Marina Simenstad

Marina Simenstad passed away on August 30, 2023, surrounded by her children, Elizabeth, Eric, and Alexander.

Marina was born July 7, 1947, in Shanghai, China to a Russian family which fled Siberia during the Bolshevik Revolution. At the onset of the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, the community relocated to a refugee camp on the island of Tubabao in the Philippines, where they lived for two years until her family was sponsored to come to the United States. They arrived in San Francisco on a steamship and settled in Portland, OR, where she grew up. Marina graduated from Lincoln High School in 1964, and Mills College in 1968, where she was a pioneering member of the rowing team.

She raised her children in Napa, CA, and worked as a teacher in the Napa Valley school district for more than three decades. Marina was an engaged and dedicated member of many different communities, including the Russian Orthodox Church, the church choir, the schools where she taught, the Junior League of San Francisco, US Rowing, several book clubs, and a French language and culture group in Napa.

Marina loved reading and watching murder mystery novels and shows. She kept several beloved cats as pets throughout her life and donated regularly to animal welfare charities. She was a lifelong patron of the arts and regularly attended the ballet and her favorite local art museums. She adored her three children, and they loved her dearly. Marina lived her life in service to the people and causes she loved, and will forever inspire her family and friends to do the same.

Her funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m. September 18, 2023, at Holy Virgin Cathedral on Geary Blvd in San Francisco, followed by her burial at Tulocay Cemetery in Napa, CA.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Marina's name to the San Francisco SPCA https://www.sfspca.org/.

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