Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Valeria Suurkivi
Valeria Toomingas Suurkivi died quietly on July 31, 2003, at her Davis home. She was 88.
She was born near Parnu, in the county of Tostamaa, Estonia, on Oct. 8, 1914 to Juhan Toomingas, a school teacher, and Anna Teemusk. She graduated from the University of Tartu in 1940 and worked as a dispensing pharmaceutical chemist in Tallin, Estonia.
In 1948, as a World War II refugee, she moved to England with her husband, Paul Suurkivi, and their two small children, starting again with just the clothes on their backs. Necessity taught her to sew, and she became an excellent tailor and made most of her own clothes throughout her life.
In England she re-qualified and worked as a dedicated and well-respected pharmacist until retiring, he family said. Widowed at 44, she raised and put her children through college, and encouraged them to look for better opportunities abroad.
After retiring, she took an active role in catering many events for the Estonian community in Leicester, sang in the choir in Bradford and enjoyed a wide circle of friends, colleagues and neighbors.
She loved her tortoise, Toddy, and her rabbit, Bunny, who kept her company while she studied. She believed in the value of education and wanted to improve her English. Her family said she was most proud to have earned her second college degree, a bachelor of arts in social science from England's Open University, at age 77.
When her first grandson was born, she began visiting America every six months for 20 years to help out, until her failing health prevented her from traveling alone. She relocated to Davis in 1996 to be closer to family.
She loved gardening and could be seen, crutch in hand, pulling weeds with a helping hand device in the other. She preferred to interact with younger people, and looked forward to visiting her doctor and nurses at Davis Community Clinic.
Her family said she will be remembered not only as a beloved mother, wife, friend and grandmother, but as an inspiration to the people who knew her -- independent, indomitable in spirit and uncompromising in her convictions.
She is survived by her son Ain Suurkivi, his wife Marilee and their sons Jeremy and Tyler of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada; and her daughter Aita Suurkivi Cohen, her husband Michael and their son Paul of Davis. In Estonia she is survived by her younger brother, Olev Toomingas and his wife Helgi; and nephew Toivo and his wife Asta, their son Tanel and his wife Monica, great grand-nephew Tauri, niece Tiina and grand niece Brigitta.
A memorial service and wake will be held Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Estonian House, 366 Fosse Road North in Leicester, England. A private gathering at her Davis home for family and friends will be held Sunday, Aug. 24, from 10 a.m. to noon.
In lieu of flowers, donations in the name of Valeria Suurkivi may be sent to CommuniCare Health Centers (attention: development director), P.O. Box 1260, Davis CA 95617.
Caleb Ramsay
Caleb (Terry) Ramsay died of cancer in his Woodland home on Nov. 7, 1998. He was 56.
He was born in Philadelphia, the third child of the late Walter and Grace Ramsay.
He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in theater arts from the University of Arizona, and while in college, he also studied in northern Japan for a year. He was a U.S. Army veteran.
Terry, his mother's nickname for him because of his childhood passion for ``Terry and the Pirates,'' had a varied career as a teacher at the Austine School for the Deaf in Brattlesboro, Vt., and acting in Broadway plays such as ``Fiddler on the Roof'' and ``Mame'' and in several films such as ``Planet of the Apes,'' ``True Grit'' and ``Four Seasons'' with Alan Alda. He also worked as a professional photographer for many years.
He was a former president of the Friends of the Woodland Public Library and was responsible for the formation of the Teen Friends of The Woodland Public Library. He is most recently remembered for producing and directing ``You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' locally under the auspices of the Friends of WPL.
He is survived by his wife, Lauren Abell Ramsay; his dear friend, Betty Webber of Woodland; and a sister, Gayle Knowles and her family in Philadelphia.
An informal memorial meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29, at the Davis Friends Meeting, 345 L St.
Kathryn E. Holbert
Kathryn Eileen Holbert died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Davis on Oct. 22, 1998. She was 82 years old.
