Elaine Lois Elder Bundesen

Elaine Lois Elder Bundesen - Our fun loving, smart, generous, loving friend and relative died in Petaluma, her long term home, from complications of Parkinsonâ??s Disease. Elaine was born in Pascoe, Washington to Raymond and Clara Irene (Kunath) Elder. She was raised in Seattle, where her father was a school administrator and her mother a housewife and nurse, who was also proud to have done her share in the shipyards of WWII. Elaine graduated from the University of Washington in 1945, with a degree in English and set off for an independent life in glamorous San Francisco. Life changed when she met and fell in love with Jim Bloom, a Navy pilot from Petaluma. Though the marriage was short, Elaine did have the exotic experience of being in the first group of Navy dependents shipped to Guam after WWII, and of being introduced to small town life in Petaluma. Elaine will be greatly missed by her large extended family of relatives and friends who loved her for her strength of character, her wonderful sense of humor, her generous spirit, her joie de vivre. A memorial Celebration of Elaineâ??s Life will take place Saturday, May 31, 2008, 4:00 pm at Grazianoâ??s Ristorante, 170 Petaluma Blvd North, Petaluma. Memorial contributions would be appreciated to those organizations Elaine supported throughout her life: Habitat for Humanity, Sonoma Land Trust, the Sierra Club, the Southern Poverty Law Foundations, and the United Farm workers. When again an independent woman, Elaine began working in Petalumaâ??s chicken industry. At Bundesen Bros. Hatchery, she met the love of her life, Paul Bundesen. This intensely happy period ended far too soon with Paulâ??s tragic death in a 1967 airplane accident. Friends encouraged Elaine to travel with them as a way to assist her healing process; so began a lifetime of travel adventures. Wherever she went in the world, people were Elaineâ??s primary interest; with her natural curiosity, infectious charm and the respect she gave every person she met, Elaine made friends around the world. Elaine held a number of positions in the Office of Admissions and Records in over 25 years of service to Sonoma State College/University. She loved working with the students, and was a master at recruiting prospective students to the school. She became a student herself, earning an MA degree in counseling in 1974. Page 1 (BUNDESEN) Page 2 (BUNDESEN) Elaine was a member of the small group of women whose activities, beginning with the public lecture series, â??Pandoraâ??s Box,â?