Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!Vivian J. Burgy
Vivian June Burgy died on Feb. 4, 2000, after a monthlong illness. Born on March 16, 1922, in Black River Falls, Wis., she was 77.
She served as a WAVE in the U.S. Navy during World War II and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a degree in history and political science.
After marrying her husband, Robert, she came to Davis in 1950 and was employed as a secretary in the vegetable crops department at UC Davis.
A devoted wife and mother of two, she was a member of Davis Community Church and actively participated in the El Macero Niners Golf Group. She contributed to many school and civic activities, but perhaps her greatest joy was in the camaraderie she found with her dear friends at El Macero, who knew her simply as ``Andy.''
She loved nature and especially animals, and had a kind and generous heart, which will be missed by all who knew and loved her.
She is survived by her husband of 52 years, Robert Burgy; her two daughters, Andrea Burgy and Roberta Anderson; and her brother, Warren Anderson of Wisconsin.
At her request, no memorial service has been scheduled. Her family requests that any donations be given to the charity of the donor's choice.
Patricia M. Weitzel
Patricia M. Weitzel died July 7, 2003, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61.
The second of two children, she was born May 21, 1942, to Elizabeth Drury McHugh and John Thomas McHugh. She grew up in San Mateo.
She attended the University of Oregon, where she met her husband, Bill Weitzel. They returned to the Bay Area, where she finished a bachelor's degree in sociology at San Francisco State University in 1965.
The two marriage in 1963, and moved to San Rafael, where their two children were born in 1967 and 1969. They owned and operated Viennese Baking Company San Francisco, a bakery they purchased from Bill's parents.
Seeking a less-stressful lifestyle, they sold the bakery in 1977 and purchased a Honda business, Grass Valley Motor Sports, in Nevada County.
They built a home in the country that allowed their children to raise sheep, horses and cattle to show at local fairs. After her children were grown, she became active in Soroptimist International of Nevada City, serving twice as president. She also served on the board of directors for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Nevada County.
In 1992, her husband of 28 years died suddenly at age 49. Two years later, she sold the Honda shop and worked as an office manager at the former Computer Learning Center and, most recently, at Paul Law Realty, both in Grass Valley.
She marriage Rich Stahlman in 2000. The couple was looking forward to impending retirement that included traveling, flying their airplane and spending more time with their children and grandchildren.
Besides her first husband and her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister, Lynn Woy, in 1999.
She is survived by her husband, Rich Stahlman of Grass Valley; daughter, Wendy Weitzel and husband Scott Wetzlich of Davis; son, Brian Weitzel and wife Ann Tavernetti of Roseville; and grandchildren Evan and Brock Wetzlich of Davis, and Owen and McKenna Weitzel of Roseville.
She is also survived by her step-daughters, Pam Milne of North Plaines, Ore.; Lori Quarnstrom of Denver, Colo.; and Sherry Kotecki of Cary, Ill.; as well as five step-grandchildren; mother-in-law Martha Weitzel of Santa Rosa; and sister- and brother-in-law Sandi and Steve Minutoli of Petaluma.
A memorial service will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 26, at the Weitzel home near Grass Valley.
Memorial contributions may be made to Soroptimist International of Nevada City, P.O. Box 144, Nevada City, CA 95959; or to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Nevada County, 11745 Maltman Drive, Grass Valley, CA 95945.
Val A. Luck
A private memorial service will be held Saturday for Val A. Luck, who died July 18, 2001.
Luck was born Sept. 17, 1917, in Des Moines, Iowa, to Alfred and Hazel Luck. He taught instrumental music and band in the state of Iowa and in Davis for nearly 40 years.
He was a familiar sight at elementary schools from 1967 to 1979, when he gave music lessons out of a gray school bus.
He was educated at Grinnell University and Columbia University, receiving a bachelor's degree in music and a master's degree in art. He also served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a first lieutenant.
He spent countless hours collecting stamps, playing golf, listening to classical music and looking after his cats. He shot holes in one in 1981 and 1984.
He is survived by his loving wife, Rachel Luck of Davis; two children, Valerie Asher of Park City, Utah, and Val Luck II of Davis; three stepchildren, Suzanne Brinsfield of Woodland, Debra Witty-Retima of San Francisco and David Witty of Taichung, Taiwan; four grandchildren, Peter, Marnie, Katharine and Kirstin; and a family of cats that adored him.
