Former Hollister resident
Former Hollister resident Allene Hatton Ley died Friday, Nov. 8, 2002 in Roseburg, Ore. She was 87.
Mrs. Ley was born in Rotan, Texas and was raised in various parts of the Southwest and California. She graduated from Salinas High School and studied interior decorating at Salinas Junior College (later Hartnell College).
She and her husband, George, met at a dance at the Veterans Memorial Building in 1932 and were married three years later in Los Angeles. In the 1940s the couple moved to Eloy, Ariz. where they ran a general store form 12 years in a government land development program that employed Pima, Papago, Navajo and Paiute Indians as farm laborers. They returned to California in 1961, migrating between their home in the San Fernando Valley and Hollister, where Mr. Ley’s mother lived, until they moved to Hollister in 1966.
In 1965 they bought the home of Dr. Joe O’Donnell, which was built in 1906 at Monterey and Sixth streets, had it moved to the Sunnyslope area and spent more than a dozen years restoring it to its original condition.
Mrs. Ley was a prominent member and multi-term president of the Hollister Women’s Club and a key figure in the creation of Vista Park Hill. Active in the Hollister Historical Society, she served as liaison to the City Council for many years and was active in civic work including Operation Clean Sweep and the county’s Overall Economic Development Plan Committee. She was a member of the Hollister Methodist Church and enjoyed cooking, traveling, painting, working in her garden and collecting dolls and antiques.
She is survived by her son, Richard Ley of Roseburg, Ore.; and her sisters, Geneva Baldwin of Mesa, Ariz. and Weldon Hatton of Sierra Vista, Ariz.
She was preceded in death by her husband.
A memorial service will be held Monday, Nov. 18 at 11 a.m. at the Hollister United Methodist Church, Fifth and Monterey streets.
Memorials are preferred to the San Benito County Historical Society.
