She was an accomplished cook, particularly of Northern Italian cuisine, and an avid gardener. She particularly enjoyed observing the many birds her garden attracted.
She is survived by husband William Mitchell of Santa Cruz; daughter Charlene Shaffer-Bommarito of Woodland; stepdaughter Sandra Dunford of Tucson, Ariz.; stepsons William and Tom Mitchell, both of Santa Cruz; sister Beatrice Rossi of Cascade Ranch, Pescadero; two grandsons; four stepgrandchildren and three stepgreat-grandchildren; five nieces and four nephews; and cousins in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Chicago and Ognio, Italy.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Holy Cross Church 10:30 a.m. Thursday with the Rev. Mike Marini officiating. Friends may call 8:30 to 10 a.m. Thursday at Pacific Gardens Chapel.
Contributions are preferred to the Sons of Italy, Santa Cruz Lodge No. 1992 Scholarship Fund.
November 11, 2003
Mary Meschi Caselli
Services will be Friday for Mary Meschi Caselli, who died in her sleep Sunday in Watsonville. She was 95.
Born in Capitola, she had lived in Santa Cruz for many years. She loved cooking, gardening and caring for others.
She is survived by daughter Virginia De Franchi of Sacramento; son John Meschi of Aptos; brother Al Gandolfi of Santa Cruz; five grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and six great-great-grandchildren.
Her first husband, Louis "Augie" Meschi, died in 1971. Her second husband, Vince Caselli, died in 1975. Her granddaughter, Lonnie Lizarraga, died in 2000.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10 a.m. Friday at Holy Cross Church, 126 High St., Santa Cruz. Burial will follow in Holy Cross Cemetery, Santa Cruz.
Contributions are preferred to the Alzheimer’s Association, 1777-A Capitola Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95062.
November 11, 2003
RONALD H. RUBY
Born: December 1, 1932
Died: November 5, 2003
Education: BA, PhD University of California at Berkeley, postdoc Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Occupation: Physicist, faculty of University of California at Santa Cruz 1965 to 1991; research conducted at UCSC and University of Oslo in Oslo, Norway.
Survivors: Mother, Ruth Bittmann, of Oakland, CA, wife, Dorothy Bell Ruby of Santa Cruz, four children, and two grandchildren-daughter Leah Williams and her children, Nicholas and Sasha, of Cambridge, MA; son Michael Ruby of Boulder, CO; daughter Rachel Ruby of North Monterey County, CA; and son Joel Ruby.
Memorial: To be held at 2:00 p.m. on November 23, 2003, at the Cowell College Library on the UCSC campus. His ashes will be scattered at sea off the coast near Santa Cruz. An annual award will be established in Ruby’s name for excellence in teaching the natural sciences at UCSC. Donations can be sent to: UC Santa Cruz Foundation-Ruby Award, University Relations, Attn: Gift Administration, Carriage House, UCSC, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064.
A small framed photograph shows muscular, 22-year-Ron Ruby pedaling away on his bicycle. The tires spin over a set of rollers resting on the deck of a U.S. Navy carrier; in the background is the open sea. There is much in this 1950’s image to give those who knew Ron Ruby a flash of recognition: he is on the ocean, he is training-and he has the right equipment.
Designing and building the right apparatus later became a hallmark of Dr. Ruby’s career as a physicist, in both his teaching and his research. In 1962 he earned his PhD at UC Berkeley, working on magnetic resonance phenomena. During a year teaching at Berkeley and a postdoc year at MIT his research focus shifted to biophysics, photosynthesis in particular, for which he devised new research equipment for observing optical spectra.
Ruby came to UC Santa Cruz in 1965, one of the first faculty members hired by the newly established Cowell College. Known for his innovative and zestful approach to teaching, especially in the early years of the college, he explained centrifugal forces as his students whirled around on a funhouse carousel, and he composed the "Electricity and Magnetism Calypso" to elucidate the features of electrical fields. To demonstrate harmonic oscillation he invented a homespun oscillator in which the oscillating is done by a twanged hacksaw blade and the detector is fashioned from a simple photocell and flashlight bulb. The device, "unique on the planet," in the words of colleague Pete Scott, is still used in physics labs and surprised its inventor with some early observations of nonlinear oscillation-a phenomenon that later proved relevant in the department of chaos theory.
As the university took shape and grew over the years, Professor Ruby played an active part in nearly every sphere. His committees and other activities ranged all the way from the long range development plan of the university as a whole to setting up the natural sciences electronics lab, from the university committee on recreation, physical education and athletics to coaching the rugby team. His dedication to the educational mission of the university included terms as chairman of the Physics Board of Studies, chairman of the Academic Senate, and Associate Dean of Natural Sciences.
In 1956, fresh out of the Navy and just beginning graduate school, Ruby met psychology grad student Dorothy Bell, whom he marriage in 1957. They have four children, raised in Santa Cruz, except for a two-year period in 1972-1974 when the family resided in Oslo, Norway. Photos in the family albums show that Ruby’s sense of showmanship was not confined to the classroom. "It’s a baby!" declares one birth announcement, which shows him with boater and cane, clicking his heels in classic tapdance style.
Retirement from the university in 1991 brought new opportunities-opportunity to travel, to forge closer bonds with his grown children and young grandchildren, and, of course, opportunity to train and compete in the sports he loved: cycling, Nordic skiing, which he took up while living in Norway, sailing, and rowing-each activity that involves elegant equipment with an interesting history and plenty of room for technical innovation.
Arrangements are under the care of Pacific Gardens Chapel, 1050 Cayuga St., Santa Cruz.
November 12, 2003