A private memorial service will be held Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the Davis Cemetery, 820 Pole Line Road.
Donations in his memory may be made to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Patrick Alexandre Sullivan III
Family and friends are mourning the loss of Patrick Alexandre Sullivan III of Davis, who died on Sept. 3, 2003, at age 20.
He was born in Montreal and had lived in Yolo County for the past eight years. He graduated from Woodland High School and was a former Boy Scout.
Those close to him knew him to be an intelligent, thoughtful and sensitive individual, his family says. He was a voracious reader who also liked to write. He enjoyed discussing religion and philosophy.
"Patrick had a boyish smile and sincere praise and encouragement for those around him," his family says.
His many interests and activities included Rollerblading, hockey, soccer, movie going, music, travel and cooking. He was a member of a band, playing the drums. Last year he was able to indulge his wanderlust during an extended trip to Europe, visiting England, Ireland and France with his girlfriend, Julie, and visiting New York before returning home to Davis.
He is survived by his parents, Sylvie and Patrick Sullivan II of Woodland; sister, Sara Sullivan of Woodland; girlfriend, Julie Ketchum and her family of Davis; grandmother, Magella Gagnon of Montreal; aunts, Kathleen Nightingale of Queens, N.Y., and Diane and Michele Gagnon of Montreal; and uncles Philippe and Gerard Gagnon, and Denis Viver, all of Montreal.
He is also survived by four cousins, Rosie Nightingale of Queens, N.Y., and Simon, Bruno and Laurence Gagnon, all of Montreal.
A private memorial service was held at McNary's Chapel. Memorials may be sent in his memory to the Yolo County Mental Health Department, 213 W. Beamer St., Woodland, CA 95695.
Lorraine Tolson
Lorraine Tolson of Vacaville, a Davis resident for 25 years, died Sept. 21, 2003, after a brief illness. She was 80.
Born March 28, 1923 in Placerville, where she attended El Dorado High School, she was a homemaker, wife and mother. For the past 15 years she was a resident of Leisure Town in Vacaville, where she participated in many activities.
Her family was her life and passion, and she will be remembered for her love, devotion and zest for life, her family said.
She is preceded in death by her husband of 45 years, Howard Tolson.
She is survived by sons and daughters-in-law Michael and Sara Tolson of Vacaville and Ronald and Nancy Tolson of Sacramento; grandchildren, Debbie Armstrong, Steven Tolson, Douglas Tolson, Daniel Tolson, Jessica Carbullido, Teresa Tolson, Jalena Tolson and Michael Pena; and 10 great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at Bethany Lutheran Church in Vacaville. A private graveside service will be held Sunday in Placerville.
Harry Hyde Laidlaw, Jr.
Harry Hyde Laidlaw, Jr., UC Davis professor emeritus and a Davis resident for 56 years, died Sept. 19, 2003, at his residence in the University Retirement Community. He was 96.
He was born April 12, 1907, in Houston. His keen interest in bee breeding started in childhood and he spent his late boyhood and teen years in Virginia, Florida and Louisiana working as a beekeeper with his grandfather, Charles Quinn. Together they experimented with mating queen bees and control breeding.
In 1929, while working in Baton Rouge, his boss encouraged him to attend Louisiana State University. He had not completed elementary school, but was able to enroll as a special student. Required to pass a high school equivalency test for each class until he earned a diploma, he was motivated to become a regular student by his desire to join the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.
In 1934, he completed a master's degree in entomology; in 1939, he earned a doctorate in genetics and entomology from the University of Wisconsin.
Two years later, Laidlaw was inducted into the U.S. Army, commissioned, and served as the Army entomologist for the First Service Command in Boston. While there, he met Ruth Collins. They were marriage in 1946 and made their first home in New York City, where he worked as a civilian entomologist for the Army.
In 1947, he joined the UCD department of entomology. Best known for developing artificial insemination technology for honey bees -- and recognized by peers worldwide as the "father of honey bee genetics" -- his contributions enabled selective breeding of honey bees and the fundamental study of insect genetics.
