The Memorial Wall

Bruce Jeffrey McDermott, former Visalia Police Chief, went home peacefully to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on December 3, 2021.

Bruce McDermott was born in Visalia to Noel and Dorothy McDermott on April 18, 1951. He attended George McCann School and graduated from Redwood High School in 1969. He moved to the central coast where he attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and received his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science in 1973. Shortly after graduating, Bruce applied for a job at the Visalia Police Department on a whim upon encouragement from a friend. He was a natural and quickly rose through the ranks to the positions of sergeant, lieutenant and police chief in 1992. He was not your ordinary chief, as he would be seen walking down Main Street in uniform, talking to citizens and business owners seeking input to improve the community he loved. Under his leadership, he oversaw the implementation of the Chaplain's Program, the Citizen's Police Academy, the Gang Suppression Unit and many other programs. Known for his adventurous ride-alongs, he gave people the opportunity to see an officer's job from the lens of a patrol car. Bruce retired in 1997, after being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, leaving behind a legacy of innovative approaches to improving both the Visalia Police Department and the community he loved.

In retirement, Bruce maintained an active commitment to the community serving on numerous charities, boards, and philanthropic efforts including: Visalia Rotary Club, Friends of the Fox, City of Visalia Parks and Recreation Foundation, Foodlink, Visalia Emergency Aid, Boys and Girls Club, Salvation Army, and the Creative Center. He became actively involved in fundraising to increase awareness and research for Parkinson's. Gifted with quick wit and charisma he was a masterful fundraiser who could not be refused.

Bruce led a rich personal life. He was the fourth of six children: Shari Akkerman (Joe), Denni Pearson, Mike McDermott (Deborah), Christine Fischer (Pat), and Brian McDermott (Debbie). All six siblings remained close into adulthood making annual gatherings a priority. He raised four daughters with their mother Toni Northrop. Bruce beamed with pride when he spoke of his children: Cambria Panuwat (Matthew), Shevonne Swanson (Matthew), Elizabeth Anders (Joe), and Danyelle Quitazol (Reylee), who provided him with eleven grandchildren.

In 2002, Bruce married Veronica Jimenez. They enjoyed spending time with family and friends. They traveled frequently in the United States and abroad experiencing many boxcar adventures. Their favorite pastimes were at the family beach house in Cayucos.

Bruce had a real zest for life and was truly a unique individual. He was always approachable and eager to help anyone in need. As an eternal optimist, his love for people led him to develop long-lasting friendships.

Bruce continues to give by donating his earthly body to science to help find a cure for Parkinson's Disease and other medical research. While Bruce's absence is felt, we are comforted knowing he is now with his Heavenly Father. End of Watch, Car 54.

Abdelkarim Elkabli, a Sudanese singer, songwriter, and composer whose music — an exuberant marriage of modern and traditional sounds — embodied the hopes of many ordinary Sudanese in their struggle for progress and national identity, died Dec. 2 at a hospital in Flint, Mich. He was 89 and lived with family in Alexandria, Va.

The cause was complications from Parkinson’s disease, said his son Saad Alkabli, who transliterates his surname differently.

His death was mourned by top Sudanese social and political figures including Sudan’s civilian prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, who described Mr. Elkabli in a tweet as “a symbol of Sudanese art, a large literary monument who engraved his name in the consciousness of our people with letters of light.”

Reflecting Sudan’s far-ranging musical heritage, Mr. Elkabli performed solo with an oud (a lute) or backed by a big-band orchestra, and his songs addressed love, folk song themes of heroism, and chivalry, and politics.

“It was the first time he performed in front of an [public] audience — in front of Nasser,” said Omer Elgozali, a longtime Sudan Television presenter as well as his brother-in-law. “His performance echoed widely.”

Mr. Elkabli never belonged to a political party, but he marked important political developments in song. His piece “In the University’s Path” honored Sudan’s 1964 student-led October Revolution, the first nonviolent popular uprising in the region to successfully topple a military dictatorship.

