Grant Spaeth, a former Palo Alto city councilman and past president of the United States Golf Association, died on July 28 at 88 years old. His wife, Lori Spaeth, said the cause was from complications of Parkinson's disease. Born on June 27, 1932, in Oxford, Spaeth came to Palo Alto when his father, Carl Spaeth, was appointed dean of Stanford University's Law School in 1946. He attended Palo Al...

On Monday, July 27th, 2020, Jose Manuel Ramirez, loving husband and father of five, passed away peacefully in his sleep at home in Mountain View. He was 91. Jose was born on January 7th, 1929, in Texas, to Juan and Maria Del Refugio. He moved to Mountain View, CA, in 1944 and became a carpenter, and he was known for his skill and work ethic. He was drafted during the Korean War and served two y...

Phyllis Bird (Iskowich) Roth was born to Samuel and Lillian Iskowich in McKeesport, PA. Residing in nearby Versailles Borough and graduating from McKeesport High School in 1948, she attended the University of Pittsburgh, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. After college, Phyllis and her husband moved to San Luis Obispo, CA, where she worked as an elementary school...

Janet Lorene Wright Barrett, age 87, passed away on Monday, July 20, 2020 at Kobacker House in Columbus Ohio. Janet was born on October 30, 1932 in Columbus to the late Fred and Belinda Lorene Wright. Also preceding her in death was her beloved husband Raymond Barrett. Janet graduated from the Columbus School for Girls in 1950 and attended Denison University. She relocated to Palo Alto, California...

Sherri Auchard, a long time Peninsula resident, passed away peacefully on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 14th. She was attended by her family in her final hours, including her sister Jani, her son and daughter Evan and Melissa, her nephew Jeff Clarke and her granddaughter Melissa. Mom was a fighter. Until the last few days, she was pushing herself to walk, reading her Bible, asserting her stric...

Mary Ann Hayward died on July 14 in Elkins, NH. She was a resident of Palo Alto from 1989-2018, moving here with her husband, Dr. Edward Harris (Ted) when he became Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford. Their marriage ended in divorce. During her years in Palo Alto she was a professional fundraiser. She worked as Associate Director of Youth and Family Assistance where she raised...

Margaret Weissbluth died on July 11, 2020 at her home at Palo Alto Commons. She was a well-loved member of the Stanford and Palo Alto community, having lived there for the past 70 years. Margaret had many friends who admired her cheerfulness and kindness and who shared her love of hiking, swimming, gardening, scrabble and crossword puzzles. Margaret graduated from Brooklyn College and worked as...

Grace Vilez Butcher, a long time resident of Menlo Park, CA, at rest July 9, 2020 at Palo Alto, CA. Funeral arrangements through Spangler mortuary full obituary at spanglermortuary.com...

Aina (Bumanis) Hewitt passed away on July 8, 2020, following her beloved husband Harry by four months. Aina was born on April 10, 1938 in Riga, Latvia and lived there until she was six, when she and her mother were forced by the Soviets to flee their country. Her father was not permitted to accompany them, but was eventually able to leave on the very last ship out before the Soviets closed the bor...

Jeanne Marie Sliney, a resident of Palo Alto from 1968 to 2000, passed away on July 6 in Santa Rosa, CA, from complications following a stroke. She was 89. Retaining her brave and independent spirit to the last, she is survived by eight children, all of whom grew up in Palo Alto under her loving roof. Jeanne was born Jeanne Marie Deloskey on March 3, 1931, in New Jersey. Later, her family mo...

Louise Fleener passed away peacefully on July 3, 2020 after suffering multiple strokes. Named Theda Louise but always called Louise, she was the fifth of six children born to Claude and Maude (Ewoldsen) Smith. She grew up on the Smith family farm and graduated from Woodburn High School in 1941. Louise married Merrill Fleener in 1946; they were parents of two children, Gary and Tana. Me...

Courtenay Warner Lewis Wurts was born in East Orange New Jersey. When she was 4 years old her father found work overseas in South Africa and moved the family there in 1935. In 1950 she married William Dawson-Roberts who was a mining engineer and they moved to England for a year. Next it was a move across the pond to Toronto, Canada for a few years. 1954 brought her return to the U.S. and the ne...

Lucius Jefferson Barker grew up in Louisiana decades before the civil rights movement during a time when "everything" was separate in the South, said his daughter Tracey Barker-Stevens. He was even discouraged (unsuccessfully) from trying to vote. After attending segregated public schools and Black-only churches, Barker would go on to become a revered expert on race in American politics, mentor...

Robert Stevens Elliott passed away peacefully on June 20th at Webster House in Palo Alto. He was born on May 26, 1929 in Melrose, MA. The eldest of three children, Bob was raised in nearby Middleton, RI, the location of St. George’s School, where his father was a science teacher. Rob was graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon Preparatory School in Massachusetts before receiving his collegiate...

Gordon H. Bower—who won the National Medal of Science for experimental psychology research at Stanford University—died peacefully with his family in his campus home on June 17. Gordon served as chief scientific advisor to the National Institutes of Mental Health and enjoyed 48 years of continuous NIMH funding. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Society of Experime...

Ralph Everett Townsend, Jr. passed away peacefully on June 17th of natural causes. He was born on March 6th, 1933 in Spokane, Washington and spent his childhood in Avery, Idaho. There he developed a fervent love for the railroad that passed through town, and his father worked as Station Master for the historic Avery Train Depot. Avery was a tiny town, and reminiscing about his 8th grade graduat...

On Tuesday June 16th, Ilse Hanna Mede, dear mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away unexpectedly at her home at the age of 96. Ilse was born in the beautiful village of Polle, Lowersaxony Germany, in May of 1924. She first immigrated with her husband Alfred to Montreal Canada in 1953, where they began to raise a family, build a house in the countryside and where they lived for ...

John Michael Jakubiak, 85, a 50-year resident of Palo Alto, died June 14, 2020. He was born Sept. 23, 1934 in New Kensington, PA. John had no biological children but was an amazing step-father. After graduating with a Masters degree in philosophy from the University of Munich, Germany, he spent several years exploring Europe before making his home in Palo Alto, where he eventually met the love of ...

After a courageous battle with cancer, Ronald Leung aka “Ducky”, 72 passed away peacefully in his Palo Alto home surrounded by loved ones. He was born in Bremerhaven Germany as the youngest child of the late Col. James and Vera Leung. He was raised in Palo Alto and attended Paly High. Ronald served his community as a Los Altos Fireman, Palo Alto Police Officer and as a San Mateo County Sheriff...