One of seven children of Louis and Ella Klima of Owatoma, Minn., she marriage William Clifton Holbert in 1938, and was carrying their seventh child upon her husband's untimely death in 1957. She raised her family in Austin, Minn., and Billings, Mont., before moving to Davis in 1979.
She is survived by her children, Kathryn Holbert of Davis, Theresa Holbert of Davis, James Holbert of West Sacramento, Judith Heimer of San Francisco, Patricia Holbert of Galt, Mary Miller of Austin, Minn. and Richard Holbert of Denver; seven grandchildren; several great-grandchildren; a brother, Larry Klima of Forest Lake, Minn.; and a sister, Mary Margaret Holbrook of Billings, Mont.
She loved her family, music, games and holidays, and family members say she was feisty and independent. Her wonderful sense of humor, beautiful singing voice, sparkling eyes and lilting laugh will be long remembered.
Helen H. Scimens
Helen Hortense Scimens died suddenly from a stroke at Sutter Davis Hospital on Nov. 18, 1998. She was 73.
She was born on Nov. 5, 1925, in Bloomington, Ind., and spent most of her youth in that Midwestern university town.
After high school, she moved to the Detroit area to pursue her dream of becoming a journalist. She reported for several suburban newspapers, including the Detroit Free-Press.
In 1950, she marriage Michael Timothy Scimens, a recent engineering graduate of the University of Michigan. The honeymooners left Detroit for California's Central Valley where Mike would be employed. In the early '50s, the young couple moved to Sacramento.
She continued to work until her first child was born in 1955. In 1972, Helen, Mike and their three daughters moved to Davis.
She was a great lover of books, classical music and travel. He true passion, however, was writing, family members said. Throughout most of her life, she was an aspiring fiction writer.
She was always concerned about matters involving social justice, family members said. She spent countless hours volunteering on political campaigns and in the community promoting various social issues.
For more than 20 years, she was involved in the English Speaking Union. And for nearly four decades she was an active member of the Sacramento and then Davis Unitarian Churches.
She is survived by her husband, Mike of Davis; three daughters, Nicole Scimens of Davis, Lisa Scimens of Piedmont and Cristina Sundstrom of Orange; seven grandchildren; and four sisters, Patricia Dubar of Sacramento, Gloria Douthitt of San Francisco, Elizabeth Burns of Lafayette, Ind., and Rosalie Jones of Indianapolis, Ind.
A memorial service will be held at later date. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made in her memory to the Alzheimer's Association of America or to the Family Caregiver Alliance.
She was a very loving woman who will be missed deeply by her family and friends, family members said.
Bertha Z. Mata
Bertha Zaragoza Mata died Nov. 12, 1998, at Woodland Memorial Hospital. She was born in Colton on Feb. 26, 1924.
A resident of Yolo County for 70 years, she was a homemaker all of her adult life. She was a member of the Comite Mexicano de Beneficiencia No. 3 in Woodland.
She is survived by her husband of 54 years, Ted Mata of Woodland; two songs, Michael Mata and his wife Jeannine of Davis and David Mata and his wife Julie of Woodland; two daughters, Nancy Cooper and her husband Joel and Patricia Brooks and her husband Jeff, all of Woodland; and seven grandchildren, Nannette Mata of Yolo, Nicole Mata of Woodland, Jason Mata of Santa Cruz, Nicholas and Justin Mata of Oakland, and Alison Mata and Christopher Brooks of Woodland.
She is also survived by three great-grandchildren, A.J. Chippick and Amanda Powell of Yolo and Kayla Mata of Woodland; four brothers, Gilbert Zaragoza and his wife Helen of Rancho Cordova, Joe Zaragoza and his wife Dolores, Lolly Zaragoza and his wife Connie, and Jesse Zaragoza and his wife Mary; and four sisters, Celia Ramirez and her husband Adrian of Woodland, Lucy Garcia of Sunnyvale, Rosie Ramirez and her husband Fred and Clara Rios of Woodland.
She is also survived by numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Ramona Zaragoza, and her son, Richard Mata.