He authored numerous scientific publications and four books, and was the recipient of national and international awards for his research and his service to the university, agriculture and the beekeeping industry.
Laidlaw was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1955 and the Entomological Society of America in 1991. His contributions are noted in American Men of Science, Who's Who in The West, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, and Who's Who in Science. In 1997 he was honored by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences with its Award of Distinction.
In addition, he served as the first associate dean for research in the College of Agriculture in 1969. He retired from UCD in 1974, but remained active in outreach efforts on its behalf. From 1980 to 1985 he established a honey bee breeding program for the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture as part of a joint UC-Egypt agricultural development program. He continued to publish scientific papers and modify and refine his instruments for artificial insemination, and wrote two new books. Laidlaw published his last scientific paper at age 87 and his last book at 90.
In 2001, UCD's Bee Biology laboratory was renamed the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
He was active in many other organizations, including Davis Community Church, serving as an elder; the U.S. Army Reserve, heading UCD's ROTC unit and retiring as a lieutenant colonel; and Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, acting as faculty fraternity adviser for the local chapter and as Western regional adviser. He was also a lifelong supporter of organizations promoting learning, including the AFS club and 4-H.
Laidlaw weaved his hobbies, travel and photography, into his professional life. He traveled with his family on many road trips across the United States and Canada, and with his wife in other countries, along the way connecting with bee researchers and breeders and documenting his trips and research with his camera.
He also loved sharing his home with others, welcoming beekeepers, scientists, students, fraternity brothers and Army buddies from around the world. In 1967, he gained a second daughter when the Laidlaws hosted a German exchange student.
Although his work accomplishments placed him among the world's great scientists, he humbly accepted recognition he received, encouraging and praising the achievements of others, his family said. He leaves "a legacy of friendship and love -- a life fully lived and talents well used," they said.
He is survived by his wife, Ruth, of Davis; daughter, Barb, son-in-law, Joe, and granddaughter, Pam Murphy of Tracyton, Wash.; sister, Marian and her husband Elton Waters of Tarboro, N.C.; brother-in-law John Wilson of Houston; one niece, two nephews and numerous grand nieces and nephews.
His extended family includes German daughter Eva Effelsberg and her husband Winfried of Freiberg, Germany, and close friend and colleague, Robert Page and his wife Michelle of Davis.
A memorial service will be held at Davis Community Church on Thursday, Oct. 2, at 3 p.m.. A reception will follow at the Laidlaw Honey Bee Research Facility at UCD.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility Fund. Checks should be made payable to Regents of the University of California and sent to Department of Entomology (attention: Department chair), UC Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis CA. 95616-8521.
John Garrett Felton Jr.
John Garrett Felton Jr. died of complications from a stroke Sept. 19, 2003, surrounded by loved ones in his Davis home. He was 90.
He was born March 6, 1913, in Gloversville, N.Y. For a time his family lived in Charleston, S.C., but most of his childhood was spent in La Crosse, Wis. He had fond memories of climbing the bluffs there and of taking long weekend drives in the family's touring car.
As a boy, he was active in the YMCA and Boy Scouts. On his way to earning the rank of Eagle Scout, he became adept at semaphore and Morse code, skills that would serve him later in the U.S. Navy.
He studied electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota and later received a master's degree in stage lighting from the University of Iowa. While a student at Iowa, he fell in love with and marriage Winifred Gross of Yankton, S.D. Later, they both accepted positions at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.
He joined the Navy after the United States entered World War II. He became a lieutenant and a communications officer on the staff of several admirals. He served on aircraft carriers in the Pacific Theater, including the USS Wasp and USS Franklin. When the Franklin was hit by a kamikaze, he led crews fighting the fires of aviation fuel and ammunitions. For his bravery and the wounds he suffered, he was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.
Following the war, he moved his growing family to Colorado and then to Texas, where he began a long career in the industrial lighting division of the Sylvania Electric Co. He was active in his community, his church, the Masons and Shrine.
Felton and his wife, who met while studying theater arts, often attended concerts and the theater. He enjoyed classical music and opera and, until his tenor faded with age, he often sang in church choirs and men's clubs. He also liked to travel, and he and his wife enjoyed many cruises and trips to Europe.
