West Marin Citizen

October 18, 2007

Diana DeBardeleben of Lagunitas – delightful in every way 

Obituary by Larken Bradley

Lagunitas resident Diana DeBardeleben, whose loving nature, community activism and chocolate truffles made her the heart and soul of San Geronimo Valley for nearly 20 years, died at home on September 6, from adrenal cortical carcinoma, a rare cancer. She was 61.

Whether mothering her brood of five children, tending the family’s sheep, goats and chickens, or volunteering in the open classroom at Lagunitas School, Ms. DeBardeleben gave her all, and joyfully so.

At a memorial celebration held Saturday at San Geronimo Valley Community Center, her son, Owen Smithyman, said in a eulogy, “because of her, I like everybody.”

Even when facing death, she remained optimistic. “Diana enjoyed her last day on earth as much as any day ever,” wrote her husband, John Smithyman. “Her cancer was merely an inconvenience, treated much like wet socks or a mosquito bite.”

Diana’s Delights

A chocolatier, Ms. DeBardeleben made handmade truffles called Diana’s Delights. Last June she bought Buttercup, a pint-sized candy and gift shop in San Anselmo’s Red Hill Shopping Center, offering homemade baked goods and organic ice cream. A cancer recurrence interrupted plans to sell truffles at Buttercup, though family members plan to carry out her dream.

Ms. DeBardeleben was born in San Francisco on November 29, 1945. At age 13 she moved with her parents to Guerneville. She attended Analy High School in Sebastopol and went on to UC Berkeley, dropping out early to marry the first of her four husbands. She later earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Cal State Hayward.

Though much married, she harbored no acrimony toward the three spouses who came before the love of her life, Mr. Smithyman, her husband of 25 years. The couple married in 1981 and moved from Oakland to Lagunitas seven years later.

She had successive careers as a massage therapist, a bookkeeper and ultimately as a baker and chocolate maker, a profession that began when she donated her first delectables to fundraising efforts.

Defender of animals

Competent all round, Ms. DeBardeleben fixed her own car, operated power tools and hauled 60-pounds sacks of grain. She once bayoneted a skunk that attacked her hens and beat to death with a hammer a raccoon that assaulted her Labrador-mix, Snowflake.

“She was a powerhouse of a person, but not a steamroller,” said longtime friend, Amy Valens of Forest Knolls.

This week Dave Cort, director of the San Geronimo Valley Cultural Center, recalled Ms. DeBardelben handling bookings for Valley Vision, an annual dinner/dance fundraiser.

For 15 years she provided her home phone number as a reservations line, taking hundreds of calls – at all hours – for the pleasure of engaging with others.

“Diana had the biggest heart of anybody I ever met in my life,” Cort said. “The bottom line is that she believed in community and community building.”

Take me to Paris

In her final year, Ms. DeBardeleben traveled to Paris twice and took up the bass guitar.

She considered herself to be the luckiest person in the world.

She is survived by her husband, John Smithyman of Lagunitas; son, Thomas Seitz of Fairfax; daughter, Katherine Ward-Seitz of Forest Knolls; sons, Owen Smithyman; Austin Smithyman; and Drew Smithyman; all of Lagunitas; and three grandchildren.

Family members suggest that any memorial contributions be made to Valley Toys and Joys, PO Box 496, Woodacre 94973.

Point Reyes Light - January 26, 2006

Artist and musician Eleanor Abelseth dies at 90

By Larken Bradley

 Former Inverness resident Eleanor Mae Abelseth, an artist and musician who loved whooping it up by playing her Hammond organ at top volumes, died Friday, January 13, in Sebastopol, of cardiac failure. She was 90.

 Mrs. Abelseth was also born on Friday the 13th — in August of 1915 — and unlike those superstitious about the date, she always considered Friday the 13th to be her special day. Commenting on the mystery of her mother entering and exiting the world on her lucky day, her daughter Irene Meinicke said, "it was her final performance."

 A West Marin resident for 30 years, Mrs. Abelseth and her husband, Donald, moved to Inverness in 1945. Her husband was an architect and contractor who built many West Marin homes, and also served as Inverness firechief.

 Mrs. Abelseth was active in the Inverness Garden Club, and taught sewing to 4H members.

