Obituaries Obituaries (October 22, 2003)

Mary Roddy

Longtime Menlo Park resident

A memorial service will be held Friday, October 24, at 1 p.m. at Church of the Nativity, 210 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park, for Mary Roddy, who died October 11 at the Menlo Park home where she had lived for 40 years. She was 86.

Ms. Roddy was born Mary Sullivan in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Key West, Florida. As a youngster, she helped her mother, a nurse, provide free care for tuberculosis patients too poor to afford doctors.

While attending Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee, she worked for the school paper and wrote a humorous column for the city newspaper. After graduating with a master's degree in English, she returned to Key West and spent the Great Depression working for the Work Projects Administration (WPA) finding jobs for the unemployed.

During World War II she met Lt. Commander James Roddy, USN, and they were married at the home of Ernest Hemingway, a friend of the family.

After World War II, the Roddys moved to Palo Alto, where they raised four daughters. Ms. Roddy was a volunteer for Our Lady of the Rosary School and Church and taught students folk and ballroom dancing.

In 1962 the Roddy family moved to Menlo Park and joined Nativity Parish. They also joined Alpine Hills Swim and Tennis Club, where Ms. Roddy became an enthusiastic tennis player. In the 1970s she went back to school and obtained her real estate license. She worked for Yarkin Realty until her retirement. Her husband died in 1992.

Ms. Roddy will be remembered for her sense of humor, wisdom, love of music, literature and language, and adoption of abandoned animals, say family members.

She is survived by her daughters, Letitia and Katherine Roddy of Menlo Park, Cecelia Roddy-Giovacchini of Aptos, and Maureen Roddy-Tuttle of Palo Alto; sisters, Theresa Pedemonte of Berkeley and Letty Tyler of Houston, Texas; eight grandchildren; and good friend Lula Nichols.

Donations are preferred to Pets in Need or to St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room.

Mary Pottorff

Former Portola Valley resident

A memorial Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, October 25, at the Woodside Priory chapel, 302 Portola Road, Portola Valley, for former Portola Valley resident Mary V. Pottorff, who died October 15 in Cupertino at age 84. The family prefers memorials to Woodside Priory School or the American Cancer Society, Breast Cancer Prevention and Awareness. A complete obituary for Ms. Pottorff will appear in a later edition of The Almanac.

Rose Lakey

Menlo Park resident

Services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, October 22, at Redwood Chapel, 847 Woodside Road, Redwood City, for Rose A. Lakey, who died October 16. She was 79.

Ms. Lakey was born in San Jose, where she was one of 11 children. She moved to Menlo Park at age 19 and worked as an auto parts assembler at Redwood Motor Bearing.

She is survived by her son, Edwin H. Lakey Jr. of Fair Play, California; siblings, Annie Paradiso, Nick and Joe Volpi of San Jose; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. She was the wife of the late Edwin H. Lakey.

Erma Smith

Former Encinal teacher

Erma Parkinson Lloyd Smith, who taught English and literature at Encinal School in Menlo Park for 11 years in the 1950s and 1960s, died October 3. She was 95.

A native of Cache Valley, Utah, she was a graduate of Utah State University with a degree in education. During World War II, she followed her husband across the country during his duties in the Armed Forces. After the war, she returned to Utah to work as a teacher and helped organize the local chapter of the League of Women Voters.

In 1956 the family moved to Palo Alto and she began teaching at Encinal where she earned an award for outstanding performance. After her husband's death in 1972, she worked at Stanford University for the Dean of Student Affairs.

Ms. Smith is survived by her sons, Boyd Smith of Palo Alto and Roger Smith of Scottsdale, Arizona; seven grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Her husband, Boyd Carpenter Smith, died in 1972.

Larry Eddington

Water district manager

Larry Eddington died October 10 of an apparent heart attack in his Woodside home, a 1920s hunting cabin on Kings Mountain. He was 60.

Mr. Eddington, who was raised in East Palo Alto, was a bachelor and left no known surviving relatives.

Mr. Eddington was among the first engineers employed at Applied Technologies and spent the last 20 years working for the Skyline County Water District. He served as general manager for the last two years.

"He was doing a great job completing one project after the other. He really improved the company in a short amount of time," said water district board member and close friend Dan Cissell.

Mr. Eddington was a founding father and president emeritus of the Coastriders Motorcycle Club and owned virtually every type of motorcycle at one point. He also founded Donsco Off-Road Racing, a Volkswagen hot-rod shop in Belmont.

Mr. Eddington was an avid amateur radio operator with the call sign K6ETB. He was also a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, and at one time shot professionally.

Mary Alice Barry

Former Atherton resident

A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 15, at 10 a.m. at Church of the Nativity, 210 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park, for Mary Alice Barry, who died October 6 in Napa. She was 65.

Ms. Barry spent most of her childhood in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey. She graduated from Marymount College in Virginia, and later served on its board of trustees. In 1960 she married Richard K. Barry and lived in Los Angeles where she taught school.

In 1969 the family moved to the Bay Area where they spent the next 30 years. They lived for the better part of the time in Atherton and San Francisco, but also in their home in Hawaii. Ms. Barry moved to Napa after the death of her husband in 1998.

Ms. Barry was involved in many charitable activities and volunteered at St. Anthony's Church, near Menlo Park. She was a talented chef, raconteur, world-class hostess, traveler and woman of fine taste, say family members.

Ms. Barry is survived by her three sons, Richard F. Barry of Napa, Kevin T. Barry of San Anselmo, and Matthew K. Barry of Foster City; brothers, Richard Tierney of Little Silver, New Jersey, Raymond Tierney of Little Silver, New Jersey, John Tierney of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and William H. Tierney of Lafayette; and three grandchildren.

Memorials may be made in Ms. Barry's name to Catholic Worker House, 54 Cassia Street, Redwood City, CA 94063.

Elizabeth Allen

Children's shop owner

Elizabeth "Betty" Allen died at her home in Menlo Park on October 13 after a long illness. A resident of Menlo Park for 40 years, she was 76.

A native of Staten Island, New York, Ms. Allen was a flight attendant for several years, flying first for National Airline in the United States, then flying internationally to such destinations as Tokyo, Hawaii and Cuba.

She loved retail work, according to her husband, Robert Allen. At one time she owned the Macbeth Boutique, a children's shop in Town and Country Village. She also managed DJ's Accessories, a boutique that was part of DJ's Hair Salon in Menlo Park. For the past 10 years, she had been housebound with cancer.

Ms. Allen is survived by her husband, Robert, of Menlo Park; sisters Jean Bailey of Menlo Park and Gloria Nagy of Palo Alto; and niece Chris Calli of Gilroy.

Private family services were held with arrangements under the direction of Spangler Mortuaries, Menlo Park.