Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!December 4, 2002
Charles L. Moore
Charles L. Moore came to Sonoma County as a teen-ager in the 1920s and later operated his own beauty salon in downtown Santa Rosa for 43 years.
Moore died Friday in a local hospital. He was 93.
Moore's life began in 1909 on a homestead near the Klamath Indian Reservation in northwest California. His family moved to Klamath Falls, Ore., and at age 10, he traveled with family by covered wagon to Corning in Tehama County. The family came to Bennett Valley in Sonoma County during Moore's high school years.
Finding himself out of work during the Great Depression, Moore enrolled in beauty school, possibly in Oakland. In 1993, he opened the Elite Beauty Salon on Fifth Street between B Street and Mendocino Avenue. During World War II, the shop grew to 11 operators.
In recollections written in 1997, Moore related that in his early years of business he felt compelled to try to help those begging money for food. Eventually, he devised a plan where he would give the needy a signed business card and a restaurant across the street would feed them and place the amount on his bill.
"He was a very generous man," recalled his daughter Sylvia Moore Fitzpatrick of Colorado.
He contracted tuberculosis in 1940 and spent six months in a sanitarium in Redwood City. During that period, he converted to Christianity and later became a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church in Santa Rosa.
In 1944, he marriage his wife of 46 years, the late Alexandra Moore.
A former amateur boxer, he enjoyed hunting, fishing and golf. His travels with his wife took him to Latin America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.
He was a member of Rotary International of Santa Rosa and the Exchange Club.
Along with his daughter, survivors include two other children, Linda Moore Morey of Minnesota and Russell Lewis Moore of Colorado; three sisters, Hazel Coryell of Oregon, Pearl Burroughs of Santa Rosa and Ella Duncan of Washington; and two grandchildren.
At his request, no formal services will be held. Arrangements were under the direction of Daniels Chapel of the Roses.
The family prefers memorial contributions to Sutter Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice, 1110 N. Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa 95403.
Bill Greene, former lawmaker
Bill Greene, a longtime state legislator and former civil rights marcher, is dead at age 72.
Greene, a big man with a deep, booming voice, died Monday at a Sacramento hospital from complications of several long illness, including heart attacks, strokes and pneumonia.
A Democrat, he represented a Los Angeles district from 1967 to 1992, first in the Assembly, then in the state Senate.
Greene was born in Kansas City, Mo., and attended the University of Michigan.
He took part in civil rights demonstrations in the South during the 1960s and was arrested at least twice, said his wife, Yvonne Greene. His activism led to a prison term in Mississippi. He also was jailed briefly in Louisiana but escaped.
When they became engaged, "I couldn't take him to meet my mother and family because he was a fugitive," Yvonne Greene said.
"I spent most of our honeymoon sewing up his ragged clothes. He was one of the larger guys, and the police force always went for him first."
Greene was hired as the first black desk clerk in the California Assembly.
He succeeded his longtime friend and mentor, Mervyn Dymally, when he won his Assembly seat in 1967. He again succeeded Dymally when he was elected to the Senate in 1975.
December 3, 2002
Corinda Gleason
Corinda T. Gleason, a lifelong Sonoma County resident known for her exuberance and charm whether selling jewelry or managing girls' softball teams, died Saturday at her Sebastopol home following a brief battle with cancer. She was 64.
Gleason, who grew up in Occidental as a member of the Fiori restaurant family, never lost the family's knack for entertaining and hospitality. Her Sebastopol home was a gathering place where family and friends could get coffee and counseling any time of the day or night.
"If my mother had a penny for every person she counseled around her kitchen table she would have been the wealthiest woman in Sonoma County," said daughter Lori Silveira of Healdsburg.
A woman of determination and high energy, Gleason worked with others to start girls softball in Sebastopol, raised thousands of dollars for local charities and was active for many years in the Analy Boosters Club. She worked for many years as the manager of The Whitehall Co. Jewelers in the Santa Rosa Plaza, where she was the store's top saleswoman.
