71-year Claremont resident, US Army vet, educator, accomplished musician

Glenn Davenport was born on August 18, 1924 in Sugar Pine, California. Sugar Pine was the site of the Sugar Pine Madera Lumber Company, located near the south entrance of Yosemite National Park. 

His father, Clint Davenport, worked there as a camp foreman for many years. Along with his mother, Edith (Knippenberg) Davenport, and sister, Ethel, the family lived in one of the camp cabins at Sugar Pine.

The family moved to Fresno, California in 1929 when the depression caused the collapse of the lumber company. 

Glenn and Ethel attended Fresno schools where he graduated from Fresno High School in January, 1943. In March, 1943 the draft board sent him to Aberdeen, South Dakota for basic training, and then to Europe where he served in the US Army during World War II. He was honorably discharged in April, 1946.

After the Army, he attended Fresno State University. While there, he met Anne Geoghegan, whom he would marry in 1948. In 1949, the newlyweds moved to Claremont, where he attended Claremont Graduate School, earning his master’s degree in education. 

He spent his career in education, teaching in the Chino Unified School District. Mr. Davenport taught fifth grade at El Rancho Elementary and later mathematics at Magnolia Junior High. 

The couple were married 68 years at the time of Ms. Davenport’s death in 2016.

As a young man, his ambition was to be a concert violinist, and he played from a young age. He did not let military service deter his musical passion, finding private violin instruction near his basic training location as well as while stationed in Vienna, Austria. 

Although he ultimately chose teaching over music as a profession, he was quite accomplished,  and continued to play violin, viola, and later cello throughout his life. He regularly played in local community and college orchestras as well as several quartet groups.

He died May 1 at Claremont Manor, where he and Ms. Davenport had lived since 2000.

He is survived by his sons, Andy and his wife Elizabeth Hodas, and Paul and his wife Lori.

“Glenn was a kind man, a caring teacher, a loving husband and father, and a dear friend to many,” his family shared. “He exemplified our nation’s greatest generation.”