Sabra Kent Drohan
By DEIRDRE McCROHAN
Sabra Kent Drohan, an ardent and popular community organizer and fundraiser, died June 14, 2010, at a Modesto hospital after suffering a heart attack at her family ranch near Columbia in the Sierra foothills, two days before her 77th birthday.
A celebration of her life will be held at the Tiburon Peninsula Club at 5 p.m., Friday, June 25. Mrs. Drohan was born in Berkeley, the daughter of Edward Angle Kent and Elizabeth Trowbridge Kent. As a girl, she founded the Daring Club in which she and her friends would challenge each other to perform acts of prowess and bravery. She spent all her summers at the Columbia ranch, which her parents bought, and indulged her love of horses and riding.
After graduating from the Anna Head School in Berkeley, she earned a degree in history at Smith College in Massachusetts. She toured Europe and worked in summer stock theater after college, then took a job in advertising in San Francisco. She then moved to New York to work at Young & Rubicam and then joined CBS.
She and her husband, Tom Drohan, met at the Dogwood Room, a notorious watering hole. They were married in 1956 in the East Bay. She never lost her love for New York and returned frequently.
In 1959, the Drohans moved to Tiburon. She raised her children and opened her house to friends, family, neighbors and total strangers. She was very active in the community, giving her time, energy and money to the Belvedere-Tiburon Community Library, Raccoon Branch of Marin General Hospital Volunteers, Marin Country Day School, Marin Academy, San Francisco Symphony, Marin Charitable Foundation, Marin Foundation (Sunny Hills) and San Francisco Education Fund. She was a founding member of Alumnae Resources, an organization that helps college graduates find jobs.
When the Tiburon theater troupe Pelican Players was established, she worked as a stagehand and later served on the Marin Theatre Company board of directors.
Over the years, she devoted herself to various local and national election campaigns. Her avid interest in politics started early. Although she was a liberal Democrat at heart, she would sometimes switch parties for a more interesting race. She attended the Eisenhower Inauguration in 1952 and the Republican National Convention in San Francisco in 1964. During the McCarthy hearings, as a joke, she invited McCarthy aide Roy Cohn to her junior prom.
As often as possible, she drove or flew up to the family ranch in Columbia. She was an avid competitive bridge player and loved reading and doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. She was devoted to her Golden Retrievers and was an enthusiastic world traveler. She had recently returned from Egypt and Jordan.
Mrs. Drohan’s husband died in 1984. She is survived by her four children, Thomas Drohan, Jr. of San Francisco; Sabra Drohan Peterson of Novato; Michele Drohan Lynn of Richmond; and Daniel Drohan of Petaluma; a sister, Margaret von der Linde of Basking Ridge, New Jersey; a brother, Edward Kent of Redwood City; six grandchildren, Thomas Peterson, Daniel Drohan, Jr., Greta Lynn, Nathan Drohan, Elizabeth Peterson, and James Drohan; and several nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, her family asks that donations in her name be sent to Legal Assistance to the Elderly of San Francisco, 995 Market Street, Suite 1400, San Francisco; or to a charity of one’s choice.