Matilda "Dita" Wilbur, perhaps the first American born in the Philippines, who dined in the White House for the inauguration of President Taft and who attended UC Berkeley when it was rare for women to get a college education, has died at age 106.
Mrs. Wilbur died March 23 at her home in Hillsborough, where she had lived for more than 50 years.
She was a generous and independent woman, who grew up an Army brat traveling all over the world. After settling in the Bay Area, in the decades when most people live in quiet retirement, she was matriarch of a large extended family, and she volunteered for a variety of faith-based, academic and cultural institutions.
"She was a truly remarkable lady. Very caring, very thoughtful, she held everybody together," said daughter-in-law Judy Wilbur. "I lived next door to her for 45 years. Not many people could live next to their mother-in-law that long. But she was always so warm and friendly."
Matilda Gertrude Baker was born in September 1900 in Manila, where her father, an Army captain, was stationed after the Spanish-American War. Family legend says she was the first American baby born there, and her christening was attended by dozens of American dignitaries... Photo Courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle (Article: San Francisco Chronicle) ...full story here
Mrs. Wilbur died March 23 at her home in Hillsborough, where she had lived for more than 50 years.
She was a generous and independent woman, who grew up an Army brat traveling all over the world. After settling in the Bay Area, in the decades when most people live in quiet retirement, she was matriarch of a large extended family, and she volunteered for a variety of faith-based, academic and cultural institutions.
"She was a truly remarkable lady. Very caring, very thoughtful, she held everybody together," said daughter-in-law Judy Wilbur. "I lived next door to her for 45 years. Not many people could live next to their mother-in-law that long. But she was always so warm and friendly."
Matilda Gertrude Baker was born in September 1900 in Manila, where her father, an Army captain, was stationed after the Spanish-American War. Family legend says she was the first American baby born there, and her christening was attended by dozens of American dignitaries... Photo Courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle (Article: San Francisco Chronicle) ...full story here
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