The vigil will be held Monday at 7 p.m. at the Holy Rosary Church in Woodland. A funeral Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Holy Rosary Church, with Burial to follow at St. Joseph's Cemetery.
The family requests that memorial contributions be directed to the Max Baer Heart Fund, in care of the Woodland Eagles Lodge.
McNary's Chapel is assisting the family with arrangements.
Martin R. Gutierrez
Martin Rincon Gutierrez died surrounded by family on Nov. 13, 1998, at his Knights Landing home. He was 54.
He was born on July 29, 1944, in La Piedad, Michoacan, Mexico, to the late Martiniano and Maria De Jesus (Rincon) Gutierrez. He was a resident of Yolo County for 30 years and was employed in the farm industry all his life.
He is survived by his wife of 31 years, Angelina Gutierrez of Knights Landing; two sons, Martin Gutierrez Jr. of Woodland and his wife Sylvia, and Ricardo Gutierrez of Knights Landing; two daughters, Arcelia and Raquel, both of Woodland; and four grandchildren, David, Andrea, Angie and Daniel, all of Woodland.
He is also survived by two brothers, Raphael Gutierrez of Knights Landing and Jose Luis Gutierrez of Mexico; two sisters, Lupe Solorzano and Maria Elena Mata of Knights Landing; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Friends are invited to attend the Rosary to be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at McNary's Chapel in Woodland. A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Knights Landing. Burial will follow at the Knights Landing Cemetery.
Jerry A. Clark
Jerry A. Clark, the investment representative of Edward Jones in downtown Davis, died on Nov. 14, 1998, of cancer. He was 59.
He was a 21-year resident of Davis, where he lived with his wife of 31 years, Viv-ette (Shaw) Clark.
He was born on Aug. 6, 1939, in Greenville, Mich., and graduated from high school there.
He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and was commissioned as an ensign upon his graduation in 1962.
Clark served aboard the destroyer USS Branch (DD745) as engineering officer and participated in three Vietnam campaigns. He was spot-promoted to lieutenant in 1965, a year ahead of his class.
He went on to serve as personal aide to Rear Adm. Carlton B. Jones, commander, Mine Forces, Pacific and Commander Naval Bases, Los Angeles.
After leaving the Navy, Clark was a manager for Electro-Optical Systems, a Xerox subsidiary in Pasadena; general manager of Fleetwood Enterprises in Westmoreland, Tenn.; and a division manager of Skyline Corp. in Woodland.
He started in the securities industry with Shearson Lehman Brothers in 1987. He moved to Edward Jones in Davis in 1990. He was a limited partner with Jones, earning many awards each year.
Clark was active in the Davis community. He was a manager and a board member with the Davis Little League and Davis Youth Baseball. He was a member of the Davis Chamber of Commerce, a member and past president of the Kiwanis Club of Davis, and a member of UCD Chancellors Club and the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association.
He was an active tennis player and participated in many tournaments in Davis for more than 15 years before developing his passion for golf. He was an active member of the Davis Golf Club.
Every spare moment he had, you would find him practicing or playing 18 holes of golf, family members said. He and his wife spent the last year traveling and playing new golf courses together.
He was a very honorable man, a man of ethics, a man whose word was his bond, family members said. He loved his family very much and took deep pride in his three sons.
He is survived by his wife, Vivette; his three sons, Bryan of Davis, Michael of Davis and Steve of Riverside; his mother, Virginia Gaylord; his stepfather, Edison Gaylord of Sacramento; his sister, Judie Fohs of Tustin; and his brother, John Clark of Alexandria, La.
His father, John Samuel Clark, preceded him in death.
A memorial service will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Davis Community Church, 412 C St. Pastor Jim Kitchens will preside.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations may be made to the American Cancer Society or to Yolo Hospice.
Arrangements are under the direction of Davis Funeral Chapel of Davis.
Julia Preiner
Julia Preiner died on Nov. 13, 1998, at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco. Born in Burbank, she was 57.
