Obituaries

June 28, 1924 - June 2, 2019 Resident of Mountain View Lars Eric Ericsson, born Lars-Erik Eriksson in Virå, Sweden, died at El Camino hospital of complications from aspiration pneumonia, congestive heart failure, and Alzheimer’s dementia. Lars met his wife, Gunvor, folk dancing. They wed in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 1951 and immigrated to the United States in 1956. Lars and Gunvor enjoyed folk, square and round dancing with each other for decades. They shared a love of the outdoors and took trips all over the world and frequented the Sierra for high country adventures with family. Lars earned his degrees in aeronautical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden in 1949 (M.S.) and 1972 (Ph.D.).

Edwin George Nakamura died on June 10th 2019. He was born January 26, 1936 in Mountain View, California. He was predeceased by his mother and father, Harry and Nellie Nakamura and younger brother Kenny and survived by his older brother David Nakamura and sister Margaret Nakamura Cooper. After internment during WW2 at Santa Anita California and Heart Mountain Wyoming he returned to the area and went to Mountain View High and San Jose State but graduated from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara. He was a photographer most of his adult life eventually teaching photography at Laney College in Oakland. He continued living in the family home in Los Altos until his death.

June 8, 1927 - June 12, 2019 Fred Van Kirk passed away peacefully at home, four days after celebrating his 92nd birthday surrounded by family. Fred was born in Evanston, IL, to Nelson and Jewel Van Kirk. He earned a degree in Civil Engineering from Purdue University in 1949, and while there he met future wife, Nancy Hetzner. They were married on March 20, 1952. Fred served as a first lieutenant sanitary engineer in the Army Medical Service Corps during the Korean War. After he was discharged, his work as an engineer took the family to Chicago, San Jose, Ohio, and Maryland before finally settling in Los Altos in 1972. He started an engineering consulting practice there in 1980 and later enjoyed many wonderful retirement years. In retirement Fred tutored elementary school students in reading, served as a Deacon and volunteered at church, and was a “Big Sir” of his local branch of SIR (Sons in Retirement).

Died in Palo Alto after a brief illness on April 3, 2018. A Palo Alto resident since 1973, she was for several decades a dynamo of the Silicon Valley residential real estate industry. The daughter of Frank R. Mayo and Eleanor P. Mayo, Carolyn was born in Chicago in 1937 when her father, having earned his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Chicago, was teaching there. Already doing cutting-edge research, Dr. Mayo became an internationally recognized polymer chemist, ending his career with three decades at the Stanford Research Institute. Carolyn was educated at the Lab School, Northfield School for Girls, and Brown University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in history. Her freshman year she met Roger Mansell, an engineering student at Brown. He asked her to marry him on their first date; after four years, she finally agreed, and they were married in the chapel at Brown University.

Christine Ellis Mack, aged 87, passed away peacefully at her home in Mountain View surrounded by her loved ones on Sunday, May 19, 2019. She was born on November 11,1932 in San Jose to Calliope and Nicholas Ellis the youngest of five children. She graduated from Lincoln High School in San Jose and attended the University of California at Berkeley and was also a member of the Alpha Delta Pi Sorority House. On November 17, 1951 Christine married her wonderful husband George H. Mack and settled in San Francisco, moving to Palo Alto and eventually Los Altos Hills to raise their family. After her husband passed away in 1976 she began her vibrant career becoming the President of the Credit Union at Syntex Corporation in Palo Alto. She thrived there for over twenty years.

Lorraine Davis (Whealan), age 52, passed away on June 9. Lorraine was born in Palo Alto and raised in Los Altos. She graduated from St. Nicholas Catholic School, St. Francis High School and the University of San Francisco. Always an athlete, she spent her career as a yoga instructor, swim instructor, coach and massage therapist. Lorraine was especially gifted working with young people and the elderly who always appreciated her high energy, and her playful and generous spirit. She was always making friends and offering help to anyone who might need it. Lorraine had two sons who she raised mostly in Bear Valley and Los Altos. She was a thoughtful and loving mother, daughter, sister, wife, aunt, cousin and friend to many and she will be sorely missed by us all.