Audine Stier (nee Allan)

Audine Stier (nee Allan), 99, passed away quietly at her home in Oakland, Ca., on July 26. The native Californian and her husband Victor, who passed away in 2008, had five children: Kit (Karen Klink) of Milltown, NJ, Mark-d. 2005 (Cindy of San Rafael), Tim (Virginia McCarthy) of Oakland, CA, Tracy Starkey (Paul) of West Sacramento, and Geoff (Tom Kurthy) of Los Angeles. Audine was born in Modesto, Ca. on April 29, 1920, but left before her first birthday and lived the next 60 years of her life constantly on the move. As a child, Audine spent her summers with her maternal grandparents in Columbia, Ca., where her grandfather, a gold miner, had a mining claim. For decades and even in her 99th year, Audine made an annual fall pilgrimage to the historic Columbia cemetery where her grandparents and parents are buried. She graduated from Oakland High School in 1937, and UC Berkeley in 1941 with a degree in English literature. While at Cal, Audine met Victor, whom she married in Oakland in 1942. In 1955, the family left Oakland for Thailand, where Victor began a career in the Foreign Service. They also lived in Greece, Washington, D.C., Sri Lanka, Finland, and the Netherlands before retiring in Oakland in 1980. During her years abroad, Audine developed a love for travel with a special love for Greece and France. Audine was a devoted wife and mother, an excellent cook, a lover of poodles, a good neighbor, and a person of integrity and generosity. She enjoyed a lifelong love of reading, especially fiction. Audine is survived by four of her children, six grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.