Publication Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Deaths
Deaths
(April 13, 2005)
Geraldine M. Churchill
Geraldine M. Churchill, a longtime resident of Menlo Park, died April 2 in Millbrae.
She was born in Wabasha, Minn., in 1921. She was a member of the St. Raymond Catholic Church and the Legion of Mary. She worked in real estate for 16 years with Pantano Realty in Menlo Park.
She is survived by her twin brother, Howard Churchill of San Carlos; brother, Donald Churchill of Minneapolis, Minn.; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services were held. The burial will be private.
Memorial donations may be made to the Parkinson's Institute, 1170 Morose Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086.
Vern Coenenberg
Vern Coenenberg, 84, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died at his home April 4.
Born July 8, 1920, in Mettman, Germany, he came to America with his family. He spent his childhood in Oregon, where he discovered his love for the great outdoors. He was especially fond of fishing and roaming Oregon's mountainous terrain.
He learned to be self sufficient, growing up during the Great Depression, and at age 15 he rode the rails through the Western states, camping in "hobo jungles." He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps when he was 17 and became a cook at the Mt. McKinley, Ala., camp. It was there he developed his love for cooking.
He volunteered for service in the U. S. Air Force and served as a sergeant during World War II. He earned a letter of commendation from his commanding officer in Saipan.
Upon discharge from the military, he returned to Kansas, where he met the love of his life, Arlene. The two married in 1946.
He purchased the Black Diamond Cattle Ranch and raised purebred Black Angus cattle, and owned and operated a liquor store.
In 1955 he sold his Kansas holdings and settled in Palo Alto, where he expressed his love of cooking in various entrepreneurial ventures such as an A&W Root Beer drive-in, Clarke's Charcoal Broiler, Magoo's Pizza Parlor and a Black Angus Chuck Wagon Restaurant. He later turned to investing and developing recreational properties, which he enjoyed until his retirement.
His greatest pleasure was to spend time with his sons, grandsons and their friends at his river ranch on the north fork of the Tuolomne River.
He is survived by his wife, Arlene of Palo Alto; his son, Joe G. Coenenberg, and his stepdaughters, Erin and Cecilia Shane, of Richland, Wash.; son, Jan Coenenberg, and daughter-in-law, Cheryl; brother, Joe Coenenberg, and sister-in-law, Phyllis, of Palo Alto; brother, Richard Coenenberg of Sedona, Ariz.; and three grandsons.
Services are private. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts be sent to Pathways Hospice, 585 N. Mary Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94085.
Elizabeth G. Cohen
Elizabeth G. Cohen, 73, founder of "Complex Instruction," died of cancer at her home on Stanford campus.
A native of Worcester, Mass., she came to Stanford in 1959 following a brief stint at the University of California, Berkeley.
She was appointed assistant professor in the School of Education in 1966 and became its first full-time female professor in 1975. She later received a joint appointment in sociology.
In 1979 she founded the Program for Complex Instruction that she directed until her retirement in 1999. The program, which has been adapted for use in elementary and middle schools nationally and internationally, uses special strategies of teaching and support for teachers whose classes are culturally and academically diverse. She successfully developed ways to promote equality among small groups of heterogeneous students while maintaining high-quality instruction.
She cared deeply about gender equity. She had faced discrimination personally when she applied to Harvard for a doctoral degree and when she fought to get hired at Stanford. At Harvard, the director of graduate admissions did not want to admit her despite stellar academic credentials from Clark University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1953. She was told it was a waste of time because women got married and had kids, said her husband of 50 years, Bernard Cohen.
She went on to become one of the first women to be named a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in 1954. She was among the first group of women in 1958 to earn a doctorate in sociology from Harvard.
She worked part-time as a research associate for five years before teaching a course called Social Foundations of Education. She was granted tenure in 1969.
She wrote many books and articles, including the widely used "Designing Groupwork: Strategies for Heterogeneous Classrooms."
She was a recipient of the 1998 Presidential Citation of the American Educational Research Association, and in 2003 the Award for a Distinguished Career in Applied Sociology of Education.
She served in several professional positions and organizations, including chair of Social Sciences in Education at the School of Education, vice president of the Sociology of Education Association, and trustee of Clark University.
She is survived by her husband, Barnard of Stanford; her daughter, Anita Cohen-Williams of San Diego; her son, Lewis Cohen of Oakland; and a granddaughter.
The family requests that contributions in her memory be made to the Stanford School of Education and earmarked for the "Elizabeth Cohen Memorial Fund for Work Toward Equity Classrooms."
Nancy Hackler
Nancy Louise (Starr) Hackler, 52, a Palo Alto native, died March 21 in Phoenix, Ariz.
She was born Oct. 19, 1953, in Palo Alto to Angelina and Richard Starr. She was very loved and will be missed by many.
She is survived by her brother, Tom of Citrus Heights; three nephews and a niece.
A memorial service was held April 9.
Albertina Lee
Albertina Kam Moi Leong Lee, 83, a 49-year resident of the Palo Alto community, died April 5.
She was born and raised in the "Aloha State" of Hawaii.
She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Boniface Lee; four sons, Terry, David, Dennis and Pat; four sisters, Thelma, Lurline, Wini and Ruth; two brothers, Teddy and Edwin; 17 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Ethel Silver Young
Ethel Silver Young, 90, a 42-year resident of Palo Alto, died March 13 at her home. She was a well-known early childhood educator, teacher of teachers, and mentor to many.
She was born in Wilkinsburg, Penn., in 1915. She spent her childhood in New York, a city she cherished all her life. She migrated alone and at a young age to California by way of Taos, N.M., where she was able to pursue her passion for the writings of D.H. Lawrence. While at U.C. Berkeley she completed her degree in education and prepared to become a nursery school administrator. Her interest in early childhood education was driven by her observations of British infant school. She dedicated the rest of her life to the service of young children after the death of her son.
She made many contributions to the world of childhood education: she served as teacher-director of Heights Cooperative Nursery School in Los Angeles; she taught for three years in the nursery program at Peninsula School; she developed a multi-cultural, pre-kindergarten project for the Palo Alto Unified School District; she served on the boards of Palo Alto Community Child Care and the National Head Start Committee; she became a consultant and advisor to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). She received recognition as a pioneer in the early childhood education by the State of California and the NAEYC.
She worked on numerous award-winning films for pre-school children. She served as a consultant and advisor to "Sesame Street" in its early days. She considered the publication by Houghton-Mifflin in 1971 of "The Amazing life Games Theater," her major accomplishment.
She is survived by her daughters, Martha and Annie Young; her daughters-in-law Arlene and Dorothy Young; and by 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. She lived a very rich, accomplished life.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, May 21, at 3 p.m. at Peninsula School, 920 Peninsula Way, Menlo Park. Donations may be made in her name to UNESCO, Peninsula School, or the ACLU.
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