Extracted from The Sonoma West Times and News (Sebastopol, CA)
Helen Prince
Helen Frances Prince, who lived in Sonoma County for 49 years, died of emphysema on August 17 2008.
Prince earned her nickname for driving around the streets of Sebastopol in a white Corvette with a red leather interior, and for renewing her driver's license at age 91.
Prince was born and raised in Newark, N.J., and moved to California after World War II with her late husband and four daughters. The family lived in Sacramento until 1959, when she divorced the late Loren Riley.
Prince lived in Sebastopol for about 15 years, where she gained notoriety for driving the mayor in her Corvette for several parades.
She then moved to Rohnert Park, where she spent the next 35 years.
When Prince wasn't behind the wheel of her car, she was driving a bus for Sonoma County schools or navigating a salmon fishing boat off Bodega Bay.
In 1933, Prince saved children trapped in a burning school bus, earning a bravery award from the California Highway Patrol.
Prince spent 18 years with the late Joe Ottolini, and together they sailed Bodega Bay on a salmon fishing boat until Ottolini lost both his legs to diabetes.
She loved to cook, but treated her family to dinner at restaurants during holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Prince is survived by her daughters, Linda White of Tracy, Lavonne “Vonnie” Riley of Redding, Cherie Caldwell of Santa Rosa and Colleen Riley of Concord; seven grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
Her family plans to scatter her ashes either on Bodega Bay or Clear Lake.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
‘Blonde Bomber’