Loved music, loved to dance

She loved to dance and at a local PTA talent show one year, to a recorded version of the bawdy classic, "The Stripper," performed a striptease. According to family members, her exuberance raised a few eyebrows, though her routine was relatively tame.

 An enthusiastic swimmer, Mrs. Abelseth regularly swam from beach to beach in Tomales Bay with her daughter.

 Mrs. Abelseth took many art classes at local junior colleges, and became an accomplished portrait artist, gem faceter and calligrapher. She was a member of the Art Workshop of Western Sonoma County.

 Mrs. Abelseth was born Eleanor Mae Diehl in Los Angeles. When she was just six weeks of age her parents moved their young family to the Boston area, making the journey by train. Her father was among other things, a chemist, and invented a lotion called Magic Hand. His varied enterprises eventually brought the family to San Francisco where Eleanor met her future husband in high school.

Small woman, big voice

A gifted musician, for more than 20 years she sang alto in a choir. "She was a little person with a deep voice," said her daughter. In addition to the organ, she also played the trombone and the accordion.

 She worked briefly as a dresser at the Fox Theater in San Francisco, helping performers change costumes between acts.

 Mrs. Abelseth enjoyed spending time at her home in the Sierra. While vacationing in the mountains she became friends with adventurer, Nicol Smith, and edited the manuscript of one his books on the Burma Road.

 Noted her daughter, "she was content and happy with how her life turned out."

 Mrs. Abelseth was predeceased by her husband of 43 years, Donald Abelseth; brother, Marshall W. Diehl; sister, Alma Diehl; grandson, Travis Meinicke; and her nephew, Marshall Diehl.

 She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Irene and Erich Meinicke of Sebastopol; son, Ronald B. Abelseth; granddaughter, Marlo Meinicke of Rohnert Park; and her nephew, Frank Diehl of Sonora, Tuolumne County.

 Inurnment will be at Olivet Memorial Park in San Francisco.

Point Reyes Light - August 11, 2005

Inverness Park zoologist Seth Benson dies at 100

By Larken Bradley

Longtime Inverness Park resident Seth Benson, a retired UC Berkeley professor of zoology, died at home Tuesday, August 2, of natural causes. He was 100 years old.

A renowned field biologist, Professor Benson was highly regarded for his studies of rodents inhabiting the deserts of the Southwest and Baja California. While serving as curator of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology for 37 years, Dr. Benson contributed more than 13,000 specimens, along with field notes and 800 photographs, to its archives at UC Berkeley.

By nature cantankerous, the educator was known to scare the daylights out of mousy students with his crusty manner. But underneath his curmudgeonly affect, noted former student and friend Russell Ridge of Inverness, "Seth was really kind and generous."

Said longtime caregiver Jill Gilbert, "he was a real character."

In West Marin he led a class field trip to Kehoe Beach, guiding students in the partial dissection of a beached whale.

Front-page celebrity encounter

In 1994, Dr. Benson made front-page news in The Light after he accidentally plowed into the rental van of late actor Christopher Reeve, parked in front of the Bovine Bakery. On location in Point Reyes Station filming Village of the Damned, the star of Superman told a reporter, "I was sitting there eating a bearclaw," when the mishap occurred.

After his retirement in 1969, Dr. Benson made West Marin his permanent home. He grew several varieties of apples at his homestead, keeping meticulous journals of tree productivity and hand-pressed juice yields.

In his 90s he became computer literate and maintained correspondence online with friends and colleagues.

Born in the town of Kern (Kern County), in 1905, young Seth was the youngest of six children whose parents were of Norwegian descent. As one of the original subjects of psychologist Lewis Terman's study of gifted children, Dr. Benson continued receiving follow-up questionnaires from the report well into his later years.

In 1928 he married Emma Dennis. Over the years his wife accompanied him on many zoological specimen collection excursions, tooling around California and Mexico with him in a Model-T Ford truck. Noted colleagues at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, "Seth was the only one who went with women on field trips."

As staunch believers in zero population growth, the couple chose not to have children. This week Light circulation manager, Missy Patterson, recalled the day she and her then husband stopped by the Bensons’ home. When the professor’s wife learned the Pattersons had 11 children, an appalled Mrs. Benson demanded, "get out, get out!"

At the time of Emma Benson’s death in 1997, the two had been married 69 years.

