Lasting Memories

Liz Dana
1915-Jan. 23, 2009
Palo Alto, California

Liz Duveneck Dana, 93, one of three children of Hidden Villa founders Frank and Josephine Duveneck and a voice of peace and beauty throughout her life, died Jan. 23, 2009, of natural causes.

Until relatively recently, she remained active in support of educational and camp programs at Hidden Villa Ranch in Los Altos Hills, and until her death served on the Board of Directors. For many years she served on the Ranch and Wilderness Committee and later the Trust for Hidden Villa board.

"Liz was a much-loved and integral part of the Hidden Villa community and will be sorely missed by us all. Liz's life had a profound influence here at Hidden Villa and within the surrounding community," Hidden Villa Administrative Assistant Susan Love said in a statement on behalf of the Hidden Villa staff.

She was born in Boston, Mass., but moved to Palo Alto with her family as a girl. After her parents purchased the sprawling property, the family spent summers there from 1924 to 1929. The family completed construction of the main house and moved in before Thanksgiving in 1930.

She received a bachelor's degree in art and dance from Bennington College, Vt., but chose architecture as a career. Following marriage to Dan Dana, after World War II they lived and worked in San Francisco, but returned to Hidden Villa in the summers -- where she designed a number of existing buildings while Dan built them.

As an architect, she designed more than 50 single-family home in the Palo Alto area, in addition to designing numerous remodel projects. She also designed the Ladera Church and the Friends Meeting House on Middlefield Road in Palo Alto, reflecting her Quaker upbringing.

Her personal interests included the High Sierra to photography, dance, art and music. In the 1950s and 1960s she led backpack expeditions for children into the Desolation Wilderness. During two decades starting in the 1950s she introduced literally thousands of children to folk dancing at Hidden Villa as she led the folk-dancing evenings for the resident summer camp.

Until 2006, she volunteered to make her famous pancakes for the summer camp Bay-to-Sea backpackers when they returned after a 10-day hike. She also provided transportation for some of the day campers. Following the death of Frank and Josephine, she and her siblings actively supported dedicating 2,000 acres to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District and the Trust for Hidden Villa, creating an environmental and educational retreat in perpetuity.

She is survived by her siblings, Francis Duveneck and Hope Williams, both of Monterey; children Josephine (Weegee) Whiteford of Tucson, Ariz., and Ned Dana of Kauai, Hi.; and five grandchildren.