The creator of one of Pleasanton’s favorite Christmas traditions. A young Dublin Elementary School teacher who explored her passions for education and travel while battling cancer. Two men who very well may have worked on your teeth as a child or an adult.
Just a snapshot of the notable people in the Tri-Valley whose lives were memorialized by family and friends in recent obituaries posted to our Lasting Memories page online and in our newspaper.
Death has been on my mind professionally a lot the past two weeks. Our Police Bulletin in last Friday’s paper reported on four deadly crashes (with six fatalities total) in a short span. This week we have a story on a Livermore High alum convicted of murder. We are also working on a follow-up article on the state investigation and new lawsuit stemming from a 2-year-old dying after becoming unresponsive at daycare in Dublin back in April.
And even after this column originally published, I got word of two other notable deaths in the Tri-Valley: a former Danville mayor and a retired Livermore-Pleasanton firefighter. I’ll highlight a bit more below and we’ll follow up.
Reading the local obits on our website, and elsewhere, helps keep me grounded amid that tough coverage – because the remembrances reinforce the impact of life and loss on all of us.
It was with that perspective that I approached the sad news of Bob Widmer’s passing.
An Air Force veteran who worked as a manufacturing executive and later a software consultant, Widmer was a loving husband, father and grandfather who began cementing his place in the hearts of countless Pleasanton families 26 years ago with the holiday decoration display that would become regionally and nationally famous, Widmer World.
“Bob’s generosity and thoughtfulness has had a significant and lasting impact on our community, one that has impacted and inspired hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on in the wonderful memories of others,” his son-in-law, Pleasanton City Councilmember Craig Eicher, told me Monday.
Widmer died Sept. 28 at age 81 of complications from multiple chronic ailments. He will be remembered at a memorial service this Friday (Oct. 24) at 1 p.m. at Graham-Hitch Mortuary.
The family will also pay tribute by continuing the Widmer World tradition later this year.
“He would have wanted that, and Susan, my mother-in-law, is not ready to call it quits,” Eicher said. “As for the future, we haven’t made any decisions about the future and are taking it one day at a time.”
Eicher knows first-hand the healing power that the holiday display offers.
“My favorite part of Widmer World – and I believe it was Bob’s too – was the positive uplifting impact we had on some of the incredible people who visited each year,” he said. “Routinely, attendees would share stories about personal trauma, life challenges and even losses of loved ones, only to thank us for sharing a wonderful, magical and uplifting experience that help place them in a better place emotionally … The experience becomes contagious, and heart warming to witness their joy.”
Uplifting also seems an apt word to describe the imprint Hannah Zarubin left on this world.
The Foothill High School graduate taught first grade at Dublin Elementary School, including for three years while battling cancer. She accepted a medical leave for this year after receiving a terminal diagnosis over the summer, according to her obituary. Surrounded by loved ones, including her dog Scout, Zarubin died Oct. 2 at just 30 years old.
“As you can imagine, we are all feeling the tremendous sting of her loss,” Dublin Elementary principal Lauren McGovern said in an email to the school community. “Outside of being an aunt, Ms. Zarubin’s greatest joy was teaching first grade. Whether it was celebrating National Pizza Day or organizing a fundraising campaign for the class goldfish, Ms. Zarubin’s creativity, energy, and ability to cultivate deep relationships with her students will always be remembered.”
After reading her obit, I soon found the “Hannah’s Hope Team” page on GoFundMe, where people helped raise nearly $250,000 to support Zarubin’s medical bills and her desire to keep traveling, particularly to Europe. She also chronicled her cancer experience on the webpage.
The post she wrote Aug. 26 sharing with everyone her terminal diagnosis and decision to enter hospice encapsulates the beautiful and the horrible of the human experience.
“Thank you for continuing to walk alongside me through this journey,” Zarubin wrote near the bottom. “Your prayers, love, and encouragement mean more than I can ever put into words. I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I do know I am surrounded by love today — and that brings me peace.”
“This isn’t the update I wanted to write, but it’s where I am right now. I’ll keep fighting with everything I have — and in the meantime, if anyone figures out how to turn a cheeseburger and fries into a liquid, please let me know,” she said, with a tongue-in-cheek reference to her dietary restrictions. “Until then, thank you for loving me through the hard, the messy, and the milkshake-only days.”
Seek out her full note online. Be prepared, it’s a gut punch. Zarubin’s obituary can be found on our Lasting Memories page.
You can also read more about the lives and legacies of folks like Dr. Ford G. Roberts (86), a retired Pleasanton orthodontist; Nancy Bordes (80), a former Dublin teacher whose son Jeff is a renowned jazz band leader; Dr. Joseph F. Pennisi Sr. (82), a longtime local dentist; Dr. Uvaldo Palomares (88), an educator and author; and Paula Ellis (67), a wife, sister, mother and grandmother who was “gentle, kind-hearted and always had a listening ear”.
Note: After this column was out the door for our print edition, I learned that former Danville mayor and councilmember Mike Doyle had died days earlier at the age of 96.
I had the honor of interviewing Doyle on the morning after the November 2016 election, when he was getting ready to leave the Town Council after 25 years. We had given Doyle our Tri-Valley Hero: Lifetime Achievement award that fall.
And what a life it was, from growing up in Pennsylvania to his military service in post-World War II Europe to finding Danville (his “Camelot”) to raising his family here to a long career as a private investigator to all of the ups and downs of sitting on the council since 1991. An interview that leaves a mark on a local journalist.
“It’s been a great ride. You can’t make this stuff up. If I were to write it, I would not change a thing,” an 87-year-old Doyle told me as he prepared to embark on retirement.
Indeed.
Then over the weekend, I saw the sad news that former Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department firefighter Joe Fields died Wednesday (Oct. 22) after battling Stage 4 colon cancer.Â
Fields, who worked in the Tri-Valley for 21 years, retired in 2022 for medical reasons due to service-related complications, according to the firefighters union. His family has a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to cover end-of-life expenses; the “Support for the Fields Family” page has raised more than $14,000 as of Monday morning.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the associate publisher and editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
