Jeraldine Stallard of HEPL dead at 70

BY BARBARA PALMER

Jeraldine "Jeri" Welch Stallard, who worked as a personnel assistant at the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory (HEPL), died Jan. 18 at the UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco of complications from pneumonia. Stallard, a San Francisco resident, was 70.

Stallard had worked at Stanford since May 1984. "She had a heart of gold," said Mike Killian, HEPL facilities manager.

Stallard was born on Sept. 27, 1933, in San Jose. Stallard had a lifelong interest in the arts, said her daughter Anne Stallard of Fairfax. Her mother starred in many plays while in high school and at San Jose State University, where she took acting and literature classes. At Willow Glen High School, Stallard co-wrote the school song, her daughter said.

She married Richard Wilson Stallard in 1957. The couple lived in San Jose and later moved to Los Altos Hills, where Stallard worked as a school volunteer and at part-time jobs in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. After Wilson's death in 1982, Stallard, who was the mother of six, went to work full time at Stanford in 1984 to support herself and her children, Anne Stallard said. "Stanford was exactly where she wanted to be," she said. "She loved intellectual pursuits and greatly enjoyed being around students and the environment of learning." Stallard took numerous Continuing Studies classes, including theater, film and literature classes, her daughter said.

"She would have made a perfect actress," said Killian, who added that Stallard made a vivid first impression on him when he came to the Ginzton Lab for the interview that led to his being hired. The lab had battered linoleum floors and metal desks, but Stallard was drinking coffee from a bone china cup and saucer. "She was a real lady."

Over the years, Stallard often talked enthusiastically with colleagues about the arts events she attended, which ranged from regular trips to the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore., to a Bob Dylan concert in Santa Cruz, Killian said. Stallard participated with the Stanford Cat Network and numerous charitable organizations and was politically active, her daughter said.

Stallard is survived by five children: Anne Stallard; Katharine Stallard and Jonathan Stallard of San Francisco; Patrick Stallard of San Jose; and Timothy Stallard of San Carlos. A son, Nicholas Stallard, died in 1994.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 11 a.m. at the Firehouse at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Contributions in her memory can be made to Amnesty International, the St. Anthony's Dining Room program, or the Sierra Club.