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Local concert fundraiser Elliott Bolter dies
Elliott Herbert Bolter, a longtime Palo Alto resident and fundraiser, died July 28. He was 88. He was born in March 19, 1924, in San Francisco to Herbert John Bolter and Gertrude Grace Brown. He was a World War II veteran and resided in Palo Alto for 61 years. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church
and the Ross Road YMCA, both in Palo Alto. He was a major supporter and fundraiser for the Palo Alto Summer Concert series,
collecting $20,000 in pledges to support the series in 2003. He was employed as a printing and lithography salesman at The National Press in Palo Alto for 28 years. He loved gliding, being a handyman, volunteering and fundraising, and had many other hobbies. He was husband to Betty Jane
Cecil Eugene (Gene) Duncan Oct. 21, 1921-July 27, 2012 Cecil (Gene) Duncan died in peace in Palo Alto on Friday, July 27th, 2012. All of his children and grandchildren were there. Gene and Adrienne were married in 1943 while he was still in the Army. Gene was a fighter pilot and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. He was decorated several times and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, American Defense Service Medal with 1 star, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon with 1 battle star, American Theater Ribbon, E.A.M.E. Theater Ribbon with 1 battle star, as well as the World War II Victory Ribbon. Gene was born in Atascadero, Calif., then raised in Virginia where he graduated from the University of Virginia. He went on to Stanford University where he earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics. He lived for three years in Vienna, Austria, working for the CIA. He worked at Lockheed for 20 years in pure and applied research. He retired in 1978. He enjoyed flying, was an avid reader, an environmentalist, and a classical pianist. He volunteered at Avenidas helping seniors set up reverse mortgages. Adrienne and Gene were fortunate to be world travelers. They traveled through Egypt because of Adrienne’s love of sculpting, walked the city of Macchu Pichu in Peru, traveled the Altiplano through Bolivia, floated the Amazon in a catamaran, toured the four quadrants of the city of Kyoto then visited northern Japan to see the farms, learned how the children are taught dance in Bali, and walked the museums of Taipei. They cruised the inland passage of Alaska, climbed Ayres Rock and stayed with the aborigines in the Northern Territories of Australia. Our fondest memories include: staying at the giant lily pad pond on the Amazon long after the people were gone to try to identify all the different insect and bird songs; the countless hours spent at the piano learning the Lover’s Concerto by ear; the dinner rule, “No laughing at the table,” which made us laugh all the more; playing under the piano as grandfather played Beethoven; going out to dinner and learning about good food and good service; as well as plane rides to Baja and the Nut Tree. He is survived by his loving wife of 69 years, Adrienne; his three daughters, Tana, Nikki and Michele; his three grandchildren, Shauna, Cheris and Robert; his five greatgrandchildren, Nicole, Michael, Amber, Nathan and Emma; and his great-great-grandson, Aidan. A private memorial was held with the immediate family in the home. Remembrances can be sent to Ecology Action in care of John Jeavons, 5798 Ridgewood Road, Willits, CA 95490. PA I D
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Bolter; father to Aimee Bolter Campbell of Menlo Park and Claudette Louise Kayne (Robert) of Tucson, Ariz; grandfather to Matthew Jordan Kayne, Kevin Mitchell Kayne and Jeffrey James Hansen Campbell; and brother to Kenneth Ora (Carol) Bolter of Novato, Calif. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent in his name to the First United Meth-
odist Church or the Ross Road YMCA. A memorial celebration will be held Sunday, Aug. 5, following regular church services at the First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto. Service starts at 10:45 a.m. and the celebration with family begins in the Patio Room at the church at 11:45 a.m. Cake and coffee will be served.
Phil Sorensen (Philip H. Sorensen, Ph.D.) Phil Sorensen was a man who loved and lived his life. Sixty-two years to the day he and B.J. (Betty Jo) Lyon applied for their marriage license, Phil died. His beloved B.J., daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren were with him when he ascended his last mountain. Phil was born in Bellingham, WA on December 26, 1924, and thereafter, that became ‘the’ holiday to celebrate. The family later settled in Vancouver, WA, where Phil joined the Boy Scouts and progressed quickly through the ranks, earning his Eagle Scout by age 14. Throughout high school he was an active Scout and summer camp counselor, a member of the swim team, newspaper editor, and student body officer. Phil enlisted in Naval Officer Training in 1942, a month shy of his 18th birthday. He served as a navigator aboard the USS Adair in the Pacific until 1946 and as an Intelligence Officer in the Naval Reserve until 1985, reaching the rank of Commander. After he and B.J. married in Spokane, they settled in Portland where Phil was a teacher and counselor in the public schools. In 1952 the family moved to Manhattan, KS and Phil served as the Assistant Dean of Students at Kansas State. Daughters Chris and Carolyn were born in Portland, OR and Cathy in Manhattan, KS. Taking advantage of the GI bill benefits, Phil enrolled at Stanford University in 1954 to complete his Ph.D. in Psychology. He earned both his BA in 1948 in Education and Social Science (awarded Phi Beta Kappa) and his Masters in Educational Psychology in 1950 at Washington State University. He was a lifelong member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Phil accepted a position at Stanford Research Institute in 1956. For the next 27 years he worked as a Senior Research Psychologist and Director of the Education Research Department. He commuted to SRI from his Palo Alto home on his 3-speed bike. His work at SRI took him across the country and around the world, to Nigeria and Micronesia, and later, as independent
consultant from 1983-1990, to Saudi Arabia. On the golf course, Phil scored five holesin-one, relishing competing against himself, fellow duffers, his sons-in-law and grandsons. He was a strategic and spirited bridge player and once he gave up golf, he replaced it with lawn bowling. His ever-present pipe smoke announced his arrival and lingered upon his departure. He and B.J. were enthusiastic travelers. When at home, they cherished time with their three daughters Chris, Carolyn (Steve Balling) and Cathy (Jon Buurma). Phil was proud of his grandsons Erik and Kevin Buurma, Corey Scher, and his granddaughter, Jordan Scher. Phil loved to measure, evaluate, and report and spent hours tallying and analyzing trends and numbers on behalf of the Stanford Men’s Golf Club, the Fellowship Forum, and the Palo Alto Jazz Alliance, among many other community organizations and committees at the Sequoias. He took great joy in gardening and his expert touch with the pruning shears lingers in the gardens of homes he and the family occupied and in The Sequoia’s ‘Philoli’ Arboretum. Phil shared his remarkable memory with friends and family, describing when asked, every mountain climbed, math problem solved, story heard, and place explored. He loved his wife and dancing with her, mountain climbing, golf, his daughters and their husbands, making puns, his grandchildren, analyzing and solving problems, his sisters and their families, jazz of all kinds, his mother-in-law and her family, a generous pour of bourbon, his lifelong friends, and voting as a Democrat. A celebration of Phil’s life will be held August 18, 2012 from 3:00 pm-5:00 pm at The Sequoias, 501 Portola Road, Portola Valley, CA. Gifts in memory of Phil can be made to The Sequoias-Portola Valley Tomorrow Fund Endowment, which assists residents who run short of financial resources. Please make checks payable to Senior Services for Northern California and mail to 501 Portola Road, Box 8053, Portola Valley, CA 94028. PA I D
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