By Khalida Sarwari
Anna Stojanovich, a lifelong Campbell resident who belonged to one of the last farming families in the area, died on April 21. She was 88 years old.
Stojanovich will leave behind a lasting legacy through the Stojanovich Family Park that was built on the Stojanovich Ranch property she owned with her late husband, Edward Stojanovich. The 1.3-acre park site on Union Avenue was once part of a larger parcel of land where the Stojanovichs ran a fruit drying business during Campbell’s orchard days.
After the death of her husband, the land stayed empty for several years until Stojanovich sold it to the city below market value in October 2007 with the stipulation that it be turned into a park. In December 2011, Stojanovich presided over a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new naturalistic-themed park.
Stojanovich was born in Willow Glen in 1924 and her family moved to Campbell in 1927. Her parents made their living in orchards and canneries, which surrounded the area then. She and her two older brothers, Stephen and Peter, and younger sister Catherine all attended Campbell schools.
She will be most remembered for her charitable endeavors, said her brother-in-law Ralph Bogner, a retired 85-year-old who resides in Santa Cruz.
“She was very happy, cheerful and a nice person to talk to,” said Bogner. “She always had a good outlook on life and tried to help people.”
Bogner said he and his wife, Catherine, Stojanovich’s only surviving sibling, spoke with Stojanovich on the phone just two days before her death. She seemed to be in good health, aside from the normal aches and pains that come with aging. It appears she died after suffering a stroke or heart attack at a gathering in Campbell, he said.
“We were very shocked when we heard about it,” said Bogner.
Bogner, who was once a farmer in Campbell, said he has known the Stojanoviches for more than 60 years. Ed and Anna married in 1946 and never had children. Ed Stojanovich was a prune and apricot grower, and he and his wife farmed on property that his family owned. Anna Stojanovich did not work outside the home except to help her husband in the drying shed. They were one of the last families to quit farming in Campbell, Bogner said.
“She was like my sister,” Bogner said. “She’ll be missed by a lot of people.”
Stojanovich’s brothers died previously. In addition to her sister, she is survived by seven nephews and one niece.
A celebration mass was scheduled for Stojanovich on May 2 at St. Lucy’s in Campbell.
On May 1, the Campbell City Council adjourned a meeting in her honor. Of Stojanovich’s passing, Mayor Mike Kotowski said he was saddened to lose a woman he described as a “gentle lady” who devoted many years of her life to the city.
“I’m disappointed that she’s not going to be here to enjoy her park,” he said. “[She and her husband] have left us a legacy.”
Stojanovich leaves a lasting legacy in the city of Campbell with park named in her honor
