Ann Kleerup Coombs
Resident of Los Altos June 10, 1933 - April 4, 2020
Ann Kleerup Coombs passed away April 4, at age 86, after a prolonged struggle with Parkinson’s disease. Her loss will be keenly felt by her family, friends, and the communities she helped in her volunteer work over the years.
Ann lived in Los Altos for 54 years and contributed in multiple ways to the community, often using her background in chemistry to work on issues related to toxic and waste materials, and water resources. Among other things, she was active in the League of Women Voters, a Girl Scout Brownie Leader, a volunteer for the Los Altos Schools, the City of Los Altos, Santa Clara County (including two terms as a County Planning Commissioner), and the State of California. In 2004, Los Altos named her “Volunteer of the Year.”
She had an insatiably curious mind and was always learning about, and working on, new projects. Among other things, her interests in other cultures helped her family fully experience the then developing country of Singapore, when they relocated there for two years in 1970. And her interest in gardening and water issues prompted her to write the book, “Trees of Los Altos”,for the Los Altos City Environmental Committee. The book describes trees that do well in the local environment. It also includes comments on drought resistant landscaping plans, as well as city regulations. It is available at the Los Altos History Museum, with proceeds going to local nonprofit organizations.
Ann was born June 10, 1933 in San Francisco to Alex and Lillian Kleerup. The family moved to New York a year later, where she lived until they relocated to Fresno in 1946. She attended Fresno High School where she edited the school yearbook and graduated as Valedictorian. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa in Chemistry from Stanford University, with highest honors. She worked for two years as a chemist in the lab of Dr. Melvin Calvin at the University of California. She married high school sweetheart Clyde Coombs in 1956, and, in 1957, left Berkeley for the life of a Navy Wife. When Clyde joined Hewlettpackard in 1959, they settled in Mountain View, subsequently moving to Los Altos in 1965.
She is predeceased by her daughter Elizabeth Coombs Robinson of Menlo Park, and survived by her husband Clyde, daughters Catherine Coombs (Mcdonald), of Sunnyvale, Julie Coombs-hahn of Davis, grandsons Lyle Hahn of Davis, Michael Mcdonald of Sunnyvale, and Steven Mcdonald of Sunnyvale, and sister Jane Threlkeld, and family, of Los Banos.
There are no plans for services at this time. For those wishing to make a commemorative donation, in her name, among the charities that Ann supported are The League of Women Voters, Second Harvest Food Bank, Community Services Agency, and The Los Altos Community Foundation.