From Santa Cruz, California:
February 2, 2003
Virginia Hirsch
Services will be Feb. 23 for Virginia Hirsch, who died Wednesday. She was 77.
Born in Altoona, Pa., she attended Altoona Business School after graduating high school with straight ‘‘A’s.’’
She moved to Santa Cruz in 1988.
She moved to New York City in 1942 and worked for the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born and for the American Slav Congress. Hirsch edited the national magazine "Slavic American" in the later 1940s.
She was active in politics, working on the 1948 presidential campaign of Henry Wallace.
In 1949 while helping to organize a concert by civil rights activist Paul Robeson, her Oldsmobile was pushed over a cliff in what is known as the "Peekskill Riot."
After marrying husband Fred in 1952, they moved to California in 1957. While in California, she campaigned against "right-to-work" laws in 1958 and against the deportation of Mexican immigrants. In San Jose she was a member of Office and Professional Employees International Union and worked as a grievance officer for Local 428 of the Retail Clerks Union. She was a founding member of the Friends of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. In 1967, she and her family moved to Delano where she set up the first legal office for Cesar Chavez’s union of farmworkers. She also led the successful jury investigation team in the 1971 trial of Angela Davis.
After many years as a secretary in New York and San Jose, she came to Santa Cruz in 1988. She was a deputy public guardian with the county and a member of SEIU Local 415. She will be remembered for champioining peace, equality, international labor solidarity and economic and social justice.
She is survived by husband Fred Hirsch of Live Oak; daughters Liza Medina of Los Angeles, Leslie Cameron of Bonny Doon and Laurie Hirsch of Santa Cruz.
Services are 1-4 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Veteran’s Memorial Hall, 846 Front St., Santa Cruz.
John W. Holst
Services will be Tuesday for John W. Holst, who died Thursday in Santa Cruz. He was 78.
Mr. Holst was born in Glendale and moved to Santa Cruz in 1979.
He grew up in Glendale, where he was a member and eventually chief of the Woodcraft Rangers. He graduated from Franklin High School in 1943. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the Navy, where he served as an aviation cadet. Following military service, he went to school at UC Berkeley.
Mr. Holst married in 1948 and started working for Laura Scudder Foods. He stayed there 34 years, becoming district manager of the Los Angeles area. In 1979, he was transferred to Santa Cruz, where he retired in 1984.
He enjoyed camping and fishing in his spare time.
He is survived by wife Nancy L. Holst of Santa Cruz; son Randy Holst of Boise, Idaho and daughter Ginny Johnston of Glendale .
Friends may call from 4-7 p.m. Monday at Pacific Gardens Chapel, 1060 Cayuga St., Santa Cruz.
Services are 10 a.m. Tuesday at Pacific Gardens Chapel.
Contributions are preferred to Hospice Caring Project of Santa Cruz, P.O. Box 670, Aptos, CA 95001.
Arrangements are by Pacific Gardens Chapel.
February 4, 2003
Felipe Baddo Bungcayao
Services will be Thursday and Friday for Felipe Baddo Bungcayao, who died Jan. 27 at his Watsonville home. He was 93.
Mr. Bungcayao emigrated from the Philippines at age 14, and lived in Hawaii and Detroit before moving to Watsonville in the early 1930s.
He attended school through the third grade and escaped poverty in the Philippines before living through the Great Depression.
Mr. Bungcayao picked pineapples and sugarcane, worked as an assembler in the automotive industry and then worked in various jobs in the agriculture and fishing industry locally.
He was a member of various unions and of the Filipino Visayan Association, and enjoyed gardening.
He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Clarita Bungcayao; sons Kenneth and Ranchie Bungcayao, both of Watsonville; daughter Beverly Bungcayao of Watsonville; brother Adriano Bungcayao of Stockton; and many nieces and nephews.
A rosary service will be 7 p.m. Thursday at Mehl’s Colonial Chapel, 222 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville.
A Mass of Christian burial will be 9:30 a.m. Friday at St. Patrick’s Church.
Burial will follow at Valley Public Cemetery.
Mildred L. Buchanan
Services will be Thursday for Mildred L. Buchanan, who died Saturday at a Watsonville convalescent hospital. She was 83.
Mrs. Buchanan was born in Snyder, Texas, and had lived in the Las Lomas area for 60 years.
She and her husband, Jesse, helped found E. A. Hall school and she was active in the PTA during the school’s early years.
She enjoyed RV camping and fishing trips.
She is survived by son Larry E. Buchanan of San Antonio, Texas; daughter Sharon Green of Watsonville; two grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
Her husband of 62 years, Jesse H. Buchanan, and a son, Herbert Green, died before her.
Friends may call from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Wednesday and from 8-10 a.m. Thursday at Davis Memorial Chapel, 609 Main St., Watsonville.
Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Davis Memorial Chapel.
Mrs. Buchanan will be buried at Pajaro Valley Memorial Park.
Virginia P. Blount
Services will be Thursday for Virginia P. Blount, who died Wednesday in a Santa Clara care facility. She was 84.
Mrs. Blount was born in Terre Haute, Ind., and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She lived in San Mateo from 1956 to 1975 and in Watsonville from 1975 to 2000.
She was a member of Valley Catholic Church and worked for several years as a salesperson at Macy’s in San Mateo.
She is survived by sons Robert Blount of Tahoe City and James Blount of Saratoga; sister Janet Van of Salem, Ore.; and two grandchildren.
Her husband, Harold Blount, died in 1981.
A Mass of Christian burial will be 11 a.m. Thursday at Valley Catholic Church. Burial will follow at Valley Public Cemetery.
Arrangements are by Mehl’s Colonial Chapel.