Shortly after moving to Davis, in 1979, his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He spent the next 17 years caring for her. After her death, he continued traveling and attending his church. In his final years he enjoyed taking drives in the country, tending his rose garden, going to soccer games and spending time with family and friends. He prided himself on his independence and remained in his home until the end of his life.
He was preceded in death by his mother Myrtle and father John Sr., brother Sib, sisters Ginny and Edie, his wife Win and his son, Gary.
He is survived by daughter, Anne Sivley and her husband Leonard Sivley of Yorba Linda; son, Allen Felton and his wife Connie Melendy of Davis; grandsons, Mark Felton of Sacramento and Harry McCuistion and his wife Shirley McCuistion of Colorado Springs, Colo.; granddaughter, Abbie Felton of Kutztown, Pa.; dear friend and sister-in-law Marion Carlson of Davis; extended family members Sylvia Melendy and Suzanne Melendy of Davis; three great grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; and many loving friends and neighbors.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Davis Community Church, 412 C St.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to John Felton Memorial Fund, Davis Joint Unified School District (attention: Susie Hedrick), 526 B St., Davis CA 95616. The fund will be used to provide musical instruments to elementary school students in need.
Ann L. Christian
Ann L. Christian died at her Lincoln home on Sept. 20, 2003, after a yearlong battle with ovarian cancer. Born Oct. 18, 1927, in Williamsport, Pa., she was 65.
She graduated from Temple University School of Nursing in Philadelphia.
A 30-year resident of Davis, she and her husband moved to Lincoln Hills in 2001. She was a pioneer in local breast cancer education and prevention, working and lecturing for 35 years as a registered nurse. She was head nurse at the opening of the Breast Center at Woodland Clinic in 1986.
After retiring, she continued lecturing for the American Cancer Society and worked with Y-ME in Davis.
She was an active 35-year member of the El Macero Country Club and captained the ladies' golf groups.
"Her friendly, loving nature and radiant smile will forever shine in our memories," her family says.
She is survived by her husband John, daughters Sandra Bertacchi and Charmaine Nishita, son Peter and three grandchildren, Christian, Libby and Mikaela.
A private funeral for family only will be held. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Sutter Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice, 1836 Sierra Gardens Drive, Suite 130, Roseville, CA 95661, or to the American Cancer Society.
Dick Lewis
Dick Lewis, a 30-year athletics employee who eased the physical and mental aches of thousands of UC Davis athletes, died Friday after being just recently diagnosed with leukemia. Born May 18, 1918, in East Hampton, Mass., he was 85.
Lewis began his long tenure at UC Davis in 1949 and held several jobs in the athletics department, including equipment manager and team bus driver. But it was his work as athletic trainer, begun in the 1950s, that made him an Aggie institution.
Lewis ministered care to athletes in all the major sports: football, basketball, track and field and baseball during the academic year. Then in the summer, he worked with the Optimist All Stars, a team composed of just-graduated high school football players, in preparation for the annual playoff between Sacramento and all star players from other teams in Northern California.
In the 1950s, George Stromgren, a teacher and coach in the department, asked Lewis to become the athletic trainer. To prepare himself, Lewis worked with trainers from UC Berkeley and UCLA during spring practice and took classes and seminars.
"Dick had the ability as athletic trainer to put his hands on a player for a few minutes and all of a sudden they felt a lot better," said former Aggie football coach Jim Sochor, who worked with Lewis from 1967 to 1979 and was also a close friend. "Dick was a psychologist as much as he was an athletic trainer."
Perhaps the most dramatic incident in which Lewis' easy-going temperament and skill with injuries shone occurred in 1967 when he and UC Davis team physician Dr. Thomas Y. Cooper averted two tragedies within minutes of each other. An Aggie defensive back suffered a heart stoppage after swallowing his mouthpiece. Minutes later a referee fell onto the field after experiencing a heart attack. Both men completely recovered. The player went on to a coaching career, including 20 years with the National Football League. The referee later established a scholarship in Lewis' name at Cosumnes River College.
Lewis formed bonds with many Aggie athletes who became longtime friendships. He was so valued by the 1969 men's basketball team, the Far Western Conference champions that year, that the players voted him their most valuable player.