Began esteemed career by cleaning rabbit skulls

A lifelong UC Berkeley man, Dr. Benson earned both his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from the university. He devoted his career to the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, starting there as a cleaner of rabbit skulls. In 1932 he was named Curator of Mammals, a position he held until his retirement in 1969. As associate professor he taught vertebrate natural history and mammalogy. A number of his students have gone on to eminent careers in zoology.

Reported colleagues, "his most famous scientific publication is on concealing coloration in desert mice."

In 1928 he joined the American Society of Mammalogists and served as its secretary in the 1940s.

Dr. Benson enjoyed fishing, and lent his expertise to the preservation of Tomales Bay and Point Reyes National Seashore.

He is survived by his grandnephews, Steve Dennis; and Mike Dennis; and his caregiver, Jill Gilbert.

A 100th birthday party was held for Dr. Benson last spring. No services have been planned.

Friends have suggested that memorial contributions be made to the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California; the Tomales Bay Association; or the Inverness Garden Club.

Point Reyes Light - February 3, 2005

Inverness' Dorothy Coster loved fast cars, dies at 89

By Larken Bradley

Longtime Inverness resident Dorothy Coster, a retired businesswoman with a passion for fast Corvettes, died in her Inverness home Dec. 20 of complications from gallbladder cancer. She was 89.

A West Marin resident for more than 45 years, she and her husband George Coster posted a sign on the gate of their Inverness home that read, "Coster’s Last Stand."

Before retirement, she and her husband ran businesses in Richmond including a tire dealership and liquor store.

A quiet philanthropist, through scholarship programs Mrs. Coster anonymously put five Asian students through medical school, four in the Philippines, and one in Singapore. "I’m happy to report they are all now practicing in the field of their studies," she wrote before her death.

Petite, dark-haired and tanned, her trademark outfit was a pair of blue jeans, a sweater and a pair of sandals.

Outgoing and adventurous, "some would say she talked like a sailor and drove a car like a man," said friend Barbara Keady of Point Reyes Station. "These were compliments to her."

Corvettes vs. CHP

Mrs. Coster’s thirst for speed and fast cars had her behind the wheel of a series of Corvettes, some red, others silver. "She was not unknown to the highway patrol," admitted her nephew, Jack Hansen. "One clocking was 110 mph."

While she was slapped with many speeding tickets, attended traffic school numerous times, and was dropped by one insurance company, Mrs. Coster argued that she drove safely and only let it rip on the open road. She always felt the CHP picked on her.

"Many of her sayings were unique," added Barbara Keady. When someone was on time or did a good job, she often said, "Boy, he was Johnny at the rat hole!"

Born August 19, 1915, Dorothy Duarte was raised on a cattle ranch in Briones Valley, Contra Costa County. She attended grade school in a one-room schoolhouse, but was denied a high school education by her father who didn’t believe girls needed further schooling. As a young woman she enrolled in vocational school and became a surgical dental nurse.

Husband only love

She met her husband, George Coster, when he received dental treatment at her employer’s office. "Her only love was her husband," her nephew said.

Together the couple operated two businesses in Richmond, Coster Tire and later Alta Liquor. They built a cabin on Blue Lake, Humboldt County, raised quarter horses, and traveled the US in a seven-foot-long Little Caesar trailer, festooned with decals and stickers of their travel destinations.

After her husband’s death in 1978, Mrs. Coster continued traveling on her own in an Air Stream trailer in North America. Her extensive overseas travels, which she continued into her late 80s, included trips to South America, Burma, and eight junkets to Indonesia alone.

"Dorothy informed her friends not to feel sorry for her as she had a wonderful life," her nephew said.

A strong woman who believed in fairness, Mrs. Coster stood up for what she believed in and didn’t back away from conflict if she knew she was right, friends observed.

She was predeceased by her husband George Coster; a brother, William Duarte; and her sister, Irene Lantheir.

Mrs. Coster is survived by her nephew Jack Hansen of Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo County.

At her request, no services will be held.

The family has suggested that any memorial contributions be made to Hospice of Marin, 17 E. Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Larkspur 94939.

