Wendy Day Kahn
Aug. 11, 1941-Sept. 14, 2022
Palo Alto, California
Submitted by Frederic Kahn

Wendy Oldfield Kahn was born in 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts to Homer Ray Oldfield, Jr., an MIT, Cambridge MA, aeronautical engineering graduate developing microwave magnetron radar as a graduate student at the MIT Rad Lab, and Sofia Faith Stavchuk, a first generation Ukrainian American who studied theatre at Curry College, Milton MA, and appeared in summer stock with the famous actor, Lloyd Bridges.

The family relocated many times as her father pursued a career as a high tech pioneer, installing the first microwave magnetron radar giving the Allies a crucial advantage at the World War II Battle of Anzio, Italy, to establishing microwave facilities for GE in Syracuse and Ithaca NY, and Palo Alto CA, and then electronic banking in Palo Alto, CA and the GE Computer Division in Phoenix AZ.

As a result, Wendy grew up in Cambridge MA, Arlington VA, Fayetteville and Syracuse NY, Los Altos CA, Phoenix AZ, Wakefield and Weston MA and Rome Italy, graduating from high school in Wakefield MA in 1959.

Wendy earned a BA in English Literature from Cornell University, Ithaca NY, in 1963, then an Education MA from Lesley College, Cambridge, MA. in 1965. While living in Cambridge she met the love of her life, Dr. Frederic J. Kahn, who was completing his Ph.D. thesis research in Solid State Physics at Harvard.

Wendy and Fred lived in Tokyo, Japan for a year in 1969, a formative life experience for both of them. Fred was brought to Japan in a precedent setting event by Dr. Koji Kobayashi, then President of NEC, the RCA of Japan. American visitors were rare back then and Wendy’s platinum blond hair would stop babies from crying when she passed by. While there she taught English as a Second Language (ESL) to lay Buddhist priest students at the Rissho Kosei Kai headquarters known as the Great Sacred Hall, and to private students. She was also a disk jockey commentator on the weekly NHK national radio English Hour, receiving fan mail from all over Japan.

Wendy and Fred returned to the US in 1970, with Wendy experiencing reverse cultural shock while Fred pioneered flat panel liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and high definition LCD projection at Bell Labs, Murray Hill NJ, continuing the work he started at the NEC Central Lab in Kawasaki Japan.

Wendy and Fred continued to be worldwide travelers throughout her life, visiting dozens of countries, experiencing the cultures of Cambodia before the war, Iran before the Revolution, and Russia before and after the fall of the USSR, not to mention Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Greece, Turkey, the Galapagos and all over Europe, South Central and Southeast Asia. She especially loved art, gardens, and meeting people from across cultures. Savoring the peaceful beauty of the Maldives, in 2021, was especially poignant due to sea level rise amidst the global warming climate crisis.

She deeply loved nature and simple things, like the sun on her face, the colorful fall leaves, and breathing fresh air while hiking or camping. Local hikes and camping trips to the Sierras and national and state parks gave her great joy. She encouraged and gave her children space to “just be themselves”, to explore and develop their own creativity and talents. She prioritized time with her children and is remembered for nightly bedtime stories and “tuck ins”.

She and Fred lived in northern New Jersey in the early 1970s where she taught 5th grade in Bedminster. They moved to Palo Alto with their first-born in 1973 and have lived there ever since. Moving so much as a child and experiencing the challenges of uprooting and having to make new friends made her want to have a stable home for her children and herself. Appreciating this, after 11 years at Hewlett Packard in Palo Alto, Fred started two companies, Greyhawk Systems and Kahn International, enabling them to stay in the same home in Palo Alto since 1973 while enabling Fred to continue his work as a Flat Panel LCD and electronic display pioneer.

From having to be the new kid at school over and over, as well as knowing what it was like to be a stranger in a foreign country from living in Japan, she developed a deep care for making visitors feel welcome. She taught ESL to private students and at Language Pacifica, and led groups on ESL and travel at Stanford’s Bechtel International Center. She was a citizen ambassador of intercultural communication, bringing warmth, joy, gentleness, and an abundance of knowledge to others. Wendy had a dynamic, magnetic personality and loved to engage people in conversation, wherever she was, helping to break people out of their shells and the isolation so often experienced in modern life.

She was passionate about art, teaching Spectra Art for the Palo Alto Unified School District and after school art classes at home. She brought joy, creativity, and exploration to children to counterbalance the stresses of the standard curriculum. She was an enthusiastic Environmental Volunteer and a lifelong voracious reader whose love of knowledge, curiosity and insight inspired all who knew her.

Wendy passed away peacefully at home on September 14 from an incurable, aggressive, small cell cancer with her husband, children and close relatives at her bedside.

Her love of life lives on in the wonderful memories she has left with her husband Fred, her children Alexi Karuna (Philadelphia, PA) and Mike Kahn (Pacifica, CA), her sister and brother, Anna (Murrells Inlet, SC) and Richard (Horsham, England) Oldfield, and her 1st cousin, Judythe Roberts (San Diego, CA).

Wendy bravely battled and overcame depression during periods of her life, making mental health a very important issue to her. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in her name to the Hope for Depression Research Foundation: https://www.hopefordepression.org or an alternative organization creating awareness, understanding, assistance or research on depression cures.

Tags: teacher/educator