STAMBLER

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 05:26:54 :

Independent Journal
Thursday, March 5, 1970
Page 4

Spouse Dies; Wife Calls Rescuers

A 62-year-old Strawberry man was found dead at his home last night, apparently the victim of a double death pact which his wife survived.

Dead of an apparent overdose of pills was Bernard Murray Stambler, a self-employed importer, of 320 Richardson Drive. His wife, Libby, 61, was reported in fair condition today in the intensive care unit at Marin General Hospital.

Coroner’s Asst. Eugene R. Fontaine said today that the couple was found on the kitchen floor of their “freezing cold” house at 10:10 p.m. after Mrs. Stambler had apparently gained consciousness and crawled to a nearby telephone to summon help.

He theorized the couple had lain there for 12 to 18 hours.

Mrs. Stambler, who was weak but lucid, according to Fontaine, probably survived because she vomited some of the pills she had taken, he said.

He said that the Stamblers had left their house tidy with neatly arranged notes describing to a brother-in-law disposition of business affairs. They did not say in the notes why they took the overdoses.

Fontaine said that there were two partially empty glasses of water on the kitchen sink along with several kinds of pills.

Both Stamblers were dressed in nightclothes.

After Mrs. Stambler called the operator, firemen, a sheriff’s deputies (sic) and an ambulance rushed to the house.

Funeral arrangements for Stambler are pending at Russell and Gooch Funeral Chapel, Mill Valley, where an autopsy will be performed.