Lucille Symonds Obituary

Lucille Symonds
11/24/1925 - 07/31/2025
On July 31, 2025 Lucille Symonds passed away peacefully, at her home in Rohnert Park, with her son Mark at her side-she was 99 years old and would have turned 100 in November. Lucille was born Lucile Thelma Lemieux to Emma Lemieux (Fontaine) and Eugene Oscar Lemieux in New Bedford, Mass. on November 24, 1925– both her parents were born in Canada. Her father served in WWI and was in the Maritime Service as a radio operator during WWII where his ship was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic-fortunately he survived.
Lucille had six siblings: Edward, Dolores, Ann, Raymond, Gene, and Roland-Roland only lived a few months. She graduated from New Bedford Vocational High School in 1944 and in 1949 moved to San Francisco to be near her sister Ann and brother-in-law Marty George. She married John Nicholas in 1953 and they had two children: Lisa in 1955 and Mark in 1957–they divorced in 1959. Lucille married Harold (Hal) Symonds in 1963 and they raised Lisa, Mark and Hal's son Greg in Daly City until moving to Rohnert Park in 1991–Hal died in 1998.
When Lucille first arrived in San Francisco she worked for a ship chandler, but for most of her working career she helped Hal run his photography business where she assisted his studio portraits and high school photography business. They were avid hikers and attended the Sigmund Stern Grove Sunday concerts for decades. Lucille was an avid reader who savored mysteries and always had a jigsaw puzzle going. Family and friends received a steady stream of greeting cards as she never forgot a birthday or a thank you note-she made you feel special and acknowledged.
Lucille was a loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother-her great and grandchildren used the French name for grandmother, Grand-mere (pronounced grand-may). Lucille was a life-time supporter of wildlife and enjoyed the companionship of many pets-including numerous feral cats. She truly had a loving soul.
Lucille was predeceased by her parents; her husband, Hal; her daughter, Lisa Gomes; her stepson, Greg Symonds; her nephew, David George; and all of her siblings.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by San Francisco Chronicle from Aug. 11 to Aug. 17, 2025.

Memories and Condolences
for Lucille Symonds

2 Entries

Stephanie and Tim Golder

August 18, 2025

My condolences to the Symonds family. We have known Lucille through the neighborhood and our moms and of course her beautiful kids. We will miss Lucille´s beautiful and carefree spirit. She was always our friend and it was nice to hang around with her.

Rick Helley

August 12, 2025

I am truly saddened to hear of Lucille´s passing. From my birth in 1954 until 1958, I and my family lived in an apartment complex in Westlake-Daly City, and Lucille and her family were neighbors. Lucille and my late mother, Louise (1915-2000), were good friends; and Lucille´s daughter, Lisa, born a year after me, was my very first friend in this world. I well remember Lisa and me, in around 1957, riding our small blue-and-white tricycles in the alley behind our apartment complex. I was broken-hearted to hear of the passing of Lisa, my life´s first friend, in 2014.

One event of note shared by Lucille, Lisa, my mother, and me was the big earthquake in Daly City on March 22, 1957, just before noon. We were at a local playground when it struck; and, although I don´t remember the quake, my mother later told me that she could hear the windows shattering in a local department store.

The last time I saw Lucille and Lisa was during a visit to them in Westlake by my mother and me in 1959 or 1960. However, in 1992, my mother was able to visit and have a very pleasant reunion with Lucille, and to meet Hal.

Despite the passage of decades, every year, without fail, Lucille always remembered me via her annual Christmas cards, which I´ve kept and cherish.

Although Lucille, my last living link to Westlake, is now gone, I am grateful to have known her, and will always cherish my memories of her and Lisa, and the times we shared.

(The photo of Hal and Lucille was taken by my mother in 1992.)

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