But Mr. Elkabli’s greatest popularity derived from his many songs that elegantly celebrated love, beauty, and nature. They include “Habibat Umri” (“The Love of My Life”) and “Zaman al-Nas” (“People Used To”) and the lighthearted upbeat hit “Sukkar Sukkar” (“Sugar Sugar”), inspired by the 1960s American dance craze the Twist. He also composed music to accompany a 10th-century classical Arabic poem, “Arak ‘Assi al-Dam’ ” (“I See You Holding Back Tears”), sang about the ancient city of Marawi in northern Sudan along the Nile River, and paid homage to Darfur’s picturesque environment with “Mursal Shog (Jebel Marra)” (“Message of Longing (Mount Marra)”).

In his music, Mr. Elkabli advocated for women’s rights in “Fatat al-Yom wa al-Ghad” (“The Woman of Today and Tomorrow”) and children’s rights during times of war in “Limaza?” (“Why?”). In 2004 he was named a United Nations Population Fund goodwill ambassador, joining grass-roots peace efforts in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region. He settled in the Washington area in 2012, arriving on a visa offered to individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement.

“Elkabli will not only be remembered for his great role in developing the modern Sudanese song but also for his significant role in preserving the heritage of Sudanese music and culture in his own unique style,” said Souad Ali, an associate professor of Arabic literature and Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Arizona.

The eldest of three siblings, Abdelkarim Abdelaziz Elkabli was born in the eastern Sudanese town of Port Sudan on the Red Sea on April 13, 1932. His paternal grandfather migrated to Sudan during Egyptian-Ottoman rule in the early 19th century from Kabul (hence the name Elkabli, the Kabulian) and settled in the ancient port city of Suakin, where he became a merchant. Mr. Elkabli’s mother had roots in eastern Sudan and the western region of Darfur. This multiethnic and regional background would influence his outlook and music.

“The east [part of Sudan] is my region, [but I] consider all of Sudan my place,” he said in a 2019 documentary that aired on Sudanese TV.

As a child during joint Anglo-Egyptian colonial rule in Sudan in the first half of the 20th century, he first received a traditional religious education in his maternal uncle’s khalwa (Koranic school). He then continued to modern public schools, first in Port Sudan, where he showed an early interest in Arabic poetry and music after hearing the songs of contemporary Sudanese and Egyptian singers on a phonograph in a neighborhood cafe.

He taught himself to play the pennywhistle, flute, and oud and sang in a boy’s school group. At 16, he continued his schooling in Omdurman.

Survivors include his wife, Awadia Elgozali; five children; two sisters; and nine grandchildren.

While tremendously popular at home and in neighboring countries, Mr. Elkabli didn’t receive the same level of global attention that producers of “world” music have given to other African and Middle Eastern singers and musical styles.

“Elkabli’s subtle playing and tremendous ability deserves wider recognition, but Western attention to Sudanese music has always been patchy at best,” said researcher Peter Verney, who included some of Mr. Elkabli’s songs in the 2005 CD compilation “The Rough Guide to the Music of Sudan.”

Beyond performing, Mr. Elkabli lectured on Sudanese music and folklore at universities and institutions, including the Library of Congress in 2015. That same year, he co-wrote a book in English, “Melodies Not Militants: An African Artist’s Message of Hope.”

At an event in Khartoum honoring Mr. Elkabli in 2019, almost anticipating his death and expressing his spirituality, he recited from his poem “The Divine Essence”:

I look forward to meeting you my Lord
In the eagerness of a Sufi at ecstasy
My soul to Your sky precedes me
As for my mortal hands and body
Will return to Your soil as flowers and roses
A workshop of colors

He was a mastermind of the overhaul of Barcelona in preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympics, which helped transform much of the city.

His death was confirmed by his son Josep Bohigas, who added that his father had had Parkinson’s disease for several years.

