Ronald J.P. Lyon, a Stanford University geologist and pioneer in geological remote sensing, died peacefully at his Stanford, California home on January 17, 2023, a day after celebrating his 95th birthday with his family. Born January 15, 1928 in Northam, Western Australia, Ron was the first of five children born to Hugh and Marjorie Lyon. At age seven, Ron’s life changed dramatically when h...

Prescott took pride being born on the first day of the first week of the first month of the first year of the first decade of the half century. He is the first some on Alan and Verline Thompson of Palo Alto, CA. Prescott has one younger brother, Marshall, who is married to Peggy. They have two children, Ashley and Sean, who are blessed with children, blessing Prescott with several lovely grand...

Genie Zylks Laborde-Griffin, age 94, of Palo Alto, California, died peacefully on January 14, 2023. Born on February 19, 1928, in Borger, Texas, and raised in El Dorado, Arkansas, she was the first child of Floyd Weber Zylks and Molsie Lowery. She is survived by 5 of her 7 children, Cliffe F. Laborde (Margaret), Gary L. Laborde (Betsy), John Peter Laborde, Jr. (Renee), Adrienne Laborde Macgowan (C...

Ann Teitler Ozer died peacefully at age 87 on January 10th at her home in Palo Alto. Ann embodied a go-getter spirit of living life to the fullest, always seeking connections with people and ideas. She will be remembered as a scholar, a social activist, a loving and supportive mother to her five children, and “Grannie Annie” to eight wonderful grandchildren. Ann loved learning, especia...

A native San Franciscan and the only child of the late John and Caroline La Barbera, Marie attended Immaculate Conception Academy and San Francisco City College. Her last 50 years were spent in Atherton in a home she and her late husband built together. Marie would credit her life-long involvement in philanthropy to her parents. She started volunteering at age of eight, collecting dimes for th...

Hiroko Mukuda passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loving family. She was one of four children born to Tatsumi Ujihara and Shikae Morioka in Kochi, Japan. Her family had samurai heritage of the Taira clan in the 11th century. Her father worked in the early days of modern structural engineering and traveled extensively with his family. From an early age, Hiroko developed a passion...

Donald Eugene Ryan, custom home builder, apartment builder, land developer and accomplished tennis player passed away on January 6, 2023 at the age of 93. Beloved father, grandfather and great grandfather to 6 children, 17 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren, all of whom are grateful to have known a man who lived his life with dignity, kindness and generosity. He is missed....

William “Bill” Herbert Orttung passed away on January 5, 2023. Bill died of a brain tumor at the age of 88, surrounded by his wife, two sons and one of his daughters-in-law. He was born in Philadelphia on June 16, 1934. His father, Elmer H. Orttung, was a stock broker and his mother, Rosalind “Rose” (Duiguid) Orttung, was a homemaker. He grew up during WWII and the period of peace and p...

Iraida Busó Espinosa, a longtime resident of Stanford, passed away peacefully in her Los Altos home on January 5, 2023, a month shy of her 105th birthday. A musician, mother, teacher, and community volunteer, Iraida had boundless energy, loved spending time with family and friends, and believed in taking full advantage of the opportunities that life presented. Iraida was born in Humacao, Pu...

William Burl Blankenburg, professor emeritus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism, died Jan. 1 in Palo Alto, Calif., at the age of 90. In his nearly 30-year academic career at the UW, Prof. Blankenburg instructed thousands of undergraduate journalism students, advised countless master’s and Ph.D candidates, and published original research and books in the field of newspape...

It is with great sorrow that we announce that Rev. Cora Scheel of Palo Alto passed away on December 31, 2022, at the age of 89. Cora was born on her family’s farm outside of Enderlin, North Dakota, and after completing nursing school in Fargo, Cora moved to Palo Alto where she worked as a nurse at Stanford Hospital. Later, she joined Syntex as a clinical research nurse, and completed a master’...

Thompson Sako, known as “Tom” to his friends, passed away December 29, 2022 following a long, courageous battle with Frontotemporal Dementia. He was 70. Born at Stanford Hospital in 1952, his family resided in Mountain View. A graduate of Los Altos High School in 1970, Tom went on to attend Foothill College, followed by completion of his Bachelor's degree in Biology at Humboldt State Universi...

Stanley (Stan) Mantell, 93, passed away Wednesday, December 28, 2022 at his home in Gold River, California. Prior to moving to the Sacramento area in 2020 to be closer to his sons, Stan had lived in Palo Alto from 1967 until 2020 with his beloved wife of over 65 years (Suzanne Mantell) who passed away in 2018. Stan is survived by his three (3) sons James Mantell, Douglas Mantell and Andrew...

Joan Richardson van Gelder passed away on Dec. 25, 2022 at the age of 85 at home in Palo Alto after lung complications following hospitalization for the flu. She was with family in her final days and at the time of her passing. Joan was born and raised in Boulder, Colo. where she attended Boulder High School and then went on to receive a degree in Medical Technology from the University of Col...

We are broken hearted to announce the death of our father, Clements Edward Pausa. He passed away peacefully with family by his side, at 92 years. Born October 18th, 1930 in South Gate, California. Son of Oscar and Kathleen Pausa. He leaves behind two sons, Geoffrey and Ronald Pausa along with two grandchildren, Zachary and Ashton Pausa. Growing up in South Gate dad was into academics, music an...