“Turlock Journal, Dec. 17, 1909 . . .

. . . The stork was abroad Monday evening (12/12) and in his travels he left a fine seven-pound boy at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C. V. Lundahl . . .”

Stanley Lundahl, age 101, a resident of Oceano, was born at home in Turlock.  He died in Oceano-Arroyo Grande where he’d lived for the past 45 years.

His parents were pioneer Turlockers C. V. and Clara Lundahl.  Clara was born in the Mother Lode town of Volcano, Calif. and moved with her family to Turlock as a child in 1884.  Charles came from Iowa with his Swedish immigrant parents in 1903.

Stan attended Lowell School and graduated from Turlock High in 1927.  He had a mind of his own, often to his mother’s dismay, and found great fun in recreation and pranks. On several occasions he and his buddies fashioned a surf board out of a wash board, and with a Model T for towing, they “water skied” in TID’s canals.  The irrigation district curbed the fad by placing posts along the canal.

Stan enrolled at Modesto Junior College, but was often sidetracked by other interests.  Those included his participation as piano player in the popular combo band, The Collegiate Aces of Modesto.  Another major hobby/distraction was golf at Turlock Country Club, where he eventually established a scratch handicap.

During the early years of the Depression Stan found a job as a bank teller.  It led to employment in the produce industry at Stockton Box and American Box as a salesman and later manager, which took him to the forests and lumber mills of Northern California.

Stanley married Mary Houston Alexander in 1934, and they built a home on Sierra Drive.  Two children were born, Sue and Richard.  The family attended the old Brethren Church until it was destroyed by fire in 1939.

After WW II, Stan and his family moved to the end of Jack Tone Road north of Lockeford where they lived a country life raising small and large animals.  

In 1956 Stan became a produce salesman for Kavanaugh Distributing Co., which several years later moved its interests to the Fresno-Arvin-Bakersfield area.  With that move Stan and Mary relocated to Fresno.  In the mid-1960s they moved to the Santa Maria-Arroyo Grande area where Stan filled an opening there.  They bought a home near the beach in Oceano, and with the airport within walking distance, Stan acquired a Mooney airplane with a partner and took up flying at age 65.

After recovering from injuries suffered in a 50-car/truck pileup in the fog on Hwy. 99 in the 1970s, Stan retired to Oceano where he played golf into his 90s.  Mary, his wife of 64 years, died in 1998 at which time he batched it in Oceano with dog “Silkie” until moving to Wyndham Residence in 2005.

Mr. Lundahl is survived by his children, Sue Campbell and Richard Lundahl; grandchildren, Brian and Eric Campbell, Anne Campbell Seelenfreund and Jim and Tom Lundahl; and great grandchildren Alexander, Megan, Brenna, Lily, Gemma, Natalie, Ava, Eliza and twins Ayla and Myles. 

He was preceded in death by his brother, Ralph; and daughter-in-law, Barbara Lundahl.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 19 at Turlock Funeral Home, 425 N. Soderquist Rd., Turlock.  Interment will follow at Turlock Memorial Park.

Memorial contributions may be made to Carnegie Arts Center, P.O. Box 2568, Turlock, CA 95381 or Oceano Depot Assn. Inc., P.O. Box 988, Oceano, CA 93445.