High school administrator, world traveler, Pomona College, CGU grad

Patrick Andrew Powell, 90, died peacefully in his sleep on Wednesday morning, February 26.

He was born January 23, 1930 in Loma Linda, California to Stephen Powell and Margaret Laurie Powell, the youngest of their three sons. He grew up in Fontana with his extended family, working in the family lumber yard, and graduated from Chaffey High School in 1948.

In 1949 he joined a group biking through Europe. He met his German pen pal of six years on that trip, Steffi Beck, who would become a close, lifelong friend. He returned Germany the following year to study at the University of Köln.

He then attended Pomona College, where he met the woman who would become his wife, Anne Martha Hooker. They were married on May 2, 1953, the beginning of a 56-year union. 

After graduating from Pomona and getting married, he was drafted by the US Army and stationed in Germany. The newlyweds used their spare time to explore the surrounding European countries, beginning their life of travel together.

After returning from Germany, they lived in Arizona, where Mr. Powell pursued studies at Thunderbird School of Global Management, considering a business career in South America.

He began teaching at La Puente High School in the mid-1950s. It was a brand new facility, staffed by a young group of teachers, who would go on to become lifelong friends. The faculty formed a bridge group that met monthly for more than 50 years.

The Powells’ son, Andy, was born in 1955, and daughters Anne Elizabeth and Susan were born in 1957 and 1961, respectively.

In 1961 Mr. Powell earned his master’s degree in administration from Claremont Graduate School and became a school administrator at La Puente. In 1967 the family moved to a home on Ottowa Drive in Claremont, where the children grew up and he would live for 53 years.

He loved history, and both he and Ms. Powell were lifelong readers and traveled all over the world together.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, Anne Hooker Powell, in 2009. He is survived by his children and grandson, Albert.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 21 at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, 830 W. Bonita Ave., Claremont.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Mr. Powell’s name to the Memorial Garden Fund at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church at www.stambroseclaremont.org/giving, or by check to 830 W. Bonita Ave., Claremont, CA 91711.