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Jonie Leigh Smither
Jonie Leigh Smither died at her home in Woodland Friday, Nov. 25 at age 52.
Ms. Smither was born Nov. 25, 1953 in Corning to Carl E. and Cora Belle (Tanner) Smither. She had been a Yolo Country resident all her life. She graduated from Woodland High School in 1971.
Survivors include Ms. Smither's sisters, Joyce Briles of Woodland and Onera Roberts of Chandler, Ariz. and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Carl and Cora Smither and her relatives, Jimmy Smither and Imogene Torres.
The family requests memorials in Ms. Smither's name be directed to the Mental Health Association of Yolo County.
Services: Respecting the wishes of Ms. Smither, private family services and interment were held. Kraft Bros. Funeral Directors assisted the family with arrangements.
PECKHAM
Ellen A. Peckham
Ellen A. Peckham of Winters died Dec. 11, 2001. She was 66.
Born Dec. 1, 1935, in Alturas, she moved to Yolo County when she was 2 years old. She grew up on her family's farm near Madison and attended Esparto High School and UC Davis, where she studied home economics.
She marriage Davis Peckham in 1956 and they raised their children on the family farm. She was a bookkeeper and a foreman in charge of the figs on the farm until 1989. She was also involved in Esparto 4-H, a PTA and Countryside Community Church in Esparto. She also worked with the disabled at Summer House, Yolo Employment Services and Camp Sierra for the Handicapped.
She enjoyed gardening and quilting, and she cared for her grandchildren and her mother during her retirement.
Survivors include her sister and brother-in-law, Janice and Bob Walthers of Cedarville; one son, Jack Peckham of Madison; three daughters and two sons-in-law, Debbie Peckham of Woodland, Myrna and Joseph Spiva of Woodland, and Darci and Napoleon Lewis of Jacksonville, N.C.; grandchildren Nathan Covington of Woodland and Lela Spiva of Woodland, Nichole and Jennifer Peckham of Anaheim, and Demitrius Lewis of Jacksonville; two nephews, Cameron Bittle and his wife Liz Rambo of Springfield, Ore., and Whitney Bittle of Corvallis, Ore.; and two aunts and one uncle, Esther Marsh of Cedarville and Iola Tandy and Bill Tandy of Madison.
A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Countryside Community Church in Esparto. A private burial, attended by the family, will be at Cottonwood Cemetery.
Contributions may be made to Summer House Inc. at 206 Fifth St., Woodland, CA 95695; Yolo Employment Services at 660 Sixth St., Woodland, CA 95695; or Yolo Hospice at P.O. Box 1014, Davis, CA 95617.
McNary's Chapel in Woodland is assisting the family with the arrangements.
PECKHAM
Jack Robert Peckham
Jack Robert Peckham died Tuesday, March 4, 2003 at age 39.
Born Dec. 5, 1963 in Sacramento, Mr. Peckham was the son of the late David and Ellen Peckham. He lived in Yolo County all of his life. He attended school in Madison and Esparto. He also attended and graduated from Motorcycle Mechanics College in Arizona. He marriage on March 1, 2003.
Survivors include his wife Liz; daughters, Nichole and Jennifer Peckham; sisters, Myrna Spiva, Darci Lewis and Debbie Peckham. He was preceded in death by his grandparents Albert and Ellen Tandy.
The family requests memorials be directed to the trust for Mr. Peckham's daughters at Washington Mutual Bank, 1224 E. Gibson Road, Woodland. Arrangements are under the direction of McNary's Chapel of Woodland.
Services: Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight, Monday, March 10, 2003, at McNary's Chapel. Graveside services will be held at Cottonwood Cemetery on Tuesday, March 11, at 2 p.m.
PEEK
Josephine Cynthia (Maynard) Peek
Josephine Peek passed away peacefully in her sleep Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 in Woodland, Ca.
Born Oct. 29, 1916 in Boswell, Oklahoma to James Richard Maynard and Ida Cynthia Maynard. Josephine was a Practical Nurse for many years at Red River Hospital in Clarksville, Texas. She was an accomplished artist who enjoyed her many hobbies including oil painting, ceramics and numerous crafts. She was a world traveler and took great pride in the fact that she was baptized in the River Jordan. Her later years were dedicated to researching and recording her family genealogy with her great friend and cousin Ruth Higdon. Josephine was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 50 years Ervin D. Peek; sister Alma Scully; brothers Arthur Maynard, Melvin Maynard and Neal Maynard, all of Texas. She was also preceded by her niece Billie Hanson of Woodland. She is survived by her nieces and nephews, children of Neal Maynard, Penny Farrington and husband Mark, Pegee Laugenour and husband John, Dan Maynard and wife Kim, Ron Maynard and wife Dorothy all of Woodland. Jim Maynard and wife Linda, Kenneth Maynard and Denis Maynard of Bakersfield and John Maynard and wife Jo of Sacramento.
Services will be held in Clarksville, Texas. Arrangements are under the direction of McNary's Chapel of Woodland.
PEEK
Reese Faber Peek
Reese Faber Peek, known as Faber to family and friends, died in his sleep at home on June 28, 2004. He was 80 years old.
Born Nov. 11, 1923, he was a fourth-generation Sacramentan. Growing up in east Sacramento, he graduated from Sacramento High School in 1941 and marriage his high school sweetheart, Jan Wright Peek, who died in 1984.
Faber served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II as an airplane mechanic. After the war, he completed his college education at UC Berkeley and San Jose State College.
A treasured accomplishment in Faber's life was rowing No. 4 in an eight-man shell for UC Berkeley from 1945 to 1947.
His long and illustrious teaching career began at California Junior High School in Sacramento where he taught metal shop and math. Later, he continued teaching at Geothe Junior High, becoming a most beloved and sought-after guidance counselor.