But her life was dominated by her devotion to family and friends.
"Corinda was my hero. She was a very giving, outgoing person who was always there for her family and friends. She loved her home and opened it to everyone," said longtime friend Tia Polley of Sebastopol.
She was born Corinda Theresa Fiori on Dec. 19, 1937, in Santa Rosa's "Little Italy," the daughter of Tony and Clara Fiori. When she was 5, she moved to Occidental, where her family eventually established Fiori's Restaurant, a popular Italian eatery through the '40s, '50s and into the '60s. She lived in the apartment above the Italian restaurant managed by her parents and in later years by her brothers Raymond Fiori and the late George Fiori.
Gleason was a founding member of the Xi Epsilon Lambda Sorority, Upsilon Tau Sorority, the Wednesday Night Womens Poker Group in Sebastopol and the Analy Boosters Club.
In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by her son, William G. Gleason of Sebastopol; her brother, Raymond Fiori of Sebastopol; and five grandchildren.
A funeral mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Sebastian's Catholic Church in Sebastopol. Entombment is at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn.
A Vigil Rite Service is at 7:30 p.m. today at St. Sebastian's Church.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the American Cancer Society, 1451 Guerneville Road, Suite 220, Santa Rosa 95403.
Ellen Straus
Ellen Straus, matriarch of a Marin County dairy ranching family and a woman of conscience who for decades fought for farmland preservation and environmental causes, died Saturday at her ranch in Marshall following a short illness. She was 75.
Family members said she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in September.
Straus, one of the founders of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, was a nationally recognized leader in efforts to save farmland from urban development. In 1998, she received America's highest honor for land stewardship from the American Farmland Trust in Washington, D.C.
A woman of energy, social conscience and impish humor, Straus became involved in community issues while raising four children and helping her husband manage the 660-acre ranch and 270 milk cows.
It was at her urging that her son Albert Straus in 1994 turned the family dairy into the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi River. Today, the Straus Family Creamery produces organic dairy products sold throughout the Bay Area.
"My mother's excitement for new ideas was contagious, giving her children and neighbors the confidence to live out their own dreams whether it was organic farming or fighting massive development schemes. She led by example," said her son Michael Straus, a communications specialist who lives in Marshall.
Straus was born Ellen Tirza Lotte Prins on Feb. 21, 1927, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 1940, her family fled the Netherlands just ahead of the Nazi invasion, settling in New York. She graduated from Bard College in New York, with plans to practice medicine. But she fell in love with a young German Jewish immigrant named Bill Straus who had dreams of owning a dairy farm. The couple settled on the shores of Tomales Bay in 1950 and started their milk herd.
For more than 20 years, Straus guided the Marin Agricultural Land Trust or MALT, the first farmland preservation organization established in the United States. She served on MALT's board of directors from 1980 to 1990 and was its chairwoman from 1999 to 2001.
In addition to her husband, Bill Straus, and sons Albert and Michael Straus, all of Marshall, she is survived by her daughters, Vivien Straus of Los Angeles and Miriam Straus of Salt Point, N.Y.; her sister, Anneke Prins Simons of New Jersey; and by four grandsons.
Private services will be held.
The family suggests memorial contributions to MALT, P.O. Box 809, Point Reyes 94956.
December 2, 2002
Donald E. White, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, has died. He was 88.
December 1, 2002
Jonathan Townsend
Memorial services are planned today in Santa Rosa for Jonathan Townsend, who died Nov. 15 at the age of 18.
Townsend, a Windsor resident, was shot to death after he gave chase to a group of people he discovered tampering with his car.
Police are still investigating the crime, which occurred while Townsend was visiting his mother and younger brothers in Santa Rosa.
"He was an incredible older brother," said his mother, Marie Goldberg. "He always had time for them. He would get down on the floor for hours and play with them."
Townsend was born Jan. 23 in Daly City. His family moved to Sonoma County when he was 2. An avid athlete, Townsend played football and baseball while attending schools in Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa.
