Carolyn Hall Starbird 1/10/1911 – 1/28/2006

Carolyn Hall Starbird, a native of the Bay area and the wife of the late San Jose Mayor George Starbird, died Saturday, January 28, in an Oregon nursing home.  She moved there in 2003 to be closer to two of her children living in Portland. 

A celebration of her life took place May 21 at the San Jose Museum of Art. 

Long a fixture in the Docent Council of the San Jose Museum of Art, Mrs. Starbird was also a member of the Art History Club, and, earlier in her career as an active volunteer with the Visiting Nurses Associations and the Community Chest (now United Way).  She also was a member of the Santa Clara County Grand Jury, active with the Cub Scouts, and assisted at the library of the Mayfair School. 

Known as “Babe” to her family, Mrs. Starbird was born at San Jose Hospital and grew up in San Francisco and Berkeley.  Home movies taken by her father, an early 8mm enthusiast, show her with her parents and younger sister golfing and shooting on the roof of their Green Street house in San Francisco.  She attended Girls’ High School in San Francisco and was admitted to the small cohort of co-eds who attended Stanford in the late 1920s.  She pledged to the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and was active in student musicals, where she met George, her future husband. 

Upon graduating, the two English majors moved to New York City, where they married in 1932.  The two struggled to eke out a living –- he as a freelance writer of pulp fiction, she as a stenographer –- until a lucky break came in the form of an offer by a relative in the insurance business.  Their fortunes turned for the better as George worked first in New York and then the couple moved to a new, more opulent lifestyle in Palm Beach, Florida, where George ran an office for the Globe Insurance Company. 

This career brought the couple, by now parents of George Anthony (Tony) Starbird, back to California in 1938.  There he joined a San Jose insurance business founded by relatives on her side: C.A. Hall and W.T. Rambo (a firm now owned by their second son Timothy (Tim)).  They also had two daughters, Carolyn Jane (Jane) and Susan.  They lived in the Rose Garden neighborhood, and in 1970 moved to the family ranch in the hills above Milpitas, where Mrs. Starbird found inspiration for the landscapes she loved to paint.

She was loved and is mourned by large family including son Tony and wife Linda, of Portland; son Tim and wife Jane; daughter Jane and partner Gary Peterson of Portland; and Susan and husband Michael Riszkiewicz of Sebastopol, CA.  She also leaves grandchildren Anne (Steve), Joan, Adam (Doe), and Zack (Jennifer), Drew (Jodi), Chris (Sarah), and Jason (Mila), and great grandchildren: Mason, Dylan, Weston, Jake, Claire, Joe, Jordan, Zander, Emmett, Foster, Chloe, and Casey.

Order a copy of the "Remembering Babe" video or find out how to create one

A celebration of Babe's life took place Sunday, May 21, at the San Jose Museum of Art.  Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the San Jose Museum of Art in memory of Carolyn Starbird.

Send condolences to the family care of Tim Starbird, Hall & Rambo,

P O Box 1029, San Jose CA 95108

Submit your own memories of Babe

Tom McEnery writes . . . In the history of San Jose, among the well-known and distinguished men, the Halls and Rambos and fine mayors like George Starbird, there were some very remarkable women, often not behind them, but in front of them - one of these was Carolyn Hall Starbird, and our City and valley is so much richer that she passed this way, enriching all of us. As a writer, her monograph on "Dad" Hall is a reading pleasure and a strong link to our past. She had quite life and leaves a lasting legacy.

Bruce McClelland writes . . . she was simply a "Grand Lady."

Valerie Lewis writes . . . Carolyn was a major influence in my life. She bolstered me up and sent me out into the world with confidence I may have lacked without her influence.

The last time I talked to her was when she called me from Los Altos (following my visit with her) when she had seen an article about me in the newspaper. She was like a proud mom...the way I'll remember her.

Richard Lyons writes . . . Your mother was almost the last surviving member of the wonderful group of friends who met in Stanford in the 30’s. As part of the small quota of young women admitted to Stanford in that period, she must have had particularly close relationships with the girl friends she made, including my mother (Jane Desenberg).

I was so interested to read about your parents in New York. I had to think about it, but I can imagine them in that bohemian writer’s life in New York in the 30’s.

I remember visiting your parents and walking around the house looking at paintings with your mother. She was a wonderful host. I always felt welcomed and completely relaxed visiting your parents.

After my father died, I discovered a diary that my mother kept when she went to Europe with her family in 1931 after her first year at Stanford. I have attached two pages that contain mentions of your mother. I think the pages are legible enough for you to read if you make them larger on the monitor. They show the connection between the two friends. My mother was in Paris when she made the reference to shopping. I also found a Brentano’s gift card in the diary, saying, with your mother’s dry humor:

"Merry Christmas! I wish I had a million dollars instead of the mere price of this book. Love, Babe."

Jill Chambers Dalton writes: Your Mom was really my "second Mom" . . . She was so patient, and welcomed me with open arms when ever I was romping around your house on Emory and then on Hedding. I was so mad at my Mom when I found out that you (Susan) were on the way, that I called my Mom, who was at a cocktail party, and cried that I wanted a baby too...So, when you arrived, there I was, sleeping in the same room with you, and the cat, Moo Moo, and waiting for you to wake up so I could feed you . . .I guess I must have been 10 . . . I visited your Mom often when she was in Los Altos, always stopping in un-announced and watching the smile on her face when she saw me . . . She was a dear friend to my Mom, and even drove out to Dry Creek on my Mom's 90th birthday...