She declared that riding on the back of a convertible was just not for her. She led the parade on a rented elephant.

My wife’s grandmother passed away last week. She had a long run on this world, making it to 102 years of age.

The last few years were hard, but when I first met Ailie - or as we called her Oma - was over 18 years ago at the young age 84. And she was full of energy and life.

Here is her obit.

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Helen Adele Elizabeth van Loben Sels Chamberlin known as Ailie to friends and family passed from her life at age 102. She was a resident of Los Olivos, California for 75 years.

Ailie died Saturday evening, August 16, in her home on Rancho Los Potreros in Los Olivos.

The historic San Francisco earthquake of April 1906, marked the beginning of Ailie’s life. Her mother, Helen Ellsworth van Loben Sels, went into labor during the seismic activity. Ailie was born the following day, April 19, 1906, in the family home in Oakland, California. Family legend says that her father, Maurits C.C. van Loben Sels, was out duck hunting in the Sacramento Delta at the time of her birth.

Ailie’s nickname came about because she was known by her initials, H.A.E. to differentiate her from her mother and Grandmother, both Helen. A younger sibling was unable to pronounce H.A.E., so she became Ailie. She was the oldest of seven children.

Ailie was raised on the family ranch in the Sacramento Delta, about 25 miles down the river from Sacramento. The “home ranch” is still operated by two of her nephews. Her grandfather Peter Justus van Loben Sels (an immigrant from Holland) was the first person to successfully build levees that could withstand the annual flooding of the Sacramento River.

They raised Percheron Horses to enable them to farm sugar beets in the pre-World War I period. They worked 80 teams of horses to do all of the farming operations. Summers they herded the breeding stock about 150 miles into the Sierra mountains. This started the family’s long involvement with the High Country in the Ebbetts Pass area. Her mother wrote a book, “Blue Jays in the Sierras,” about the family’s summer adventures.

One of Ailie’s more remarkable adventures was a horseback ride from Ojai to Grass Valley in 1928. Her brothers all attended Thatcher School in Ojai. Her brother Peter sustained a rather serious rattlesnake bite while there. He was deemed too ill to finish the school year. Ailie was given $50 by her father to take the train to Ojai, buy a horse and to ride with her brother to bring him back to the family’s temporary home in Grass Valley. They rode over the Sespe into the Cuyama Valley and dropped into the upper part of the Salinas River drainage. They decided that following the inland route would be too hot, and so crossed over the coastal mountains from the Paso Robles area and arrived at the coast in Cambria. From there they rode up the Big Sur coastline following trails. At that time Highway 1 was only just under construction by convict labor. They camped or stayed with the local ranchers. Their big treat was spending the night at the Hearst Ranch. It was raining, they asked permission to camp and light a fire near the creek. They were offered the use of a little cottage with hot water and a bathtub. They woke up scratching fleas which had infested their sleeping bags. It turned out to be the temporarily vacant doghouse.

Ailie was privately tutored at home with her siblings. It was a traditional education, studying French and playing the piano. Her last two years of high school were at Castilleja School for Girls, in Palo Alto, California. She graduated from Stanford University in 1929 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology. She received her Masters in Entomology from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. (Ironically, this is where her parents met, years before, over judging the merits of a bull).

After university she worked as a governess for a Plantation family on Maui. In September 1933 Ailie came to the Santa Ynez Valley to teach Biology and Girls P.E. at the Union High School, which at that time was located in Santa Ynez. Her second year of teaching took place in a tent, while the new school was under construction at its present site. During this time, she met her future husband, Theodore Chamberlin, Jr., a local cattle rancher who was on the school board of trustees. They were married March 7, 1935 at her parent’s home, Amistad, in Courtland, California. Ted picked March as the best time to marry so that he could take time off from ranching for a three day San Francisco honeymoon.

They took up residence on Ted’s Rancho Los Potreros which he had purchased in 1929. Ted was from a prominent California ranching family. His mother was Anne Bixby. The Bixby family had ranches in the Hollister area, in Paso Robles and in Long Beach.

Ted and Ailie had seven children. Two passed away at a very young age. Their eldest child Anne was born in January 1936 and passed away in 1937 shortly after Helen was born. Helen’s birth in October 1937 was swiftly followed by that of Fred, Willy, Debi and Mike. Mike passed away at age 6 in 1952. Sarah was born shortly thereafter.

Ailie was actively involved in assisting her husband with the ranch. Whether it was rounding up cattle or separating the milk, churning butter, cooking Mountain Oysters or preparing ranch grown garbanzo beans she was busy. Laundry was on Tuesdays and Thursdays and was a day long business assisted by a new-fangled wringer washer. She was expected to cook lunch and dinner everyday. Lunch was an ever-expanding meal depending on whom Ted decided to entertain at the last moment. There was always canning, gardening, and at days end she was still darning and mending before grabbing a few moments at the very end of the day to read.

