* Bernice Nelson Wolven; Volunteer, Former Actress

Oxnard resident Bernice Nelson Wolven, wife of a longtime Oxnard city manager, onetime movie actress and active member of numerous community organizations, died July 22. She was 75.

Wolven was born Jan. 17, 1922, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. When she was 6 months old, her family moved to Los Angeles, where she grew up.

A graduate of Fairfax High School, Wolven attended classes with young stars like Judy Garland. She enjoyed a modest film career herself, playing numerous bit parts for Paramount and Warner Bros. studios.

She was an English major at UCLA when she met her husband-to-be, Paul Wolven. The couple married in 1942. While her husband served in the Navy during World War II, Wolven worked for the Los Angeles school district. At the end of the war, the couple began to raise their family.

In 1953, they moved to Oxnard, where Paul Wolven served as city manager 26 years. Bernice Wolven was active in numerous organizations, including the PTA, Girl Scouts of America, Children’s Home Society, the Retarded Children’s Program in local public schools, and as a mentor to young women at the California Youth Authority.

“She was perfect,” said her daughter Gail Williams of Irvine. “She was so loving and very caring.”

Wolven was an avid gardener and was known for the lush flower garden she coaxed from the soil of a small avocado ranch. She enjoyed boating and walking the ocean shore with her husband. She also liked to travel and had visited China, Europe, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Russia.

“She went almost everywhere in the world, she had seen it all and loved it, but she was always happy to return to Oxnard,” said daughter Nancy Estrella of Oxnard. “For her, home and family were the best places in the world.”

In addition to Williams and Estrella, Wolven is survived by her husband, daughter Lynne Martson of Palo Alto, and six grandchildren.

A memorial service for Wolven will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the First Presbyterian Church in Oxnard.