Obituries Obituries (December 21, 2005)

Polly Phleger Goodan

Philanthropist

Mary Elena "Polly" Phleger Goodan, whose transfer of her family's 1,200-acre estate in Woodside to the Peninsula Open Space Trust allowed a major addition to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, died December 1 after a fall in her Pasadena home. She was 83.

Ms. Goodan sold the heavily forested property to POST for $25 million in 1995. POST then turned the property over to the national park system. With the addition of the Phleger estate, the park was extended from the San Francisco watershed in the north to Huddart County Park in the south. It also became part of a 400-mile trail system that spans ridgelines in the nine-county Bay Area.

It was the largest addition to Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 20 years, according to park spokesman Rich Weideman.

POST had been working with Ms. Goodan's mother, Mary Elena Phleger, at the time of her death in 1990; with her mother's passing, Ms. Goodan became the senior family member and completed the deal.

"Polly was very supportive of giving us the chance to protect the land," says Audrey Rust, president of POST.

Acquiring the Phleger estate was the largest project POST had ever undertaken. The largest previous project was a $6 million purchase.

It also required the intercession and sustained efforts of several politicians, including Rep.Tom Lantos, Sen. Alan Cranston, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Rep. Anna Eshoo, to extend the boundaries of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to include the Phleger Estate, enabling it be transferred over to the National Park Service.

The property was bought by her father, San Francisco attorney Herman Phleger, in 1935. Mr. Phleger, a partner in the law firm Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison, was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials and legal adviser to the State Department during the Eisenhower administration.

Ms. Goodan, a graduate of Stanford University in 1944, was active in many California philanthropies. Her husband, Harry Goodan, a financier who died in 1990, was a grandson of Harry Chandler, a publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Her mother, the former Mary Elena Macondray, was a member of the Atherton and Macondray families, early settlers of the Peninsula.

Ms. Goodan is survived by her son, Roger Goodan of Samish Island, Washington; two daughters, Mary Elena Hilder of Alameda and Amanda Koech of Pasadena; and five grandchildren.

The family prefers memorials be made to the Santa Cruz Island Foundation, 1010 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara, 93101; or Save the Redwoods League, 114 Sansome St., San Francisco, 94104.

Vern Hefte

Former Ladera resident

Vern Glen Hefte, who lived in Ladera from 1953 to 1999, died December 8 at his home in Mesa, Arizona. He was 90.

Mr. Hefte was born on the family farm in Hancock County, Iowa. He put himself through school as a hotel bellboy and fell in love with the hotel's elevator operator, Miriam Dorothy Smith, say family members.

Secretly married, he left his bride to become a U.S. Navy lieutenant in World War II, taking part in D-Day in France and serving in Okinawa.

After receiving a master's degree in accounting from the University of Iowa, Mr. Hefte moved to the Bay Area in 1950. The family settled in Ladera, where they lived for more than 45 years.

In 1962, Mr. Hefte opened the first Goodbody Stock Brokerage firm in Palo Alto and served as its office manager for many years.

In 1983, Mr. Hefte appeared on local cable television in a program called "Thoughts on Investing with V.G. Hefte." Although he retired at 75, Mr. Hefte continued to manage the stock accounts of family and friends until his death.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Miriam of Mesa, Arizona; his children, Barbara Broadbent of Mendocino, B.J. Hale of Santa Barbara, and Marc Hefte of Walnut Creek; sisters Adelaide Fox of Britt, Iowa, and Tudy Nerhus of Windon, Minnesota; brother Kenneth Hefte of Marionville, Missouri; and two grandsons.

Services were held December 20 in Mesa.

Murray Swedenborg

Finance officer

Murray Edward Swedenborg of Morgan Hill died November 24 of a heart attack while swimming in the ocean at Makena Beach, Maui, Hawaii. Mr. Swedenborg, who lived in Sharon Heights in Menlo Park for 30 years, was 75.

Mr. Swedenborg was born in Midwest, Wyoming, and grew up in Casper, Wyoming. He attended Stanford University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1952.

After a two-year tour of duty in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corp, he returned to Stanford and earned a master's degree in business administration.

Mr. Swedenborg worked for Litton Industries, Advanced Memory Systems, Intersil and Maxim Integrated Products before retiring in 1987. He held the position of vice president of finance in several of these companies.

After retiring, he spent about three months of every year in the Hawaiian Islands or Micronesia snorkeling and scuba diving, and developed a deep knowledge of tropical fish and sea turtles, say family members.

He is survived by his children, Kirk Swedenborg of San Jose, Karen Clark of Los Gatos, and Chris Swedenborg of Menlo Park; brother Donald Swedenborg of San Jose; and three grandchildren.

Private services have been held.

Douglas Moody

A memorial service for Douglas Kent Moody will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, December 20, at the Mounted Patrol Grounds, 521 Kings Mountain Road in Woodside. Mr. Moody, a cutting horse champion, died December 15 of a massive heart attack. He was 57. An obituary on Mr. Moody will appear in the next issue of the Almanac.

Lisle D. Horton Jr.

A funeral service for Menlo Park resident Lisle D. Horton Jr. is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday, December 21, at the Redwood Chapel funeral home at 847 Woodside Road in Redwood City. The Almanac will publish an obituary in the next issue.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.