In 1974, he was named grand marshal of the annual Picnic Day parade at UC Davis -- the first staff member to serve in that role.
At the time of his retirement in 1979, Davis Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning wrote a column about his experiences as a UC Davis athlete under Lewis' care:
"Dick was mellow long before the word was invented. Although he was an important person around the gym and in the locker room, Dick seemed somehow to reverse all that. You were the one who was important in his mind, and he made you feel that way, too.
"He was just there to help you get where you were going. And along the way, he helped an awful lot of us," Dunning wrote.
After retirement, Lewis volunteered for a 20-year stint as athletic trainer at Davis Senior High School and was honored as grand marshal of the school's 1994 homecoming parade.
Lewis received other accolades during his life. He was inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985. In 1997, the athletic training room in Hickey Gym was renamed "The Dick Lewis Athletic Training Room" in his honor. In 2001, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame's Sacramento Valley Chapter honored Lewis for his contributions to amateur football.
Lewis continued to be a fixture at many Aggie athletic events in his retirement. Just a few weeks ago, at the urging of his friends, he traveled to Stanford University for an Aggie-Cardinal football scrimmage. "They convinced him how important it was because of all the former players that were going to be there," Sochor said.
The third of four children, Lewis moved to California with his family when he was 5 years old. He grew up in Southern California, attending Huntington Park High School, where he played football.
In 1942, Lewis enlisted in the U.S. Navy for six years, traveling to the South Pacific as an aviation machinist's mate. He returned to the States in 1944 and was stationed at Oakland Airbase and Moffitt Field, where he played on several championship football and softball teams until his discharge in 1948.
In 1945, he visited his sister and brother-in-law in Davis, where they ran a restaurant, College Corner, at First and B streets. While visiting, he attended a Fourth of July dance where he met his future wife, Betty Finlay. The two marriage in 1946 and raised two daughters.
He is survived by his wife, Betty, and children, Kristy June Lewis Whitehouse of Dixon and Laurie Ann Lewis of Davis; son-in-law Ken Whitehouse; and five grandchildren, Michael Lewis Kinshella of Los Angeles, Ryan Dean Clift of Phoenix, Korie Ann Whitehouse of Davis, Julie Lynn Whitehouse of Chico, and Justin David Whitehouse of Geneva, Ill. He also is survived by sisters Regina Maclin, Jeanette Bradley and brother-in-law Jack Bradley, all of Davis; eight nieces and three nephews.
A memorial service is planned for 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, at Toomey Field on the UC Davis campus. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Dick Lewis Memorial Fund for UC Davis athletics, care of Mike Angius, Athletic Development, 116 A St., Davis, CA, 95616; the Dick Lewis Memorial Fund for Davis Senior High School football program, care of Richard Harkless, Bank of America, 325 E St., Davis, CA, 95616; or the Yolo Hospice, P.O. Box 1014, Davis, CA, 95617.
Jeriann Williams
Jeriann Williams, a resident of Ocean Shores, Wash., and a 12-year former resident of Davis and Sacramento, died Sept. 13, 2003, at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Wash. She succumbed after a lengthy struggle with multiple myeloma cancer and kidney failure. She was 67.
She was born Sept. 4, 1936, in Seattle and moved to California as a child. She graduated from San Diego High School in 1954 and from Westmont College in 1958, then marriage her husband, John Williams, in 1959. In addition to being a beloved wife and mother, she taught elementary school in Long Beach and San Jose and worked at two Davis travel agencies during the 1980s.
Jeriann, her husband and daughter Joy also operated Acorn Travel in Davis from 1983 to 1986.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Thelma Finnestad Olin, in August 2003, and by her father, Andrew Eliassen, in September 1992. She is survived by her husband John of Ocean Shores, Wash., and two daughters, Jill of Junction City, Ore., and Joy of Eugene, Ore.
At her request, there will be no public memorial service. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to Westmont College, 955 La Paz Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108-1089, or to the building fund of Ocean Shores Baptist Church, P.O. Box 729, Ocean Shores, WA 98569.
Whiteside Family Mortuary in Aberdeen, Wash., is handling the arrangements.
