OBITUARIES OBITUARIES (April 12, 2000)

Jozef Z. Otfinowski

Polish freedom fighter, cartographer

Jozef Zbigniew Otfinowski of Menlo Park, whose life spanned the Russian Revolution, two World Wars, and 25 years as a cartographer with the U.S. Geological Survey, died March 24 in Palo Alto. He was 95.

Born near Kiev in the Ukraine in 1905, Mr. Otfinowski and his family spent much of World War I escaping Russian and German troops. When the Russians seized their land, the family fled west to Poland.

From 1920 to 1949, Mr. Otfinowski devoted his life to defending his beloved Poland. At age 15, he volunteered to fight the advancing Red Army during the Polish-Bolshevik War. Later he became a colonel in the Polish Army and an instructor at the Polish Military Academy in Poznan. During World War II, he fought with the elite Polish Horse Artillery.

Starting in 1939, say family members, Mr. Otfinowski endured a series of hair-raising captures, escapes and flights across rugged enemy territory. Captured by the Germans and then the Russians, he escaped from both and made his way across the mountains into Hungary -- where he was captured again. Escaping from Hungary, he fled through Yugoslavia and Italy to France, where he rejoined the Polish Army -- only to be forced into Switzerland by the invading Germans.

Interned in Locarno, he met his future bride, Marcelle Beretta, whom he called "his angel of internment." After the war, the French awarded him the coveted Croix de Guerre.

In 1951, after the U.S. Congress decided to allow Polish soldiers who had fought with the allies to enter the country, Mr. Otfinowski sailed to the United States on the Queen Elizabeth. Determined to work for the government that had offered him a new home, Mr. Otfinowski joined the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 1959 and began mapping the Western United States.

In 1970, when he began working at USGS headquarters, Mr. and Mrs. Otfinowski moved to Menlo Park. He retired in 1984.

Mr. Otfinowski is survived by his wife, Marcelle, and his two daughters, Giovanna Otfinowski and Danuta Otfinowski.

A memorial service was held March 30 at Roller & Hapgood & Tinney in Palo Alto.

Kathleen Dore

Animal lover

Kathleen Myra Drisko Dore died March 22 in Menlo Park. She was 90. Before her final illness, she lived with her daughter, Kathleen Dore Lyons of Portola Valley, for 10 years.

Mrs. Dore was born in Portland, Maine. She married John Harvard Dore Sr., and the family lived in Burlingame for 40 years. Mr. and Mrs. Dore helped found the San Mateo chapter of the Boys' Club of America in 1953 in -memory of their son, John Harvard Dore Jr. The family gave four parcels of land on which the club was built. Former president of the United States Herbert Hoover attended the ground-breaking ceremony. The club is now known as the Midpeninsula Boys & Girls Club.

Mrs. Dore became a 25-year volunteer with the American Cancer Society after her husband died of cancer in 1963. Mr. Dore was a prominent building contractor in Hillsborough, Burlingame and San Mateo. A city street in San Mateo, Dore Avenue, is named for the Dores.

Mrs. Dore had a deep love for animals and was an avid supporter of the Humane Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Her cat, Little Miss, was with her when she died.

Survivors include her daughter, Kathleen Dore Lyons of Portola Valley, granddaughters, Lori Anne Zimmerman and Lynne Kathleen Carson of Burlingame; and two great-grandchildren. Her two sons, John Harvard Dore Jr. and Ronald Barry Dore, preceded her in death.

Services were held March 27 at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. The family prefers donations, in memory of Kathleen Dore, be made to the Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Club, attention: Daniel Dadoun, executive director, 200 North Quebec Street, San Mateo, 994401.

Linda Jones Falk

Menlo-Atherton graduate

Linda Jones Falk of Alamo, a gifted athlete and youth coach, died March 28 in Walnut Creek. She was 38.

Mrs. Falk was a native of Atherton and a graduate of Menlo-Atherton High School, class of 1979. After graduating from Chico State University, she coached Monte Vista High School girls' basketball for four years. In her community she coached youth league tennis, basketball, softball and soccer. She married James S. Falk in 1986.

Survivors include her husband, James; children, Kristin and Courtney; parents, Claburn and Dougal Jones of Menlo Park; sister, Nena Brogan of San Marino; brothers, Niven Jones of Hillsborough, and Mark Jones of Menlo Park.

A memorial service was held March 31 at Community Presbyterian Church in Danville. Memorials may be made to: Mustang Soccer Scholarship Fund, 103 Town and Country Drive, Suite K, Danville, California, 94526.

Arthur John Bennett

Menlo Park resident

Arthur John Bennett, a Menlo Park resident for seven years, died April 4. He was 98.

The husband of the late Marie E. Bennett, Mr. Bennett was a native and longtime resident of San Francisco.

He is survived by a son, Thomas Bennett of San Francisco, and a daughter, Kathryn Schoendorf of Menlo Park.

A Mass was to be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 11, at St. Denis Catholic Church in Menlo Park. Memorial contributions may be made to Little House, 800 Middle Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025.

Helene A. Martin

Menlo Park resident

Helene A. Martin, a resident of Menlo Park for 50 years, died April 6 following a long illness. She was 80.

Mrs. Martin was a native of Maui, Hawaii.

She is survived by a daughter, Cheryl Beatty; granddaughters, Kimberly and Shawn Beatty and Cade Beckwith; great-grandchildren, Ryan and Kyla Beckwith; and a sister, Evelyn Pao of Kailua, Hawaii. Her husbands, Edward Martin and Sheridan Beckwith, son Paul Beckwith, and grandson Donald Beatty preceded her in death.

A Mass will be celebrated at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 14, at St. Anthony's Church, Menlo Park.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association.