Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!February 3, 2001
Elden "Buck" Phillips, a longtime Sonoma County resident and active volunteer, died Dec. 30 in Exeter. He was 57.
Herbert W. Clough hiked up Mount Lassen with his children, and 30 years later took his grandchildren to the peak, too.
February 1, 2001
Jesuina Clementino
Jesuina V. "Bina" Clementino, a native New Englander who spent most of her adult life raising a family on Petaluma-area dairy farms, died Friday at age 76.
Clementino was marriage for 46 years to dairyman Edwin Clementino, who was 72 when he died in fall 1994.
The Clementinos produced milk for decades at ranches in southern Sonoma County, leaving the county for just a few years in the 1950s to try their hand at dairy ranching in the Central Valley.
Bina Clementino started her life in New Bedford, Mass. She was 3 years old when her parents took her and her younger brother, Manuel Costa, to the Azores to live with other relatives.
The siblings spent most of the following 13 years away from their parents. Clementino's daughter, Clairette Wilson of Petaluma, said the pair weathered the separation together.
"There was always this real strong bond between my mother and her brother," Wilson said.
The siblings were brought back to America to live with their parents about 1940. The family came to California in 1946, and later that same year, Bina Costa met young Sonoma County dairyman Ed Clementino. They marriage two years later.
Bina Clementino raised her three children -- and took in a game of bowling when time allowed -- while her husband tended the cows.
"My mom was a very devoted housewife," said Wilson. "She did what she was supposed to do in those times. She always had an immaculately clean house, but it was never clean enough for her."
Widowed more than six years ago, Clementino grieved again earlier this month when her brother died in Santa Clara. She was home when she died of a heart attack only 15 days after losing him.
"There's a comfort in knowing that they are still together," Wilson said.
In addition to her daughter, Clementino is survived by son Eno Clementino of Orland, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her second son, Howard Clementino.
A vigil service is at 7 p.m. today at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Petaluma.
Interment will be at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Clementino's family suggests memorial contributions to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952.
Nancy Kennedy
Former Petaluma librarian Nancy Eveleth Kennedy, whose affection for books was rivaled by her love of classical music, died Friday at age 72.
Kennedy had worked 15 years at the Petaluma Regional Library when she retired in November.
"She loved all the people she worked with," said her daughter, Betsy Kennedy Brahm of Vallejo. "She loved being surrounded by the books, and she loved being part of the community."
A native of San Francisco, Nancy Kennedy settled in Petaluma in 1972, after her husband, John J. Kennedy, retired from a military career.
"She was an information junkie, which is what made the library so perfect for her," Brahm said.
Kennedy also savored music and history, amassing a collection of about 2,500 classical CDs and 500 history videos. Her daughters will now donate them to the Petaluma library.
Kennedy's husband died in 1986. She is survived by her daughter in Vallejo, daughter Mary K. Kennedy-Briener of Berkeley, sister Susan Eveleth of Albion; brother David Williams of San Rafael; and two grandchildren.
A funeral liturgy will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma. Interment will follow at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Kennedy's family suggests memorial contributions to the Petaluma Regional Library, 100 Fairgrounds Drive, Petaluma 94952.
Marie Graham
Lifelong Jenner resident Marie Graham, who was born on Goat Rock Beach to a fisherman and a Coast Miwok woman and grew up on the Russian River's Penny Island, died Wednesday in Santa Rosa. She was 86.
She was born Dec. 17, 1914, to Nora Santos and Guam-born fisherman Joseph Santos. The couple lived at the time in a house on what would become Goat Rock State Beach, just south of the mouth of the Russian River.
Joseph Santos was among a group of Filipino fishermen, referred to as "Manila Men" by residents of the Sonoma coast, who formed a small colony at the river mouth in 1900.
When Marie Graham was still a young child, her parents acquired and moved their family onto Penny Island, which stands in the river at Jenner.
"They fished, they raised vegetables and they had a dairy farm," said Grahams' daughter, Beverly Tamagno of Santa Rosa. She said her mother attended school at Jenner's old one-room schoolhouse.
As a young woman, Graham worked for a time at the Bridgehaven Restaurant before she met Arkansas native William G. Graham. They marriage in 1937 and lived for a short while on Penny Island.
The Grahams moved ashore in 1950, settling into a hillside house in the middle of Jenner.
"My dad built this whole house with a handsaw," said the Grahams' son, William Graham Jr., who lives still in the house.
His mother's parents, the Santoses, died in the 1940s. A law firm representing a gravel firm bought the 28-acre Penny Island from Joseph Santos' estate in 1961 for $52,150.
For years after the purchase, Utah Construction & Mining Co. and then the island's subsequent owner, Northern California Aggregates, promoted a controversial gravel-dredging plan that would have eliminated the island entirely. That proposal was put to rest in 1972, when the state bought Penny Island and declared it an ecological refuge.
William Graham died in 1974. His widow stayed on in the house on the Jenner hillside.
"She loved fishing, and she loved baking pies," said daughter Tamagno.
Marie Graham fell ill about three years ago, and lived since in a rest home in Santa Rosa, where she died.
In addition to her daughter and son, she is survived by sister Josephine Wright of Jenner, five grandchildren, one stepgrandchild and three great-grandchildren.
Services are at 1 p.m. Feb. 7 at Guerneville Redwood Chapel.
Graham's family suggests memorial contributions to the Alzheimer's Association, the Diabetes Society or to favorite charities.
Donald Alexander
Donald J. Alexander, who played baseball at Santa Rosa High during the early years of World War II and eventually let go of a dream of making the big leagues, died Jan. 22. He was 75.
