Posted by Newspaper Transcriber on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 23:03:30 :

Clara Laura Castro

Clara Laura Castro, who lived in Half Moon Bay for the first 25 years of her long life, died April 9 at her daughter's Palo Alto home where she had been living for many years. She was 96.

Mrs. Castro was born Dec. 7, 1909, into a family of 11 children in Half Moon Bay. She grew up and attended schools in Half Moon Bay until 1934, when she married her husband, Joseph Manuel Castro Sr., and moved to the Fremont area.

Over the following 60 years there, Mrs. Castro was a homemaker, helped run her family's 100-acre ranch and the family business, Castro's Dairy. The dairy was a distributor for then-Foremost Dairies, for 40 years.

Mrs. Castro was "a loving mother and grandmother, and touched many lives," said her daughter, Darlene Castro-Easterling of Palo Alto. "She put herself last. She was a very hard worker who helped everyone."

In 1998 Mrs. Castro relocated to Palo Alto to live with her daughter.

Mrs. Castro is survived by her five children, Barbara Castro of Henderson, Nev., Joseph Castro Jr. of Fremont, Anthony Castro Sr. of Shingletown, Calif., Gail Andrade of Livermore and Darlene Castro-Easterling of Palo Alto, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 13, at Roller, Hapgood and Tinney Mortuary at 980 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. A reception will follow the services.

Mrs. Castro had requested to be cremated, and her ashes will be scattered at sea off the coast of Half Moon Bay.

Half Moon Bay Review and Pescadero Pebble, Wednesday, April 12, 2006