Kate Constantz
1926-May 9, 2007
Ladera, California

Longtime Portola Valley and Ladera resident Kate Constantz, a registered nurse with skills in the visual arts, interior design and in creating welcoming homes for her family and extended family during 50 years of residence in Ladera and Portola Valley, died Tuesday, May 9, in the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Redwood City. She was 81.

A daughter of immigrants, she earned her nursing degree from the University of Pennsylvania and married Robert Constantz, a physician, in 1948.

The couple came to Ladera in 1955 as one of the early residents of the community following Robert's service in Germany with the U.S. Army, relatives said. A few years later, Dr. Constantz was a founding physician of Kaiser Permanente hospital in Redwood City and practiced there for 45 years, relatives said. The family moved to Portola Valley in 1967.

During her time here, she was a full-time mother and wife, a painter of landscapes, and a loyal friend who built particularly strong relationships with her daughters-in-law, relatives said.

From 1966 to 1976, she served as the school nurse at Woodside High School, during which time she also actively opposed the Vietnam War, relatives said.

A career as an interior designer came together in about 1976 and she went on to design and furnish — often with no-limit budgets — homes and offices in Portola Valley, Woodside, Palo Alto, and along Sand Hill Road, relatives said.

Ms. Constantz is survived by her husband who now lives in Palo Alto; sister Phyllis Blum Quilter of Portola Valley; sons Robert of San Carlos, James of Portola Valley, Mark of Mountain View, and Brent of Portola Valley; and 11 grandchildren. Ryan Christopher Constantz, a grandson, died in 2000 while in the sixth grade at Corte Madera Middle School.

Tags: arts/media, public service