Ms. VanderPloeg is survived by her daughter Kristin Berger, her son-in-law Charles Berger and their daughters Molly and Alice of Denver, Colorado; her brother Chuck Stewart and his wife, Brenda Stewart of Santa Paula; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. A memorial service will be held Friday, May 27, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. at Santa Paula Cemetery. Donations in her memory can be made to The Santa Paula Education Foundation for the Helen Hardison award at Santa Paula High School, PO Box 805, Santa Paula, CA 93061.
|
Obitiuary Patricia Stewart VanderPloeg April 20, 2016
April 20, 2016
Obituaries
Patricia Stewart VanderPloeg
Daughter of the late Fred and Theda Stewart, mother of Kristin Berger and the late Alison VanderPloeg, Patricia Stewart VanderPloeg passed away on April 9th in Denver, Colorado from complications of Alzheimer ’s disease. Pat was born on November 1st, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in Santa Paula, California graduating from Santa Paula High School in 1962. Her youth was made magical by trips with family and friends to Huntington Lake and Lake Mead, Arizona. A graduate of Cornell University with a degree in English, Pat moved back to California to teach in Santa Barbara and married Richard VanderPloeg, whom she had met at Cornell in 1967. After the birth of their two daughters, the family moved to Pleasant Hill, California in 1985. Pat’s focus from the time of her children’s births was on supporting them and fostering their growth into independent strong women. This included her involvement in 4-H clubs, volunteer activities, high school sports teams, as well as proof-reading far too many of their English essays.
After her daughters graduated from high school, Pat and Rich divorced in 1999, and Pat married Larry Sullivan in 2002. The two lived in Half Moon Bay, California where Pat discovered her love of customer service working in the spa at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay. She and Larry later moved to Scottsdale, Arizona where she worked at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa and enjoyed the desert life. After she and Larry divorced in 2009, Pat moved to Colorado to be closer to her daughter.
