Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Feb. 19, 2000
Eda Wilkinson
Eda M. "Edy'' Wilkinson, who with her husband built and operated Dr. Wilkinson's Hot Springs Resort in Calistoga for five decades, died Feb. 2 at her home after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 82.
Feb. 18, 2000
Betsy Robertson
Betsy Ann Robertson, a longtime resident of Sonoma County, died Feb. 7 at her home. She was 42.
Nancy Marker
Nancy L. Marker, a resident of Sonoma County for 38 years, died Sunday in a San Francisco hospital of heart failure. She was 73.
Alice Hamamoto
Alice Misaye Hamamoto, a longtime Sonoma County resident, helped her family survive three years in an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II and aided in operating her family's grocery store for five decades.
Nikke Salerno
As a young woman, Nikke Salerno was regarded one of the best female accordionists in the world, touring the South Pacific during World War II with John Wayne and Bob Hope and an instrument etched with her name.
Feb. 17, 2000
Daniel Lacey
Daniel R. Lacey, a Santa Rosa eye surgeon for 20 years, died Sunday of a heart attack. He was 55.
Alfred Soldati
Alfred W. Soldati, the owner of Andersen Drilling Co. Inc., in Petaluma, died at his Bloomfield home on Friday of complications from diabetes. He was 67.
Feb. 16, 2000
Harris, founder of the Actors' Theater, dies
Tom Harris, a founding member of Actors' Theatre, which grew to become one of Sonoma County's most respected repertoire groups, died Sunday in Sacramento. He was 72.
Feb. 15, 2000
Regina Malm
Regina E. Malm, who lived in Santa Rosa for 60 years, died at her daughter's home in Washington on Feb. 5 from emphysema. She was 76.
Alma Anderson-Meissner
Alma M. Anderson-Meissner, a longtime resident of Healdsburg, died Feb. 10 of pneumonia and lung disease. She was 83.
Feb. 14, 2000
Don Ralke
Two memorial services are planned for Don Ralke, composer, arranger and producer of popular music for almost 50 years, who died Jan. 26 in Santa Rosa. He was 79.
Feb. 13, 2000
Donna Marie Binkley
Donna Marie Pettibone Binkley, who with her husband was an active member of Santa Rosa's Rincon Valley neighborhood, died Jan. 23 of pneumonia and other ailments. She was 89.
Sep. 23, 1999
Monsignor Tillman
Monsignor Clyde F. Tillman, former pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Petaluma, died Sunday. He was 88.
Sep. 22, 1999
Ruth Sherwood
Santa Rosa native Ruth Frazier Sherwood, who lived for 50 years in Calistoga and served a number of the town's community organizations as a volunteer, died Sept. 15 at the age of 94.
Sep. 21, 1999
Kenneth Kehoe
The smiling face of dairy farmer Kenneth P. "Skip'' Kehoe became familiar to thousands of people this year when he posed with his granddaughter for the poster promoting the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma. Kehoe died Friday night at his ranch in Inverness in Marin County. He was 66.
Henshaw, well-known volunteer, dies
Nancy Henshaw, a tireless and ever-cheerful volunteer for some of Santa Rosa's best-known institutions, including Memorial Hospital and the Sonoma County Community Foundation, has died at age 80.
Dorothy Mossler
Dorothy R. Mossler, a longtime Santa Rosa resident who spent her life taking care of others, died Friday in Oroville. She was 94.
Sep. 19, 1999
Rev. Daniel McCarthy
A funeral Mass will take place Monday for the Rev. Daniel P. McCarthy, who served as pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Church for 21 years. He died on Wednesday at the age of 83.
Sep. 17, 1999
Alice Reiser-Hogarty
When Alice Marie Reiser-Hogarty gave birth to a developmentally disabled son and discovered that few schools existed for such children, she dedicated herself to correcting that situation.
Sep. 16, 1999
Francis Cornett
Francis William "Buddy'' Cornett, a fourth-generation Marin County sheep and cattle rancher who also worked as a sheep shearer for many years on North Coast ranches, died Saturday at his ranch in Fallon, west Marin. He was 61.
Doroylene Ruggles
Doroylene Groom Ruggles, a longtime Sonoma County resident who taught school in the Sonoma Valley for 37 years, died in her sleep Friday surrounded by family at her home in Rio Dell. She was 86.
