Mr. John Abbe
Age: 95 yrs. 4 mos. 1 dy.
S/O James Edward Abbe, Jr. & Mary Ann (Shorrock) Abbe
H/O Carol (Seymour) Abbe; m 1954, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
F/O Sandra Abbe
F/O Karen Abbe (3 Sep 1959-30 May 2014)
Obituary, The Sacramento [CA] Bee, Sat, 5 Nov 2022:
John Abbe
June 29, 1927 - October 30, 2022
La Jolla, California - John Abbe, the last of three Abbe children whose best-selling memoir, Around the World in 11 Years, was published in 1936, died on October 30, 2022 in La Jolla, CA at age 95.
He was born in Paris, France on June 29, 1927 to American parents, the photographer and foreign correspondent James Abbe, and Polly Shorrock Abbe, a former New York actress.
Abbe and his two older siblings, Richard and Patience, first came to the US in 1934 after spending their early childhood years in France, Austria, Germany, Russia and Great Britain. From New York, the family took a cross-country road trip to Colorado during the dust bowl, landing at a friend's ranch near Larkspur, Colorado.
Hoping to end an argument between their parents about a lapsed book deal, sister Patience vowed that the children would write a book. Their mother, a trained stenographer, took them up on it. She summoned the children one at a time to a spot under a big Cottonwood tree to dictate their humorous recollections about travels across Europe, memories sparked by their father's photographs spread out on a blanket.
Colorado became their new base, and they built the Abbe Ranch in Larkspur with the proceeds from the first of three books. The Abbe Ranch was later designated a Douglas County Colorado historical site, but the family continued to travel, and the children lived and attended school at various times in Colorado, Connecticut and California. After Abbe's parents separated in 1939, John, his mother and two siblings eventually relocated to Portland, Oregon, then to California where Abbe graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 1942. He joined the US Navy, and served on a ship in the Pacific during the months following the end of World War II.
John Abbe graduated from Stanford University on the GI Bill where he met fellow student, the former Carol Seymour, an artist and teacher, whom he married in 1954. Abbe started his career in public service as a regional director for the California State Employment Development Department, later advancing to the agency's management staff in Sacramento.
A lifelong proponent of physical fitness, he took his passion for bicycling to great lengths with personal challenges, including scaling major passes in the Swiss Alps via road bike, and following the path of the Tour de France in the country of his birth. He was an active member of the Sacramento Wheelmen, participating in many endurance rides up mountain passes in the High Sierra, and later assisting other riders as a volunteer in the "sag wagon."
A committed conservationist, Abbe was recently notified by the Sierra Club of his status as a 60-year member, an affiliation that began after a book authored by his brother-in-law François Leydet, "The Last Redwoods," was published by the Sierra Club.
After retirement, he redoubled his commitment to conservation, determined to prevent trash from fouling waterways. With his own weekly schedule and routes, and armed with a grabber and garbage sack, he continuously cleaned up sections of the banks of the American River in Sacramento. In 2015 he was honored by the American River Parkways Foundation as "Volunteer of the Year" for removing "thousands of pounds of unsightly and dangerous debris" over three decades. At the time, Abbe noted: "It's a marvelous place. I'd like to think that I'm making somewhat of a difference to help keep it pristine."
After moving to Southern California, he became a frequent sight along the Coast Walk in La Jolla, removing pounds of trash each week along scenic overviews above the Pacific Ocean. He even placed his own garbage receptacles in spots where the city had none, emptying and cleaning them himself.
Abbe was an inveterate reader of history, having lived as a young child through some of the most consequential moments of the 20th Century. Two weeks before his death, Abbe made it a priority to renew his library card, fully intending to continue his unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
After his father had secured a scoop as the only Western photographer to capture images of Stalin in the Kremlin, in 1932 Abbe and his two siblings became unknowing international couriers, by way of their underclothes. By showing a signed portrait of Stalin to Soviet border guards, the family safely left Russia, but the youngsters hid "forbidden" negatives that later helped document the brutal nature of Stalin's Soviet rule. Many of those images were subsequently published in James Abbe's book, "I Photograph Russia."
Abbe was preceded in death by his daughter Karen, brother Richard, sister Patience, and 3 older half-siblings: James Abbe, Jr., Phyllis Kennedy, and Elizabeth Walton. He is survived by wife Carol Abbe, daughter Sandra Abbe of Riverside, grandchildren Larry Gene Averitt of Austin, Texas and Mary Ann Estes of Riverside, 5 great grandchildren, and half-sisters Tilly Abbe and Linda Lennihan of San Francisco.
A private remembrance will be held.
Donations in the name of John Abbe suggested to The Sierra Club Foundation, and the American River Parkway Foundation.
