Finn Thore Halbo

Finn was born in Staten Island, N.Y. but was raised in Stockholm, Sweden for 14 years. He returned to the USA in 1949 and in 1950, started college at General Motors Institute (now called Kettering University) in Flint, MI. It was a cooperative college and he alternated working for Fisher Body for 4 weeks and attending college for 4 weeks. In 1954, he married Irene E. Mahler in Detroit. After graduating in 1955 with a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering, he joined the US Navy and had duty on Guam and Port Hueneme, CA, for 4 years. He subsequently served in the Naval Reserve and retired as Lieutenant Commander, Civil Engineering Core, United States Naval Reserve. After 3 years with the Fisher Body plant in Oakland, CA, in 1963, Finn started work at the Stanford Linear Accelerator and did not retire completely until the year 2000. For most of his 37 years on the job he was the Mechanical Installation Manager in the Research Yard. Finn and Irene built a house from the ground up in Warm Springs, CA, and with that experience under their belts, in 1965, decided to add 1450 sq. ft to a house they bought in Menlo Park, CA. They raised their two daughters in that house and remained there until 2011, when they moved to the University Retirement Community in Davis, CA. Their daughter Lisa lives in Hartford, CT, and their daughter Karen is married to Mark Perlberger, and they live in Sacramento, CA. Karen and Mark are the parents of Finn’s two granddaughters, LilyAnn and Rachel, and his bonus granddaughter, Megan Ferris. Finn spent 24 years as an elected member to the board of Directors of the West Bay Sanitary District and was immediately appointed to the board of the South Bayside System Authority that operated a 24 mg sewage treatment plant. Finn was a longtime member of several Corvair clubs and a longtime member of the Earthquake Engineering Institute until 2011 (when he and Irene moved to URC). Finn also traveled extensively in the last 20 years, and particularly enjoyed Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Finn is survived by his wife, daughters and granddaughters, his devoted sister Sonja Lindstrom Halbo, nephews Rolf, Steig, and Lars Lindstrom, and nieces Inger Lindstrom and Tanya Pederson.