Working for Barcelona’s city government, Mr. Bohigas was one of the masterminds of the city’s overhaul in preparation for the 1992 Olympic Games, particularly the transformation of its seafront, which had become a derelict industrial area.

In partnership with two other architects, he designed a new yachting port, which hosted the Olympic sailing competitions, as well as a public park and a village to house the athletes, known as the Vila Olimpica. The city rehabilitated almost three miles of the seafront as beaches, and the area became a popular residential neighborhood once the Games had finished.
Pere Aragonès, the regional leader of Catalonia, paid tribute to Mr. Bohigas on Twitter, calling him the “great transformer of Barcelona.”

The impact of the Summer Olympics on Barcelona was a model for London and other cities that later hosted the event, while Mr. Bohigas and his partners used their success as a springboard to add buildings and help redesign other parts of Barcelona, including its run-down Raval neighborhood. Some of their landmark projects overhauled unused infrastructure, like the army barracks that became the new campus of Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University, which opened in 2000.

Mr. Bohigas “was fundamental not only in the transformation of Barcelona but in our understanding of cities,” Martha Thorne, the dean of the IE School of Architecture and Design in Madrid, said by email. “His ideas of urban acupuncture — small actions over time that could be understood as part of a whole, including new squares and small green spaces — were embraced by the residents and made a positive impact on neighborhoods.”

Although Mr. Bohigas kept his focus on Barcelona, he also contributed to the other major international event held in Spain in 1992: Expo ’92, in Seville, for which he and his partners built a pavilion. It was left abandoned for decades afterward, but it was reopened this year as the new home of the regional archives.

He and his partners also undertook projects in Germany, France and Italy, as well as Latin America. These included a block of apartments on Kochstrasse in Berlin, a hotel in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and the urban planning for new neighborhoods in the cities of Aix-en-Provence in France and Salerno in Italy.

Oriol Bohigas Guardiola was born on Dec. 20, 1925, in Barcelona. His father, Pere Bohigas, worked for the City of Barcelona and briefly managed the city’s theater school. His mother, María Guardiola, was a homemaker.

Mr. Bohigas enrolled at Barcelona’s school of architecture in 1943, just as Gen. Francisco Franco was consolidating his dictatorship after winning the Spanish Civil War. Mr. Bohigas was appointed director of the architecture school in 1977, shortly after Franco’s death. He considered it part of his life’s mission to free architecture and urban planning from the conservative rigidity of Franco’s dictatorship, and to return Barcelona to the kind of innovative thinking associated with the main cultural movements that reshaped the city in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“I remember that I spent my whole architecture studies, which I finished in 1951, only listening to people talk about classical architecture and defend ultraconservatism, in every aspect.” he recalled in an interview in 2010. “We learned nothing about contemporary architecture. Yes, I believe my generation is the one that made efforts to recover the modernity that was lost in the first stage of Franco.”

In 1951, Mr. Bohigas joined with two other architects, Josep Martorell and David Mackay, to set up a firm that took its name from the initials of their surnames: MBM. The firm gained prominence in 1974 with an award-winning project to build a school, called Thau, without classrooms and with as few walls as possible.

His final significant project was the building for Barcelona’s Design Museum, which opened in 2014. But like an earlier MBM project to extend the flagship Barcelona store of the Spanish retailer El Corte Ingles, the design museum didn’t please everybody; a travel article in The New York Times, describing the building as a “squat, zinc-clad structure with front and rear cantilevers,” noted that it “hasn’t exactly been celebrated for its exterior form,” adding, “Some have taken to calling it ‘the Stapler.’”

Mr. Bohigas was proud never to have joined a political party, but he espoused left-wing ideas and held different jobs in Barcelona’s city government — in urban planning in the 1980s and then as the official in charge of Barcelona’s culture ministry in the early 1990s, when the city hosted the Olympics. He also backed the secessionist movement in Catalonia that started to gather momentum a decade ago.

