Obituaries

July 15, 1926 – May 24, 2020 Shannon Michael “Mike” Drew passed away on May 24, 2020 at his home in Los Altos. Mike was born 7/15/1926 outside of Truckee, California. He grew up in Palo Alto and attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City. After serving in the Army Air Corps in the Philippines at the end of WWII he attended UC Berkeley graduating in 1950 with a degree in Economics. He married Marilyn (Mary) Jean Shehan June 24, 1950. He began his career with Merrill Lynch in San Francisco, eventually retiring from Kidder Peabody in 1988, his career highlighted by receiving the “Investment Banker of the Year” award from the San Francisco Bankers Club. In addition he served on the Board of the El Camino Hospital Foundation, the NASD Board of Governors, and was a past president of Los Altos Golf & Country Club. He served on the committee for the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley where he spearheaded fundraising activities for the benefit of the Library. His wife Mary predeceased him in 2015. He is survived by his three children, Dana Drew Nord, Kathleen Drew, and Douglas Drew, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Memorial services will be held at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Mountain View, CA at a future date. Contributions honoring Mike Drew can be made to St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Mountain View, CA or the El Camino Hospital Foundation, Mountain View, CA. Donation can be made to Alzheimer’s Foundation.org.

Resident of Los Altos A proud, hardworking man, Mario died peacefully June 12, 2020. He was an exceptional businessman. He has left behind his beloved wife, Sandra Hanson Barbieri, brother Victore (Nino) and Anna Barbieri, and many cousins in Bedonia, Parma, Italy. He is also survived by many friends and acquaintances. Mario was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on June 8, 1926. His parents, Augustino and Maria and older brother, Giovanni, immigrated because of lack of work during the Depression in Italy. His father worked as a window glazier. By age five, Mario and his family returned home. As a child, he worked hard on the farm, building his character alongside his family. When World War II surrounded Bedonia in 1944, Mario joined the Italian resistance movement as a partisan. He had many stories about the brutal conflict when he was aged 18 to 20 years. In November 1947, at age 21, he arrived in Los Altos, California with US $7.50 in his pocket.

Resident of Los Altos Larry Wright, devoted husband, father, and grandfather passed away on May 26, 2020 five days shy of his 85th birthday. Larry was born in Orange, California on May 31, 1935. He is a graduate of Orange High School, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, and Long Beach State College class of 1957. In 1952, while still in high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve at Los Alamitos. After graduating from Long Beach State, he went on active duty and while attending Platoon Leaders Class at Quantico, he decided aviation was for him. He was accepted at the Naval Flight Training school in Pensacola, Florida as a Marine Corps 2nd Lt. and was designated Naval Aviator in Nov 1958. In 1961, after returning from Oppama, Japan he was assigned as Flight Instructor in Pensacola, (first as primary flight and later as a helicopter instructor) which is where he met his wife Patricia. They were married in Dec 1961. In Aug 1965, he was deployed to Viet Nam with Marine Observation Squadron Six (VMO 6) until Sep 1966. He was released to the Marine Corps Reserves in 1967 and in Jan of 1968 began training with United Airlines in Denver, CO. From his San Francisco domicile, he began his career on the DC-6 and progressed to B737, 727, DC-8, 757, and 767 until his retirement as Captain in 1995.

Leo Mather Sant was born in Grace, Idaho, on August 27, 1921, to Alfred and Ethel Sant. He died peacefully at his home in Salt Lake City on June 14, 2020, from causes incident to age. Leo grew up in Grace, Idaho, and attended Idaho State University’s College of Pharmacy. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943, becoming a pilot and serving in the European Theater for the duration of the war. In 1946, he became a commercial airline pilot with Pan American Airways and loved a career in aviation until retiring in 1981. He and his wife, Maralynn, raised their four daughters in Los Altos, California. Leo was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was known by his family and many friends as a kind, loving and generous man who influenced people for good, wherever he went. He was a true gentleman. He is survived by daughters Julie (Brent) Schenk, Jenny (Paul) Miller and Jill Johnson (Hobie Kellis); 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his wife, Maralynn; daughter Janet; parents and all six of his siblings.

Dec. 8, 1926 – May 13, 2020 Resident of Los Altos Our lovely wife, mother and grandmother was a kind, compassionate and genuinely beautiful woman. Ione passed away peacefully at the age of 93 with her husband, Jack and daughter, Sue by her side. Born in Storm Lake, Iowa to parents, Albin and Olga Peterson, Ione was raised in Cedar Rapids with her siblings Galyn, Allan and Doris. Ione attended Wheaton College where she met Sid Scott. After graduating with a degree in biological services, she and Sid married in 1948. They lived in Michigan and New York before moving to Berkeley, CA where they started their family with the births of Susan, Steve, and Jim. In 1969, the family moved to Los Altos when Sid accepted the position of head counselor at Milpitas High School. Later Ione became a teacher at Randall Elementary also in Milpitas.

July 13, 1930- April 7, 2020   Robert C. Davis, General Contractor and President of the Robert C. Davis Company, has passed away at the age of 89. A graduate from California Polytechnic Institute, San Luis Obispo with a dual major in Architecture and Landscape Design, he began his career as a naval architect where he designed and retrofitted aircraft carriers at the Hunter’s Point Naval shipyards in San Francisco.    He moved to Palo Alto, and began to work for the Cortelyou and Cole Construction Company. He became a partner in a new firm with Tom Cole. Later, he opened the Robert C. Davis Company. Bob’s years as a general contractor and architect involved both commercial and residential projects along the Peninsula including buildings in San Francisco, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, and as far down as Hollister. He designed and built two remodels of the former Starlight Ballroom in Sunnyvale.  He received a Merit Award in the national magazine trade, Builder, for his innovative design converting a spare bedroom into a luxurious bathroom. Bob’s connection to the ocean began in Santa Barbara where he grew up. Bob always enjoyed fishing, surfing, participated in ocean swim competitions, and played water polo for Cal Poly.