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Resident, orchardist Dolly Stowell, 85, dies
By KELLY WILKINSON
Dolly Stowell, a member of one of Sunnyvale's earliest orchardist families, passed away on March 13. She was 85.
Stowell was born in a small town outside of Pittsburgh and moved to Sunnyvale in 1923. In 1931 she married Chester Stowell, and together they ran Chuck's Produce on Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road. The Stowell family, which moved to Sunnyvale from Iowa in 1899, were among the first orchardists in the valley and played an important role in the burgeoning Sunnyvale community.
Downtown Sunnyvale was shaped by the Stowell family. Two of the city's earliest streets took their names from the Stowells' first home: Waverly and Iowa. The Stowells were also largely responsible for developing much of the historic downtown.
Customers referred to Dolly Stowell as the Strawberry Lady, since she regularly sorted strawberries in the back of the produce shop.
But the nickname didn't lend itself to Dolly's true feelings about the fruit. "She loved people and she loved life, but she hated strawberries. She did the strawberries in fact so many times over the years that she said, 'If there's strawberries in heaven, I'm not going!' " Pat Stowell, Dolly's daughter-in-law, said.
Stowell called her a remarkable woman who was dedicated to her family and friends, and "affected everyone she met with a ready smile and her giving way."
Family friend Ann Hines, who called Stowell a "wonderful, spunky little lady" also acknowledged her as a historian.
"She had a four-drawer file cabinet full of clips from the Valley Journal that dated back to 1906," she said. Hines also said that her home, which was next to Chuck's Produce, "is the best example of an early Victorian ranch home in Sunnyvale. It's really a wonderful, historic setting."
She is survived by two daughters, one son, eight grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
