Twila Venuti
Florence Kankel
Florence Lillian Kankel, a former Los Gatos resident, died Feb. 8 in her Auburn home. She was 80.
Born Sept. 20, 1916, in Nebraska, Kankel and her late husband, Paul, lived in Los Gatos from 1954 to 1965.
Survivors include sons and daughters-in-law Gary and Susan Kankel of Los Gatos and Dennis and LeAnne Kankel of South Lake Tahoe; also seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Private memorial services have been held.
Twila Venuti
Monte Sereno resident Twila Edith Venuti died of cancer on Feb. 12 at the age of 75.
Born Dec. 12, 1921, in Clay Center, Kan., Venuti graduated from Colorado's West Denver High School and worked as a dental assistant and then as a stenographer with the U.S. government, for which she moved to Washington, D.C., and Hawaii.
Returning to Denver, Venuti worked for the Civil Aviation Administration. In 1943, she joined the U.S. Army Air Force and worked as a link trainer instructor at Muroc Army Air Base (now Edwards Air Force Base). Upon her 1945 discharge, she attended Geneva College in Pennsylvania, where she graduated with a degree in psychology.
Venuti, her husband, Bill, and their growing family lived in Montana and Colorado before settling in Campbell in 1955, while Bill taught engineering at San Jose State University. The family moved to Monte Sereno in 1962, but left two years later to travel in Asia. Venuti taught English to students while in Thailand. When they returned to Monte Sereno, Venuti studied for and received a teaching credential and master's degree in special education. She taught special education at schools in the San Jose area until 1987, save for 1972, the year in which the family lived in Scotland while Bill taught at the University of Dundee.
After retirement, Venuti was active with the Art Docents of Los Gatos, the Italian American Heritage Foundation and WATCH (Women And Their Children's Housing). She and Bill loved to travel; their destinations included China, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Peru, the Galapagos Islands, the Philippines, Pakistan and India.
Venuti also loved opera, gardening, reading, cooking and art. According to her family, she was known for saying, "One lifetime is not long enough to learn all that I would like to know."
Survivors, in addition to her husband, are sons David of Los Altos Hills, Paul of Dallas, Stephen of Saratoga, Thomas of Sacramento and Philip of Saratoga; daughter Lisa Wrobel of St. Ignatius, Mont.; grandchildren Johnathon, Ashley, Michaela, Maxwell and Keenan Venuti and Paul and Samuel Wrobel; brothers Waldo and Glenn Black and numerous nieces and nephews.
Private memorial services have been held. Donations may be made to WATCH, P.O. Box 361358, Milpitas, 95036-1358.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, March 5, 1997.
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