Sep. 13, 1999
Jean Cline
Private services were held for Sebastopol artist Jean Cline, 82, who lived in Sonoma County for 52 years. She died Aug. 29 at Kaiser Hospital after a short illness.
Sep. 12, 1999
Malcolm King
Malcolm David King's passion for farming and the outdoors drew him to the Ukiah Valley ranch where he and his wife lived together for 35 years. He died Thursday at the age of 59.
Sep. 11, 1999
Floyd Walker
A memorial service will be held Sunday for Floyd J. Walker, a quiet man who helped many charitable causes during his 31 years in Santa Rosa. He died on Monday at the age of 85.
Hazel Abel
Hazel Abel, a longtime Sebastopol resident, died suddenly of heart failure Sept. 3. She was 90.
Barry Harker
Services will be held today for Barry L. Harker, a fourth-generation Petaluman who was active in his community. He died Sept. 4 at a local hospital. He was 40.
John Diederich
After launching a promising career in civil and aerospace engineering, John Diederich changed course in midlife and dedicated himself to improving schools and the quality of life in Fort Bragg.
Stephen Dreyer
The 48-year-old Dreyer, who died Sunday at his Sebastopol home after an 18-month battle with cancer, left behind a legacy of finely crafted kitchen cabinetry and furniture found in some of the finest custom homes in Sonoma County, said his wife, Chris Dreyer.
Sep. 10, 1999
Lindsay Strout
Lindsay J. Strout, who helped develop Howarth Park and restore the Luther Burbank gardens, died of lung cancer Aug. 27 in Petaluma.
Vernon Floerke
Back when Adolf Hitler was dealing misery to Europe, Vernon R. Floerke was among the American boys too anxious to get into uniform to wait for their 18th birthdays.
Donald Stuart
Donald B. Stuart, a native of Point Arena who earned a living shearing sheep and logging trees during the days of big ranches and tall timber on the North Coast, died Monday at his home on the Garcia River in Point Arena. He was 89.
Sep. 9, 1999
Minnie Lynd
Minnie Pearl Lynd of Rohnert Park, a dedicated volunteer driver for shut-ins and an accomplished biologist with a 1939 degree from the Harvard School of Public Health, died Aug. 23 from complications following surgery. She was 89.
Arlette Brandenburg
A memorial service will be today for Arlette Brandenburg, a longtime Sonoma County resident who died Saturday at her home of cancer. She was 75.
Lena Cain
Services will be today for Lena Geneva Cain, a retired clerk for the former Community Hospital who died Friday in Santa Rosa. She was 97.
Donna Hall
Donna B. Hall, a local business owner and socialite who made Santa Rose her home for 40 years, died Aug. 4.
Hall and her husband, Ben F. Hall, ran Hall's Sporting Goods and later, Hall's Trophies and Awards.
She was born in Ritzville, Wash., and moved to Southern California as a child.
While she was working in South Lake Tahoe after World War II, she met her future husband. Ben Hall was visiting South Lake Tahoe with a friend.
According to her daughter, Candice Dahlstet, Ben had a boat and Donna had rationed gas stamps to get it to run. They had a short courtship and were marriage in 1947.
Together, they built a house in Proctor Heights and later lived on Grace Drive. They raised their family in the Grace Drive home.
"She was a great mother. She was a very positive person, very upbeat," said Dahlstet.
Hall was active in many community and sporting events. She loved to bowl and golf and was an excellent trap shooter. She was a life member of the Saturday Afternoon Club and helped start the Neptune Swim Club.
She was also a hard-working woman.
"She was a businesswoman before that was a very popular thing to do," Dahlstet said. Often, Hall would go to bowling alleys and golf clubs to sell her trophies.
After retiring in the 1970s, the Halls moved to Lower Lake and spent their summers in Fort Bragg. They enjoyed salmon fishing, volunteering with the Clearlake Coast Guard Auxiliary and talking with HAM radio friends.
The couple also enjoyed sailing on Tomales Bay.
When Ben Hall died in 1970, Hall moved back to Santa Rosa to be close to her family.
She is survived by her daughters, Candice Dahlstet of Santa Rosa and Bobbie Lynn of Willits; her brother, Donald Adams of Santa Ana; her stepdaughter, Cathy Decker of Sacramento; three grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. today at Church of the Incarnation, 550 Mendocino Ave.
Donations can be made to Noyo Women for Fisheries, P.O. Box 1087, Fort Bragg, CA 95437.