He spent his senior year in Red Bluff, graduating from high school there in May.
He had returned to Sonoma County to live with a friend and was taking classes at Santa Rosa Junior College, his mother said.
Besides his mother, survivors include his father, Gregory Townsend of Santa Rosa, and three brothers, Devin, Gregory and Joshua Townsend of Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa.
Today's service, set for 3 p.m. at Foothill Community Church, 2100 Petaluma Hill Road, is "a celebration of his life, because Jon was always about living," Marie Goldberg said.
Formal services are 1 p.m. Monday in Rohnert Park at Abbey Chapel of the Redwoods Mortuary, 6250 State Farm Drive.
Character actor George Hall, 85
NEW YORK -- George Hall, a character actor who performed for more than six decades on Broadway and stages elsewhere, on television and in movies, died Oct. 21 in Hawthorne, N.Y. He was 85 and lived in Manhattan.
The cause was complications after a stroke, Christopher Alden, a friend, said.
Hall's last role was in the Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical "The Boys From Syracuse," presented by the Roundabout Theater Company, which opened Aug. 18 and closed Oct. 20. Hall performed in it until two weeks before he died.
A native of Toronto, he performed in vaudeville early in his career.
In 1946 he started out on Broadway in "Call Me Mister." He went on to appear in more than a score of Broadway productions, including "Lend an Ear," "High Button Shoes" and "Touch and Go." He was in three highly successful Broadway productions, "Bent," "Noises Off" and "Wild Honey."
His work in television included the role of the very elderly Indiana Jones in George Lucas' series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" on ABC and the part of Tom Eldridge in "Remember WENN," a series that ran for five years on the American Movie Classics cable channel.
His wife, Cordelia, a Broadway dancer, died in 1969.
No immediate family members survive.
News producer Ernest Leiser, 81
NEW YORK -- Ernest Leiser, a CBS News producer who hired the network's current anchor, Dan Rather, has died. He was 81.
Leiser, who lived in South Nyack, N.Y., died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack, a CBS spokesman said Saturday.
"Ernest Leiser was a wonderful family man and friend, a classy gentleman, a thorough scholar, an integrity-filled journalist and visionary leader of other journalists," Rather said. "He repeatedly proved he was one of the bravest and best American journalists in history."
During his 29-year career, Leiser reported mostly from Europe, where he was jailed briefly by communists while covering the revolt in Hungary in 1956.
In 1964, he was named director of the news division, where he hired Rather, and later became executive producer of the "CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite."
He left CBS to become an executive producer at ABC News in 1972, but returned in 1975 to head the CBS News department covering political conventions and elections. He retired in 1985, but remained active in journalism through teaching.
Leiser was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1941. He served in the Army from 1942 to 1946 and was a correspondent for Stars & Stripes.
He is survived by his wife, Caroline, two daughters and a granddaughter.
Folk-blues legend Dave Ray, 59
MINNEAPOLIS -- Dave "Snaker" Ray, an influential figure of the folk-blues scene of the 1960s who won quiet renown for his virtuoso guitar work, has died at 59.
Ray, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in May, died at home Thursday, said his longtime band partner, "Spider" John Koerner.
The two, plus harmonica player Tony "Little Sun" Glover, formed the acoustic trio Koerner, Ray & Glover in 1962 and the next year released the landmark "Blues, Rags and Hollers" album.
Recording several albums and performing at folk festivals around the country, the trio never achieved more than cult status. But they influenced such legends as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt and Beck.
They parted ways in the late 1960s but periodically reunited over the years and also recorded individual albums.
December 3, 2002
Corinda Gleason
Corinda T. Gleason, a lifelong Sonoma County resident known for her exuberance and charm whether selling jewelry or managing girls' softball teams, died Saturday at her Sebastopol home following a brief battle with cancer. She was 64.
Gleason, who grew up in Occidental as a member of the Fiori restaurant family, never lost the family's knack for entertaining and hospitality. Her Sebastopol home was a gathering place where family and friends could get coffee and counseling any time of the day or night.
