Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Dian P. Francis
Dian P. Francis of Dixon died Nov. 6, 2003, after a long illness. She was 53.
Born April 28, 1950, in Westwood, her family moved to Dixon in 1953. She attended schools there, graduating high school in 1968.
She worked for 28 years for the University of California. She recently retired from the UC Davis School of Law, where she worked as a registrar.
She loved animals and was an avid San Francisco 49ers fan. She enjoyed two memorable trips to Norway, where she re-established ties with relatives and met cousins, aunts and uncles in several communities there. She was also a longtime member of both Soroptimist International of Dixon and Greater Davis.
She is survived by her mother, Borghild Rott; brother, Dan Rott and sister-in-law Joan; and niece Tara Rott and nephews Erik and Ivan, all of Dixon.
A memorial service will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at Dixon Community Church, 955 E. A St.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to "Touch from Above," a project of Soroptimist International of Dixon, P.O. Box 472, Dixon, CA 95620-0472.
Opal Graham
Opal Graham, a frequent visitor to Davis over the past 30 years, died Oct. 30, 2003, at her son's home in Flintridge. She was 92.
She was born July 15, 1908, in Vona, Colo., and marriage Gilbert W. Graham in 1935. A longtime teacher in Almena, Kan., Long Island, Kan., and in the Methodist Mission in New Mexico, she was also an early activist in creating a senior housing project in rural Kansas.
An avid traveler, she journeyed to Africa, Israel, Afghanistan, Switzerland, France, Germany and Mexico.
She was preceded in death by her husband.
She is survived by her children, Joan G. Poulos and husband David Lewis of Davis and Bodega Bay, Gilbert T. Graham and wife Patricia Lee of Berkeley, Gayle Graham Morin and husband Alfred Morin of Nashville, Tenn., and Arnold K. Graham and wife Susan Vaage of Flintridge. All are attorneys, except Gayle Morin, who is a district director for the Internal Revenue Service, and Alfred Morin, who is an educational consultant.
She is also survived by her grandchildren, Derek Graham and his wife Lisa and three children; Angela Ford and her husband; John S. Poulos and his wife Michele Granger and their four children; Douglas Morin and his wife Karmei and their daughter; Alexandra Poulos Fullerton and her husband Michael and their three children; Dr. Corrinna Sullivan; Aaron Morin; Vanessa Graham; Autumn Graham; Justin Graham; and Laurell Graham.
She is also survived by her nieces, Miriam Brubaker and family; and Janice Brown Grimes and her husband Walter Grimes and family.
A funeral was held at the United Methodist Church of Almena on Sunday. Present were all of her children and their spouses, all of her 11 grandchildren, except one who lives in Hong Kong, and four of her 10 great-grandchildren. It was a time of both sadness and joy for her many students, neighbors and friends who celebrated her life, her family said.
The family requests memorials be sent to the United Methodist Church of Almena, 510 Washington St., Almena, KS 67622.
Mary M. Mandelaris
Mary Margaret Mandelaris of Davis died of natural causes Nov. 9, 2003, in Davis. She was 86.
She was born Mary Margaret Mustain on April 4, 1917, in Fort Smith, Ark. She lived and worked as a bookkeeper in Detroit, where, in 1937, she marriage George Mandelaris.
In 1948, she moved with her family to the Los Angeles area. She lived and worked there until her retiring in 1977, when she and her husband moved to Woodland. For the last eight years, the couple has lived at Covell Gardens.
She is survived by her husband of 66 years, George Mandelaris, son Richard Mandelaris and his wife Darlene, granddaughter Kristen Schimmel and her husband Mick, grandson Derek Mandelaris and his wife Katie, and two great grandsons, Braeden Schimmel and Tanner Mandelaris, all of Davis.
A family memorial will be held today, Nov. 16, 2003.
The family asks memorials be sent to Yolo Hospice.
Daniel L. Shon
Daniel Lee Shon of Davis died Nov. 13, 2003, with family and friends at his side, after a short battle with cancer. He was 51.
Born Sept. 24, 1952, in Hilo, Hawaii, he graduated from Hilo High School in 1970. He later earned a bachelor's degree in animal science from the University of Hawaii.
He spent many years working in agriculture before moving with his family to Plainsboro, N.J., in 1991, then to Davis in 1993. He most recently was a marketing manager for Syngenta Crop Protection, part of a long career in the agricultural and veterinary pharmaceutical industry.
His family described him as a devoted husband and father. He was a member of the Davis Korean Church, and was also an avid sportsman, who enjoyed fishing, diving, skiing and golfing.
He was preceded in death by his father, Larry Bok Dong Shon.
He is survived by his wife, Charlene Saito Shon of Davis, sons Darren Lee Shon and Derek Allen Shon of Palo Alto, daughter Dayna Chiemi Shon of Davis, mother Annie Tang Shon of Hilo, and brothers Larry Lee Shon of Hilo and David Lee Shon of Mililani, Hawaii.
A memorial service celebrating his life was held Nov. 17, 2003, at the Davis Korean Church.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Davis Korean Church.
Richard G. Swift
Richard Gene Swift, composer and professor emeritus of music at UC Davis, died Nov. 8, 2003, in Davis. He was 76.
He was born in Middlepoint, Ohio, on Sept. 24, 1927, to Lyle Russell Swift and Josephine Ladd Swift.
He studied composition privately with Grover Buxton and John Sherwood from 1940-47. From 1950-52 he taught at the U.S. Army Third Armored Division Band School in Fort Knox, Ky.
In 1953 he began attending the University of Chicago, where he studied composition with Grosvenor Cooper, Leland Smith and Leonard Meyer. Upon completing his master's degree in 1956, he became a faculty member of the nascent UCD department of music.
Music department founder Jerome Rosen wrote in a history of the department that, at the time he was hired, Swift had "already shown himself to be a gifted and productive composer -- one of his orchestral works had recently been recorded by the Louisville Symphony." Rosen soon came to consider Swift a co-founder of the department due to his wise counsel, because of his role in selecting music scores and learned books for the department library and for the quality and breadth of his teaching in the areas of music composition, theory and history.
Swift served as chairman of the department from 1963-1971. He oversaw the formation of a master's degree program, developed a partnership with the University's Committee on Research to present concerts of new works, and conceived and established the artist-in-residence program, which continues to bring distinguished visiting artists to the department to teach students and present public concerts.
UC Davis colleague Professor D. Kern Holoman said that for decades Swift was, for many, the intellectual foundation of the department, a distinguished composer of the surrealist school who helped make UCD a famous locus of new music. He composed more than 100 works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, voice, solo piano, flute, guitar and opera, and his works have been recorded on the Orion, NEW, PNM, and CRI labels. He retired from the department in 1991.
His many awards include a Rockefeller Foundation-Louisville Orchestra Young Composers Award (1955); Fellow, Institute for Advanced Musical Studies, Princeton University (1959, 1960); Rockefeller Foundation Performance Award (Oakland Symphony, 1968); Composers String Quarter Award (1973); National Endowment for the Arts (1976-77); American Institute -- Academy of Arts and Letters Award (1978); annual ASCAP Award for Serious Music (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992); the Fromm Foundation; the MacDowell Colony; and the UC Davis Distinguished Teaching Award (1980).
He was a member of the American Music Center, ASCAP, American Musicological Society, Society for Music Theory, San Francisco Composers Forum, College Music Society and American Society of University Composers. He also served as a visiting professor at Princeton University (1977-1978), chairman of the UC Davis Integrated Studies program (1969-1971) and a University of California Faculty Research Lecturer (1983-1984).
Swift also was active as a writer and editor, contributing to the University of California Press, American Musicological Society journal, Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians and Dictionary of American Music, Notes, Perspectives of New Music and others. He had a founding role as consulting editor to the University of California Journal of 19th-Century Music, produced on the UCD campus.
He was preceded in death by wife Dorothy Zackrisson Swift. He is survived by sisters Sandra Byers of Muskegon, Mich., Kay Corder of Norman, Okla., and Shirley Bice of Lima, Ohio; sons Jeremy Swift of Woodland, John Swift of Davis and Joel Swift of Davis; daughter-in law Susan Lewis Swift of Davis; and grandchildren Vanya, Marinka, John, Sean, Jesse and Zachary.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Food Bank of Yolo County, Communicare community health clinic, or the American Lung Association.
A concert celebrating his life and works will be scheduled at a later date.
Perry A. Boukind
Perry Alan Boukind died on Nov. 21, 2003, at Sierra Health Care Convalescent Hospital in Davis. He was 81.