His involvement in Barcelona’s cultural life extended well beyond City Hall. He was a founder of the publishing house Edicions 62. In the 1980s, he was president of the Foundation Joan Miró, which was created by the painter for whom it is named, and which has a museum in Barcelona that exhibits his works. He was also president of the Ateneo Barcelonés, one of the city’s most influential cultural associations, stepping down in 2011 after eight years in the post.

In addition to his son Josep, Mr. Bohigas is survived by his wife, Isabel Arnau, from whom he was separated; four other children from their marriage, Gloria, María, Eulalia and Pere; nine grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; and his companion, Beth Galí.

In recent years, Mr. Bohigas was critical of many aspects of Barcelona’s development, including the extension of the city’s Broadway-style thoroughfare, a project known as Diagonal Mar. And he lamented the rise of property speculation in Barcelona and defended the right of squatters to live in abandoned buildings.

“It is clear,” he said in 2010, just as Spain was sinking into a banking crisis triggered by bad property loans, “that a society that has so many empty houses and so many people without a home is a sick society that faces a problem in terms of sharing its public and private assets.”

Kennedy was an English footballer who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal and Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Kennedy played as a forward for Arsenal, and then played as a left-sided midfielder for Liverpool. He scored 148 goals in 581 league and cup appearances in a 15-year career in the English Football League and also won 17 caps for England between 1976 and 1980, scoring three international goals.

Kennedy turned professional for Arsenal in November 1968. He made his first-team debut 10 months later and went on to win the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1970, the First Division and FA Cup Double in 1970–71, and then play on the losing side in the 1972 FA Cup Final. His form then declined, and he was sold to Liverpool for a club record £200,000 fee in July 1974, at the same time that Bill Shankly resigned as manager. He initially struggled at the club, but after manager Bob Paisley converted him to a left-sided midfielder he went on to help Liverpool to become the dominant club of English football from 1975 to 1982. During his time at the club Liverpool won the First Division five times (1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, and 1981–82), the FA Charity Shield four times (1976, 1977, 1979 and 1980), the European Cup three times, (1977, 1978, and 1981), and the UEFA Cup (1976), UEFA Super Cup (1977), and League Cup (1981). He also picked up runners-up medals in the FA Cup (1977), UEFA Super Cup (1978), League Cup (1978), and World Club Championship (1981) and won the Match of the Day's Goal of the Season award in 1978–79.

He was a strong player with an excellent first touch, intelligence, and all-round ability. This allowed him to transition from a forward to a midfielder during his time at Liverpool. Despite his trophy successes with Arsenal and Liverpool, after winning six caps for the England under-23 side he was unable to translate his club form into a good international career and was used as a stand-in for Trevor Brooking before he retired from international football in frustration in March 1981. His only international tournament appearance was at Euro 1980. Bob Paisley described him as "one of Liverpool's greatest players and probably the most underrated".

Kennedy joined Swansea City for a £160,000 fee in January 1982 and added a Welsh Cup winners medal to his collection four months later. However, the effects of Parkinson's disease began to reduce his effectiveness on the pitch, and he dropped into the Fourth Division with Hartlepool United in November 1983. During the 1984–85 season he spent a brief time as player-manager of Cyprus club Pezoporikos and later played for Northern League club Ashington. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in November 1984. His life after football was difficult, as he had to deal with the effects of Parkinson's, the loss of his business, and the breakdown of his 15-year marriage. He remained reliant on charity to fund his medical expenses and was forced to sell his medal collection and caps in 1993.

Kennedy was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease by a specialist on 4 November 1984. He gave permission for his image to be used to promote a public campaign to increase awareness of the disease. His involvement in the Parkinson's Disease Society led to him meeting his childhood hero Muhammad Ali. He was also invited to do some coaching at Sunderland in the 1986–87 season by manager Lawrie McMenemy, and worked as a part-time coach from February to April 1987, at which point he was promoted to first-team coach.

