Deaths Deaths (November 23, 2005)

Betty Jane Buckwalter

Betty Jane Buckwalter died at Stanford Hospital Nov. 13. She was 87.

Born March 25, 1918 in Spokane, Wash., she spent many years working and volunteering in the Bay Area. In her long career, she was involved with The Record Store in San Francisco, the Peninsula Volunteers, the Allied Arts Guild, and the Stanford Hospital Gift Shop, where she was the coordinator for 20 years.

She also undertook extensive travels in China to hone her skills in Chinese brush painting. Her watercolor landscape paintings, among others, were in numerous exhibits on the Peninsula and in China. She received local art awards and was active in the Pacific Art League, Menlo Art League, and the Committee for Art at Stanford. She also co-founded the American Society for the Advancement of Chinese Arts.

She will be remembered for her contributions to the community, her artistic gifts, and her devotion to family, including her late husband Richard I. Buckwalter. She is survived by her three daughters, Caroline Wolmuth of Victoria, B.C., Louise Rising of Palo Alto, and Irene Buckwalter of Los Angeles; her three grandsons, Derk Wolmuth and Victor and Todd Rising; and her brother Justus K. Smith of York, Pa.

A private memorial service will be held Nov. 23. Donations may be made to the Betty J. Buckwalter Memorial Fund, care of the Pacific Art League, 668 Ramona Street, Palo Alto CA 94301.

Alfred P. Hildebrand

Alfred P. Hildebrand died after an intense and brief battle with cancer Oct. 20 at his Palo Alto home surrounded by his family. He was 63.

He was born in Houston and graduated from St. John's School. He enrolled in the class of 1963 at Stanford University where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics. At Stanford he distinguished himself as a star athlete in both football and rugby, earning honorable mention All-American honors in football. He cut short a promising career with the NFL to pursue a future in Silicon Valley.

He was a multi-faceted and multi-talented person. He was gregarious, emotional and a born leader. As an internationally recognized expert and leader in the laser and electro-optics industry, including bar-code scanning, displays and advanced photonics, his name is prominently noted on the prototype of the original Spectra Physics machine on display at the Smithsonian Institutions' National Museum of American History. He was an active director of more than a dozen technology firms.

He single-handedly raised his two youngest daughters after the death of his wife in 1992 and still found time to play golf, bridge, travel, support Stanford athletics, and undertake various home-improvement projects. A lover of puzzles and mind-twisters, he enjoyed composing crossword puzzles, and also fashioned his own croquet mallets.

He is survived by his daughters, Erin of New York, Eden of San Francisco, and Elizabeth of Cardiff, Wales; his son, Adam, of Los Angeles; five granddaughters; his brother, Bill, of Oklahoma; and longtime partner, Judith Webb, of Kentfield, Calif.

A memorial service was held Nov.20 on the Stanford campus. Friends can visit his Web site at www.alhildebrand.com. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory can be made to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210-4486 (www.manderson.org/gifts, 1 (800) 525-5841). His name should be included with the contribution so that it may be dedicated towards Liver Cancer Research.

Andy Kline

Sergeant Andy Kline, 47, died at his Menlo Park home Nov. 2 after a courageous battle with cancer.

A 23-year veteran of the Menlo Park Police Department, he was born in Palo Alto and raised in Menlo Park. He attended Ravenswood High School in East Palo Alto as part of a voluntary desegregation program and graduated with a bachelor's degree from Menlo College in Atherton.

He became a Menlo Park police officer in 1980 after beginning his career with the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office as a reserve deputy. He worked as a field training officer, traffic officer, detective, hostage negotiator and range instructor before being promoted to sergeant in July 2001. He also worked as a swing-shift patrol sergeant and was in charge of the Menlo Park Police Department's hostage negotiators, SWAT and canine officers.

He received numerous commendations for his leadership ability. When not with his Menlo Park police family, he could be found at SBC Park, as he was an avid fan of the San Francisco Giants.

He is survived by his wife of 19 years, Rebecca Phillips-Kline; his mother, Jeanne; his brother, Jon; and his sister, Kathy.

