Alfredo Jordan

Aug 17, 1928 – April 4, 2021

The curtain came down on the extraordinary life of Alfredo Jordan in San Francisco on April 4, 2021, after 92 years of starring in a saga worthy of the great books he treasured.

Born in El Paso, Texas, he joined the Navy as a teenager, to set sail for the educational and travel vistas that would personify his future.

Teaching emerged as his vocation, first, last, always. Thousands of students at Presidio Junior High, Lowell High School and City College of San Francisco benefited from his singular exuberance and passion to impart knowledge. Alfredo’s wisdom was limitless, spanning languages, history, the arts and his beloved Hispanic heritage.

Alfredo is survived by his wife, Chiqui, their grandson, Gabriel Andika, and his family in Illinois. His son, Alfredo Manuel died recently. He touched countless lives with his prodigious mastery in classrooms, and those he captivated with his charm and magnetic nature around the world or at a café on the bay. He will live on each time those he cared for behold a sublime film, see a glorious painting or hear an exquisite piece of music and say “Alfredo would have loved this!”

Cynthia Kane Hyman, CNS RN, passed away peacefully on June 13, 2021, with her family by her bedside, in the home she shared with her husband of 45 years. She was 69. She had been diagnosed with advanced cancer only three months before she died. Cynthia was a person of unusual integrity, kindness, perception and good humor. Cynthia began her career as a psychiatric nurse in 1983. She was respected and befriended by her colleagues from UCSF, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Sonoma State University (where until recently she taught psychiatric nursing), and medical and psychiatric hospitals large and small in the greater Bay Area. She is known for her work with abused and traumatized children, partnering over the years with renowned professionals such as then-San Francisco District Attorney, Kamala Harris, Victor Carrion, MD, of Stanford, Allen Schore, MD, of the Berkeley Seminar Group, and theorists June Matthews and Jill Mellick, to develop and implement public health programs in trauma-informed care for the underserved. In 2020, she became a member of several community health-based think tanks to brainstorm ways to provide treatment for children suffering from Adverse Childhood Experiences.

An intellectually and emotionally courageous individual, Cynthia embraced peoples’ differences with a natural, equitable openness. People gravitated to her calm, healing demeanor, high level of competence and receptivity. Her office was always a place where people went to solve problems, form bonds and have a good laugh.