People

Catharine (Howell) Zander, age 72, long-time resident of Los Altos, CA, passed away at home on 15 August 2020 from ALS (Lou Gherig’s disease). She is survived by Paul Albert Zander, her husband of 51 years; her children Virginia (Craig) Joplin and David Zander; and grandson Julian Anderson. Cathy was born to Thomas and Mary (Simmons) Howell in Cleveland, OH on Labor Day, 1947. The irony was her dad’s complaint that he couldn’t take an extra day off work for the birth because it was already a holiday. She was the oldest of four siblings: Mariette (Howell) St-Germain, A. Allen Howell, Robert Howell, all of whom survive her. On 16 August 1969, she married her best friend, Paul Zander in Cleveland. One year later, the couple moved to Los Altos, CA and became active members of the community.

Maryanna Elizabeth Rice Bowers passed peacefully on August 13, 2020, a month and a half before her 97^th birthday. She left this world surrounded in the loving embrace of all who knew her. She was an inspiration. Elegance personified. A giver of her heart, a giver of her time and attention. She understood people. She knew how to care for everyone. And she did so unabashedly.  She was a sharp and sage confidant who could see through to the heart of any circumstance, an endless fountain of wisdom and grace. 

Maryanna adored cats like no one else. Cat earrings, statues, calendars and postcards.  She’d nearly always had a cat and always swore she would never have another after the heartbreak she would endure at their passing. Without fail though she would end up back at the shelter, rescuing another.  Another kitty who had won the jackpot. She would frequently mix up their names, but each earned a unique love and held a special place in heart. Each one provided necessary comfort, solace and joy through the trials and tribulations of a long life, well lived.

Robert E. Sykes born March 15, 1926 in Oakland, California. He is survived by his 3 children and 4 grandchildren. Robert served in WWII as a Private First Class for the Army Air Force. He became a very accomplished football player starting at San Jose State University, later playing professionally for the Washington Redskins, and the Philadelphia Eagles. He then became a very successful local businessman by owning his own automobile dealership Bob Sykes Dodge. His greatest gift was his love for his family; he worked hard and lived a very successful life for them. He died Aug 4th, 2020.  He will be sorely missed. We will always look up to him and always love him.

After a long and eventful life, Thomas Anthony Puorro , 94, passed away peacefully at Sunny View Residential facility in Cupertino on August 7, 2020, after a five-year struggle with Alzheimer’s. He leaves behind his beloved wife of 71 years, Jeanette, their seven children, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts to an Italian immigrant father and American mother, Tom was the epitome of the American dream, grew up poor yet earned a college degree (the first in his family), traveling the world and eventually settling in Los Altos Hills where he and Jeanette lived for 42 years before moving to Sunny View. 

Tom served in the Navy during WWII, and after the war attended Tufts University on the GI Bill. In 1949, he met and married the love of his life, Jeanette McCue, at St. Clements Catholic Church in Somerville, MA. That same year, Tom was hired by IBM where he enjoyed a thriving 32-year career and worked on some of the greatest projects of the time: the first 911 system in New York City, the space program in Houston and the early days of computing in Silicon Valley.