1941-2021
After recently celebrating her 80th birthday, Leilani died on October 12, 2021 after a courageous multi-year battle against cancer. To her family and friends, no one was a greater ally than Leilani Grinold. She never judged, or gave unsolicited advice. She was just there, in your corner, no matter what. She left behind an unfillable void.
Leilani was born in San Francisco on the 15th of August 1941 to Dexter Everitt of North Carolina and Rosita Bondanza Everitt of El Salvador. Leilani was the second of five children. Her unusual name came from the 1937 hit song Sweet Leilani although an alternative backstory has it that her name was a tribute to her dad’s Hawaiian girl friend from his time in the Navy during the 1930s.
Leilani was raised on Prague Street in the Excelsior District of San Francisco where she attended Saint John’s Ursuline High School. She entered the University of California, Berkeley, in fall of 1959 as a member of the class of 1963. Things did not go exactly to plan. She took time off from school to marry Clinton Bidwell and have three children, Greg, Brett, and Hilary Bidwell. After spending time in New York and Los Angeles with her young children, Leilani returned to Cal and graduated with the class of 1968.
Her marriage to Mr. Bidwell ended in divorce and she settled down in Healdsburg, CA to raise Greg, Brett, and Hilary. While in Healdsburg she owned and operated a children’s toy store on Healdsburg Plaza. She also had a small vineyard and sold old vine zinfandel grapes to several of the local wine makers.
When Leilani’s nest was empty, she moved to the Bay Area and took a job in the personal trust department of Wells Fargo. At a UC Berkeley event in March 1983 she meet Richard Grinold who was a professor at Cal at the time. Richard and Leilani married in June 1988. Leilani spent her time as a volunteer at the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens and as a supervisor of a never ending series of house remodeling projects in Oakland, Piedmont, and eventually Pebble Beach. She would frequently take a deep dive into an eclectic series of topics: Cervantes, Native American history and culture, volcanoes, Freeborn John Lilburne the 17th century Leveler, the 14th century Black Death, the Roman Empire, and, most recently, the modern history of Israel.
She was physically active. She ran in the 70’s and 80’s and completed a half marathon in 1986. She was a member of the Oakland Barracuda Masters Swim Club from 1993 to 2005 and with various levels of enthusiasm braved the dark and cold to dive into the pool at 5:30AM.
Above all, Leilani loved children and that love was returned. She was happiest in their company and that happiness peaked on Christmas morning when she and the children open her masterfully curated presents.
Leilani is survived by her husband Richard; her four siblings, Albert, June, Linda and Dexter; her children, Greg, Brett and Hilary; her step-children, John and Kathleen Grinold; seven grandchildren and four step-grandchildren. On Christmas morning, they will gather together to remember her, while opening their more conventionally wrapped Christmas presents.
To sign Leilani’s guest book and leave messages for her family, please visit www.thepaulmortuary.com.
