Obituaries 11-19-15

Dr. Robert Jean Polge
Dr. Robert Jean polge of Cloverdale, formerly of Cary, N.C. and Huntsville, Ala., died on Nov. 7, 2015 at Healdsburg District Hospital at the age of 87. Robert is survived by his wife of 50 years, Mireille; son, Steven; daughter, Christel; daughter-in-law, Tami; son-in-law, Ron; grandchildren, Alex, Mariah, Midori, Christina, Sebastian, Anna-Sophia and Nicolas; sister-in-law, Renée, cousins, nieces and nephew in France. He was preceded in death by his brother, Maurice.
Robert was born in Anduze, France on Mar. 11, 1928. He received a degree (licence) in science from the University of Montpellier in 1950, an engineering degree from l’Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité (Supélec) in France in 1952, and his Masters and PhD from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pennsylvania in 1961 and 1963. A lieutenant in the French Air Force from 1952 to 1953, he afterwards worked in Paris as senior engineer and Head of Laboratories at Citroen, Sciaky and CSF from 1953 until 1960 when he came to the United States.
After receiving his PhD, he accepted the position of Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, teaching (14 Ph.D. and many Master’s students graduated under his direction), doing research for the Army and NASA, publishing many high level research papers and retiring as Professor Emeritus in December 1989. He was then named Director of the Remote Sensing and Image Processing Laboratory at Louisiana State University until June 1995. After returning to Huntsville, he worked a few more years as an engineering consultant.
He was a member of a number of honor societies and the recipient of numerous awards. After residing for 40 years in Huntsville, Ala., and Baton Rouge, La., Robert and Mireille lived in Cary, N.C. for 10 years until November 2012 when they moved to Cloverdale, where he attended the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.
A memorial service will be held on Nov. 22, at 2 p.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 122 North Main Street in Cloverdale. For those who so wish, donations may be made in his name to the Good Shepherd Memorial Fund.
Guist memorial
A memorial service for Judy Guist will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 29 at the Grange Center in Cloverdale. All are welcome. For questions or RSVP email la*********@ya***.com.
Imre Toth
Imre was born in Hungary and lived there until 1956, when he left the country following the unsuccessful Hungarian Uprising. He came to this country as a refugee and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Although he spoke no English at the time, he was skilled as an electrician and found a job at General Motors. Imre quickly learned English and integrated into American life. Always enjoying traveling, he eventually discovered California and decided to move here in the late 1960s.
He worked at the Ford Motor Assembly Plant in Milpitas as a maintenance electrician until the plant closed in 1984. He met Joyce through a mutual friend in Chicago. In 1970, they were married. He also gained a stepdaughter, Janice. Throughout his life, he kept traveling. They explored California and the western US and Europe. He also loved to drive. When Joyce was diagnosed with bone cancer, he was at her side supporting her with love and caring. She passed away in 1987. Several months later, he met Wilma Bickard, who had also lost her spouse to cancer. They became constant companions, celebrating all of life’s special occasions with both families for more than 25 years.
They both moved to Cloverdale where they enjoyed small town living for 10 years. After Wilma passed away in 2012, Imre moved back to Fremont to be close to his stepdaughter, Janice, and her family, joining them for dinner and Jeopardy most evenings and would often engage in political discussions. He enjoyed puzzles as well, particularly chess and sudoku. He collected records, radios and stereo equipment. Astronomy was also one of his interests.
Imre is survived by his stepdaughter, Janice Milnes, her husband, Ken, son Christopher and grandsons Konor and Ashton. He will also be very much missed by Wilma’s children Bill Bickard, Tom Bickard, Terry and Clark Payan and their sons Cole and Jack Payan, and Kathleen Nahlin and her children Brenna and Joe Marketello and many others in Wilma’s family. He leaves behind several nieces and nephews in Hungary.
A funeral mass will be held at Corpus Christi Catholic Church on Nov. 20, 2015, at 10:30 a.m. Burial will be private.