Stella Sutter

Stella Frances Deas Pfanner Sutter was born on October 29, 1928 in Yreka, California and was raised on a dairy ranch in Montague, California. Her mother Frieda was a Swiss immigrant, and her father Frank was a Californian of Portuguese-Azorean descent. She had a sister, Vera, who was a year younger.

Raised during the Great Depression, Stella always had the dream of becoming a registered nurse. In 1946 she went to the Mercy College of Nursing at Mercy Hospital in Sacramento. In those days, student nurses lived in dormitories behind the hospital. There, Stella made lifelong friendships with her fellow nurses and graduated in 1949. She practiced nursing until she married Ernest Pfanner, Jr., from Davis in 1951.

At that point, Stella put her nursing career on hold and raised seven children on the family dairy ranch outside of Davis. In 1970 the marriage ended, and Stella went back to nursing at the UC Davis Student Health Center. She worked there for 10 years – and made even more good friends until she moved to San Francisco where she worked at UC Moffet Hospital.

In 1985 Stella married Martin Sutter and they moved to Cloverdale, California when she retired in 1988. Stella made even more friends in Cloverdale where she and Marty were very active in the local community.

When Marty died in 2011, Stella moved back to Davis at the request of her children. She maintained a small condominium, made even more friends playing bridge, and continued her loyal support of the San Francisco Giants.

Stella was a lifelong member of the Catholic Church, was involved in the PTA at Plainfield School, and functioned as a community leader at the West Plainfield 4H Club. She loved to travel and was very proud of her family.

Stella left this world on November 16, 2021, with a smile on her face and is off on a mission to make a lot more friends in an even better place.

Her Son Hans predeceased her in 1981. She is survived by six adult children: Jim Pfanner of Los Angeles, CA; Louise Gallup of Mission Viejo, CA; Bill Pfanner of Davis, CA; Heidi Adamski of Davis, Ca; Ann Sisson of Linden, CA; and Brenda Casady of Red Oak, Texas.

She also has 12 grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren