Saratoga News
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Obituaries
Jeannette Barney
Saratoga lost a tireless volunteer this month when Jeanette Barney, 61, who has lived in both Los Gatos and Saratoga, died on May 5.
Barney was been a longtime supporter of many community causes, but is perhaps best known as the co-founder of the EMQ-VIP League. She was inspired to create the organization after the death of her daughter.
"Our daughter Kimberly died of a prescription drug overdose. So Jeanette wanted to raise money to fund addiction-prevention services for local high schools and middle schools," says her husband, Roger Barney. "It was mainly focused on prescription drugs, but also all kinds of illegal and legal drugs."
When The Butter Paddle home accessories store opened in the Saratoga Village, Jeannette Barney was a regular volunteer. She was also very active in her church, St. Andrews in Saratoga; Hope Services; the Women's Investment Network; and the Junior League.
"[I loved] her smile, her positive attitude even after the death of our daughter," her husband says. "Even though she suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, she never complained. She was an inspiration to everyone."
Sandra Farris, a close friend of Barney's for more than 30 years, couldn't agree more.
"She was sick for quite a while, but never let it stop her. Through everything, she never complained about anything," says Farris.
Farris says Barney died on the date of EMQ-VIP's big fundraiser.
"I honestly think she held on until that day, until that event was over. It was very important to her, since she founded the organization," she says.
Farris says she will miss Barney's warm personality. "She had a wonderful sense of humor and was a very charming person. If you had her for a friend, you had her for a friend for life. She was always there for you."
Memorial sevices are planned for May 21, 4 p.m., at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 13601 Saratoga Ave. in Saratoga.
Barbara Mendenhall
Barbara Mendenhall of Saratoga, 77, died April 22 of natural causes.
The first generation of her family to be born in the United States, Mendenhall was born in New York City, the only child of William Edmund and Irma Marie Saxl Ringel. She grew up in New York, earning a bachelor's degree in French from Earlham College and a master's degree in public law and government from Columbia University. She studied geopolitics at the University of Zurich and improved her French at the College Internationale in Cannes.
She married Dr. Robert R. Simner in 1951. After his death in 1989, she reconnected with her college sweetheart, Keith Mendenhall, and the two were married in 1995. He died in 1999.
She joined the League of Women Voters of Southwest Santa Clara Valley as a charter member, holding many board positions including president. She was president of the Santa Clara Kaiser Wives and the Santa Clara County Medical Association Alliance. She was active in the American Association of University Women's Los Gatos-Saratoga branch, Friends of the Saratoga Libraries, the Book-Go-Round, Saratoga Sister City, the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council, the Saratoga Foothill Club and the Hakone Foundation. Other interests included being a docent at the San Jose Museum of Art, serving as a teacher's aide at Saratoga High School and being a Girl Scout leader and a Cub Scout and Webelos den mother. She also occasionally worked as a volunteer at Community Hospital of Los Gatos and Good Samaritan Hospital, coordinated trick-or-treat for UNICEF and sold UNICEF holiday cards at the post office. She traveled all over the world.
She is survived by her children, Andrea A. Kroninger and Ronald E. Simner; grandchildren Kelsey and Quinn Kroninger; stepdaughters, Kay Seibert and her husband Pat Gudridge, and their son and daughter-in-law, Steven and Rebecca Seibert; and Kathy Nordlinger and her children Sam and Elizabeth Nordlinger.
Services were held on April 30. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the League of Women Voters of Southwest Santa Clara County or to the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council.
Sophia L. Walsted
Sophia Louise Walsted of Saratoga, 99, died April 19 of natural causes.
Walsted was a native of the Dimond District of Oakland. She lived in Alameda and San Mateo counties for more than 85 years, and spent the last 13 years of her life in Saratoga.
Walsted loved to travel and participate in Rebekah Lodge activities as a member and in a variety of officer positions. She was a nurse in Alameda for nearly 40 years.
Walsted is survived by her daughter, Phyllis Heeter of San Jose; her granddaughter, Cheryl Wical of San Jose; her grandsons, Christopher Levin of Paradise and Joseph Levin of Rock Springs, Wyo.; eight great-grandchildren, Kevin and Aaron Wical, Domenic, Vincenzo, Matthew and Mary Levin, and Brianna Roulston and Jacob Hancock; and many great-nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Grand Lodge of California, I.O.O.F. Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 2669, Saratoga, CA 95070. Services were held May 10 in Saratoga.
