Special Remembrances
The MVHA is sad to share the news that we recently lost two of our Life Members, Edna Thompson and Austin Spencer. We extend
our deepest sympathies to all their friends and family. Thank you to Edna’s son, Charles Thompson, and Austin’s daughter and
MVHA web master, Suzette Spencer, for providing us with the stories shared below.
Edna Birkett Thompson
April 7, 1920 – Dec. 5, 2015
Edna Birkett Thompson was born in Bootle, Liverpool, England
on April 7, 1920. Wife of the late Stanley Thompson. She
passed away on December 5, 2015, at the age of 95. Survived
by her son, Charles Stanley Thompson.
Above:
Edna and Stan Thompson
volunteering for the MVHA
at Shoreline Park in1988.
Right:
Portrait of Edna from the
1951 Mtn.View High School
yearbook, where she
worked as Registrar.
She was raised in Liverpool, England; Vancouver, Canada; and
San Francisco, California. She graduated from Frank McCoppen
Elementary School in San Francisco. The family moved to their
vacation home in Mountain View during the Depression. She
graduated from Mountain View Union High School in 1937
and attended the San Francisco School of Business in San
Francisco. She worked in several places in Mountain View;
most memorable were the War Price and Rationing Board at
215 Castro Street, Mountain View as Chief Clerk; Mountain
View Union High School as Secretary/Registrar; and Spangler
Mortuary as Secretary.
Edna did volunteer work for numerous groups including the
El Camino Hospital Auxiliary as a Charter Member and the
Mountain View Historical Association as a Life Member. She
worked each week for 15 years at the Mountain View Library
History Center with her friend from High School, Barbara
McPheeters Kinchen, City Historian.
Interment was next to her husband at Alta Mesa Cemetery,
Palo Alto.
Austin George Spencer
Nov. 8, 1918 – Nov. 19, 2015
Austin George Spencer was born in Mountain View in 1918 to Herbert Joseph Spencer and
Maud Louise Spencer, the youngest of their five children. In the early 1900s his family were
merchants on Castro Street, owning McDonald and Burk Blacksmith and Mountain View Ice,
where he worked as a boy.
Above:
Austin Spencer c. 1930
in front of his family
home on California St.
after a duck hunt.
Right:
Austin Spencer in 1968
Austin was a graduate of Santa Clara University. He retired from the Mountain View Branch of
Wells Fargo Bank where he was an officer for 30 years. Austin was very active
in the local community and was a member of the Palo Alto Elks, Mountain
View Rotary, Mountain View Historical Association, and the Mountain View
Chamber of Commerce where he served as President in 1968-69.
He died peacefully at his home in Mountain View on November 19, 2015,
and his survived by his spouse, Eleanor, and his two daughters, Paulette and
Suzette. He was 97. Donations in his memory may be made directly through
Santa Clara University. If you have questions, please contact the Development
Office at (408) 554-4400, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053-1400.
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