Lloyd B. Draper

Lloyd B. Draper - Died April 1, 2010 after a long illness. He was 84. A prominent resident of Cotati for 60 years, Draper was born in Martinez to Robert Draper and Vera Cartwright Draper, the youngest of their three sons. He attended Alhambra Union High School in Martinez and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps immediately after his graduation in 1946, serving until 1949. He attended photography school in Los Angeles and worked briefly as a commercial photographer. Lloyd is survived by his wife, Prue. They were planning to celebrate their 59th anniversary on April 14. He is also survived by his son, Robert Draper of Jenner; his daughter, Robin Draper of Cotati; and his granddaughter, Erin Roman of Santa Rosa. He was preceded in death by his son, Jay Draper, and his brothers, Robert and Ellwood Draper. A celebration of Lloyd's life will be held Monday, April 12th, at 11:00 a.m. at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory, Petaluma. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Cotati Historical Society Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 7013, Cotati, 94931 or to UC Regents, UC Cooperative Extension, 133 Aviation Blvd., Suite 109, Santa Rosa, CA 95403. He came to Cotati in 1949 to work for his uncle, Ed Runyon, who owned the town's weekly newspaper. He married Prudence King of Petaluma in 1951 and the couple bought the Weekly Cotatian from Runyon. They worked together as editor and publisher - and everything else - for 15 years. After selling the newspaper, Lloyd worked for a San Francisco printing firm and for Art Point Engraving in Sebastopol. In 1977, he and Prue quit their jobs and volunteered for the Peace Corps, serving in Western Samoa, where Lloyd managed a newspaper publishing plant for the Catholic Diocese of the South Pacific and served as official photographer for Cardinal Pio Taofinu'u. When the Drapers returned to Cotati in 1979 Lloyd worked for the Sonoma Index-Tribune and later for Kauth Bros. in Santa Rosa and Cotati Oaks Hardware. Their Peace Corps adventures gave Lloyd and Prue a taste for travel and on their way home from Western Samoa they traveled for four months through the South Pacific islands, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia.