OBITUARIES OBITUARIES (February 28, 2001)

Gary T. Walker

Prominent trial attorney

Gary T. Walker of Atherton, a trial attorney prominent both locally and nationally, collapsed and died unexpectedly February 22. He was 58.

A memorial service will be held at Stanford Memorial Church at 2 p.m. Wednesday, February 28.

In over 30 years of legal practice, Mr. Walker tried numerous high-profile product liability cases. Among his clients were Airtouch Communications, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Toyota, Porsche and Ford.

Mr. Walker graduated from Stanford University in 1964 with a degree in political science. After serving as an U.S. Army Infantry officer in Korea, he obtained his law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1969.

Also in 1969, he married Celia Ann Kimes, and they moved to Atherton in 1979. They have a daughter, Nicole, who lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and a son, Travis, a senior at Menlo-Atherton High School.

Mr. Walker joined the San Francisco law firm of Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon in 1969, becoming a partner in 1977. He served as the firm's managing partner for several years before helping to found the San Francisco law firm of Preuss & Walker in 1993. In mid-2000 Mr. Walker joined the San Jose office of Bowman and Brooke, a national legal firm.

Besides his wife and their children, Mr. Walker is survived by his father, Frederic H.L. Walker, and his brother, Frederik L. Walker, both of Southern California; a sister, Elaine Moore of Los Altos; and six nieces and nephews.

The family requests memorial donations be made to a charity of the donor's choice or to the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.

Karin Nelson

Landscape designer

A memorial service for Karin Nelson of Menlo Park, 55, who died February 21, will be held Friday, March 2, in Jennings Pavilion, Holbrook-Palmer Park, 150 Watkins Ave., Atherton, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friends are asked to bring food, a non-alcoholic beverage, and/or a memory to share. Ms. Nelson's complete obituary will appear in the March 7 Almanac.

Clotilde Gibson

Longtime PV resident

Flags flew at half-mast over the University of Victoria recently to honor the passing of Clotilde (Coco) Lindeman Southgate Gibson, 84, a resident of Portola Valley for 52 years, who died of Parkinson's disease at her home on February 4. Her husband, William Gibson, is a former chancellor of the University of Victoria, British Columbia.

Mrs. Gibson spent her early childhood on a vast ranch near Colima, Mexico, founded in 1879 by her grandfather, a German diplomat. At one time the hacienda had its own currency and a 100-man militia to protect it against bandits. The family moved to San Jose during the Mexican Revolution.

Mrs. Gibson earned a master's degree in education from Stanford University. At age 50 she earned a second master's degree in Mexican-American studies from San Jose State University.

As a young woman, she entertained at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite for more than 10 years, singing Mexican folk songs with her two sisters. Two weeks after her 1942 marriage to Harry W. Edwards, his unit of the Marines was sent to the Pacific, where he was killed in 1944 during the invasion of Saipan.

In 1949 she married Hugh Southgate, who bought a tract of the Willowbrook Farm on the north side of Alpine Road in Portola Valley, built a house and roads there, and subdivided much of the property. The couple traveled widely due to Mr. Southgate's business interests, which included building the Hotel Bora Bora in the South Pacific. Mr. Southgate died in 1982.

In 1989 "Coco" married William Gibson. They divided their time between his home in Victoria and hers in Portola Valley.

For many years she was an active member of the Woodside-Atherton Garden Club and the Auxiliary of the Society for Crippled Children.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Gibson is survived by her daughter Maria Cristina Southgate Campbell and son-in-law James Campbell of Portola Valley and Vancouver, Washington; and sister Emilia Rathbun of Palo Alto. At Mrs. Gibson's request, no services were held.

Arden Kennedy Jones

Poet and environmentalist

Arden Kennedy Jones, a lifelong Atherton resident until 1999, died February 14 in Novato at the age of 57.

Mr. Jones, son of Ardath and architect Kingsford Jones, grew up in Atherton and spent summers in Nova Scotia with his family. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Stanford University, and became a Stegner Fellow in poetry at the university.

In 1965 he married his high school sweetheart, Sally Sjostrom. The couple raised their four children in Atherton. Although he worked for a time as business manager in his father's Menlo Park office, raising his children became the primary focus of Mr. Jones' life, says his family. For more than 10 years, he was active in the Las Lomitas PTA, coaching soccer and volunteering in his children's classrooms.

He was an advocate for the environment as a founder of Ecology Action, and worked as a consultant for San Mateo County's Commission on Aging and other nonprofit social service organizations.

"Arden Jones had an infectious love of nature, especially remote environments and small creatures. His was a life spent relishing the beauty of the natural world and sharing his understanding of this world through his poetry and through conversation with those who had the great fortune to know him," says his family.

Mr. Jones is survived by his children, Kirsten of Novato, Megan of Oakland, Kingsford of Palo Alto, and Justin of Ohio; his former wife, Sally Sjostrom Jones of Palo Alto; brothers Douglas and Bevan Jones of Menlo Park; and two granddaughters.

A memorial service will be held in March. Memorials may be made in Mr. Jones' name to The Greenbelt Alliance, 530 Bush St., Suite 303, San Francisco 94108.