Age: 95 yrs. 4 mos. 1 dy.
S/O James Edward Abbe, Jr. & Mary Ann (Shorrock) Abbe
H/O Carol (Seymour) Abbe; m 1954, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
F/O Sandra Abbe
F/O Karen Abbe (3 Sep 1959-30 May 2014)
Obituary, The Sacramento [CA] Bee, Sat, 5 Nov 2022:
John Abbe
June 29, 1927 - October 30, 2022
La Jolla, California - John Abbe, the last of three Abbe children whose best-selling memoir, Around the World in 11 Years, was published in 1936, died on October 30, 2022 in La Jolla, CA at age 95.
He was born in Paris, France on June 29, 1927 to American parents, the photographer and foreign correspondent James Abbe, and Polly Shorrock Abbe, a former New York actress.
Abbe and his two older siblings, Richard and Patience, first came to the US in 1934 after spending their early childhood years in France, Austria, Germany, Russia and Great Britain. From New York, the family took a cross-country road trip to Colorado during the dust bowl, landing at a friend's ranch near Larkspur, Colorado.
Hoping to end an argument between their parents about a lapsed book deal, sister Patience vowed that the children would write a book. Their mother, a trained stenographer, took them up on it. She summoned the children one at a time to a spot under a big Cottonwood tree to dictate their humorous recollections about travels across Europe, memories sparked by their father's photographs spread out on a blanket.
Colorado became their new base, and they built the Abbe Ranch in Larkspur with the proceeds from the first of three books. The Abbe Ranch was later designated a Douglas County Colorado historical site, but the family continued to travel, and the children lived and attended school at various times in Colorado, Connecticut and California. After Abbe's parents separated in 1939, John, his mother and two siblings eventually relocated to Portland, Oregon, then to California where Abbe graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 1942. He joined the US Navy, and served on a ship in the Pacific during the months following the end of World War II.
John Abbe graduated from Stanford University on the GI Bill where he met fellow student, the former Carol Seymour, an artist and teacher, whom he married in 1954. Abbe started his career in public service as a regional director for the California State Employment Development Department, later advancing to the agency's management staff in Sacramento.
A lifelong proponent of physical fitness, he took his passion for bicycling to great lengths with personal challenges, including scaling major passes in the Swiss Alps via road bike, and following the path of the Tour de France in the country of his birth. He was an active member of the Sacramento Wheelmen, participating in many endurance rides up mountain passes in the High Sierra, and later assisting other riders as a volunteer in the "sag wagon."
A committed conservationist, Abbe was recently notified by the Sierra Club of his status as a 60-year member, an affiliation that began after a book authored by his brother-in-law François Leydet, "The Last Redwoods," was published by the Sierra Club.
After retirement, he redoubled his commitment to conservation, determined to prevent trash from fouling waterways. With his own weekly schedule and routes, and armed with a grabber and garbage sack, he continuously cleaned up sections of the banks of the American River in Sacramento. In 2015 he was honored by the American River Parkways Foundation as "Volunteer of the Year" for removing "thousands of pounds of unsightly and dangerous debris" over three decades. At the time, Abbe noted: "It's a marvelous place. I'd like to think that I'm making somewhat of a difference to help keep it pristine."
After moving to Southern California, he became a frequent sight along the Coast Walk in La Jolla, removing pounds of trash each week along scenic overviews above the Pacific Ocean. He even placed his own garbage receptacles in spots where the city had none, emptying and cleaning them himself.
Abbe was an inveterate reader of history, having lived as a young child through some of the most consequential moments of the 20th Century. Two weeks before his death, Abbe made it a priority to renew his library card, fully intending to continue his unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
After his father had secured a scoop as the only Western photographer to capture images of Stalin in the Kremlin, in 1932 Abbe and his two siblings became unknowing international couriers, by way of their underclothes. By showing a signed portrait of Stalin to Soviet border guards, the family safely left Russia, but the youngsters hid "forbidden" negatives that later helped document the brutal nature of Stalin's Soviet rule. Many of those images were subsequently published in James Abbe's book, "I Photograph Russia."
Abbe was preceded in death by his daughter Karen, brother Richard, sister Patience, and 3 older half-siblings: James Abbe, Jr., Phyllis Kennedy, and Elizabeth Walton. He is survived by wife Carol Abbe, daughter Sandra Abbe of Riverside, grandchildren Larry Gene Averitt of Austin, Texas and Mary Ann Estes of Riverside, 5 great grandchildren, and half-sisters Tilly Abbe and Linda Lennihan of San Francisco.
A private remembrance will be held.
Donations in the name of John Abbe suggested to The Sierra Club Foundation, and the American River Parkway Foundation.