His wife, Jennifer, left him in October 1987 after he punched her in the face and kicked her down the stairs of the family home; this ended a difficult 15-year marriage blighted by frequent infidelity on his part. They had two children: Cara (born July 1976) and Dale (born January 1981). Former Liverpool teammate Ray Clemence recalled how Kennedy "worked hard and played hard". Other teammates Steve Heighway and Phil Thompson noted that Kennedy was a "quiet man", though "women were always chasing after him" and "off the pitch he needed to be handled quite gently, and everything had to be organised just right otherwise there would be trouble". Completing a bad end to 1987, his licence at the Melton Constable was revoked. His prescribed L-DOPA medication also became less effective and he became increasingly isolated. His condition improved when he began injections of apomorphine. He was reliant on the Professional Footballers' Association to pay his medical expenses, and his divorce as well as business and tax problems wiped out his savings. A testimonial game was held between Arsenal and Liverpool in April 1991. A charity appeal was also set up to help pay his living costs. In late 1992 he began suffering from extreme paranoia, mostly due to the side effects of his medication, but regained his mental faculties following a short stay in hospital.

He published his autobiography Ray of Hope in 1993, co-authored by Dr. Andrew Lees, who at that time treated Kennedy for Parkinson's disease. Later that year he sold his collection of medals and international caps to raise funds. In 2002, he was reported as living alone in a bungalow in New Hartley. In an interview two years later, he said that he suffered from loneliness and hallucinations due to his condition and the side effects of his medication. Following the interview a Liverpool fan bought Kennedy a computer, which allowed him to make friends on football chat rooms. Kennedy remained a favourite amongst Liverpool supporters decades after leaving the club, and was voted in at No. 25 on the 2013 poll '100 Players Who Shook The Kop'. He died on 30 November 2021, at the age of 70.

LaFleur was born in Gary, Indiana. He played football in 1962 as a redshirt at the University of Kentucky under Coach Charlie Bradshaw as chronicled in a 2007 book, The Thin Thirty. He was a sportscaster on ESPN and on CBS.

LaFleur has had many guest-starring roles on television series, including Angel and JAG. In 1983, he was cast in the ABC sitcom pilot Another Ballgame alongside Alex Karras and Susan Clark. The series went through many development changes before its fall premiere, with Emmanuel Lewis being added to the show and LaFleur, in lieu of, being dropped from the regular cast. Once the series experienced its final title change—to Webster—LaFleur was only kept as a guest star in the pilot.

In 1993, LaFleur played baseball player Babe Ruth in The Sandlot. He had another notable role as the eccentric and obsessive character Red Sweeney (Silver Fox), in the 1995 family comedy film Man of the House. He also appeared in one episode of the television series M*A*S*H, in season 9 ("Father’s Day”) as an MP, looking for the people responsible for a stolen side of beef. LaFleur played US Army soldier, Mittens in the 1985 science fiction film Zone Troopers.

In addition to playing Babe Ruth, LaFleur also appeared as baseball player Chick Gandil of 1919 Black Sox infamy, in Field of Dreams. In terms of military and national security film roles, he appeared as the White House's security chief in Disney's First Kid (1996), as "McNulty" in both Trancers (1985), Trancers II (1991), and as 1st Sgt. Brandon T. Williams in In the Army Now (1994). He played pilot, Jack Neely in Air America (1990), appeared as Banes in The Replacements (2000), and in Beethoven's 4th (2003) as Sergeant Rutledge.

LaFleur played a coach for the New York Yankees in the 1992 film, Mr. Baseball. He also appeared in The Santa Clause 2 in 2002, and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause in 2006 as the tooth fairy.[3] In 2005, he appeared in Hostage as a deputy sheriff of Bruce Willis. In 2009, he appeared in the Direct-to-DVD film Ace Ventura Jr: Pet Detective and in the Science-Fiction horror film "The Rig".

He also appeared on House M.D. in 2005 as Warner Fitch, in the episode entitled "Sports Medicine." He also appeared on Home Improvement as Jimbo in season 1 episode 7 (Nothing More Than Feelings).

