Obituaries Obituaries (February 19, 2003)

Bill Derringer

Garden designer and contractor

Bill Derringer of Atherton, whose garden designs were often featured in local garden tours, died February 1 after a fight to recover from multiple surgeries after breaking his hip in a fall. He was 76.

Mr. Derringer was born in Southern California and moved to the Peninsula in the mid-1940s with his parents. He attended Menlo College.

For more than 20 years he worked with his father, building contractor George Derringer, designing and building many homes and remodeling projects locally.

After his father retired, Mr. Derringer worked at Roger Reynolds Nursery in Menlo Park, then ventured into landscape design and contracting. His second career made use of his construction experience, as well as his love of plants and trees.

Mr. Derringer is survived by his wife of 44 years, Corinne Cooley Derringer. A future gathering of friends in remembrance will be held.

Memorial donations may be made to Town of Atherton, Bill Derringer memorial fund for the Atherton Library, 91 Ashfield Road, Atherton, CA 94027; or to Pathways Hospice, 201 San Antonio Circle, Suite 135, Mountain View, CA 94040.

The Rev. Robert J. Giguere

Teacher, professor at St. Patrick's Seminary

The Rev. Robert J. Giguere, a Roman Catholic priest who taught at St. Patrick's Seminary until he was 82, died of cancer February 10 at his residence in Mountain View. He was 85.

Father Giguere was associate Catholic chaplain at St. Ann's Newman Center in Palo Alto and at Stanford University Memorial Church from the early 1950s until 1981.

A member of the Sulpician Fathers for 58 years, Father Giguere was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He graduated from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts and received a master's degree in literature from Boston University.

He was ordained a priest in 1945 at Catholic University. He studied at the Sulpician Seminary in Washington, D.C., where he received a doctorate in philosophy from Catholic University in 1950.

During his years as a priest, Father Giguere taught at St. Joseph and St. Patrick Colleges, St. Patrick's Seminary, Santa Clara University, and University of Notre Dame at Belmont.

A memorial Mass was offered at St. Patrick's Seminary on February 15. Arrangements were under the direction of Roller Hapgood & Tinney Funeral Home, Palo Alto.

Patricia Ketter

Native of Canada

Patricia Jean Ketter of Menlo Park died February 5. She was 84.

A homemaker, Mrs. Ketter was a native of Wolseley, Saskatchewan, Canada. She is survived by her husband, Arthur Ketter, and sons Terence and Kenneth Ketter. Private family services were held.

Arrangements were under the direction of the Menlo Park Chapel of Spangler Mortuaries.

Robert Y. Griswold

Bechtel employee

Robert Y. Griswold, a graduate of the Stanford University School of Engineering, died February 8 in Menlo Park. He was 82.

Mr. Griswold was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and moved to Santa Monica as a child. He graduated from Stanford in 1943 and served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946. He was employed in the refinery division of Bechtel Corp. from 1946 to 1983.

Mr. Griswold was a former member of the Stanford Golf Club and the Pioneer Radio-controlled Model Airplane Club.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Betsey; children Lee Crane, Beth Hindman, Jack Griswold, Mary Mosier and Ann Ostermann; sister Elizabeth Kendall of Asheville, North Carolina; and eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Private family services have been held. Memorials may be made to the Stanford School of Engineering or a charity of choice.

Charlotte Barnett Cramer

Former Atherton resident

A memorial service for Charlotte Barnett Cramer will be held at noon on Friday, February 28, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 3865 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. 1 Mrs. Cramer was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, in 1920. She was the daughter of Latter Day Saint pioneer Edna Merle Richardson and Harry Thompson Barnett. Raised in Los Angeles, Mrs. Cramer attended Alhambra High School, where she was the editor of the school paper and an honor student.

In 1941, she married Glen E. Hummer, who died in a plane crash in 1962.

In the late 1950s Mrs. Cramer worked for industrial designer Henry Dreyfus and was later recruited to be the personal secretary to William Pickering, top scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. She was the only non-scientist with a "top secret" clearance at J.P.L. during the Cuban missile crisis and the Mariner and Apollo space missions, a family member said.

In 1964, Mrs. Cramer married prominent builder-developer Ward H. Cramer of Atherton. For the next 16 years, they lived in Atherton, where they raised four of six children. During this time, Mrs. Cramer volunteered at the Children's Health Council in Palo Alto.

In 1980, the Cramers built their home on Scenic Drive in Carmel. Mr. Cramer died in 1994, and Mrs. Cramer remained there until last December, when she moved to Lytton Gardens in Palo Alto.

Mrs. Cramer had a terrific sense of humor, and a great appreciation for music and the performing arts, a family member said.

Mrs. Cramer was preceded in death by two sons. She is survived by her daughter, Kathleen Earley of Washington; three stepdaughters, Kathy Mortensen of Danville, Sally Taqi-Eddin of Amman, Jordan, and Theresa Cramer Whitney of Menlo Park; 17 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

The family prefers that contributions in her name be made to the Children's Health Council, 650 Clark Way, Palo Alto, 94304.

Arrangements are being handled by Roller Hapgood & Tinney Funeral Chapel, Palo Alto.

Kevin Fidge

A memorial service for Kevin Fidge will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, March 10, in the Chapel at the Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, 22555 Cristo Rey Drive in Los Altos.

Mr. Fidge, who died February 1 in Denver, lived in Portola Valley from 1989 to 2002 and attended Woodside High School and Canada College.

He was the stepson of Marilyn Fidge of Portola Valley, owner of Timothy Fidge Jewelers in Menlo Park; half brother of Matthew and Jonathan Fidge of Portola Valley; and son of the late Timothy Fidge.

An obituary appeared in last week's Almanac.