Lasting Memories

Clifton L Herndon
Aug. 25, 1926-March 22, 2020
Palo Alto, California

Clifton Herndon, or Cliff as she was known, was born in Los Angeles where she graduated from Catholic Girls HS. It was while attending UC Berkeley that she met her husband John Herndon at a Newman Club dance. It was their love of God that brought them together, and it was this great love that would become the theme for their long life together.

Cliff and John were married in San Francisco and moved to Santa Cruz as their family grew. They finally settled in Palo Alto were Cliff has lived for over 60 years. Cliff devoted her life to raising her family of nine children and to teaching and serving those in need. She and her husband enjoyed sponsoring young initiates into their Catholic community, participating in leadership teams on Cursillo weekends and serving through the local St. Vincent de Paul Conference. They taught catechism at a local migrant farmworker camp, and, in the early '70s, moved the entire family to Mexico for a year to serve the communities there—a mission Cliff continued while on the steering committee with South Bay Sanctuary Covenant during two trips to El Salvador.

Cliff delighted in teaching ESL classes to immigrant students, and when the children were grown, enjoyed traveling with her husband and friends. Along with raising nine children of their own, Cliff and her husband took in nine foster children over the years with various challenges and special needs. They firmly believed there was “always room for one more”.

Cliff was devoted to her family and always had a big smile and a kind word for everyone she met. She always made time to stop and smell the roses. She is survived by eight of her children: Anne Fillin, John (Peggy), Felix (Valerie), Mary (Jeff), Louise Wells, Liz (Jere), Matt and Ben (Karin), as well as ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She is preceded in death by her husband John R. Herndon, her son, Peter Mark Herndon Sr, and her sister, Anne Laforce Penn of San Francisco.