She worked in the department of molecular biosciences at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and was a Davis resident for the past 15 years.
She is survived by her dear friend and partner, Prem Handagama of Davis; her mother, Marjorie Preiner of Woodland; her two sons, Michael Stofer of Okinawa, Japan, and Jason Stofer of Martinez; and her sister, Patricia Preiner of Roseville.
Friends are invited to attend a funeral service at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Davis Funeral Chapel, 116 D St. Burial will follow at the Davis Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in her name to the Nature Conservancy, 201 Mission St., Fourth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105.
Ralph W. Larock
Ralph Wyant Larock, 87, died Nov. 10, 1998, at Cottonwood Nursing Center in Woodland, of complications following pneumonia.
He was born in Iowa on June 2, 1911, to Edmund Albert Larock and Ethel E. Wyant. His family moved to California when he was 3. He grew up in Oakland and graduated from Fremont High School in 1928.
Over the next 15 years he worked as a typewriter repairman, an ice delivery man and an instrument mechanic for Marchant calculators and United Airlines.
During World War II he worked for UC Berkeley at the Radiation Laboratory (now Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) and at the Manhattan Project laboratories in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
After the war he began a career as a manufacturing jeweler, making jewelry and setting precious gems, first in Oakland at a firm he co-founded and then owned solely, and later with several Bay Area firms in Berkeley, Richmond and San Francisco. He retired in 1976.
He marriage Hazel Marie Lambert in Berkeley on Jan. 9, 1937. They lived in Kensington from 1937 until 1996, when they moved to a retirement residence in Woodland.
Survivors include his wife, Hazel Larock of Woodland; two sons, Bruce E. Larock and his wife Susan Larock of Davis, and Richard C. Larock of Ames, Iowa. His grandchildren are Lynne Larock and her husband Scott Lindhurst of Waltham, Mass., and Jean Larock of San Francisco.
Also surviving is a sister, Dorothy Strohman and her husband Robert Strohman of East Moline, Ill.
Arrangements were made by Stanford University, where he donated his body to the medical school.
In lieu of flowers, the family encourages a donation to the Alzheimer's Association, 2222 Watt Ave. Suite D-1, Sac., CA 95825, or to a charity of the donor's choice.
Timothy R. Renner
Timothy R. Renner, a nuclear physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on the UC Berkeley campus and a team leader in breakthroughs in precise nuclear treatment of certain cancers and other applications, died on Nov. 17, 1998, at his home after a long battle against colon cancer. He was 48.
Renner, who lived with his family in Piedmont, was a staff scientist at the Berkeley laboratory and declined to work on weapons projects, but became a leader and participant in special projects.
One project achieved unprecedented precision in radiation of cancer patients, and another in computerized aiming and focusing X-rays at such precise levels that it will affect future examination of microscopic structures.
The work of Renner and his colleagues in radiation treatment has become a basic technique in the international field, particularly in Japan and Europe. The system made it possible to create the UC Davis treatment center for treating melanomas of the eye with precise heavy particle radiotherapy. The Davis facility will be named in his honor, ``The Timothy R. Renner, Ph.D., Eye Facility.''
Renner earned his undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1972. He received his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1978, during which time he participated in projects studying alpha particle components at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois and at Chalk River Laboratory in Canada.
Renner was a postdoctoral fellow at State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he met his wife, Susie Snitzer, an undergraduate student at the time. He continued his postdoctoral work at the Berkeley bevatron accelerator.
He later became a staff scientist on a team that included bio-medical specialists for which he designed and built several highly complex instruments using particles that could bombard late-stage cancers.
Before the new system, such heavy bombardment of the general area of malignancy would produce unacceptable serious damage to the diseased organ and to surrounding tissue. During this period, terminal cancer patients from various parts of the world came to the Berkeley laboratory for the unique treatment.
Because of the system's complexity, Renner had to be personally responsible for radiation controls during irradiation session, frequently working more than 24 hours at a time in order to treat the waiting list of patients, alternating his time between the complex technical control area and a specially cleaned medical therapy chamber near the accelerator.
