Yvonne Brunhilde Murtha-Stufkens May 7, 1928-April 19, 2017.

Yvonne Murtha, author, historian, survivor, was born on the island of Java, in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). She was the first of three children born to Jan Stufkens and Anna Harriette Elizabeth Lammers. At the outbreak of World War II her family was interned in Japanese Concentration Camps. These events shaped her life, and inspired her future writings. After the war, she immigrated first to Holland in 1946, then eventually to the United States in 1956. She settled in San Diego County in 1959. Her daughter Angela Violet Smyth was born in 1963, and her daughter Lorraine Virginia Smyth was born in 1965.

She moved to La Costa in 1987, and pursued her lifelong love of writing and storytelling. She is the author of poetry, screenplays, and books. Her historic novel "Bamboo Walls: The Mystery of the Djojobojo Prophecy" was published in 2013. It is a young woman's memoir of internment in a time of war. Her outlook on life was always positive, and she cherished her family, neighbors and friends. She saved every card and letter ever written to her, and was always sentimental about birthdays and anniversaries.

She is survived by her daughters Angela (Chris) Hougen, Lorraine (Anthony Estrada) Smyth, grandchildren Kadian Vanessa Shaw, James Robert Hougen, and Stephanie Victoria (Jack) Behrend. She was met in heaven by her grandson Steven Robert Shaw. Her ashes will be scattered in Hawaii this summer, in a private memorial.