Obituaries Obituaries (May 09, 2001)

Harvey Wilson Richards

Labor activist and documentary filmmaker

A memorial service for Harvey Wilson Richards will be held May 26 at 2 p.m. at the Friends Meeting House, 957 Colorado Ave., in Palo Alto.

Mr. Richards, whose career included work as a merchant seaman, a union organizer, a journeyman machinist, a photographer and a documentary filmmaker, died April 20 at his home in Menlo Park at the age of 88. He had lived in Menlo Park and Atherton since 1954.

Mr. Richards was born in 1912 in Oregon. At the age of 14, he left school and went to work to help support his family, relatives said. At 18, he joined the crew of a freighter and spent four years as a merchant seaman traveling to ports in Asia, Europe and North Africa. While at sea, he joined the National Maritime Union and eventually earned the position of shop steward, which is the crew's representative to management.

He came ashore in Boston in 1934 and found a job with the Works Progress Administration (WPA), relatives said. He soon joined the Workers Alliance, a union for WPA workers. Between 1934 and 1940, he worked as a union organizer in Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. This job earned him friends in the labor movement and enemies among management groups. During organizing efforts, it was not unusual to face company "goons" who would break legs on street curbs to discourage labor activities, relatives said.

Mr. Richards married Hodee Waldstein in 1936, and in 1940 they moved to the Bay Area, where he worked in warship construction. He started as a ship's painter and machinist's apprentice and worked his way up to journeyman machinist and chief shop steward for the Bethlehem Ship Yards. In 1946, in a postwar wave of labor strikes throughout the nation, the strike at his union was broken and he lost his job. His labor activism continued through the 1950s, however, to the point where he was being harassed by the House Unamerican Affairs Committee, relatives said.

Mr. Richards divorced and married Alice Meigs in 1953. He took up photography in 1955 and made his first documentary film in 1958, going on to make 22 documentaries in the Bay Area covering the peace movement, civil rights marches, California farm workers, and environmental subjects. Mr. Richards shot, recorded, edited and distributed his films himself, with some help from his wife and close friends. His films and photography are available through his son, Paul Richards, from Estuary Press, P.O. Box 577, Oakland, CA 94604.

Mr. Richards is survived by his wife Alice; sons Steffen of Berkeley and Paul of Oakland and stepson David Meigs of Soquel; and four grandchildren.

Donations in his name may be made to The Nature Conservancy.
Dorthea Bogue

Nurse and nursing instructor

Dorthea Bogue, a nurse and nursing instructor at Stanford Hospital, died March 21 at the age of 94.

Ms. Bogue was a graduate of the University of Washington and the Providence School of Nursing, where she taught for several years before moving to Menlo Park with her husband and children in 1952. She worked as a nurse at Stanford Hospital and became an instructor when the hospital opened a nursing school. After her retirement, she moved to Portola Valley.

Ms. Bogue is survived her daughter, Patricia Johnson of Santa Clara; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

A memorial service was held at Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Portola Valley.
Paul G. Sedlewicz

Developed patents for Hewlett Packard

A memorial service is set for for Paul G. Sedlewicz of Menlo Park is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Friday, May 11, at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. at 950 Santa Cruz Ave. Mr. Sedlewicz died at home of lung cancer on May 2 at the age of 61.

Born in Nashua, New Hampshire, Mr. Sedlewicz worked for Hewlett Packard for 34 years in research and development. He developed a number of patents for the company, and he served as president and chief executive officer of Avantek, a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard.

During the mid-1960s, Mr. Sedlewicz and two friends purchased the Matrix, a San Francisco nightclub, whose performers included the legendary rock group Jefferson Airplane. Other groups that performed at there included The Grateful Dead, The Mamas and the Papas, and Big Brother and the Holding Company.

Mr. Sedlewicz was twice elected president of New Hope International, a missionary organization that works in central Europe. He and his wife, Suzanne, traveled many times to central Europe to visit missionaries.

He is survived by Suzanne, to whom he was married for 35 years. He is also survived by a son, Peter Sedlewicz; a daughter, Dana Corvallis; his mother, Stella Sedlewicz ; and a sister, Nancy Caruso.

