Polly Asher Troxell
February 17, 1927 – September 12, 2020
Resident of Lafayette
Long time Lafayette resident, Polly Asher Troxell, passed away in Walnut Creek on September 12, 2020, after a brief illness.
Polly was born in Ajo, Arizona, a small copper mining town, 93 years ago. She learned to play the piano at a young age and performed on the local radio station at age 12. During World War II, Polly and her high school classmates picked cotton to help with the war effort. Polly graduated from Mesa High School in 1945 and from Arizona State University (ASU) in 1949. After working at Valley National Bank for a year, she moved to San Francisco in 1950. There, she worked as a secretary to a high-ranking Army officer at the Presidio until taking a position as an executive secretary to a Vice President at PG&E in 1955.
Polly met her future spouse, Roger, in 1952 at a USO-sponsored dance for military officers at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco the night before Roger shipped out for Korea. It was love at first sight. After the war ended in 1953, they were reunited. Polly continued to live and work in San Francisco while Roger worked as an Engineer on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and then pursued his masters at UC Berkeley. Roger often bragged that during their courtship, “Polly was making more money as an executive secretary than I was as a junior engineer!” Polly and Roger were married in San Francisco in 1955 and later moved to Whittier, where their first child was born. A couple of years later, they moved to Berkeley where their second child was born. Finally, they moved to Lafayette in 1959, just months before their third child was born. There, they raised their three children, along with two cats, a rabbit, a few hamsters, and a dog named Chipper.
For many years, Polly was an active member of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), an investment club called “The Merry Marketeers,” and the local Republican Woman’s Club. She hosted numerous extended family gatherings at Christmas, Thanksgiving, and in their garden in late summer. She enjoyed family trips to the beach and mountains in the summer, and in spring, annual road trips to see her relatives in Arizona. In the fall, she loved going to the San Francisco Opera and to Memorial Stadium for Cal Football, where she and Roger were season ticket holders for more than 40 years. She was also an avid 49er fan. Polly and Roger enjoyed many travels overseas, visiting countries in Europe, Asia, and Central America. She had particularly fond memories of their travels to China in 1982, an Alaska cruise with her sister Margie and brother-in-law, Doug, and of their last cruise, through the Caribbean and the Panama Canal to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Closer to home, Polly and Roger always made it a point to attend the numerous concerts, performances, and sporting events that their children and grandchildren were involved in. In her later years, Polly found much joy in her rose garden.
Polly was preceded in death by her parents, William and Bernice Asher, and by her brother, William. She is survived by her spouse, her two sisters, her three children, her five grandchildren, and her great-grandson. Polly was loved by all, and will be sorely missed.
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