Note: Obituaries are based on information provided by families and mortuaries.
Bettie Alexander Steiger
Bettie Alexander Steiger, a leader in the information technology industry, died Aug. 3 at her Menlo Park home. She was 74.
Ms. Steiger was named the first marketing and technology transfer officer at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1990, when she and her husband moved to Menlo Park from McLean, Virginia, to accept the position.
Born in Spirit Lake, Idaho, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Washington State University. She met her future husband, Donald Steiger, while they were students at the university. They married in 1956. She became a military wife as her husband embarked on his career as an officer in the U.S. Army.
The couple moved 19 times during Mr. Steiger’s service career, returning from Pakistan to settle in McLean, Virginia, in 1973.
Ms. Steiger re-entered the work force that year and later became a founding employee of Source Telecomputing Corp. in McClean, first as director of its travel channel and, later, as director of database development and vice president of information resources and corporate relations.
In 1982 she joined the Gartner Group as a vice president to form its Videotext Technology group. She held executive positions in several information technology-related organizations, including executive director and CEO of the Association of Image and Information Management in Silver Springs, Maryland.
After Ms. Steiger retired from Xerox in 1998, she formed Steiger Associates as an industry consultant and Power Image Marketing as a vehicle to mentor young women executives. She also was a corporate director of Wall Data Inc. and B-Linked.com.
She was a founder and board member of the International Museum of Women in San Francisco and active in the Women’s Forum West. Ms. Steiger was named woman of the year by Washington State University in 2003 and received the university’s alumni achievement award in 1988. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. Ms. Steiger also attended the advancement management program of Harvard Business School.
Survivors include her husband, Don, of Menlo Park; son, Craig Steiger of Novato; daughter Ann Steiger of Washington, D.C.; two sisters, two brothers, and three grandchildren.
A celebration of the life of Bettie Steiger will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at the Thomas Fogarty Winery, 19501 Skyline Blvd. in Woodside. Memorials may be made to cancer, lung or Parkinson’s disease research or to a charity of choice.
Linda Bray Kennelly
A memorial service is set for 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, at 140 Cherokee Way in Portola Valley for Linda Bray Kennelly, a graduate of Portola Valley School and Woodside High School and a longtime hair stylist in Menlo Park. Ms. Kennelly, 46, died of pancreatic cancer on Saturday, Aug. 9.
Linda came to Portola Valley at the age of 4 and was in the last class to graduate from the eighth grade at Portola Valley School before the school closed, relatives said. She graduated from Woodside High School in 1980.
She worked as a stylist at The Hair Place in West Menlo Park and Ambience on Oak Grove Avenue, relatives said. When she retired in 2002, Ms. Bray moved to Bandon, Oregon, and married Bob Kennelly.
“Linda will be remembered for her enthusiasm and joyful approach to life,” relatives said. While in Silicon Valley, she enjoyed membership in Svea Lodge, a Scandinavian-American fraternal organization in San Jose, and trips to Sveadal, a resort in Morgan Hill.
Ms. Kennelly is survived by her husband, Bob; her brother, Michael Bray; her first husband Geff Smith; step-daughters Hannah and Alia Kennelly and Kim Duell; step-son Derek Smith; and two grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, Larry and Marie Bray.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to a cancer support group.
