Obituaries - June 23, 1999

Carlin Rhea; Children’s Theater Producer, Director

Carlin Rhea, 65, producer and director of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Children’s Theater. She was in charge of the theater from 1978 to 1990, offering young people the opportunity to participate in half a dozen plays and musicals each year. Rhea adapted Disney stories such as “Dumbo,” “Jungle Book” and “Bambi” into stage productions with original music. She staged her productions at Norris Theater and took them on tour through peninsula elementary schools. In 1978, when funding cutbacks forced closure of the local school district’s summer school, Rhea organized her own summer program for elementary students in several schools. She became a volunteer in theater in the 1970s by designing costumes for the annual PTA summer musical at a peninsula high school. She went on to establish the Costume Closet, a shared source of costumes for all area schools. On Saturday in Los Angeles from complications of diabetes.

Lynn Wiley; Expert on Reproductive Biology

Lynn Wiley, 52, UC Davis professor of medicine and expert on reproductive biology. Born in Tucson, Wiley earned three degrees in biology and anatomy at UC Irvine and UC San Francisco. She taught anatomy at the University of Virginia before joining the UC Davis faculty in 1984. Her research focused on early development of animal embryos, which has implications for studies of birth defects and cancer. Among her discoveries was that the effects of radiation can be passed down through generations. Wiley served on two committees on cell and developmental biology for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and on its Space Science and Application Advisory Committee, which helps determine NASA research projects. In 1988, she helped draft a report recommending extensive studies with rats aboard space shuttles to determine the effects of space travel on reproduction. Wiley was an adventurer and as a long-distance bicyclist participated in the Davis Double Century ride 12 times and the Markleeville Death Ride several times. More recently, she had earned a commercial pilot’s license and hoped to become a flying instructor. On Saturday in Paso Robles in the crash of a small plane she was piloting for parachutists.