"If my mother had a penny for every person she counseled around her kitchen table she would have been the wealthiest woman in Sonoma County," said daughter Lori Silveira of Healdsburg.
A woman of determination and high energy, Gleason worked with others to start girls softball in Sebastopol, raised thousands of dollars for local charities and was active for many years in the Analy Boosters Club. She worked for many years as the manager of The Whitehall Co. Jewelers in the Santa Rosa Plaza, where she was the store's top saleswoman.
But her life was dominated by her devotion to family and friends.
"Corinda was my hero. She was a very giving, outgoing person who was always there for her family and friends. She loved her home and opened it to everyone," said longtime friend Tia Polley of Sebastopol.
She was born Corinda Theresa Fiori on Dec. 19, 1937, in Santa Rosa's "Little Italy," the daughter of Tony and Clara Fiori. When she was 5, she moved to Occidental, where her family eventually established Fiori's Restaurant, a popular Italian eatery through the '40s, '50s and into the '60s. She lived in the apartment above the Italian restaurant managed by her parents and in later years by her brothers Raymond Fiori and the late George Fiori.
Gleason was a founding member of the Xi Epsilon Lambda Sorority, Upsilon Tau Sorority, the Wednesday Night Womens Poker Group in Sebastopol and the Analy Boosters Club.
In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by her son, William G. Gleason of Sebastopol; her brother, Raymond Fiori of Sebastopol; and five grandchildren.
A funeral mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Sebastian's Catholic Church in Sebastopol. Entombment is at Sebastopol Memorial Lawn.
A Vigil Rite Service is at 7:30 p.m. today at St. Sebastian's Church.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the American Cancer Society, 1451 Guerneville Road, Suite 220, Santa Rosa 95403.
Ellen Straus
Ellen Straus, matriarch of a Marin County dairy ranching family and a woman of conscience who for decades fought for farmland preservation and environmental causes, died Saturday at her ranch in Marshall following a short illness. She was 75.
Family members said she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in September.
Straus, one of the founders of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, was a nationally recognized leader in efforts to save farmland from urban development. In 1998, she received America's highest honor for land stewardship from the American Farmland Trust in Washington, D.C.
A woman of energy, social conscience and impish humor, Straus became involved in community issues while raising four children and helping her husband manage the 660-acre ranch and 270 milk cows.
It was at her urging that her son Albert Straus in 1994 turned the family dairy into the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi River. Today, the Straus Family Creamery produces organic dairy products sold throughout the Bay Area.
"My mother's excitement for new ideas was contagious, giving her children and neighbors the confidence to live out their own dreams whether it was organic farming or fighting massive development schemes. She led by example," said her son Michael Straus, a communications specialist who lives in Marshall.
Straus was born Ellen Tirza Lotte Prins on Feb. 21, 1927, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 1940, her family fled the Netherlands just ahead of the Nazi invasion, settling in New York. She graduated from Bard College in New York, with plans to practice medicine. But she fell in love with a young German Jewish immigrant named Bill Straus who had dreams of owning a dairy farm. The couple settled on the shores of Tomales Bay in 1950 and started their milk herd.
For more than 20 years, Straus guided the Marin Agricultural Land Trust or MALT, the first farmland preservation organization established in the United States. She served on MALT's board of directors from 1980 to 1990 and was its chairwoman from 1999 to 2001.
In addition to her husband, Bill Straus, and sons Albert and Michael Straus, all of Marshall, she is survived by her daughters, Vivien Straus of Los Angeles and Miriam Straus of Salt Point, N.Y.; her sister, Anneke Prins Simons of New Jersey; and by four grandsons.
Private services will be held.
The family suggests memorial contributions to MALT, P.O. Box 809, Point Reyes 94956.
December 1, 2002
Jonathan Townsend
Memorial services are planned today in Santa Rosa for Jonathan Townsend, who died Nov. 15 at the age of 18.
Townsend, a Windsor resident, was shot to death after he gave chase to a group of people he discovered tampering with his car.