LaFleur died from Parkinson's disease on November 17, 2021, at the age of 78.

Lefkowitz, Gloria M., 88, of Cranston, passed away on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, at Westview Nursing Home in Rhode Island.  

She was the beloved wife of the late Carl Lefkowitz. Born in Providence, a daughter of the late Isador and Dorothy (Bernstein) Krasnoff, she had previously lived in Cranston for over 35 years. 

She was the customer service manager for Citizens Bank for 23 years, retiring in 1995. Gloria was a past treasurer and board member of Temple Torat Yisrael and a member of Cranston Senior Guild.

Devoted mother of Jess Lefkowitz of East Greenwich and Neil Lefkowitz of NC. Dear sister of Charles Krasnoff and his wife, Harriet, of Lake Worth, FL. Loving grandmother of Kayla, Michael, Sidney, and Jasmine. Cherished great-grandmother of Madison and Mason.

Graveside services will be held on Friday, November 19th at 10:00 a.m. in Lincoln Park Cemetery, 1469 Post Road, Warwick.

Shiva will be private.

Wantage adventurer Alex Flynn was set to be the first man with Parkinson’s to climb Mount Everest. However, he passed away in Nepal ahead of his planned trip to scale the world’s highest mountain.

The 49-year-old was just 36 when he was diagnosed in 2008 and dedicated his life to completing adventures.

An explorer who took part in a series of daunting challenges to highlight the impact of Parkinson's disease has died.

Alex Flynn was in Nepal as he sought to become the first person with the condition to climb Mount Everest.

Mr Flynn, from Oxfordshire, was 36 when he was diagnosed in 2008 and completed adventures including a 3,256 mile (5,240km) voyage across the US on foot, bike and kayak.

His family said they had been left with "broken hearts" following his death.

In a statement on Mr. Flynn's website, his family added: "He went out exactly how he would have wanted to, off the high of having completed another adventure on top of the world about to step into a helicopter ready to take on the next challenge."

Mr. Flynn's previous challenges included a 160-mile (257km) run in the Bavarian Alps, an ultra-marathon in the Sahara desert and a 279-mile (450km) expedition in the Swedish Arctic.

Last year, during lockdown, he climbed the equivalent of 2.3 times the height of Mount Everest by walking up and down the stairs in his home in Wantage, over seven and a half days.

Lord Mayor of Oxford Mark Lygo said Mr Flynn was "a superhuman who never gave up", who "will be missed by everyone" he met.

Mike Ayre, the chairman of trustees of Wantage-based Parkinsons.Me charity, said Mr. Flynn's death had been a "terrible shock" and added it had been "humbled" to receive donations in his memory.

Peter Oyhus Schmitt, 83, formerly of Aberdeen, South Dakota, died November 14, 2021 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California. Peter died of a heart attack with advanced Parkinson's disease. Born June 29, 1938 in Mt. Vernon, New York to Henry J. Schmitt and Viola "Vee" (Oyhus) Schmitt, Peter grew up and graduated from Aberdeen Central HS in 1956. As the sports editor for the CHS Arrow yearbook, he combined interests in sports and creative writing. Activities included Varsity Student Manager for football, basketball, and track, A Cappella Choir, Keystone Honor Society, and Boys State.
His college years began at the University of Michigan, 1956-1958. Peter transferred to the University of South Dakota and earned a B.A. in Economics in 1960 where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Peter also served in the US Army Reserves from 1961-1967. On May 9, 1964, he married Linda Hren in Pueblo, Colorado.
Peter began his newspaper career with Ridder (later Knight-Ridder) newspapers in northern California at the San Jose Mercury News, followed by a year at the Grand Forks Herald. In 1968, he returned to Aberdeen to work alongside his father at the Aberdeen American News as business manager. After Henry retired, Peter served as President and Publisher, 1976 to 1985. He held membership in the American Newspaper Publisher Association and Sigma Delta Chi.
His favorite past-times included golfing with his father and goose/duck/pheasant hunting with friends. An avid, long suffering Minnesota Vikings' fan, he often penned colorful letters to the editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune under a Norwegian pseudonym. He cheered for the CU Buffs and USC Trojans with his kids. The last decades of his life were spent in Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Los Angeles.
Survived by his spouse, Linda J. Schmitt of Studio City, California, daughter Laura (Tom) Moore of Boulder, Colorado, son Paul (Andrea) Schmitt of North Hollywood, California, and grandchildren, Spencer Moore, Audrey Schmitt, and Xander Schmitt.

