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Subject: [CAYolo] Elsie-Maye (BILYEU) OAKLEY (1916-2002) (obit.)
Date: 13 Oct 2002 17:21:23 -0600

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: OAKLEY, BILYEU, SHACKELFORD
Classification: Obituary

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JY.2ADE/1921

Message Board Post:

Elsie-Maye (Bilyeu) Oakley

Elsie-Maye (Bilyeu) Oakley of Woodland died in Woodland Memorial Hospital following a brief illness Sunday, Oct. 6, 2002, at age 86.

Born May 14, 1916, in San Francisco, Mrs. Oakley was the daughter of George and Martha Bilyeu, she was reared in that city. Following her graduation from San Francisco Teacher's College (now California State University, San Francisco) she was a kindergarten teacher until her marriage to Samuel Heywood Oakley in 1939. The Oakleys considered Berkeley their home for most of their marriage, which was marked by many sojourns to American and international locales as a result of Samuel Oakley's career as an officer in the United States Army. They had two children: Pamela, born in Berkeley and John, born in San Francisco.

According to her family members, "she was a woman of tremendous intellect, with a great interest in human and world affairs." She volunteered as a chauffeur for diplomats during the organizing of the United Nations. She was a recognition expert and published many articles on Old Sheffield Plate silver. She wrote travel articles for the San Francisco Chronicle, and was the author of a number of published greeting cards. She was a lifelong election day poll worker and a charter member of the Sam Ervin Fan Club. During her years in Berkeley she was a deaconess of the First Congregational Church and was "The Voice of First Congo" as the announcer of many Sunday radio broadcasts of that church's services. Later, she was an active communicant at All Soul's Episcopal Church in Berkeley and at the Episcopal Church of Saint Martin in Davis.

Mrs. Oakley is remembered by a host of women who accompanied their husbands to UC Berkeley from foreign countries over many years. She was a volunteer at International House at Cal, where she befriended women and their families, practiced English with them, and helped them navigate these foreign waters. "She was also a fun-loving woman who was fiercely devoted to her husband, children and grandchildren, and to Oakland A's baseball and Cal football," according to her family.

She is survived by her daughter, Pamela Shackelford and husband Don of Anchorage, Alaska and their children Holly and Robert; and son, John Bilyeu Oakley and wife Freddie of Davis and their children Adelie Oakley and Antonia Bilyeu Oakley.

Mrs. Oakley was preceded in death last year by her husband Samuel H. Oakley.

A graveside service will be held when her ashes are interred next to those of her husband at the family plot in Oakland on Nov. 22, 2002, which marks the 63rd anniversary of her marriage.

The family requests memorials be directed to the Employee Benevolent Fund of Woodland Memorial Hospital.

(Obituary from the "The Daily Democrat," Sunday, October 13, 2002, (Woodland, Yolo County, California). A photograph of Mrs. Oakley is included with this obituary. Submitted with the permission of the "The Daily Democrat," 711 Main St., Woodland, CA 95695. Please note: I am not related to the family listed above, and I do not have any further information on this family.)

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