He was born in Billings, Mont., on March 30, 1922. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, spending his time in Central Europe, where he received a Purple Heart in 1944.
He marriage Mary Lenihan on Sept. 14, 1944, in Anaconda, Mont., during a two-week leave.
After returning from the war, he finished his studies and received a degree from the Montana School of the Mines. He worked for 35 years as a metallurgical engineer starting in Birmingham, Ala., then moving to San Francisco, then Sacramento.
In 1997, the couple moved to Davis to be closer to their daughter. He was a devoted and loving husband, father and grandfather, his family said.
After retirement, he volunteered, helping adults learn to read. He was energetic, good-natured and a great cook, his family said.
He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Mary Boukind; his daughter and son-in-law, Peggy and Dennis Younglove; and granddaughters Laura Younglove and Lisa Younglove and her husband Claudio Osses Henriquez.
A memorial service is planned for 2 p.m. Tuesday at Covell Gardens, 1111 Alvarado Ave.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association.
An Tzu Yang
An Tzu "Andy" Yang, a UC Davis professor emeritus of mechanical engineering and husband of Ambassador Linda Tsao Yang, a former U.S. executive director to the Asian Development Bank, died Nov. 21, 2003, at Woodland Memorial Hospital with family and friends at his bedside. He was 80.
Born in Shanghai, China, he came from an academic family. His father, Pei-Feng Yang, was a professor of civil engineering and his sister, the late An-Jing Yang, was professor of material science, both at Jiao-Tong University.
In 1942 he escaped from Japanese-occupied Shanghai to free China, making the more than 1,000-mile journey on foot, ox cart, mule, train and whatever other modes of transportation he could find. He enrolled at the Northwestern College of Engineering in Xi'an, China, where he received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1946.
He came to the United States in early 1949 to study at the Ohio State University, where in 1918 his father earned his graduate degree. He graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1950. After holding several engineering positions in industry and teaching at the Institute of Mathematics in Porto Alegre, Brazil, he completed his doctorate in engineering science at Columbia University in 1963.
His dissertation, "Application of Quaternion Algebra and Dual Numbers to the Analysis of Spatial Mechanisms," was adopted by Columbia, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a text for graduate courses in spatial kinematics within two years of its publication. It was considered a landmark contribution that opened up the use of the so-called "screw theory" for researchers in mechanism design, robotics, biomechanics and computational geometry -- 40 years later, it remains one of the highly cited works in kinematics.
He joined the young UCD College of Engineering in 1964 as an assistant professor, and was a founding member of the department of mechanical engineering in 1965. His analytical work was quickly recognized nationally and internationally. Within five years of arriving at UCD, he had become a renowned researcher and leading figure in the field of mechanisms, kinematics and dynamics. A year later, he became a full professor. He retired in 1991.
Professor Emeritus Warren Giedt, the founding chair of the department of mechanical engineering, said of him, "I was lucky to have Andy on the faculty. He is a true scholar in the finest tradition. And he is a humble man."
Yang served the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the International Federation for the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms and the National Science Foundation throughout his career as a technical editor, organizing technical conferences and as a peer reviewer. He was also named to state legislative advisory subcommittees, for the Assembly Committee on Economic Development and New Technologies and the California Legislature's Joint Committee on Science and Technology.
He received several awards, including a service award from the ASME's Applied Mechanics Review, ASME's Design Division Mechanisms Committee Award, Life Fellow status in ASME and an election into the New York Academy of Science.
Last year at ASME's Design Technical Conference in Montreal, Canada, a special technical session was dedicated to his research. His former doctoral students, colleagues and friends honored him at a pre-conference dinner for his 80th birthday. Both occasions brought him much joy and pleasure, his family said.
He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Linda Tsao Yang, and two sons and daughters-in law, Yuelin T. and Trina Chin Yang of Singapore and Eton Y. and Jenny Wang Yang of Davis.
A graveside service will be held Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Davis Cemetery at Eighth Street and Pole Line Road. A celebration of his life will be held on Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. at the UCD Alumni & Visitors Center.
Donations in Yang's memory may be sent to the UCD Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Student Aid Fund; ASME Foundation, 3 Park Ave., 23W1, New York, NY 10016; The International House Davis, 10 College Park, Davis, CA 95616; Davis Chinese Christian Church, 536 Anderson Road, Davis, CA 95616; or to a charity of the donor's choice.
