Cameron and Jeanette Ainsworth

1921 - 2016

Cameron Ainsworth was a husband, a father, a chemist and a physician. He was born to Francis Ainsworth and Sadie Moore Ainsworth on the 13th of November in 1920 at Three Hills, Alberta, where his father Francis Ainsworth was a homesteader. He got his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta in 1945 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Rochester where he met his future wife Jeanette Freeborn. They were married in 1948 in Rochester. Cameron took them to the University of Colorado for post-doctoral study, then to Indianapolis where he worked as a medicinal chemist for Eli Lily Pharmaceuticals Their son John was born in Indianapolis in 1955. After 15 years at Eli Lily, Cam returned to academic life as an assistant professor at Colorado State University, where he taught and conducted research on organosilicon compounds. In 1972 he joined the faculty as the Chairperson of the Chemistry Department at San Francisco State University and moved his family to Redwood City, CA where they lived for the next 50 years. In 1981 he obtained his Medical Doctor Degree from the Esquela de Medicina Universidad Autonoma and in 1983 a Masters of Public Health from the University of Hawaii. While studying for these degrees Cam maintained his home in Redwood City. With degrees in hand he worked in consulting and advisory efforts, trying to assist people in disadvantaged countries with medical challenges. He was a member of the American Chemical Society, American Medical Association, American association for the Advancement of Science and Sigma Xi. He passed away at home in Redwood City on June 30, 2016.

Jeanette Freeborn Ainsworth

1917 - 2021

Jeanette Freeborn Ainsworth died on April 29,2021 at 103 years of age. She was predeceased by her son John Ainsworth and her husband Cameron Ainsworth. Jeanette was born Vera Jeanette Freeborn on June 17, 1917 to Victor D. Freeborn and Ina Stevens Freeborn in Sharon, Pennsylvania. Her father established several farm equipment companies during the boom and bust eras of the 1920’s and 1930’s, so she lived in several small towns graduating as valedictorian of her high school class in Cuba, New York. She received her Degree of Secretary Science from the Rochester Business Institute in 1937. From 1941 to 1946 she served in the Army Services Forces, Rochester Ordinance District, where she earned her pilots license in 1945. After the war ended, she toured the western United States with friends, coming back to Rochester to work as a secretary in the Department of Chemistry, University of Rochester. There she met her future husband, Cameron Ainsworth, a chemistry graduate student. She and Cam got married in Rochester on August 7, 1945.

After Cam graduated, they lived in Boulder, CO, Indianapolis, IN, Fort Collins, CO, and Redwood City as Cam progressed through his career. In Indianapolis, her son John Ainsworth was born in 1955, and Jeanette devoted her time and love raising John to manhood. As she moved from city to city, Jeanette reaped a harvest of friends that she maintained contact with her whole life. In 1969 she moved to Redwood City where she lived for 50 years.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.fostersgardenchapel.net for the Ainsworth family.