Memorial services were held Nov. 5 at the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. Memorial donations may be sent to the Menlo Park Police Foundation, 701 Laurel St., Menlo Park, CA 94025, Tax ID# 74-3139023.

Henry Taube

Henry Taube, the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus at Stanford University and recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, died Nov.16 at his home on the campus. He was 89.

A member of the Stanford faculty since 1962, he was one of the most creative contemporary workers in inorganic chemistry. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his insights into how electrons are transferred from one molecule to another during chemical reactions.

Born in Neudorf, Saskatchewan, Canada on Nov.30, 1915, he attended the University of Saskatchewan, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1935 and a Master of Science in 1937. He received a doctorate from the University of California-Berkeley in 1940 and was an instructor there from 1940-41.

He joined the Cornell University faculty in 1941, becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1942 and worked at the University of Chicago where he remained until 1961. A year later he joined the Stanford faculty as a professor of chemistry, a position he held until 1986, when he became professor emeritus. He served two stints as chair of Stanford's Department of Chemistry. He was also a consultant at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and at Catalytica Associates Inc., in Mountain View.

Equally at home talking about gardening, opera, politics, mystery novels, baseball and tennis, he was also a collector of classical music recordings.

He is survived by Mary Taube, his wife of 53 years, of Stanford, Calif.; sons Karl Taube of Riverside, Calif., and Heinrich Taube of Chicago; a daughter, Linda Taube of Galway, Ireland; and five grandchildren. His stepdaughter, Marianna Taube, died of cancer in 1998. Plans are being made for a memorial service.

Eunice A. Williams

Eunice A. Williams, longtime resident of Palo Alto, died Nov. 7 at her retirement home in Piedmont, Calif. She was 93.

She was born in Marion, Ind. in 1912 and moved to Palo Alto in 1950. There she worked for Delcon and eventually got hired by Hewlett-Packard Company where she worked for 25 years. Toward the twilight of her life, she stayed active as a participant in the Palo Alto Senior Center community and the Little House in Menlo Park.

Known by her family as "Mimi," she was a member of the First Baptist Church of Palo Alto and later with the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. She also volunteered as a docent for Palo Alto's Gamble Garden, showcasing her knowledge as a gardener. Also, she loved to travel and play bridge.

She is survived by her daughter, Jane Baack of Berkeley; her sons, Jon Williams of Clyde Hill, Wash. and Jay Williams of Sutherlin, Ore.; her brother, Hubert Achor of Dallas; sisters, Bettye Hocker of Syracuse, Ind. and Cleda Anderson of Holmes Beach, Fla.; and five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Her family will hold a private celebration of her life on Nov. 26 and requests remembrances be sent to Gamble Gardens, 1431 Waverly St. Palo Alto, CA 94301.

Katherine Cheng Young

Katherine Cheng Young, who lived at Palo Alto's Lytton Gardens for more than 20 years, died there Oct. 24. She was 104.

She was born in 1901 in a village in China's Fujian Province. At age 19, with the support of two American-educated brothers, she enrolled in first grade. Nine years later, she enrolled at what is now called Beijing University, where she met her eventual husband, Timothy Tung-Jen Young.

In 1937, she and Timothy fled Shanghai with their family to escape the invasion of the Japanese Imperial army. To avoid the front, the Young family moved throughout China 20 times in 10 years, including stops in Hong Kong and Taiwan. During these years, she worked as a typing instructor and social worker.

She and her family moved to the United States in 1958, settling in San Carlos. She moved with Timothy to Lytton Gardens in 1982. He died of leukemia in 1991.

Her favorite hobbies included gardening, knitting, crocheting, mahjong, and most recently, surfing the Internet.

She is survived by her daughters, Kathy Wong of San Diego, June Lih of Potomac, Md., Pauline Lumeng of Indianapolis, Ind., and May Young of Walnut Creek; 10 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. A celebration of her life was held at Lytton Gardens on November 19.

Donations may be made to the Memorial Music Fund at the Church of the Epiphany, 1839 Arroyo Ave., San Carlos, CA 94070 or the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 795 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94301.

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