 Point Reyes Light - November 20, 2003

Famed Inverness artist Gordon Onslow Ford dies

By Larken Bradley

Gordon Onslow Ford, an internationally acclaimed artist and the last surviving member of the Parisian Surrealist painters of the 1930s, died of a stroke Sunday, Nov. 9, at his Inverness compound where he had lived and painted for more than 45 years. He was 90.

In 1957, he and his wife, the poet Jacqueline Johnson, acquired land on Inverness Ridge. Over the years they donated more than 225 acres to the Nature Conservancy for its permanent preservation.

Inspiration from Inverness

A deeply spiritual man, Mr. Onslow Ford drew artistic inspiration from the natural landscape surrounding his home. "He was searching for his relationship to the Creator in very close connection with nature, the woods, trees [and] birds of Bishop Pine Preserve," noted his cousin, Franz-Josef von Braun.

A painter of metaphysical landscapes, his images incorporate lights, live-lines and multi-horizons.

Shrouded in a veil of mystery to many West Marin residents, "he enjoyed his privacy so he could be left in peace to paint, but he was constantly in dialogue with the art world, museum directors, curators, writers, students, his staff and associates," said Fariba Bogzaran, executive director of the Lucid Art Foundation, which Mr. Onslow Ford co-founded.

"He painted every morning and walked in the woods every afternoon," Bogzaran revealed.

Until shortly before his death, added Point Reyes Station artist Christine DeCamp, "he was painting every day."

Remembered for his humility, Mr. Onslow Ford, "wouldn’t want his own photo on his catalogue," said Daniel Deslauriers, who recorded a video biography of the artist.

"He was very English," observed DeCamp. "There was a real sweetness to that."

Mr. Onslow Ford was born in 1912 in Wendover, England, into a family of artists. His early works were painted at the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. After serving as a naval officer he moved to Paris in 1937, where he studied and joined the Surrealists led by Andre Breton. He befriended other artists including Roberto Matta, with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship.

Led surrealist movement

In 1941 he moved to New York, rejoining the Surrealistic painters in exile there during World War II. He became spokesman for the Surrealistic Art Movement, conducting a series of lectures and exhibitions.

After marrying Ms. Johnson the two joined several painters in Erongaricuaro, Mexico, where they lived among the Tarascan Indians for six years.

The couple moved to San Francisco in 1947. The next year Mr. Onslow Ford opened a retrospective exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He and Greek painter Jean Varda bought the ferryboat Vallejo, which they converted to an art studio docked in Sausalito, creating a cultural center for the Bay Area’s artistic community.

In 1951 he organized the historic Dynaton exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and studied with Zen Buddhist scholar Alan Watts and Zen Master Hodo Tobase Roshi.

In a press release announcing his death, it reads, "Buddhist teachings of Void and Emptiness introduced Onslow Ford to the exploration of the depths of the mind and deeper layers of consciousness."

After moving to Inverness Ridge he developed an artistic philosophy he labeled, "line, circle, dot," which led to the publication of two books, Painting in the Instant, and Creation. In 1978 a major retrospective of his work was opened at the Oakland Museum.

In the late 1980s he began a collaboration with Fariba Bogzaran, an artist and lucid-dream researcher. Their alliance inspired two further publications, Ecomorphology, and Once Upon a Time. Along with friend Robert Antoine, in 1998 the trio co-founded the Lucid Art Foundation, "to support a direction in art that expresses the quest of the inner worlds," organization members note.

A group of the association's artists and administrators will continue his legacy at the Bishop Pine Preserve.

A gracious artist

In February of this year The Light met Mr. Onslow Ford at the opening reception of his exhibit, "Paintings from the Last Five Years," held at the Braunstein/Quay Gallery in San Francisco. Neatly dressed in a conservative suit, Mr. Onslow Ford graciously chatted with visitors as they viewed his large-scale kinetic paintings of images from the collective unconscious.

Public collections of his work can be seen at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum.

A public art show opening of his work will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, December 6, at the Weinstein Gallery, 383 Geary Street, San Francisco.

His wife, Jacqueline Johnson, predeceased him in 1976.

He is survived by his sister, Elisabeth Onslow Ford Rouslin; and a nephew, Maxwell Rouslin, both of Asheville, North Carolina.

A memorial service will be announced.