Dale Kester
Dale Kester of Davis died Nov. 21, 2003, after a long illness. Born July 28, 1922, on a 160-acre farm north or Ross, Iowa, he was 81 years old.
The son of Raymond and Fannie Kester, he was the third eldest of seven children, attended Audubon High School and enrolled as a horticulture student at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
During his sophomore year there, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States was engaged in war. Kester signed up for the Air Force as a pilot, and received his wings in the class of 44D after having spent a year in Texas.
From there, he moved to Harding Field in Baton Rouge, La., where he met his future wife, Daphne, one of the USO dancers. They were marriage in 1946 after he spent time in Colorado Springs and Italy. He graduated with a bachelor's degree at Iowa State University and accepted a position as a research assistant at UC Davis, where he ultimately received his master's and Ph.D. degrees.
Kester was the first graduate student in the UCD department of pomology after the war, graduating in July 1951 and becoming a member of the faculty. Later, he was promoted to professor and pomologist, joining with Hudson Hartmann to teach plant propagation until 1987.
Long before that, Kester and Hartmann began writing a textbook for a plant propagation course. In 1959, the book became the first edition of "Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices!" The textbook is in its eighth printing and has been translated into Russian, Spanish and Italian.
Kester had 120 papers published in journals and conference proceedings and presented six papers to the Western Region of the International Plant Propagators Society, of which he was founder. He received a stack of awards of awards and was a member of many academic organizations. He received the 2003 Research Award from the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers at its annual meeting in June.
Kester received the Curtis J. Alley Award in 1999 for his lifetime service to the International Plant Propagators Society and in 2002 received the society's International Award of Honor. His major research was with almonds and stone fruits. He introduced numerous prunus rootstocks to the nursery industry, participated in many international symposiums and became a fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science in 1980.
In 1998, he was the Spenser Ambrose Beach Lecturer at Iowa State University.
Despite Kester's continued striving for excellence in his career, his family found him to be a very easygoing person. They remember camping trips, a long road trip to Washington, D.C., his do-it-yourself projects, the annual Thanksgiving dinners to which international students and their families were invited and the support he showed his children in whatever endeavors they chose, even when they changed their minds mid-course.
He also served on the Session at Davis Community Church, sang in the choir, was a member of a barbershop quartet, played the viola, was a member of the Kiwanis Club, was a founder of the FarmHouse Agricultural Fraternity, participated in University Extension classes and Toastmasters, and was a member of the pilots club at the University Retirement Community.
Kester's wife, Daphne, died in 2000 after 54 years of marriage. He leaves behind brothers Clark and Warren Kester; sisters Marjorie Christiansen, Clara Poore and Fran Heuton; daughter Nancy Baysinger and her husband Mark of California, Md.; son Bill Kester and his wife Emily of Three Rivers, Texas; grandchildren Matt, Joshua and Tim Baysinger and Ann and Carl Meinecke; and several nieces and nephews.
Dale E. Kester
A memorial service will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. for Dale E. Kester, a retired UC Davis professor of pomology, who died Nov. 21, 2003, at the University Retirement Community in Davis. He was 81.
The service will be at the Davis Community Church, 412 C St. All are welcome.
Maria Matta
Maria Matta, a Davis resident for more than 60 years, died Nov. 23, 2003, at Sutter Davis Hospital. She was 77.
Born Oct. 3, 1926, in El Paso, Texas, to Pedro and Juana Ramirez, she came to Davis in 1941. She worked for many years as a housekeeper for many different families here.
Until a recent illness, she was an avid sports fan. She enjoyed San Francisco 49er football games and Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants baseball games, and was a fan of the Sacramento Kings basketball team. She liked going to rock concerts with her sons and friends, too, and spending summer vacations in South Lake Tahoe. She also had a passion for animals, especially dogs.
She was preceded in death by her brother, Ignacio Rameriz, and sister, Petra Rameriz.
She is survived by her sons, Alex Matta Jr., and his wife Muriel Suleiman-Matta of Davis; and David Matta of West Sacramento; and by her nephew, Daniel Rameriz.
The rosary will be recited Nov. 30, 2003, at 5 p.m. at Davis Funeral Chapel, 116 D St. The funeral Mass will be celebrated Dec. 1, 2003, at 10 a.m. at St. James Catholic Church, 14th and B streets in Davis. Burial at Davis Cemetery will follow.
