Fran Rominger
Dec. 11, 1931 - Jan. 19, 2026
Palo Alto, California
Tags:
arts/media
Mary Frances Rominger (Sickenberger), a devoted patron of the arts, loving and supportive wife and mother, and community volunteer, passed away peacefully on January 19, 2026, at the age of 94.
Born on December 11, 1931, in Manzanola, Colorado, Fran grew up with a deep appreciation for music that would shape her lifelong passions. She pursued her love for the piano as a music major at the Uni...
Richard Runkel, age 93, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family, on February 8, 2026. Richard lived a long and full life, defined by his resilience, sense of responsibility, and a devotion to his family.
Born and raised in Arcadia, Wisconsin, to Allen and Vera Runkel, Richard grew up in a lively household as one of six children. His youth was filled with German and Irish heri...
Hugh Maxwell Satterlee was born on March 7th, 1931 in Sacramento, California. The first born child of his mother, Mary Barton Cusick, he was the 6th child of Ivan Claude Satterlee. Hugh was studious and excelled in school. He enjoyed tinkering with anything mechanical, taking it apart and putting it back together.
In 1953 Hugh received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from S...
Marlowe Ann Hadeler (later Savelle) was born in 1945 at Stanford Hospital in San Francisco and grew up in Menlo Park, where she attended Menlo-Atherton High School. She attended college at the University of New Mexico and then did something many people dream about and few actually do: she went to Europe—and stayed. While there, she met and married Marc Savelle and welcomed her first daughter, Al...
Marlowe Ann Hadeler (later Savelle) was born in 1945 at Stanford Hospital in San Francisco and grew up in Menlo Park, where she attended Menlo-Atherton High School. She attended college at the University of New Mexico and then did something many people dream about and few actually do: she went to Europe—and stayed. While there, she met and married Marc Savelle and welcomed her first daughter, Al...
A deeply devoted father, husband, brother, son, and friend to many, whose expertise in and passion for the outdoors spanned his entire life, Scott James Scherer passed away from natural causes while surfing along his beloved California coast on Friday, March 6, 2026. He was 56 and lived in Menlo Park, California.
On September 12th, 1969, Scott was born in Palo Alto, California, to Jim and Renie S...
The only child of Avis (Besk) and Leland Dewitz, Clare grew up in Wisner, Nebraska, a town of just 1,200 people. As a Girl Scout, she earned the Curved Bar Award (now known as the Gold Award). After graduating from high school, she attended the University of Nebraska, majoring in Business Education and joining the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. In her senior year, she lost her father to brain cancer a...
John W Stypula
March 15, 1938 - Feb. 26, 2026
Pebble Beach, California
Tags:
business
John W. Stypula, Jr., known as “Jan,” died peacefully at his Pebble Beach home on February 26, 2026, at age 87. He shared more than 65 years of marriage with his wife, Gail. A Stanford educated architect, Jan was a principal partner at Spencer Associates of Palo Alto and contributed to notable projects including the California State Railroad Museum, the downtown Palo Alto library and the Sar...
Eleanor Herz Swent
June 4, 1924 - May 24, 2026
Palo Alto, California
Tags:
teacher/educator
Author, historian, teacher, and world traveler Eleanor “Lee” Herz Swent died on May 24, 2026, surrounded by loved ones and just short of her 102nd birthday.
Eleanor Martha Herz was born June 4, 1924 in her family’s home in Lead, South Dakota to Janet Herz Kimpston and Nathaniel Herz. She graduated from Lead High School, and graduated from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts in...
Mary Lou Oldham (Judd) Taylor passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, on March 14, 2026, at age 86.
Mary was born September 20, 1939, to Dr. Ernest Whitney Oldham and Ruth McBride Oldham. She was the second of four children, growing up as the doctor’s daughter in the small town of Coalville, Utah. After losing both parents by age 14, she and her older sister worked to keep the family to...
Zelamire "Zel" Petrus Terluin, 70, of Kihei, passed away on March 1, 2026, after a short battle with cancer. He was born on March 28, 1955, in De Hague, the Netherlands, to Jan A. and Johanna (Kick) Terluin. (deceased). He is survived by his wife Margie Terluin.
Zel spent his early years in the Netherlands before immigrating with his family to Palo Alto, California, in 1961. Growing up surrou...
Rachel passed away peacefully on May 20th at the age of ninety. Deeply loved by her family, she will be greatly missed by all who knew her.
Born Rachel Crawford in Emporia, Kansas in 1935, Rachel graduated from Emporia State University in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in Education. Following graduation, she put her creative talents to work as the continuity writer for the local radio statio...
Isanild (Lucena) Wakefield passed away on March 23, 2026, in Los Altos, California, at the age of 92. Born Isanild Barreto de Lucena on November 14, 1933, in Monte Alegre, Brazil, to Donatilla Barreto de Lucena and Ornilo Lucena, she was one of thirteen children. In her twenties, she moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she met and married American engineer Kenneth Wakefield. They relocated to Californi...
Richard Allen Walston, a man of remarkable ingenuity, dry wit, and steadfast devotion to his family, passed away peacefully at his home in Palo Alto on March 13, 2026, following a courageous and stoic three-and-a-half-year battle with cancer.
Born on May 31, 1944, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Viola (Pangburn) and George Walston, Richard lived a life defined by insatiable curiosity and a "jack...
Born in San Francisco and raised in Palo Alto and Santa Cruz, Joseph Erskine Welsh was a true California boy. He surfed the Rivermouth in Santa Cruz on a 9’6” Jack’s longboard and skied the steep slopes of Lake Tahoe on the new Head Aluminum Standard skis. When he was 10 years old, he rode the Squaw Peak chairlift serving modern-day Siberia with a frightened Icelandic downhiller who subseque...
Carolyn Green Westgaard passed away tragically on Saturday, January 31 after being struck by a car while walking in her neighborhood the day before. She was a beloved sister, wife, mother of two daughters, colleague, and caring friend to many.
Carolyn was born at Stanford Hospital on April 6th 1968 to Barbara Land Green and Kenneth Allen Green and grew up in Sunnyvale, graduating from Homes...
Sara White
June 23, 1937 - Feb. 1, 2026
Portola Valley, California
Tags:
public service
On Sunday February 1, 2026, Sara Tolles White of Portola Valley, California, passed away peacefully at her home, surrounded by family.
Sara was the daughter of the late Nell and Raymond Pardee Tolles; the beloved wife of Robert Marshall White; the devoted mother of Victoria Taylor White (David Heyman) and Jonathan Marshall White (Deborah Flowers); and the cherished grandmother of Henry and M...
Born in San Francisco to Sallie and Ralph Wonderman, Marilyn Wolper grew up in San Mateo. A talented performer, crowned May Queen at age five, she studied singing and dancing, and performed semi-professionally throughout young adulthood. After graduating from San Mateo High School, she worked as a stenographer and attended San Mateo Junior College. In 1949, she married Boris, the love of her life....
John Baer Woodworth, 89, of Palo Alto, passed away peacefully at home with his family at his side.
Born and raised in Gilroy, California, he left home at 14 to attend Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose and later the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. He worked at Fairchild Semiconductor as an electrical engineer in the early days of the semiconductor industry. He later became a...
Leslie Fred Zwiebel, of Menlo Park, died at his home on January 28 after several years of declining health. He was 78. Les was born on November 17, 1947, in New York City to Bernice (Sebelsky) and Arthur Zwiebel. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Leta Jane Zwiebel, in 2020, and by his stepson, John King, in 2024. He is survived by stepsons Stephen King and Aaron King of California, and...