Paul O. Sather

It is with sorrow that we announce the passing of Dr. Paul Sather on Dec. 20, 2017 after a long life as a well-loved family man, health practitioner, legendary sportsman, athlete and ballroom dancer.

Born in Spokane, Washington on Nov. 9, 1918, he was raised in Troy by his parents Dorothy (Shepherd) and Victor A . Sather, a lifelong employee of Great Northern Railroad?. Paul was an avid fisherman and hunter from his early days, and excelled at football, basketball, track and baseball while maintaining high marks in school to eventually become valedictorian of his graduating high school class.

Paul opted for college at the University of Washington in 1936, resided at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and dove into pre-med studies, graduating in 1940. He was accepted at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School where he graduated in December of 1943. In 1944, he enlisted in the Navy and was deployed to the South Pacific where he served as chief medical officer on Manus Island, the largest of the Admiralty Islands off Papua New Guinea.

After the war, while pursuing his medical career in San Francisco, Paul met Betty Ann Francis of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at an officer’s club party, whereupon he literally swept her off her feet on the dance floor. In 1947 they married and settled in San Francisco where Paul continued his residency in radiology at the Vereran’s Hospital. After two sons were born, Tom and Bill, the family moved to the town of Ross, in Marin County. A daughter, Jody, was born soon after and the family was settled.

The children attended Ross Grammar School and Redwood High School in Larkspur. One week of every summer was spent at the lakeside cabin near Troy to visit grandparents and cousins, fish, hike, pick huckleberries and commune with nature. In the winter there were trips to Squaw Valley for skiing. Always present was Paul’s steady demeanor and guiding hand. Whether putting for birdie at the Meadow Club, teaching a kid how to field a grounder or ordering wine for the table, he was confident and trustworthy with a refreshing touch of home-spun humor.

Dr. Sather’s practice took him on a rotation of hospitals, clinics and radiology offices from Santa Rosa to South San Francisco, including San Quentin Penitentiary Hospital (where the boys got 10 cent haircuts and cafeteria lunch, if they behaved!). For 25 years he provided his radiological expertise to the San Francisco State University Student Health Department, where he finished his career at the age of 92 years. He passed away just five days short of his 100th Christmas.

Paul is survived by his wife of 70 years, Betty Ann Sather; two sons, Tom (Darla) of Hamilton, and Bill (Kathleen) of Monroe, Washington; daughter Jody (Matt Friedman) of Santa Rosa, California; and three granddaughters, Galen Sather-Hargreaves (Erik Hargreaves), Sarah Sather and Micaela Friedman. He will be missed by his sister-in-law, Mary Breen of Santa Rosa, and an extended family of admiring nieces and nephews, the offspring of his sister, Marzella Sather Jones (Bill Jones), of Aberdeen, Washington.

A graveside ceremony will be performed this summer in Troy.