Dorothy Lapham – Occidental pioneer

Dorothy Sophie Lapham died in Santa Rosa on March 1, 2007. She
was 103. She was born in a ranch in Occidental on Nov. 29, 1903 and
grew up on the 157-acre Speckter ranch. Lapham is survived by son
Harry, age 82, a well-respected local historian. She remembered the
1906 earthquake because the Speckter family home slid off its
foundation and was never repaired. She attended a small school on
Joy Road and to further her education, she moved in with a family
in San Anselmo, cared for their children, and took the train every
day to Tamalpais High School. Later the family moved to East
Oakland and she graduated from McClymonds High School, where she
specialized in millinery. Her husband, Jesse Lapham, grew up less
than a mile away from the Speckter ranch, but the couple didn’t
meet until a barbecue in Occidental in 1923. The couple raised
their children in Berkeley. They returned to Sonoma County in 1947
to open a service station in Occidental, moving to Rincon Valley in
the early 1970s.
She was a lifelong homemaker, remembered as a great cook and as
a strong woman who contributed to the daily work of ranch life. The
couple moved to Santa Rosa in the late ’70s and Lapham spent her
later years in Granada Manor.
A funeral service was held Wednesday, March 7 at the Lafferty
and Smith Colonial Chapel, 4321 Sonoma Highway, Santa Rosa.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Sonoma County
Historical Society, 425 Seventh St., Santa Rosa, CA. 95404.