NBC courtroom artist Stewart of Bolinas dies

By Larken Bradley

Renowned courtroom artist, Bolinas resident Walt Stewart, whose vivid sketches of criminals, crooks, and con artists brought trial drama to life during a career that spanned nearly 40 years, died in his home Wednesday, Nov. 26, of complications from pulmonary disease. He was 71.

Emmy Award winner

A three-time Emmy Award art winner, Mr. Stewart sketched notorious nogoodniks including murderers Dan White, Charles Manson, and Theodore "the Unabomber" Kaczynski. His first courtroom drawing assignment was at the trial of Jack Ruby, who killed alleged John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

Fate played a strong role in Stewart’s life, but maybe no more so than in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Mr. Stewart walked to his bank on Daly Plaza to deposit a paycheck from WFAA-TV, where he worked as commercial graphic artist and set designer. As bullets hit President Kennedy’s passing motorcade, Mr. Stewart aimed the Polaroid camera he happened to have with him at the open second floor window in the Texas Book Depository, from which the shots rang out. As the nation reeled, his still photos were the first used on national television broadcasts.

Some months later, WFAA-TV sent Mr. Stewart on assignment at the Ruby trial, and his career was born.

Hundreds of friends

A resident of West Marin for more than 25 years, Mr. Stewart’s outgoing, disarmingly friendly nature drew to him legions of friends. Three weeks before his death, after doctors informed Mr. Stewart his days were numbered, he honored the occasion by throwing a big party. His final bash launched a series of visits to his Horseshoe Hill home "from hundreds of friends," his sister Susie Stewart told The Light on Monday. An additional 200 phone calls came in, she added.

Born in San Francisco on July 14, 1931, Walter Preston Stewart, III, grew up in Berkeley. His father’s business, Stewart Hill Commissaries, provided meals for agricultural workers in the San Joaquin Valley. His mother, Frances Stewart, was an activist and naturalist in West Marin.

In 1956 after graduating from the University of the Pacific in Stockton with a degree in art, Mr. Stewart hosted a kiddie television show, playing himself as Uncle Walt. He later went on to the Art Center College in Los Angeles and earned a second bachelor’s degree in illustration.

Bound for New York with the hope of landing a job in an advertising agency, Mr. Stewart stopped in Dallas to visit a couple of friends from UOP who played football with the Cowboys. Mr. Stewart never made it to New York but accepted a job with the Cowboys, and designed the team’s lone-star logo. He later moved on to WFAA-TV as a talk show on-air illustrator.

Breaking ground as one of the first courtroom illustrators in the country, Mr. Stewart prepared for the Ruby trial by studying sketches from Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Israel. At the Ruby trial he was taken under the wing of courtroom artist, Howard Brodie, who became his mentor. Over time Mr. Stewart made his way back to the Bay Area where he spent his career as an employee of NBC, while freelancing for other networks and news agencies.

At nearly every famous trial in the last four decades, including those of Sirhan-Sirhan, Squeaky Fromme, and Oregon guru Bagwan Sri Rashneesh, Mr. Stewart captured telling moments when attorneys or judges showed emotion, and when witnesses reenacted a dramatic event or recounted an incriminating detail.

"He drew Charles Manson so often, Charles Manson would wave and smile at him," his sister told The Light on Monday. The trial that touched him the most was that of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, "because he became friends with all the victims’ families," Stewart added.

His final assignment last June was at the trial of Yosemite slayer Cary Stayner. Though Mr. Stewart was ailing at the time, "he had a really strong work ethic," said friend and personal assistant Jenny Rodin. "He knew it was his swan song."

From age 18 when he contracted polio, Mr. Stewart struggled with a series of health problems. While polio left him with a distinct limp, "his attitude and humor helped him through life," reported friend and newscaster Ed Leslie of Stinson Beach. "He kept plunging on."

Consummate bachelor

While Mr. Stewart never married, "he had a rich romantic life," laughed his sister. "He was a bachelor to the hilt."

Added his assistant, Rodin, "he never was the marrying type . . . he liked his freedom."

Before moving to West Marin, Mr. Stewart lived in a series of boats anchored in Sausalito with a talking parrot named Dum Dum. Friends there dubbed him "The Marquis de Sausalito." After earning a boatload of money from his work on the John DeLorean trial, he purchased a shiny cherry-red Cadillac sporting vanity plates which read, "THNX JDL" [thanks John DeLorean].

