Obituaries - Feb. 13, 1997

Ida Shively Ryan, a lifelong resident of Santa Paula who volunteered as an airplane spotter in Wheeler Canyon during World War II and was known for her fragrant flower garden, has died at the age of 95.

Ryan’s father, Alonzo Lincoln Shively, moved from Kansas to Santa Paula in 1890. He founded Citizens State Bank of Santa Paula and remained president until his death in 1934.

The Shivelys lived next door to the Teagues, one of Santa Paula’s founding families. Ryan and Alice Teague were best friends and would go on shopping trips to Los Angeles in a chauffeur-driven car.

Ryan graduated from Pomona College with a degree in general studies in 1925 and married Robert Laurence Ryan in 1926. She was an excellent horsewoman. While her husband served in the Navy during World War II, Ryan watched for enemy aircraft from a perch in Wheeler Canyon.

She was known for her social grace. While dining with Ernest O. Lawrence, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1939 for research on splitting the atom, Ryan charmed her companion with tales of attending fashion shows at Bullocks Wilshire in Los Angeles, then duplicating the dresses on her own sewing machine.

“She didn’t know she was sitting next to one of the great physicists that ever lived,” said her son, Robert Ryan of Santa Paula. “But he was fascinated with her story.”

In addition to her son, Ryan is survived by her daughter, Donna Kopfer of Greenbrae, Calif.; 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 22 at Santa Paula Presbyterian Church. Funeral arrangements were handled by Skillin-Carroll Mortuary in Santa Paula.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to Blanchard Community Library in Santa Paula.