After accepting that he would not make a career of baseball, Alexander went to work in the beverage and produce business and fed his love of the sport by coaching Little League, Babe Ruth and women's softball teams.
His wife of 51 years, Beverly, and others of his loved ones were with him when he died at his Santa Rosa home.
Alexander was born in San Francisco but grew up in Santa Rosa. His dad, Mendocino County native Samuel Alexander, distributed Weilands and Falstaff beer in Santa Rosa.
Donald Alexander attended Roseland School and went through Santa Rosa High with the Class of 1943. He played baseball at the high school and later went semi-pro with the Santa Rosa Rosebuds and teams from the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
His position was second base.
"Baseball was his first love," his wife said. "He wanted to play in the pros but he never had an opportunity to do that."
The war was on when Alexander graduated from high school. He went into the Navy and served in Alaska and in the Pacific as a radio man. He came home in 1946.
He worked for a time for his father's beer distributorship before starting his own business, Don's Produce. Subsequent to that he operated the liquor departments at three Park Auto Markets in Santa Rosa.
He later became a salesman for PepsiCo, a position he held until his retirement in 1988. He bowled for about 40 years and in retirement played a fair amount of golf.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by son Gary Alexander and daughter Lori Alexander-Winkler, both of Santa Rosa; sister Ruth Bartolomei and brother Ronald Alexander, also of Santa Rosa; and three grandchildren.
Services have been held.
Alexander's family suggests memorial contributions to the men's and women's baseball programs at Santa Rosa High. Donations can be send to SRHS Foundation, P.O. Box 11002, Santa Rosa 95406.
October 18, 2000
Edward S. Hochuli, a conservative businessman and former naval officer who served as assistant to the first president of Sonoma State University during the school's early days, died Saturday at his home in Oakmont. He was 86.
October 17, 2000
Dr. James B. Adamson, a longtime pastor in Santa Rosa and a respected leader in the city's religious community, died Friday at a Petaluma hospital following a long illness. He was 76.
October 16, 2000
Longtime Bodega Bay resident Edith Phillips Arnold died Oct. 2 at her home in Hillsboro, Ore. She was 95.
October 13, 2000
Ray Pukanic practiced yoga, ate well and eschewed prescription drugs, preferring to find health in exercise and herbal remedies.
October 12, 2000
For much of his life, Kay Sidney Johnson called Gualala's old Seaside Hotel home. And it was, in the fullest sense of the word.
August 12, 2000
Donna B. Hall, a local business owner and socialite who made Santa Rose her home for 40 years, died Aug. 4.
August 11, 2000
John Lengyel, a Pearl Harbor survivor who worked as a printer for The Press Democrat for more than 36 years, died of emphysema Sunday at Warrack Hospital in Santa Rosa. He was 83.
August 10, 2000
Ellen Gibson Woodbury loved children and was always willing to help with activities involving kids. She volunteered as a teacher's aide at Dunbar School and helped the students present their annual fifth grade play. She also assisted with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts activities.
August 5, 2000
Jack Murphy, a well-loved music teacher in Santa Rosa who performed with the Santa Rosa Symphony for 25 years, died at his Santa Rosa home Thursday after a long battle with cancer. He was 88.
August 4, 2000
Santa Rosa native Cynthia Marie Stra Tlahuitzo, who worked nearly two decades as a nurse's aide at convalescent hospitals, died Saturday. She was 52.
August 3, 2000
Petaluma native Carl August Friedrichsen, who worked as an accountant as a young man and went on to operate his own retail stores, died Saturday at his home in Santa Rosa. He was 90.
August 2, 2000
Madeline L. Dado, a Petaluma hostess and world traveler known to many friends as Topsy, died Saturday at 93. Just a year ago, she was still dancing in Jazzercise classes twice a week.
July 31, 2000
Georgiana M. Silva, a daughter of dairy farmers, a mother and grandmother of dairy farmers and a Petaluma dairy farmer herself, died Friday of cancer in Oakdale. She was 80.
July 27, 2000
William Turney sold meat and seafood for almost five decades in Petaluma, where his Washington Street kiosk was a hub of local activity.
July 26, 2000
A public memorial is planned at 11 a.m. Saturday at Howarth Park on Summerfield Road for Walt Guanella, general manager and co-sponsor of the two-time American Softball Association champion Guanella Bros. fastpitch softball team.
July 24, 2000
Henry Walraven, a longtime manager with a passion for collecting wire insulators, died Friday. He was 78.
July 20, 2000
Marta Brians lived almost her entire life within a single-mile stretch of Petaluma Hill Road. But even though she didn't travel far, her 85 years in Penngrove were rich with farm chores, gardening, raising children and expressing herself creatively through poetry, drawing and photography.
July 19, 2000
Adopted just after birth, Maxine Chiaroni of Santa Rosa came nearly to the end of her life without knowing who her birth parents were or meeting any of her brothers or sisters.
July 17, 2000
Evelyn P. Abrams, who spent most of her life in the North Bay and her later years working in a Santa Rosa group house for retarded adults, died July 4 in Citrus Heights. She was 74.
Jun. 6, 2000
For 23 years, Fred Z. Wright saw much of the United States from high altitudes as he flew B-29 and B-36 bombers and C-124 cargo planes for the military.
Jun. 5, 2000
Ted Graber, a Beverly Hills interior designer who refurbished the White House family quarters for first lady Nancy Reagan, died Saturday in Sonoma where he had retired. He was 80.
Jun. 4, 2000
Godfrey Emerson Boehm was a founding member of the Newspaper Guild and devoted a lifetime to journalism and labor organizing.
