Marina Rosadela Villanueva

1935 - 2022

Long-time Palo Alto resident Marina Rosadela Villanueva passed away peacefully December 29th at the age of 87. Throughout her life she valued friendships and embraced culture. Travel was her passion, and it fed her deep curiosity of other places and cultures. Marina was born in Tela, Honduras, C.A. growing up with two older sisters. Living close to the ocean and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world made for a wonderful adolescence of friends, family, and nature. As she entered high school, she joined her sisters at a Catholic boarding school in the pine woods of Mississippi. After graduation she choose to stay in the United States. She settled in New Orleans rooming with cousins, getting a job at Hibernia Bank and reveling in the culture of the Big Easy. Marina also lived in Chicago where she became an executive secretary working for law firms. In the seventies Marina followed one of her sisters to Palo Alto, California for a climate more familiar to her. Her experience proved fruitful and she had a long tenure working again as an executive secretary for the legal council at Alza Pharmaceutical Co. An early company in the area that helped pave the way for Silicon Valley. Marina was very social and has always enjoyed the company of friends and family but also exploring the world to meet new friends and understanding other cultures. In one trip to Spain she met her husband Poul Arndal who was an artist from Denmark and who joined her in Palo Alto until his passing. They both enjoyed traveling together, cooking and most of all enjoying each other along with their friends. Marina was predeceased by her husband in 2014 and sister Martha Gaudin, of New Orleans, La, in 2017. She is survived by her sister Olga Thomson of Palo Alto, CA, and her nephew Mark Thomson of Seattle, WA.