She especially loved riding horseback. She rode with the Sage Hens until she had to stop riding altogether when she was in her mid eighties.

Ailie was active with many organizations over her long life span. She was a founding member of the SYV Co-coordinating Council, the Children’s Health Memorial and the Santa Barbara County Cattlewomen. (Originally it was known as the Cow Belles.) She was a Deacon and active member of the SYV Presbyterian Church in Ballard. She supported the SYV Chorale from it’s inception 30 years ago. She was active with the American Field Service. She sewed very large flags to represent each foreign exchange student that came to the Valley. She hosted two exchange students: Inger Sandberg from Norway and Chantal Mareuil from France. Chantal has remained a life-long “daughter.”

When her children were young she was a Cub Scout, Girl Scout and Brownie leader. She was active in Mother’s Club and 4-H. And she was a very active member of the Valley Republican Women’s group. Ailie was the Grand Marshall for the annual Los Olivos Day in the Country Parade in 1985. She declared that riding on the back of a convertible was just not for her. She led the parade on a rented elephant. In July of this year the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Society honored her for being a Valley Pioneer.

Ailie loved to travel. She achieved a life long goal to go through the Panama Canal by ship when she was in her 90¹s. She traveled around the world accompanied by eleven-year-old Sarah in 1963. They visited her daughter Helen who was living in Bangkok, Thailand and her daughter Debi who was furthering her Russian language studies in Paris, France. She traveled to Maracaibo, Venezuela to attend the birth of her granddaughter Mary. She did several Elder Hostel trips, one to the ³Land of the Midnight Sun². She went up the Mississippi River in 1980 on the Delta Queen. She remembered the Delta Queen from using her for transportation up and down the Sacramento River in the early 1900¹s. She cruised the Inside Passage to Alaska. She made trips to Holland, Germany and Austria to visit family. She furthered her studies at the Santa Barbara City College and made a camping geology trip with them to the Grand Canyon. She did an eight day horseback trek in Spain when she was 78.

She is survived by her children Fred and his wife Johanna Chamberlin of Los Olivos: by Willy Chamberlin of Los Olivos; by Deb O¹Brien of Richmond CA: and by Sarah Chamberlin and her husband Benjamin Bottoms of Los Olivos.

Her grandchildren are Adel Browning, Los Olivos; Ann Chamberlin and Sami Revah, Manhattan Beach; Cinna and Guy Schilling, Santa Cruz; Mary Heyden and David Anderson, Los Olivos: Eden and Anton Brenner, Albany, CA; Russell and Laurie Chamberlin, Grass Valley and Aaron and Kelley O¹Brien of Fairfax CA.

She has nine great-grandchildren: Amanda Browning, Jamie and Dante Brenner, Olivia and Lauren Chamberlin, Raleigh, Callen and Sutter O¹Brien and Theodore Anderson.

She was predeceased by her husband Ted Chamberlin in 1978: by her children Anne 1937, Mike, 1952, Helen C. Heyden in 2002 and by her granddaughter Beth Chamberlin in 2004.

Ailie was the eldest of seven children all of whom predeceased her: Lucy Lois vLS Tryon, of Angels Camp CA; Maurits Just van Loben Sels, of Menlo Park CA; Peter Jan van Loben Sels, of El Monte CA; Adele Virginie van Loben Sels, of Los Angeles CA; Ernst Carel Dirk van Loben Sels, of Courtland CA and William Ellsworth van Loben Sels of Vista CA.

Memorial Services and a Celebration of her Long Life will be held at the SYV Presbyterian Church in Ballard at 2 pm on Saturday, September 13, immediately followed by a barbeque at the family ranch 3 miles north of Los Olivos on Figueroa Mountain Road. The family would like you to be comfortably dressed for a ranch meadow barbeque where there will be an opportunity fot family and friends to share experiences with Ailie.

In her honor memorial funds have been set up at the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Society, PO Box 181, Santa Ynez 93460; The Santa Barbara County Cattlewomen, c/o Gerry Campbell, treas. 2350 East Hwy 246 Lompoc 93436; and the Santa Ynez Valley Chorale, P.O. Box 1902 Santa Ynez 93460

The family would especially like to honor and thank her wonderful group of caregivers. They were an integral and loving part of her life for her last years: Felicia Cody, Rose Delaney, Erlinda Gomez, Ulla Marx, Dorothy Moffitt, Tracee Reynaud and Jane Wallin;. also a special thanks to Linda Martin who gave her a massage every week and to Ismael Diaz who gardened for her for 19 years.

She was a grand lady who made a big impact in all of our lives. She loved family, horses and riding, and all forms of nature, especially wildflowers. She could name them all. She will be missed.