In Loving Memory

Whitney “Tinker” Lucas Stolich died on January 29, 2023 near her home in Monterey, California at the age of 82. She was born in San Francisco on May 31, 1940 to Beryl Chilton Lucas and Harold D. Lucas. Tinker, an only child, grew up in Hillsborough and later in Woodside, California where she spent her early days riding horses, attending school and developing a love for country life.

She attended Katherine Delmar Burke elementary school, high school in Hillsborough, and college at UC California Berkeley, where she graduated with a degree in English literature in 1961. She taught elementary school for a number of years and also obtained her real estate license.

Tinker married Ronald Anthony Stolich of Pebble Beach, California, and in 1971 had their first child, James Galbraith Stolich. In 1972 they purchased a historic estate and Spanish land grant along Highway 68 known as Villa Munras, and established a working horse farm. Four years later, their daughter Whitney Ann Stolich was born.

The couple later divorced.

Tinker raised her children on the 50-acre horse farm and supported the family by boarding up to 30 horses.

While it was very hard work, Tinker thrived on the farm, driven by her love of horses and all the animals onthe property—among them, mallard ducks, blue herons, a donkey named Deliliah, Canadian geese, bobcats, and wild pigs. Tinker rescued many dogs over the years and also took in escapee cats from the neighboring SPCA animal shelter (she would make them beds in her court yard under a covered porch) and horses that others had given up on, allowing them all to live out their lives in her many pastures. When she was not tending to her animals, Tinker enjoyed working in her garden and pruning her many rose bushes.

Tinker— like her mother, the late Syd Lucas—loved to have friends and boarders over in the afternoon for coffee and treats, and she had a penchant for sweets and candy. Her daughter would visit from Southern California and her son would come down from San Francisco to cook for her, particularly for holidays. After a hard day of work checking on the horses, tending the garden and pulling manes—and on any given day veterinary or farrier visits—Tinker loved having a long, hot bath and relaxing in her bedroom in front of aroaring fireplace. She also enjoyed writing children’s stories, scuba diving, painting and photography, winning an award for her black and white photo of a California sea otter.

Tinker passed away after a battle with septicemia, a serious blood infection which attacks the body’s organs.

She is survived by both her children, her beloved warm-blood horse known as Fatty, and her handsome black labrador, Max.