GLENNA JEAN BIRD

BIRD, GLENNA JEAN (MAY) Irvine, California - Glenna Jean Bird, (nee May), 84, of Irvine and Rancho Penasquitos, CA, and Rochester, MI, passed away May 24, 2010, at UC, Irvine, Med. Center, from complications of surgery. Born September 11, 1925, in Cairo, IL to Ermal Fern (Jordan) May and Earl C. May, Glenna Jean May attended school in Cairo and graduated from Rochester H.S., in 1943. She took college courses in writing and literature and earned a residential real estate license. On May 1, 1943, Glenna Jean May married Claude Marsh Bird of Rochester, MI, US Army-Air Corps aviation cadet and later a USAF Lt. Col. & Command Pilot who flew 5600 hours with 268 combat missions in World War II and Vietnam. Traveling extensively with the A.F., they lived in Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, California, Hawaii, and in Germany, Pakistan, and Iran. Unable to work overseas, Glenna was a fabulous Mom, and she served as President of the Sembach AFB Wives Club while perfecting her bridge skills. To help finance her children's educations, Glenna was a real estate agent in O'Fallon, IL. From 2007 - 2010, Mrs. Bird resided at Regents Point, Irvine, CA where she enjoyed bridge, water aerobics, genealogy and volunteering in the library. She enjoyed attending films, concerts, and the ballet. In Nov. 2009 she toured Egypt for two weeks with her daughter, took a cruise on the Nile and a walking tour of Ramses VI tomb in Valley of the Kings. Glenna Jean Bird is survived by her two children Claudia Bird Schoonhoven, PhD and Ronald Frank Bird, JD, three grandsons, Scott Gerald Schoonhoven, Andrew Claude Bird, and Bryan Ronald Bird, and three great- grandchildren William Bryan and Alexander Justin Bird and Scarlett Grace Schoonhoven. An only child, she is survived by Claude's two sisters' children: Robert Tyler, James Tyler, Marilyn Ramin Jenkins, Sally Ramin Schultz, Charles Ramin, MD and Glenn Ramin. Glenna Jean May Bird was interred June 2, 2010, with her husband, Claude Marsh Bird, (1923-2006), at the Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, CA.

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