Issue date: October 06, 1999
Ann B. Riddle
Mrs. Riddle was raised in River Forest, Illinois, and was a 1957 graduate of Wellesley College, where she remained active in allumni affairs as "Chairman of Clubs." She founded the San Francisco Wellesley Women for Art.
She was active in several community organizations. As a docent for the Stanford art museum, a family member says, Mrs. Riddle enjoyed attending art history courses at Stanford. Flowers were a large part of her life. She was a member of the garden clubs of Winnetka, Illinois, and Palo Alto, California. She was also a member of the Evanston, Illinois, and Palo Alto junior leagues.
Mrs. Riddle loved to play golf, tennis and swim, family members say. She was a member of the Menlo Country Club, the Glenbrook Golf Club in Nevada, and the Foothills Tennis and Swim Club. She also swam as an AAU competitor as a student at Wellesley College.
Family members say Mrs. Riddle was a dedicated volunteer and served on many boards and committees. She was board president of the MidPeninsula Family Service Association and board member of the National Family Service Association. Mrs. Riddle was national treasurer of the Family Foundation Board.
She was active as a board member and president of the Senior Coordinating Council of Palo Alto. She was also a founder and president of the Age Center Alliance. Mrs. Riddle has been a longtime member of the Peninsula Ball Committee and was recognized as the honorary chairman of the Debutante Ball in 1998.
She was a member of the Portola Valley Presbyterian Church where she met and married her husband John. Later, she moved to the Los Altos Methodist Church, where she served as chairman of the Administrative Board.
She is survived by her husband John; daughters Lynn Barton of Medford, Oregon, Sarah Lilja of Mapleton, Minnesota, and Susan Veroff of Newtonville, Massachusetts; stepsons Bruce Riddle of Bardstown, Kentucky, John "Jed" Riddle of Atherton; a brother George W. Bockwinkel III of River Forest, Illinois; and a sister Sarah Sowersby of Brevard, North Carolina.
Mrs. Riddle's ashes were scattered at sea. Private and public services were held. Memorial donations may be directed to the Community Breast Health Project, 545 Bryant St., Palo Alto, CA 94301.
William Keene Langhorne
Services will be held at Christ Church at Glendower, Albermarle County, in Virginia where he was born into a large, lively and often outspoken family that included, among others, his aunt Lady Astor, the first women in British Parliament, according to his family. The importance of family and community remained with him his whole life.
After graduation from Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg in 1937, he attended the University of Virginia where he was a member of Zeta Psi fraternity and president of the interfraternity council. Having learned to fly in Lynchburg, he cut short his studies at the start of America's preparedness for World War II in order to train Royal Air Force cadets in Clewiston, Florida. He married Jane Cobb Skillern of Philadelphia in 1943.
Mr. Langhorne became a pilot for Pan American World Airways in 1945, and soon transferred from Miami to Rio de Janeiro. In those early days, it took four days to get from Miami to Rio in a DC3. At the time of his retirement in 1979, he flew the same route with the Boeing 707 in a matter of hours.
Stationed primarily in San Francisco, Mr. Langhorne also was based in Frankfurt, Germany, where he flew food and supplies to Berlin in the early 1950s, and later in Hong Kong for five years, where he flew Pan Am's R&R planes during the Vietnam war.
Sailing off Fiji in 1962, he and eight others were shipwrecked for more than 24 hours in shark-infested waters before being rescued. After 1967, the Langhornes began dividing their time between Portola Valley and Sun Valley, Idaho.
Mr. Langhorne was always a Virginian at heart and known for his generous Southern hospitality, said his family. An inspired cook, he invented many recipes, but, unfortunately, didn't write them down.
He volunteered at the Portola Valley Library and the Westridge committee and was a member of the Civil War Round Table and the Menlo Country Club.
Mr. Langhorne is survived by his wife, Jane; daughters, Julie Langhorne of Portola Valley, Terry Morawitz of Half Moon Bay, Dana Howell of Sun Valley; brother, Harry Langhorne; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild, named Keene.
Henry Walter West
A high-tech pioneer, he was part of the highly classified team that put up the first spy satellite to photograph Russian military airports from space.
Born in San Francisco, he grew up in a summer resort near Mount Lassen, started by his father in 1926. He parlayed his early passion for all things flying into a 31-year career with Lockheed in Sunnyvale as a satellite design engineer. He attended Stanford University for his senior year in high school, and then joined the Naval Reserve as an apprentice seaman as soon as he was 18. He remained in training at the University of California, Berkeley, until August 1945 when he returned to Stanford, graduating in 1949 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
Mr. West met Verna Steele, an accomplished skier from Wyoming, through the Peninsula Ski Club. They were married in 1953. He obtained his pilot's license in 1954 and expanded his piloting skills to include home-built gyrocopters, hot-air balloons and gliders. He was a member of the Experimental Aviation Association and served in the Civil Air Patrol and National Ski Patrol for many years. Both Mr. and Mrs. West flew a Cesna 172 for the Oceanic Society, monitoring environmental conditions around the Bay Area.
One of the Bay Area's first windsurfers in the 1970s, Mr. West was the oldest one to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge in the first race across the treacherous strait in 1975. Always seeking heights, he fell from a tree in 1993, broke his neck and survived.
Mr. West is survived by his wife, Verna; three daughters, Judy West of San Francisco, Donna West of Malibu, Audrey Vaggione of Saratoga and his son-in-law Mike Vaggione; two grandson, Chris and Grant Vaggione; and a sister Barbara Padovan of Sacramento.
A memorial service for Mr. West was held October 3 at the West home. Contributions in his memory may be made to Peninsula Volunteers at Rosener House in Menlo Park.
Ronald L. Campbell
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Mr. Campbell graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a master's degree in architecture in 1929, and remained active in the university's alumni association.
In 1931 he established an architectural and city planning practice in San Mateo. During that period, family members said, he co-authored the California State Planning Act, which mandated the establishment of county and city planning commissions. He also served as planning director for San Mateo County, and during World War II he served as planning adviser to the office of the president of the United States.
In 1946 Mr. Campbell joined the David D. Bohannon Organization. As executive vice president he directed the design of community development projects, including Hillsdale, San Lorenzo Village, and the Bohannon Industrial Park.
He was president of the California Planners Institute, the San Mateo County Development Association, and a life member of the Urban Land Institute Board of Trustees. His club affiliations included the Pacific Union Club, the Palo Alto Club, and the Menlo Country Club. He also served on the governing board of the Filoli Estate.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth T. Campbell; daughter Lynn C. Spielman; granddaughter Cailean S. Sherman; and great-grandson Robert C. Sherman.
A private service has been held. Memorial donations may be made to a charity of the donor's choice.
Eleanor F. Wilder
A native of Canada, Mrs. Wilder lived in Menlo Park for 20 years. Her husband John G. Wilder preceded her in death.
Mrs. Wilder is survived by her stepchildren Barbara and Paul Armstrong of Redwood City; step-grandchildren Terry Tringali and Robin Kurotori and their respective families; and several nieces and nephews.
A funeral Mass was held at St. Raymond's Church and a private burial took place at Holy Cross Cemetery in Menlo Park.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Oakwood Community of Retired Nuns; St. Raymond's Church, 1100 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025; or to a charity of the donor's choice.
© 1999 The Almanac. All Rights Reserved.