Mr. John Abbe
Age: 95 yrs. 4 mos. 1 dy.
S/O James Edward Abbe, Jr. & Mary Ann (Shorrock) Abbe
H/O Carol (Seymour) Abbe; m 1954, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
F/O Sandra Abbe
F/O Karen Abbe (3 Sep 1959-30 May 2014)
Obituary, The Sacramento [CA] Bee, Sat, 5 Nov 2022:
John Abbe
June 29, 1927 - October 30, 2022
La Jolla, California - John Abbe, the last of three Abbe children whose best-selling memoir, Around the World in 11 Years, was published in 1936, died on October 30, 2022 in La Jolla, CA at age 95.
He was born in Paris, France on June 29, 1927 to American parents, the photographer and foreign correspondent James Abbe, and Polly Shorrock Abbe, a former New York actress.
Abbe and his two older siblings, Richard and Patience, first came to the US in 1934 after spending their early childhood years in France, Austria, Germany, Russia and Great Britain. From New York, the family took a cross-country road trip to Colorado during the dust bowl, landing at a friend's ranch near Larkspur, Colorado.
Hoping to end an argument between their parents about a lapsed book deal, sister Patience vowed that the children would write a book. Their mother, a trained stenographer, took them up on it. She summoned the children one at a time to a spot under a big Cottonwood tree to dictate their humorous recollections about travels across Europe, memories sparked by their father's photographs spread out on a blanket.
Colorado became their new base, and they built the Abbe Ranch in Larkspur with the proceeds from the first of three books. The Abbe Ranch was later designated a Douglas County Colorado historical site, but the family continued to travel, and the children lived and attended school at various times in Colorado, Connecticut and California. After Abbe's parents separated in 1939, John, his mother and two siblings eventually relocated to Portland, Oregon, then to California where Abbe graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 1942. He joined the US Navy, and served on a ship in the Pacific during the months following the end of World War II.
John Abbe graduated from Stanford University on the GI Bill where he met fellow student, the former Carol Seymour, an artist and teacher, whom he married in 1954. Abbe started his career in public service as a regional director for the California State Employment Development Department, later advancing to the agency's management staff in Sacramento.
A lifelong proponent of physical fitness, he took his passion for bicycling to great lengths with personal challenges, including scaling major passes in the Swiss Alps via road bike, and following the path of the Tour de France in the country of his birth. He was an active member of the Sacramento Wheelmen, participating in many endurance rides up mountain passes in the High Sierra, and later assisting other riders as a volunteer in the "sag wagon."
A committed conservationist, Abbe was recently notified by the Sierra Club of his status as a 60-year member, an affiliation that began after a book authored by his brother-in-law François Leydet, "The Last Redwoods," was published by the Sierra Club.
After retirement, he redoubled his commitment to conservation, determined to prevent trash from fouling waterways. With his own weekly schedule and routes, and armed with a grabber and garbage sack, he continuously cleaned up sections of the banks of the American River in Sacramento. In 2015 he was honored by the American River Parkways Foundation as "Volunteer of the Year" for removing "thousands of pounds of unsightly and dangerous debris" over three decades. At the time, Abbe noted: "It's a marvelous place. I'd like to think that I'm making somewhat of a difference to help keep it pristine."
After moving to Southern California, he became a frequent sight along the Coast Walk in La Jolla, removing pounds of trash each week along scenic overviews above the Pacific Ocean. He even placed his own garbage receptacles in spots where the city had none, emptying and cleaning them himself.
Abbe was an inveterate reader of history, having lived as a young child through some of the most consequential moments of the 20th Century. Two weeks before his death, Abbe made it a priority to renew his library card, fully intending to continue his unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
After his father had secured a scoop as the only Western photographer to capture images of Stalin in the Kremlin, in 1932 Abbe and his two siblings became unknowing international couriers, by way of their underclothes. By showing a signed portrait of Stalin to Soviet border guards, the family safely left Russia, but the youngsters hid "forbidden" negatives that later helped document the brutal nature of Stalin's Soviet rule. Many of those images were subsequently published in James Abbe's book, "I Photograph Russia."
Abbe was preceded in death by his daughter Karen, brother Richard, sister Patience, and 3 older half-siblings: James Abbe, Jr., Phyllis Kennedy, and Elizabeth Walton. He is survived by wife Carol Abbe, daughter Sandra Abbe of Riverside, grandchildren Larry Gene Averitt of Austin, Texas and Mary Ann Estes of Riverside, 5 great grandchildren, and half-sisters Tilly Abbe and Linda Lennihan of San Francisco.
A private remembrance will be held.
Donations in the name of John Abbe suggested to The Sierra Club Foundation, and the American River Parkway Foundation.
