Beverly Diane Cervone

Beverly Diane Wheeler Cervone, a Lab retiree, died April 23. She was 81.

Cervone was born Sept. 18, 1928, to Lora Irene Swisher Wheeler and James Knox Polk Raney Benjamin Wheeler, in Hoopeston, Ill.

She married Tony Cervone in September 1949 and lived in Oakland until 1958 when the family moved to San Leandro. She stayed home to raise her children until 1968 when, after completing her degree in criminal justice, she became an Alameda County Deputy Sheriff.

Her assignments included monthly shifts at Alameda County Jail, Santa Rita, in Dublin, Calif., guarding and transporting female prisoners during their trials. Her most notable assignment was guarding Emily Harris, the notorious co-founder of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) and kidnapper of Patty Hearst, during her lengthy trial in Alameda County Superior Court.

In 1980, she left the sheriff’s department and continued her working career as a protective force officer at LLNL, where she retired in 1993. In 1995, with her husband, she moved to Sun City in Roseville, Calif., where they met many new friends and enjoyed the final chapter of their lives together.

She is survived by her two sons, Bruce and Anthony; seven grandchildren, Dawn, Andrea, Kristin, Scott, Angela, Michele and Anthony; and seven great-grandchildren, Cole, Ava, Sean, Evan, Alan, Hallie and Anabelle.

She was preceded in death by her grandson, Danny, and was married to musician and artist, Anthony “Tony” Cervone, for 57 years until his death Oct. 4, 2006.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Pleasant Grove Community Church in Roseville, Calif. at 11 a.m. May 1. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Cervone’s name to the American Cancer Society or Pleasant Grove Community Church.