Judith Ann (Dornfeld) Danca passed away Saturday, November 13, 2021, at Fairhaven Christian Retirement Center.

Judy was born June 4, 1940, in Madison, Wisconsin, the daughter of Elmer and Gertrude (Heyde) Dornfeld. She graduated from Madison West High School in 1958 and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1962 where she began her lifetime involvement with Alpha Phi Sorority. Judy met Vincent Danca at a party when her roommate encouraged her to attend saying, “You might meet your Prince Charming”. They married on August 25, 1962 and shared 52 years together until Vince passed away in 2014. After moving to Rockford in 1963, when Vince was hired by the Rockford Board of Education as a teacher, Judy became very active in her new community. She enjoyed the involvement and leadership of several organizations: Rockford Junior League, St. James Head Start, Holy Family Catholic Church, Sara Ingrassia-Jackie Confer Dictionary Fund, U W Alumni Club and Alpha Phi Alumna. In 1989 the University of Wisconsin Alumni awarded her the “Spark Plug” Award for her involvement and leadership to the University. Judy taught elementary school in the Rockford Public School District for nearly twenty years, retiring in 1998. Vince and Judy traveled extensively for over a decade. Although Judy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2005, she continued enjoying her family and friends, painting, reading, knitting, genealogy and classes at CLR.

Judy is survived by her children: daughter, Mary Ellen (Mike) Strandquist of Cumming, GA, son James Danca of Rockford, and daughter Nancy Danca-Alt (John Cacciapaglia), of Fairhope, AL. She is also survived by her six grandchildren: Nolan, Graham and Emery Alt, and Natalie, Christian and Adam Strandquist along with several nieces and nephews. Judy was predeceased by her husband, and also her parents, brother and sister. The family thanks Fairhaven’s 2nd floor Health Center for their loving care the last three years, especially Debbie, Kim and Jazmin. We also deeply appreciate the care provided by Northern Illinois Hospice especially Robin, Pamela, Keldon, and Sharon and her dog, Maddie.

Former Valensi Rose Managing Partner Arlen Ross Gunner died unexpectedly on November 9, 2021.

Arlen retired from the practice of law at the end of February 2015, after 42 years as a business, real estate, and transactional lawyer. He joined Valensi Rose in 1997, and for the last 10 of his tenure here was our Managing Partner. He was beloved by all at our firm.

Arlen was a superb lawyer who advised clients on real estate development law, corporate finance law, and tax-exempt bond financing, as well as partnership, commercial, and business issues.

Arlen fostered a positive and collegial working environment during his tenure. Under his leadership, Valensi Rose responded to the recession of 2008 without layoffs and thrived when the economy bounced back.

In an interview, he told a journalist, “I have come to believe that the success of our firm is based upon the fact that we really value human capital, not only our clients, but also our employees.”

Arlen was named a “Super Lawyer” several times in the area of real estate law and recognized as a top lawyer in his field by Law and Politics Magazine and by the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine.

For 22 years he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Century City Chamber of Commerce, and for several years during that time he served as the organization’s chair. Deeply committed to philanthropic causes, he was a member of several nonprofit boards and supported other nonprofit organizations.

A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, he received his law degree from St. John’s University School of Law. He was admitted to the New York and California bars.

Arlen is survived by his wife, Toni Stone, and an extended family.