Obituaries Obituaries (August 02, 2000)

Dale Ryman

Horseman, freeway engineer

Dale Ryman, one of Woodside's leading citizens, died July 27 of heart failure at his Woodside home. He was 87.

A memorial service for Mr. Ryman will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, August 12, at Woodside Village Church.

The day of his service the Gary Ryman Memorial Speed Jumper Class, honoring Mr. Ryman's only son, will be held at 6 p.m. as part of the Menlo Charity Horse Show at the Menlo Circus Club.

Dale Ryman served as a civil engineer with the California State Transportation Department for 30 years and was the head construction engineer overseeing the building of Interstate 280. He also worked on massive projects such as Route 101 and Route 17.

Many Woodside residents knew Mr. Ryman for his work within the horse community. He became a member of the first Woodside Trails Committee in 1979. He was voted "Horseman, Citizen of the Year" by fellow Mounted Patrol members for building and providing maintenance for miles of trails and bridges. He served as captain of the San Mateo County Mounted Patrol in 1978.

"He's given us many years of free engineering advice," says Rick DeBenedetti, who is also a member of the Woodside Trails Committee. "Many, if not all the (trail) bridges in the town of Woodside, Dale has designed." Mr. Ryman also served on the town's roads committee, and as road commissioner during the 1980s. His long service to Woodside was recently recognized when the Town Council presented him with a proclamation saying, "Dale Ryman is an asset to the town and its equestrian community; (he) is a dynamic example of the spirit of volunteerism."

Raised on a farm in South Dakota, Mr. Ryman learned to ride a horse by the time he was 5 years old. He graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in civil engineering. During the Depression, he worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps building irrigation systems.

He served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy's Combat Construction Battalion (Seebees) during World War II. During his professional career, he also worked on the Panama Canal.

Mr. Ryman loved horses and enjoyed golf and dancing. He was active for years in the Mounted Patrol and Shack riders.

Mr. Ryman is survived by his wife, Beverly Ryman of Woodside; sisters May Ryman of Lake San Marcos, California, and Castle Zick of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; stepson Bruce Singleton of Auburn; stepdaughters Carolyn Sullivan of Chico and Deborah Anderson-Smith of Eagle River, Alaska; and five grandchildren.

William Ayers

Active in youth ministry

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, August 2, at First Baptist Church of Menlo Park, 1100 Middle Ave., for William "Will" Ayers, who died July 27 from injuries suffered in a rock climbing accident in Pinnacles National Park July 22. He was 22.

Mr. Ayers grew up in Menlo Park and attended Laurel, Encinal and Hillview schools; he graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School.

While attending Menlo-Atherton, he became involved with the high school youth group at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. He also volunteered to help run the junior high ministry and made five mission trips through the church -- four to Mexico and one to the Dominican Republic.

Mr. Ayers graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois, where he majored in philosophy. "William learned quite a bit of theology in his philosophy classes. He enjoyed talking ... with people, and his education helped him share his beliefs and his love for Jesus," says his brother Michael, who was with him at the time of the accident.

Since college, Mr. Ayers had worked as an information services analyst at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He also continued to work with the high school youth group at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Ayers is survived by his mother, Nancy Ayers of Menlo Park; father, David Ayers of Garland, Texas; brother, Michael of Menlo Park; and grandparents, Lois and Don VanDeventer of Prescott, Arizona. Memorials may be made to the Scholarship Fund of the First Baptist Church of Menlo Park 1100 Middle Avenue, Menlo Park 94025.

Anthony Bajada

Former machinist, musician

Anthony Bajada, a resident of Menlo Park since 1968, died in Scottsdale, Arizona, July 20. He was 97.

Born in Hamrun, Malta, Mr. Bajada served in the British Army during World War I and moved to the United States at the age of 17. He married Elizabeth J. Waldvogel at St. Paul of the Shipwreck in San Francisco in 1925.

He worked as a machinist, making tools and dies, but his passion was for playing the guitar, his family said. He joined the Silver Strings Orchestra in San Francisco in 1945, and when the family moved to Palo Alto in 1961, then to Menlo Park in 1968, he played with the Aurora Orchestra. He was also a member of Little House Senior Center.

Mr. Bajada is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Bajada; his daughter, Evelyn "Lynn" McCarthy of Scottsdale, Arizona; his son, George A. Bajada of San Jose; six grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson.

A funeral Mass was held at St. Raymond Catholic Church, with burial at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. Arrangements were by Spangler Mortuary.