Amy West

Amy was born on February 17, 1926 to National Geographic photographer Clifton Royal Adams and Rosamond Snell. She was photographed many, many times by her talented father, which made her camera shy for much of her life – fortunately she got over it in her later years. Her father contributed to the development of color photography and traveled the world, often taking Rosamond, Amy, and younger sister Evelyn with him.

Amy came from an impressive line of matriarchs and carried on that tradition proudly. Her mother, grandmother, aunt, and great-aunt provided diverse and strong role models that she modeled to her children, grandchildren, and great-granddaughter. Education was always key, even when women attending college was not the norm.

Tragically Amy’s father died when she was eight years old, and the family moved to Kalamazoo MI after his death. They eventually settled in Sault Ste. Marie, MI where Amy’s grandmother lived and where Amy attended high school. The family did not have enough money for Amy to attend college so she got “the best job she ever had” with the National Weather Service due to so many men being deployed in World War Two. Two years later she entered the University of Michigan where she won awards for writing and graduated a Phi Beta Kappa in 1949.

While visiting a college friend over a Thanksgiving holiday she met her future husband, Philip West, who was attending law school at the University of Michigan. They married in June of 1950 and for their honeymoon, drove to California with all of their belongings. They toured Northern California and visited one of Phil’s relatives in Ventura, then settled in Los Angeles where they lived on tuna sandwiches, both working while Phil studied for the California Bar exam.

When Phil passed the bar, they moved to Fillmore, California, population 3,800, where he started his own private practice. There were some lean years, when Phil got paid in produce rather than cash, but they stuck it out and welcomed daughter Barbara in 1951 and daughter Sally in 1952. In 1955 Phil won a big case that gave him some much-needed income and enough notoriety to ensure a steady stream of clients. Tuna sandwiches had made their last appearance. Daughter Allyson was born in 1957. Phil was appointed as a judge to the Ventura County Municipal Court in 1959, and to the Superior Court in 1968. Amy and Phil had full lives working, raising children, volunteering in the community, and developing long-term friendships. They bought a small boat and enjoyed taking it out for day sails with friends and family.

Tragedy struck in 1970 when Phil went sailing with two friends to Anacapa Island. A storm blew the boat into the rocks and Phil and one of his friends did not survive. Amy decided to move to the Big City of Ventura with Allyson (Barbara and Sally were off to college) and soon decided on a career in accounting. While Allyson was in school, Amy attended Cal State Northridge, getting her masters in accounting in short order – and with honors, of course – and then passed the CPA exam without breaking a sweat. She applied for jobs at one of the Big Eight accounting firms but was told that they had a policy of not hiring women, so she settled on a local firm. When legislation was passed prohibiting sex discrimination she reapplied to Deloitte Haskins and Sells and landed the job. She spent many happy years as a tax accountant, working in Oxnard at the same time as her banker daughter Allyson in the 1980s.

In 1975 Amy decided that she wanted to date, and had lovely, long-term romances (although not at the same time!), all with men who sailed and belonged to Ventura Yacht Club. The ocean’s dangers were not going to deter her from her love of sailing and she socialized primarily with people who shared her enthusiasm for the rest of her life. She joined Ventura Yacht Club herself in 1981, possibly the second woman to join in the club’s history. She was the first female treasurer of the club, and the first female VYC board member. Besides sailing and her family, travel was Amy’s other great love. Her trips included South America, China, India, Turkey, Europe, Canada, Alaska, Australia, and New Zealand. She dearly loved car trips around California, Anza-Borrego desert being a favorite destination. She traveled far and wide with partners and with her daughters.

In 1989 she and partner Roger Bock bought their 45’ Sea Ranger, the Ile Delice, and moved aboard. Amy lived there beyond Roger’s death in 2006, but started to spend more and more time with her daughters in Oakland, CA once the pandemic began. Her last visit to her beloved boat was August, 2025 where she was able to see her yacht club friends and have a drink at the bar.

What drew people to Amy was her love of life, love of family, and her sunny disposition. She was kind and generous and showed genuine interest in others. She quietly gave her time in various volunteer capacities throughout her life. In addition to being treasurer and serving on the board, she participated joyfully in Ventura Yacht Club activities, donated her time to racing events, the juniors’ program, and the clothing locker at VYC. She donated generously to causes supporting people less fortunate and animal conservation and rescue. She also volunteered as a docent at the Channel Islands National Park Visitor’s Center until she was 94 years old.

Her greatest joy was her family, and she modeled love, understanding, cooperation, generosity, professionalism, empathy, appreciation of life’s joys and wonders, adventurousness, artistic talent, love of music, and the ability to weather any storm for the strong women she left behind. She had a close and unique bond with every member of her family and appreciated each for who they are. Amy considered herself a “hedonist" in her later years, as she enjoyed life to the fullest and traveled and adventured both here and abroad as much as possible. She enjoyed her nightly gin and tonics and mint chip ice cream with equal gusto, and would never turn down a filet mignon.

She is preceded in death by her husband Philip West and her sister Evelyn Adams, and leaves behind her daughters Barbara West, Sally West, and Allyson West; sons-in-law Tom Richardson and Peter Compton; granddaughters Ellen Compton and Claire Compton; grandson-in-law Mike Koole; and great granddaughter Jocelyn Compton.