Deaths Deaths (May 04, 2005)

Herman "Bruce" Evans

Herman "Bruce" Evans, 70, died April 21 of an aneurysm.

He was a native of Oklahoma. In 1949 he moved to California, living most of his life in Cowchilla, Mountain View and Palo Alto. He worked as a heavy-equipment operator and carpenter for 30 years. His interests included fishing, sports, camping, country music and dancing.

He is survived by his wife, Grace Evans of Santa Clara; his children, Lynne Evans of Menlo Park, Melanie Evans of Fresno, Gordon Evans of Seattle, Bruce Evans of Madera and Tess Evans of Menlo Park; four sisters, Ruby Brown of Chowchilla, Margaret Tucker of Los Angeles, Cassie Evans of Sacramento and Dorothy Minter of Redwood City; three brothers, A. Peter Evans of East Palo Alto, Hank Evans of Menlo Park and Calvin Evans of San Jose; and four grandchildren.

His remains were cremated at his request. A memorial service will be held Thursday, May 5, at 2 p.m. at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, 950 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park.

Memorial donations may be made to Change for a Penny, Inc., P.O. Box 4082, Menlo Park, CA 94026-4082; or World Vision, P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, WA 98063.

Lucille Liewer

Lucille B. Liewer, a lifelong resident and community volunteer in Los Altos and Palo Alto, and a founding member of Covenant Presbyterian Church, died April 13. She was 98.

Born on July 22, 1906, she was the daughter of Herman and Marie Bleiber, and resided above her father's ornamental-iron and blacksmith shop at Forest Avenue and High Street in Palo Alto -- property she still owned with her son, Dick Liewer, and currently occupied by the Reach Fitness Center and Palo Alto Weekly.

The family moved with the business to Los Altos in 1912.

She graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1925, and became a photographer after taking classes at San Jose State College. She worked at Crandall's and Wrightman's photography studios in Palo Alto until 1941.

At 21, she married Harold Baxter, who died five years later in a fishing accident off Pacifica.

Among her near-lifelong volunteer work, she was most proud of her work at the First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto, where she sang in the choir and taught Sunday school for nearly 20 years, and at Covenant Presbyterian Church, of which she was a founding member.

On Dec. 27, 1941, she married Walter Liewer at McCord Field near Tacoma, Wash., as he was preparing to leave with his flight squadron for the Battle of Britain. But he lost an eye in an airplane accident, and they moved to her family home on Cherry Avenue in Los Altos in 1942.

Their son, Dick, was born Sept. 24, 1943, and their daughter, Marilou, was born on July 4, 1948.

In 1949, she began her many years of community service, which she maintained into her 90s. She served as president of the PTA at Hillview School, the PTA Council and Los Altos High School, and was awarded a Life Service Award by the PTA.

She served on the Los Altos Elementary School District board from the mid-1950s until 1961, working on several bond measures that paid for many of Los Altos' present schools.

She also was a member of the American Legion Post 558 of Los Altos for more than 50 years, serving as chair of the Girls' State Model Government program until her late 80s. She also supported and volunteered for the American Cancer Society and United Way.

In 1983, she received the prestigious Community Service Award from the Los Altos Board of Realtors. She remained active in the community into her 90s.

She and Walt completed their cabin at South Lake Tahoe in 1976 and spent numerous summers there.

She is survived by her son, Dick Liewer, and wife, Christine; her daughter, Marilou Swanton, and husband, Robert; and four grandchildren.

A celebration of her life was held at Covenant Presbyterian Church. The family prefers memorials be donations to American Legion Post 558, 347 First St., Los Altos.

Grace Stoecker

Grace Winifred Stoecker, 87, a 50-year resident of Los Altos Hills, died April 22.

She was born on May 29, 1918, in Randolph, Vt. Her childhood was spent in Corvallis, Ore., where she fondly recalled her days selling strawberries at a roadside stand with her two brothers. She enjoyed riding her horse, a retired circus pony that would bow and perform other tricks.

She married Howard "Steck" Stoecker in 1940 after they met at the University of Southern California. Howard flew for PAA until 1977, enabling them to travel extensively during the hey-day of commercial aviation. They especially enjoyed golfing with their friends at the Los Altos Golf and Country Club.

She also volunteered for many years at the El Camino Hospital in Los Altos. She was a woman of remarkable strength and will continue to be admired by all who loved her.

She was predeceased by her husband, Howard, and son, Gary. She is survived by her son, Robert, and his wife, Marvis, of Portola Valley; and three grandsons.

A private family gathering will be held. The family encourages charitable donations in her memory.

Wayne S. Vucinich

Wayne S. Vucinich, a founding father of Russian and East European scholarship after World War II and beloved mentor to thousands of students during his five decades at Stanford, died of heart failure at a nursing home in Menlo Park on April 21. He was 91.

The eldest son of an immigrant Serbian family, he was born in Butte, Mont., in 1913. He was raised by an uncle after his parents and infant brother died in the influenza epidemic of 1918, and moved to a remote mountain village in Bileca Rudine in Herzegovina.

At the age of 15 he was given the choice of either joining the priesthood, the Serbian army, attending agricultural college or moving to Los Angeles to live with his godfather. He chose to return to the United States.

He spoke almost no English and struggled in school, but was good at sports, earning letters in baseball, football and track. He used his middle-school transcript from Bileca to enter UC Berkeley, where he learned English and subsequently earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in Slavic languages and history between 1936 and 1941, He also studied at Charles University in Prague.

After graduation, he joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency, to analyze the situation in the Balkans for American interests in the region. He served as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve from 1943 to 1946 and earned a Bronze Star for "meritorious work." In 1946, after working in the State Department for a year, he accepted an offer to teach at Stanford's History Department.

During the Red Scare of the 1950s, he was accused of harboring "Communist sympathies," but Stanford's lawyers came to his defense during a two-day Naval Security Board hearing to prevent a dishonorable discharge from the service. Eventually his name was cleared and in 1955 the case was closed; he received a statement from the Navy confirming his status as a "loyal American."

As a professor, he joyfully shared his experience and knowledge of Italy, where he worked during the war, with his students. He was a great raconteur.

In addition to teaching at Stanford's overseas campuses in Florence, Beutelsbach, Germany, and Vienna, he led groups of students to Bileca Rudine in the '60s to excavate evidence of Illyrian, Roman and medieval culture in the Trebisnijca Basin before a hydroelectric dam flooded the area.

He was married to Sara "Sally" Vucinich for 48 years.

He is survived by his two daughters, Annette Davis of San Francisco and Connie Vucinich Furlong of Bainbridge Island, Wash.; three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A campus memorial service will take place June 3. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Stanford University for the Wayne S. and Sara Stys Vucinich Fund for Slavic Studies, Stanford University, Attn: Gift Processing, 326 Galvez St., Stanford, CA 94305.

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