Marlene Clifford Bumbera passed away June 25, 2017 in Los Altos, CA. She was born November 3, 1933 in Oakland, CA. As a child she lived in Oakland, Ukiah, and Alameda until 1943 when her father's death compelled her mother to return to the Tracy, CA area where they could live with Marlene's grandparents and extended family. She attended Mountain House School, a one-room schoolhouse, with her cousins. After finishing high school in Tracy she went to UC Berkeley where her studies and later her career focused on publishing, the arts, and architecture. She earned her degree in Publishing Arts and was editor of the "Occident" and associate editor of the "California Engineer" student publications. It was at Cal that she met her future husband.

Her marriage in 1957 to William J. Bumbera, a petroleum engineer, took her many places in the world, first briefly to Arkansas and then to Indonesia from 1958 to1962. She made excursions to Hong Kong and Singapore, and traveled through Europe and North Africa on occasion when returning to the US each year on home leave. After the birth of their daughter in California, the family lived in the San Joaquin Valley until 1964 when they returned overseas and made their home in England and the Netherlands until 1970.

As a new mother in Bakersfield, CA she transcribed a family archive of Civil War letters held by her mother-in-law Margaret Strathern Bumbera. Her typewritten transcriptions were shared by her in-laws until she revisited the entire project 30 years later, adding new material and incorporating historical context. "Civil War Letters of Corporal John H. Strathern: 8th Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps" was published in 1994. In the Netherlands she co-authored "At Home in Holland", a guidebook published by the American Women's Club of The Hague. While in England she learned about brass rubbing, traveling to churches and chapels in the countryside with her kit of papers and hard waxes to rub monumental brasses of 14th and 15th century knights and nobility.

She returned to California with her daughter in 1970, settling in Irvine where she became involved in the effort to allow residents to vote for cityhood. Her participation in the City of Irvine Now campaign began two decades of contributions to civic affairs and the Orange County political scene. Initially designing brochures and campaign materials in the 1970s, in 1984 she served as campaign manager for successful Irvine city council candidate Sally Anne Sheridan. Her experience in architecture and planning and her ties to Irvine's leadership and to the University of California culminated in her involvement in the creation of the Irvine Barclay Theatre after a 15-year effort to secure funding, a site, and a design. She served as founding Vice Chairman of the Irvine Theatre Operating Company after many years as a member of the City of Irvine Arts Committee. During this time she was also active in the California (Berkeley) Alumni Club of Orange County, serving as President from 1986-87 and organizing trips to the Big Game.

She returned to the Bay Area in 1989 where she offered her Irvine theater experience to the City of Mountain View as a member of their Advisory Committee for the Performing Arts.

Marlene's aesthetic sense, high standards, and dedication to order influenced nearly everything she did, particularly in her role as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Irvine (1984-1988) and as an Architectural Associate at UC Irvine and Stanford University.

In retirement she was an avid genealogist. Until suffering a stroke, she enjoyed researching her own lineage, especially through travel, and helping others trace their roots as a volunteer at the LDS Family History Center in Los Altos, CA. She found a new community for many years as a participant in the REACH Post Stroke Program in Palo Alto, CA.

She was preceded in death by her father Ivor Wilson Clifford, former husband William J. Bumbera, stepfather Dell P. McCutcheon, and mother Laura (Holck) Clifford McCutcheon. She is survived by daughter Elise of Sunnyvale, CA; cousins Bob Rubbert, Dorothy Anderson, Norman Holck, Don Holck, and Dale Holck; sister-in-law Barbara Bumbera Nash, two nephews and a niece.

Inurnment was at Sunset View Cemetery, El Cerrito, CA. Those wishing to donate are encouraged to support the scholarship fund of your choice and to participate in the community in which you live.