Portland Press Herald (ME)
July 27, 1995Helen Beatrice Desjardins, 99, of Elm Street died Monday at her home.
She was born in Des Moines, Iowa, daughter of Charles Sullivan Hardy and Helen Virginia King, attended Hillside Home School in Spring Green, Wis., and studied piano and English literature at the University of Minnesota.
With the onset of World War I, she received medical training at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, and as a pioneer occupational therapist, helped to establish the occupational therapy department at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
It was there, that she met her husband, Arthur U. Desjardins, M.D.
In 1949, she retired to live in Walpole.
Mrs. Desjardins was involved in the Miles Memorial Hospital summer concert series.
Well into her 70s and 80s, she made several trips to Switzerland and England, where her daughter and grandchildren were living.
Her husband died in 1964.
Surviving are a daughter, Adrienne Ackerman of Bristol; a son, Paul A. of West Hartford, Conn.; five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
78327. Annie Elizabeth Donahue
The Sacramento Bee (CA)
May 26, 1997Annie E. Meier, a former welder for the facility that became McClellan Air Force Base and one of the many women who took "Rosie the Riveter" jobs while men went overseas to fight during World War II, died Saturday at Sutter General Hospital. She was 82.
She died of complications from diabetes and most recently suffered a stroke, family members said.
Mrs. Meier was born in 1914 and grew up in Santa Barbara. She came to Sacramento in 1941 to become a welder.
"She was proud of the fact she was helping the war effort," said her son Joseph Meier. "And she was quite proud she could weld - not a lot of women did before the war."
Her son said the things she would do in her youth set her apart as an adventurous and independent woman who liked to travel and venture on her ow
She traveled as far as Mexico City with girlfriends. She was not afraid to drive alone to Santa Barbara during the war, when people sometimes drove without headlights for fear the Japanese would see them and bomb the coastline.
She lived a full life before settling down to have a family, Joseph Meier said.
Mrs. Meier then turned her airplane blueprints in for fashion patterns, as she became a homemaker who enjoyed spending a lot of time sewing clothes for her family.
"She had a whole life behind her when she said, "OK, that's enough. I can raise children now,' " her son said.
Her husband, Ernest H. Meier, said they met at a dance hall on Stockton Boulevard. He said he was struck by her beauty and her dancing.
They married in 1952 and moved to their home of more than 40 years in West Sacramento.
Family members said her biggest joy was her family. She had four children and five grandchildren, all of whom recalled her as a giving and loving person.
"She was one of those sweet grandmother types, the type who was home all the time, who you can call and get a friendly greeting," son Joseph Meier said.
Mrs. Meier's daughter Mary said her mother "was not only a mom, she was a good friend to her kids."
The Sacramento Bee (CA)
April 21, 2010MEIER, Ernest H. Born on July 23, 1914, to John and Mary (Heinrichson) Meier in Pony Gulch near Harvey, N.D., and entered into rest on April 16, 2010. He was 95 years old.
Dad grew up working on the family farm, then came to California during the depression, where found a job at Libby Cannery until he was drafted into the Army, six weeks before Pearl Harbor in 1941.
In the army he served as radar station operator on the Oregon coast, then later in Italy.
After World War II ended he went to work for Southern Pacific Railroad before joining the U.S. Postal service in Sacramento where he retired in 1975. Dad purchased five acres in West Sacramento, married Annie Donahue, and built his own home, where he lived until his passing.
Preceding him death were his four brothers, Otto, Reuben, Albert, and Lawrence, two sisters, Bertha and Clara, and his wife of 45 years, Annie.
Dad had a long life and is survived by his four children Joe, Mary, Ronnie, and Carolyn, his five grandchildren Lonnie, Joshua, Joey, Thomas, and Hanna, and four great-grandchildren Audrey, Brady, Elly, and Shelly.
Throughout his life he had several jobs. He always said his most important were being a son, brother, husband, father, and a wonderful old Grandpa.