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Bill Coblentz and Temelec Hall

Bill Coblentz, was lawyer, regent, wise advocate and a friend to everyone he knew.

Bill Coblentz, was lawyer, regent, wise advocate and a friend to everyone he knew.

The death of San Francisco attorney Bill Coblentz at age 88 last Monday marked not only the passing of a friend, a respected colleague and a force in California politics, but also severed a connection to the history of Sonoma Valley. A portion of Mariano Vallejo's gigantic Mexican land grant was the southwest corner which included present-day Temelec. Vallejo sold several hundred acres of this property to the American Gen. Persifer Smith shortly after the general set up, in Sonoma, the headquarters of the U. S. Army's West Coast command in 1849.

On his property Smith built a modest house from a "kit" shipped around the Horn. When Gen. Smith left, he sold the acreage and the house to a major who in turn, in September, 1855, sold it to William Swift, who bought adjoining land jointly with his brother Capt. Granville Swift, an original Bear Flagger, and cousin Franklin Sears (hence the name Sears Point), bringing the total to 1,500 acres.

When William died from appendicitis in 1855, Granville, who had become wealthy as a successful gold rusher, bought out William's holdings and those of other family members and began to build the largest mansion north of San Francisco, now called Temelec Hall. His wife, Jane Eliza, a handsome San Francisco socialite, tired of lonely country living and moved to San Francisco by 1863. Swift conveyed the property to a creditor in 1863 and was killed in 1875 when he was thrown from a mule while prospecting in Napa County in an unsuccessful effort to recoup his fortune.

The heart of the property was soon sold to Col. William Kissane, who moved into the mansion with his extensive family and purchased additional acres to bring the total to 1640. Kissane eventually mortgaged the property, and lost it to foreclosure in 1893. Temelec, including the deteriorating mansion, was neglected and unoccupied except for a "watchman."

In 1915 Lolita Schweitzer moved from Park Avenue, New York City, to California for the specific purpose of buying and renovating Temelec Hall, its chief outbuildings and 268 acres. Soon after arrival, she married prominent San Francisco physician, Edmond D. Coblentz, close friend of William Randolph Hearst, innovative young publisher of The San Francisco Examiner.

Their son, William K. Coblentz, was born July 28, 1922. As he was growing up he reported in a recent interview that the simple family advice was, "think, watch and listen." He liked to emphasize that his education was virtually free: Lowell High School, University of California pre-tuition, and Yale Law School under the G.I. Bill.

His parents completed the restoration of Temelec Hall by 1936, when it was named California Historical Landmark #237. As a boy, Bill could swim in the mansion's pool, as would his children. Index-Tribune Publisher Bill Lynch recalls swimming there in later years with a flock of young people.

As a newly minted attorney, Coblentz soon caught the attention of Attorney General Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, and when Pat was elected governor in 1958, he appointed Coblentz his special counsel in the Governor's Office.

This was quite an honor, since Gov. Brown was well-known for respecting and encouraging the work of top-flight young attorneys. It also placed Bill in the center of state government action.

Meanwhile, Dr. Coblentz had died and Bill's mother had moved to Sonoma. In 1961 she sold her Temelec property to developers with the stipulation that Temelec Hall would be preserved as a centerpiece of the emerging development. By 1964, construction of residences began.
Brown appointed Bill a regent of the University of California, where he argued for boycott of the apartheid regime of South Africa and for allowing professors to teach no matter where they fit on the philosophical spectrum. An adviser to Mayor Dianne Feinstein, she named Coblentz to the city's Airport Commission. He helped package several major civic developments and won Bill Graham the opportunity to use the aging Fillmore Auditorium for rock concerts.

Coblentz was honored by UC's Institute of Governmental Studies and the California Bar Association for his contributions as a lawyer to civic betterment.

On a personal note, Bill Coblentz was well-established as an effective attorney and confidant of the governor by the time I started law practice in San Francisco and became acquainted with him. He was a personality, a quietly brilliant man who never said a foolish thing.
In political campaigns it was always a boost in morale to know that he was involved. The most lasting impression was his smile, even in moments of stress.

To say we were friends is over-stating the obvious because, as his daughter Wendy was quoted, "He was everyone's best friend." He was a product of a time when a principled man like Bill Coblentz was respected and the law was a profession and not just a business.
He leaves his wife, Jean, son Andy, daughter Wendy, four grandchildren and a tradition of a valued life of which any family would be proud.