Age: 95 yrs. 4 mos. 1 dy.
S/O James Edward Abbe, Jr. & Mary Ann (Shorrock) Abbe
H/O Carol (Seymour) Abbe; m 1954, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
F/O Sandra Abbe
F/O Karen Abbe (3 Sep 1959-30 May 2014)
Obituary, The Sacramento [CA] Bee, Sat, 5 Nov 2022:
John Abbe
June 29, 1927 - October 30, 2022
La Jolla, California - John Abbe, the last of three Abbe children whose best-selling memoir, Around the World in 11 Years, was published in 1936, died on October 30, 2022 in La Jolla, CA at age 95.
He was born in Paris, France on June 29, 1927 to American parents, the photographer and foreign correspondent James Abbe, and Polly Shorrock Abbe, a former New York actress.
Abbe and his two older siblings, Richard and Patience, first came to the US in 1934 after spending their early childhood years in France, Austria, Germany, Russia and Great Britain. From New York, the family took a cross-country road trip to Colorado during the dust bowl, landing at a friend's ranch near Larkspur, Colorado.
Hoping to end an argument between their parents about a lapsed book deal, sister Patience vowed that the children would write a book. Their mother, a trained stenographer, took them up on it. She summoned the children one at a time to a spot under a big Cottonwood tree to dictate their humorous recollections about travels across Europe, memories sparked by their father's photographs spread out on a blanket.
Colorado became their new base, and they built the Abbe Ranch in Larkspur with the proceeds from the first of three books. The Abbe Ranch was later designated a Douglas County Colorado historical site, but the family continued to travel, and the children lived and attended school at various times in Colorado, Connecticut and California. After Abbe's parents separated in 1939, John, his mother and two siblings eventually relocated to Portland, Oregon, then to California where Abbe graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 1942. He joined the US Navy, and served on a ship in the Pacific during the months following the end of World War II.
John Abbe graduated from Stanford University on the GI Bill where he met fellow student, the former Carol Seymour, an artist and teacher, whom he married in 1954. Abbe started his career in public service as a regional director for the California State Employment Development Department, later advancing to the agency's management staff in Sacramento.
A lifelong proponent of physical fitness, he took his passion for bicycling to great lengths with personal challenges, including scaling major passes in the Swiss Alps via road bike, and following the path of the Tour de France in the country of his birth. He was an active member of the Sacramento Wheelmen, participating in many endurance rides up mountain passes in the High Sierra, and later assisting other riders as a volunteer in the "sag wagon."
A committed conservationist, Abbe was recently notified by the Sierra Club of his status as a 60-year member, an affiliation that began after a book authored by his brother-in-law François Leydet, "The Last Redwoods," was published by the Sierra Club.
After retirement, he redoubled his commitment to conservation, determined to prevent trash from fouling waterways. With his own weekly schedule and routes, and armed with a grabber and garbage sack, he continuously cleaned up sections of the banks of the American River in Sacramento. In 2015 he was honored by the American River Parkways Foundation as "Volunteer of the Year" for removing "thousands of pounds of unsightly and dangerous debris" over three decades. At the time, Abbe noted: "It's a marvelous place. I'd like to think that I'm making somewhat of a difference to help keep it pristine."
After moving to Southern California, he became a frequent sight along the Coast Walk in La Jolla, removing pounds of trash each week along scenic overviews above the Pacific Ocean. He even placed his own garbage receptacles in spots where the city had none, emptying and cleaning them himself.
Abbe was an inveterate reader of history, having lived as a young child through some of the most consequential moments of the 20th Century. Two weeks before his death, Abbe made it a priority to renew his library card, fully intending to continue his unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
After his father had secured a scoop as the only Western photographer to capture images of Stalin in the Kremlin, in 1932 Abbe and his two siblings became unknowing international couriers, by way of their underclothes. By showing a signed portrait of Stalin to Soviet border guards, the family safely left Russia, but the youngsters hid "forbidden" negatives that later helped document the brutal nature of Stalin's Soviet rule. Many of those images were subsequently published in James Abbe's book, "I Photograph Russia."
Abbe was preceded in death by his daughter Karen, brother Richard, sister Patience, and 3 older half-siblings: James Abbe, Jr., Phyllis Kennedy, and Elizabeth Walton. He is survived by wife Carol Abbe, daughter Sandra Abbe of Riverside, grandchildren Larry Gene Averitt of Austin, Texas and Mary Ann Estes of Riverside, 5 great grandchildren, and half-sisters Tilly Abbe and Linda Lennihan of San Francisco.
A private remembrance will be held.
Donations in the name of John Abbe suggested to The Sierra Club Foundation, and the American River Parkway Foundation.
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