In lieu of flowers, her family asks that contributions be made in her name to the Yolo County SPCA, 41831 Gibson Road, Woodland CA 95776.
Arrangements are under the direction of Davis Funeral Chapel.
Shirley V. Jones
Shirley Vaughn Jones, a Davis resident for more than 40 years, died Nov. 26, 2003, at Sutter Davis Hospital after a long struggle with illness. She was 71.
She was born Oct. 3, 1932, and was raised in Elko, Nev. In 1941, her family spent some time in Honolulu; later, she would vividly recall seeing Japanese planes flying overhead there during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
She attended the University of Nevada, graduating summa cum laude in 1953 with a degree in journalism. Her first opportunity to work in her field was at the Chalsant Press in Bishop. Later, she worked as a state employment officer in San Francisco and Sacramento. She subsequently served as publicity director in the Sacramento office of a University of Southern California graduate program.
Her family said she fought courageously against serious illnesses, and that she will be dearly missed by them and by her friends.
She is survived by her husband, Lawrence Jones of Davis; sons, Theodore W. Jones of San Mateo and Daniel T. Jones of Davis; brothers, Conley Kershner of Seattle and Peter Kershner of St. Louis; a cousin, Marie Day of Lake Oswego, Ore.; and an aunt, Lois Starnes of Carmel.
Funeral services will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 1, 2003, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 785 Elmwood Drive, in Davis.
In lieu of flowers, her family asks that contributions be made to the American Cancer Society in the name of the deceased.
Nino Pusateri
Nino Pusateri, a longtime Davis resident and decorated war veteran, died Nov. 24, 2003, at Woodland Memorial Hospital, surrounded by family. He was 95.
Born in the Cicero neighborhood of Chicago in 1908, he was the youngest of the Sicilian Pusateri family's six boys. He attended school only until the fifth grade, because he had to help his father grow and sell vegetables -- vegetables they often traded with neighbors for meat during the Great Depression.
His childhood memories included sightings of notorious gangsters, including Al Capone, trips to St. Louis to roller-skate and always playing baseball. From early childhood until his final days, he was die-hard fan of the Chicago Cubs, who last won the World Series the year he was born.
He was a printer's apprentice in a government program when World War II broke out. Having never traveled before joining the U.S. Army, he was still among the first to volunteer. His tank was among the first to go ashore at Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy, a day he rarely spoke of until interview by The Enterprise in on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, in 1994.
He also endured the Battle of the Bulge, where his battalion suffered immeasurably. He aided the remnants of other units defending Bastogne, where he was captured by the German army. He escaped captivity during a forced march by falling into a ditch and pretending to be dead. He would later say the minutes lying in that ditch were the longest and scariest of his life.
After his escape, he rejoined his reconstituted unit to fight in the battle for the bridge at Remagen, which established the first Allied beachhead across the Rhine River. He was extremely proud of a photograph of him with his buddies alongside a sign that read, "Cross the Rhine with Dry Feet, Courtesy of the 9th Armor Division." He was awarded a Bronze Star for Valor and a Purple Heart.
He met his future wife Angeline, a Red Cross social worker, in 1943, when she helped him return from the war after the death of his mother. Through letters and telegraph, the social worker and soldier kept in touch.
In December 1944, after his escape from captivity, he was interviewed by a Chicago Tribune reporter. Asked if he had any messages for people back home, he described a special young lady named Angeline DeSylvester and said he hoped she would say "yes" to his question. Her co-workers, a copy of the newspaper in hand, announced the news to her. Ten days after he came home for good, they were married.
The couple moved to Davis in 1952 to be near Angeline's sister, Emily, and her husband, Paul, a UC Davis professor. Pusateri attended Aggie games as religiously as he attended St. James Catholic Church, where he was an usher for 29 years.
A printer for the UCD reprographics department for 26 years, he could often be found bartering at the Davis Farmers' Market, riding his tricycle around town or mowing immaculate lawns. He made sandwich making an art form. His family said he will be remembered most for his infectious smile and for his ever-present greeting, "Hey, buddy!"
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Angeline Pusateri of Woodland, his daughter, Angela P. Cone of Rocklin, and his grandsons, Corey A. Jeffries of Porterville and David D. Jeffries of Washington, D.C.
A funeral Mass and memorial service will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at St. James Catholic Church, 14th and B streets. A reception will follow.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in the name of the deceased be made to St. James Catholic Church.
