RUTHERFORD - Dr. Bernard L. Rhodes, or “Barney” was born Dec. 3, 1920, in Jacksonville, Fla., and passed away March 31, 2008. He grew up in the rural town of Live Oak, in north central Florida. In 1942 Barney received his undergraduate degree from Duke University, followed by his medical degree in 1943. Barney married Ivabelle Bargerhuff in 1944, and they remained married until Belle passed away in 2007. He finished his residency in dermatology in 1952 at the University of California, San Francisco.

VALLEJO - Helen Yvonne Lipton, the beloved wife of Kenneth Lipton for 55 years of marriage, passed away on March 15, 2008, and will be greatly missed by him and her three children, Dorothy J. Lipton of Napa, Ann L. Lipton of Moraga, and Steve K. Lipton of Oakland; her dear sister, Nina Nicholson of Grand Junction, Colo.; and her dear brother, James Pierre Jackson of Washington, Mo. Helen’s parents were Kenneth Jackson of St. Louis, Mo., and Germaine Le Paute of Paris, France, both deceased.

TODAY

NAPA - Robert (Bob) Frederick Rowser, 93, died April 3, 2008. He was born on Mare Island to William and Alma Rowser. Educated in Vallejo, he was employed at Mare Island in the electronics shop No. 67 and retired in 1980. He served on Adak, Alaska, during World War II.

NAPA - John Thomas Dickson III died Thursday, April 2, 2008, at the Queen of the Valley Medical Center. Although John had been fighting kidney cancer for 3 1/2 years, his death was the result of anaphylactic shock from a bee sting.

NAPA - Elisabeth Church Hayne died April 2, 2008, in Napa, of complications from an Alzheimer’s-related illness. Born in her family home in Villa Nova, Pa., to Herbert and Elisabeth Church, she remained at heart a Philadelphian and a staunch supporter of the Phillies baseball team wherever she was to live.

RUTHERFORD - Louis Virgil Tonella, “Botch” to his friends, passed away peacefully at his home on April 2, 2008. He was 95.