His students remember him most for his wonderful sense of humor, his favorite saying - "OK4U?" - and his easygoing nature. His marriage to Frances in 1985 was his rebirth and he thrived on their 20-year love affair.
He charmed all who came in contact with him. Some of the things he cherished most were the cabin he built at Lake Tahoe, playing piano, singing barbershop music, fly fishing on the Truckee River, trips to Bodega Bay, creating pieces of art, puttering around in his workshop, being the father of his family, hot fudge sundaes, butter with corn on the cob, Uncle Rol's biscuits with gravy and ordering .56 pounds of salmon at the grocery store.
His family and friends love him dearly and will miss him more than can be said.
He is survived by his wife, Frances, of Davis; daughters Nondra (Noni) of Sacramento and Nori of Roseville; grandchildren Jeni Schwarz of Colorado Springs, Colo., Rindi Vale of Sacramento, Jaci Nitschke of Roseville and Corey Nitschke of Chico; great-granddaughter Emi Vale; brother and sister-in-law, Neal and Jerrie Peek of Davis; and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service and reception to celebrate his life will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at the home of his brother Neal, 27459 Oakside Drive in Davis.
PENDLETON
David J. Pendleton
David J. Pendleton died in his home in Hartford, Kan., Saturday, March 8, 2003, at age 61.
Born Nov. 28, 1941, in Sacramento, Mr. Pendleton was employed by Johnson's Farm Machinery in Woodland for 18 years. He was the son of the late Veren Pendleton and Muriel Clark Pendleton Durst. He was a veteran and served in the U.S. Air Force for four years. He was a member of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was ordained as a deacon on May 16, 1954. He marriage on Aug. 25, 1974 in Reno, Nev.
Survivors include his wife, Marjorie Kay (Ayers) Pendleton of Hartford, Kan.; father, Louis Durst of Rio Linda; daughters, Katrina English of West Sacramento, and Debbie Bess and husband Davis; sons, Raymond Smith, Robert Smith and wife Loretta, all of Hartford, Kan., and Perry Rowe of Woodland; brothers, Richard Pendleton of Chico, Dennis Pendleton and wife Jackie of West Sacramento, Joseph Oliveros and wife Marilyn of Carmichael, and Frank Oliveros of West Sacramento; sisters, Catherine Sutton and husband Bob of Ripon, and Rebecca Van Meter and husband Dennis of Willits; grandsons, Richard and Adam Smith of Hartford, Kan.; 18 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brothers, Larry, Ralph and Donnie Pendleton; and daughter, Jennifer Simon.
The family requests memorials be directed to Harford State Bank which can be sent in care of Charter Funerals - Emporia Chapel, 501 W. 6th Ave., Emporia, Kan., 66801.
Services: Visitation is scheduled from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, 2003, at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Emporia, Kan. There will be a service at 2 p.m. with Bishop Adam Starr officiating.
PENGELLEY
Eric 'Ted' Pengelley
Eric "Ted" Pengelley, a Davis evolutionary biologist who was active in local arts and civics, died March 22, 2003, at Woodland Memorial Hospital after suffering a heart attack. He was 83.
He had lived in Davis since he retired from the faculty at UC Riverside in 1984, returning to the community he and his wife, Daphne, had loved since he began his academic career here 25 years earlier.
He was born Eric Trevor Vernon Pengelley on July 18, 1919, in Toronto, Canada. He spent much of his childhood on a sugar plantation in Jamaica, where his father was the engineer, and at boarding schools in England.
During World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a radar technician and operator in Europe. Returning to Canada after the war, he enrolled at the University of Toronto, where he earned a diploma in institutional management, a bachelor's degree in biology and a doctorate in physiology.
In 1959, he was hired as an assistant professor at UC Davis. He spent a year on the faculty here and a year each at UC Santa Barbara and William and Mary College before joining the UC Riverside biology department in 1962.
"Ted was a remarkable man -- a highly principled and widely read scholar and humanist, and an unrelenting advocate of the power of evolutionary biology to liberate minds and spirits, " Irwin Sherman, a zoology professor emeritus at UC Riverside wrote in a tribute to his colleague. "He was also one of the most unforgettable of characters."
He studied hibernation in certain ground squirrels and showed that they have an internal biological clock that sends them into hibernation every year without cues from the environment.
At UC Riverside, he taught the introductory biology course for nonscience majors. In 1970, he began teaching a course on human reproduction and sexual behavior, and taught the course until his retirement. UC Riverside was the second campus in the UC system to offer the course after UC Davis. The course led him to write a textbook, "Sex and Human Life, " published in 1974 and 1978.
After moving back to Davis, Pengelley became a "beloved campus figure, " riding his bicycle across town to campus, delivering opinions to the Davis City Council "on a staggering array of topics" and giving lectures on the history of biological sciences until two years ago, said John Crowe, professor of molecular and cellular biology.
He collected first-edition books by and about Charles Darwin.
He and his wife, Daphne, an artist and art teacher, were active in the local arts and liked to travel to places where medical and biological history was made. Together they wrote, "A Traveler's Guide to the History of Biology and Medicine" (Trevor Hill Press, 1986).
After his wife of 42 years died of cancer in 1990, he endowed a research fellowship in her memory for graduate students at the UC Davis Center for Population Biology.
Memorial services are pending. He is survived by a daughter, Alison Hill Penfield of Ashland, Ore.; a son, David of Las Cruces, New Mexico; and a brother, Peter of Toronto.
Memorial contributions are suggested to: The Daphne and Ted Pengelley Endowment for Research in Evolutionary Biology, checks payable to UC Davis Foundation and clearly marked Pengelley Endowment. Contributions should be sent to: Director, Center for Population Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616.