Police are still investigating the crime, which occurred while Townsend was visiting his mother and younger brothers in Santa Rosa.
"He was an incredible older brother," said his mother, Marie Goldberg. "He always had time for them. He would get down on the floor for hours and play with them."
Townsend was born Jan. 23 in Daly City. His family moved to Sonoma County when he was 2. An avid athlete, Townsend played football and baseball while attending schools in Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa.
He spent his senior year in Red Bluff, graduating from high school there in May.
He had returned to Sonoma County to live with a friend and was taking classes at Santa Rosa Junior College, his mother said.
Besides his mother, survivors include his father, Gregory Townsend of Santa Rosa, and three brothers, Devin, Gregory and Joshua Townsend of Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa.
Today's service, set for 3 p.m. at Foothill Community Church, 2100 Petaluma Hill Road, is "a celebration of his life, because Jon was always about living," Marie Goldberg said.
Formal services are 1 p.m. Monday in Rohnert Park at Abbey Chapel of the Redwoods Mortuary, 6250 State Farm Drive.
Character actor George Hall, 85
NEW YORK -- George Hall, a character actor who performed for more than six decades on Broadway and stages elsewhere, on television and in movies, died Oct. 21 in Hawthorne, N.Y. He was 85 and lived in Manhattan.
The cause was complications after a stroke, Christopher Alden, a friend, said.
Hall's last role was in the Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical "The Boys From Syracuse," presented by the Roundabout Theater Company, which opened Aug. 18 and closed Oct. 20. Hall performed in it until two weeks before he died.
A native of Toronto, he performed in vaudeville early in his career.
In 1946 he started out on Broadway in "Call Me Mister." He went on to appear in more than a score of Broadway productions, including "Lend an Ear," "High Button Shoes" and "Touch and Go." He was in three highly successful Broadway productions, "Bent," "Noises Off" and "Wild Honey."
His work in television included the role of the very elderly Indiana Jones in George Lucas' series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" on ABC and the part of Tom Eldridge in "Remember WENN," a series that ran for five years on the American Movie Classics cable channel.
His wife, Cordelia, a Broadway dancer, died in 1969.
No immediate family members survive.
News producer Ernest Leiser, 81
NEW YORK -- Ernest Leiser, a CBS News producer who hired the network's current anchor, Dan Rather, has died. He was 81.
Leiser, who lived in South Nyack, N.Y., died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack, a CBS spokesman said Saturday.
"Ernest Leiser was a wonderful family man and friend, a classy gentleman, a thorough scholar, an integrity-filled journalist and visionary leader of other journalists," Rather said. "He repeatedly proved he was one of the bravest and best American journalists in history."
During his 29-year career, Leiser reported mostly from Europe, where he was jailed briefly by communists while covering the revolt in Hungary in 1956.
In 1964, he was named director of the news division, where he hired Rather, and later became executive producer of the "CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite."
He left CBS to become an executive producer at ABC News in 1972, but returned in 1975 to head the CBS News department covering political conventions and elections. He retired in 1985, but remained active in journalism through teaching.
Leiser was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1941. He served in the Army from 1942 to 1946 and was a correspondent for Stars & Stripes.
He is survived by his wife, Caroline, two daughters and a granddaughter.
Folk-blues legend Dave Ray, 59
MINNEAPOLIS -- Dave "Snaker" Ray, an influential figure of the folk-blues scene of the 1960s who won quiet renown for his virtuoso guitar work, has died at 59.
Ray, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in May, died at home Thursday, said his longtime band partner, "Spider" John Koerner.
The two, plus harmonica player Tony "Little Sun" Glover, formed the acoustic trio Koerner, Ray & Glover in 1962 and the next year released the landmark "Blues, Rags and Hollers" album.
Recording several albums and performing at folk festivals around the country, the trio never achieved more than cult status. But they influenced such legends as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt and Beck.
They parted ways in the late 1960s but periodically reunited over the years and also recorded individual albums.