A great storyteller who enjoyed sharing anecdotes of his courtroom adventures with friends and strangers, "Walt was not a modest fellow," remarked Rodin. "He really loved admiration."

With tongue in cheek, he anointed himself "a living legend," she revealed.

Large donation

In the weeks before his death Mr. Stewart donated the collection of his life’s work, comprising tens of thousands of sketches, to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley.

Mr. Stewart is survived by his sisters, Susie Stewart of Bolinas; Fairfax Donovan of Santa Rosa; nephew, Preston Donovan of Petaluma; niece Deirdre Matthews of Conifer, Colorado; and his cousin, Morton Lippmann of Stinson Beach.

A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 11, 2003, to be held at the Stinson Beach Community Center. Anyone interested in attending may call 868-1444 for more information.

Point Reyes Light - May 16, 2002

Former Stinson resident Roberta Shockey dies

By Larken Bradley

Former Stinson Beach resident Roberta "Bobby" Shockey, co-founder of the Stinson Beach Wildflower Show and proprietor of Cooking with Love, a popular catering service, died May 5 at her son’s home in Gualala. Mrs. Shockey, who had been suffering from breast cancer, died suddenly of a heart attack. She was 76.

An activist in the Stinson Beach community for more than 40 years, Mrs. Shockey was known for her humor, wit, and razor-sharp tongue, as much as for her civic contributions, which included serving on the Bolinas-Stinson School District Board.

"She always had opinions... she spoke her mind whether it rubbed someone the wrong way or not," said her daughter-in-law, Maybeth Shockey of Gualala.

Dr. George Flynn, a close neighbor for more than 25 years, joked, "She had a very short cerebral cosel nerve. She could flay you before you bled to death."

A genuine ball of fire who brought life to even the dullest situations, Mrs. Shockey was a popular member of the beach town.

"For the most part, people really liked her," her daughter-in-law said.

Of her generation, observed Dr. Flynn, "she was one of the ‘in-crowd.’"

San Francisco native

A San Francisco native, Mrs. Shockey was born on Sept. 22, 1925, the only child of Robert Hale Everal, a salesman, and Isolde Hitzfeldt Everal, a nurse who trained at Stanford University.

After graduating from Lowell High School, she went to work for the phone company, and later met Ken Shockey, a commercial artist who put himself through school as a cowboy, riding horses in the rodeo. He was as shy as she was outgoing. The opposites attracted and married in 1945. Four years later, they made Stinson Beach their home.

Largely self-taught, Mrs. Shockey developed a great knowledge of birds and botany. She co-founded the annual Stinson Beach Wildflower Show, which after 10 years became so popular that it was moved to the Oakland Museum. After expanding to the larger venue, her husband designed the show’s poster.

Ambulance chaser

Known as an interesting character, Mrs. Shockey and one of the Wildflower Show’s co-founders, Barbara Menzies – who died several years ago – shared an obsession for ambulance chasing. Whatever time of day the women heard sirens echoing through town, they grabbed their car keys and chased the emergency vehicles. In the wee hours, the two could be seen speeding down Shoreline Highway in their bathrobes, her daughter-in-law reported.

A culinary wizard, Mrs. Shockey opened a catering service called Cooking with Love. Her cuisine was popular on trail rides and at Audubon Canyon Ranch receptions. "Her enchiladas were famous," said her daughter-in-law. An hors d’oeuvre she named Hotsy Totsy – a baguette and green onion concoction – was a favorite at Stinson Beach parties.

She also taught cooking classes privately in Stinson Beach and at the California Culinary Academy.

From cooking to painting

In 1990 – in pursuit of a warmer climate – Mr. and Mrs. Shockey retired to Green Valley, Arizona, where they surrounded themselves with Indian artifacts and western memorabilia. Mr. Shockey created paintings of old ghost towns.

After his death in 1999, Mrs. Shockey moved back to California. She lived in Windsor, Sonoma County, at the time of her death.

Mrs. Shockey is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Kenneth and Maybeth Shockey of Gualala, Mendocino County; son, Peter Shockey of Sacramento; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial celebration to be held in Stinson Beach will be announced.

The family has suggested that any memorial contributions be made to the Oakland Museum Wildflower Show, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland, 95607.