The family requests that memorial donations be made to New Hope International, P.O. Box 110, Colorado Springs, CO 80901; or to Mid-Peninsula Hospice at 201 San Antonio Circle, Suite 135, Mountain View, CA 94040.
David Charles Lloyd Jones

Research scientist

David Charles Lloyd Jones, a physiologist and resident of Menlo Park for 52 years, died April 22 at the age of 78.

During World War II, Mr. Jones served as a lieutenant in the combat infantry in the European theater. After the war, he earned advanced degrees in physiology from the University of California, Berkeley and went to work for the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory at Hunter's Point in San Francisco.

Dr. Jones' career continued at Stanford Research Institute, now SRI International, where he served as project manager for environmental physiology, then as director of the toxicology laboratory.

Dr. Jones especially enjoyed the five years between 1965 and 1970 he spent as scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop #109, his family said.

He is survived by his wife Betty; daughter Marsha Jones Moutrie of Thousand Oaks, California; sons David of La Paz, Baja California, Mexico, and Daniel Charles of Boulder, Colorado; and six grandchildren.
Al and Judy Sroka

Longtime Atherton residents

Al and Judy Sroka, residents of Atherton for many years, both died recently.

Mr. Sroka was born in 1919 in Augsburg, Germany. After immigrating to the United States, he graduated from the University of Dayton in Ohio with a degree in chemical engineering. He went on to work as an engineer, eventually becoming a divisional vice-president at Ampex Corporation. He retired in 1981.

Mr. Sroka enjoyed flying, sailing, and sports, family members said.

Judy Sroka was born in Chicago, where she met Al while working as a draftswoman. The Srokas had six children: Judi, Fred, John, Maria, Elisabeth and Bill.

Mrs. Sroka was a talented singer and enjoyed playing the cello and writing poems. She especially enjoyed working with children at St. Raymond's School in Menlo Park, her family said.

Donations in their names may be made to St. Raymond's School.
Mildred Virginia Hearn

Educator and language scholar

Mildred Virginia Hearn, an educator and longtime resident of the Peninsula, died April 21 in Roseville, California. She was 84.

Ms. Hearn earned a degree in political science in 1937 from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was the editor of the school newspaper, the Daily Californian. She received her master's in education and her teaching credential from Stanford University in 1951.

She taught in local schools for 10 years, including the Palo Alto Adult School, then returned to Stanford to earn a second masters degree in Russian. Over the next 25 years, she taught first Russian, then English at both Foothill College and San Jose State University, where she also directed the language lab. She retired in 1991.

Ms. Hearn is survived by her brother, Robert Caldwell of Flagstaff, Arizona; and sons Keith Hearn of Sutter Creek, California and Jerry Hearn of Portola Valley.

At her request, no services were held. Donations may be made to any Alzheimer's association.
Marie Pickens Holden

Former Fair Oaks resident

Marie Pickens Holden, who lived on Fair Oaks Avenue in Menlo Park from 1946 to 1998, died at her Napa home on April 30.

Born in 1919 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, she worked for AT & T and Pacific Telephone for 28 years. Ms. Holden spent 21 of those years as an operator and supervisor, later working as a graphic artist and drafter. In 1938, she married Earl Henry Holden, who died in 1977.

She moved to Battleground, Washington, in 1998 to live in an apartment her son, Bob, and his wife, Diane, built. After Bob died in January 1999, Mrs. Holden moved to Napa to be near her daughter and son-in-law, Carol and Al Lilleberg.

Family members say she had great talent and interest in the arts, including painting, drawing, writing, needlework, knitting, crocheting, designing clothes and tailoring.

Mrs. Holden is survived by the Lillebergs; two grandsons; three sisters, Betty Kroger, Rosalie Williams, and Doris Starkey; two grandsons; and several great-grandchildren.

A service was held in Napa on May 5. Memorials may be made to the Hospice of Napa Valley or the charity of the donor's choice. For further information, the Lillebergs may be reached at (707) 255-3087.