Renner and his colleagues received a Research and Design Award for what has been termed ``the wobbler system'' of radiation. Renner personally was awarded a patent for a dosimeter design created in his medical treatment work.
From 1993 to only weeks before his death, Renner was one of the team leaders of a project in the Advance Light Source (similar to lasers) section of the Berkeley laboratory, the foremost facility in the world capable of producing X-rays at the energies needed for a wide variety of research in chemistry, physics and biology.
Under his leadership, Renner's team successfully created and built a system that reliably directs X-rays to target one-50th the diameter of a human hair, a technique permitting future improvements in precise work dealing with microscopic-size structures.
Renner's reputation was one of a creative scientist who with modesty and quiet enthusiasm could draw from all the needed facilities of the sprawling laboratory complex in the Berkeley hills, and stimulate loyalty and commitment among team members working with him.
Articles bearing his name have appeared in a number of scientific journals and was an invited speaker at a number of international scientific meetings.
He was a devoted family man and spent frequent weekends and vacations backpacking with his family in Northern California and the Sierra.
Renner is survived by his wife, Susie Renner; a son, Ian; a daughter, Zoe; his mother, Paula Renner of Oakland; a sister, Dr. Marguerite Renner of Pasadena; and a brother, Robert Renner of Desert Springs.
Services will be held at 12:30 p.m. Monday at Mount Sinai Temple, 280 Summit St., Oakland.
Vivian M. Richards
Vivian Mercer Richards died on Nov. 4, 1998, at her daughter's home in Asheville, N.C., after a courageous battle with cancer. She was 70.
She was born in on March 4, 1928, in Helena, Mont., and was raised in Livingston, Mont.
She and her husband, Donald, who preceded her in death on Sept. 18, 1998, lived as newlyweds in Butte, Mont.
Throughout their careers, they lived in several areas, including Boulder City, Nev.; Davis; Lafayette; Oakland; and Thousand Oaks. For the past several years, the couple enjoyed their retirement by traveling throughout the United States.
She is survived by her five children, James Donald, Joan Elizabeth, Virginia Marie, Catherine Mary and Robert Edward; her four grandchildren; her mother, Agnes Walker of Livingston, Mont.; and her three sisters, Helen Pavey, Annabelle Winfrey and Shirley Carlin.
She will be missed by all who knew her and loved her.
Asheville Mortuary Services is assisting the family with the arrangements.
Barbara M. Dodge
Barbara ``Bobbi'' McMillan Dodge died on Nov. 10, 1998. She was 69.
She was born on Oct. 2, 1929.
She was an avid softball player. She played in both women's and coed league in Davis for about 20 years. She also umpired the Davis Softball League for several years as well as coached a winning Little League baseball team.
She met her husband, John Marvin Dodge, at UC Berkeley where they were both students. After two years, she marriage him when he graduated and they went off to live in the woods.
After many moves with the California Division of Forestry (now the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection), they finally settled in Davis in 1971. They have lived here since that time.
She had been a Cal Alumni Scholar at Berkeley. It always bothered her that she hadn't graduated. So, when the children were old enough so that they did not need her at home, she went back to school at UC Davis. She graduated the same year as her two oldest children.
Singing was another great joy for Bobbi. She spent a number of happy years singing with the Sweet Adelines.
She is survived by Marvin, her husband of 49 years; her four children, Douglas Stuart Dodge of Big Pines, Janet Eileen Smith of Tampa, Fla., Bruce Gordon Dodge of San Diego, and Ian Conal Dodge of Oshkosh, Wis. She also left eight grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Lutheran Church of the Incarnation, 1701 Russell Blvd. in Davis.
The family asks that instead of flowers, friends make donations to the UCD Alzheimer's Center. Checks should be made out to UC Regents and sent to UCD Alzheimer's Center, 4860 Y St., Suite 3900, Sacramento, CA 95817.
