Claremont Obituaries
Helen Jean Buckelew died July 10. Born June 13, 1932, Jean was raised in Oklahoma, where she met her future husband, Clyde Truman Buckelew when she was 15 years old. They married when she was 18 and he had just turned 19. For the next six years she lived with him in Virginia, Florida, and finally Memphis, Tennessee, where their son and daughter were born while he completed his U.S. Navy service.
Esteemed and beloved university professor, activist, author, great-grandfather Donald William Bray, a Claremont resident for nearly six decades who taught political science at Cal State LA for 49 years, died October 17 at the age of 90. Donald was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on July 17, 1929 to Gustav Wilhelm and Lorinda Nelson Bray. […]
Lifelong Claremont resident, retired police officer, devoted father William Paul Smith died October 21 surrounded by his two children, sister, family and close friends. He was 57 years old. A lifelong Claremonter, he was born to parents James Rankin Smith and Edith Kay Otis Smith on June 21, 1962 at Pomona Valley Hospital. He grew […]
Beloved grandmother, mother, longtime Claremont resident Helen Huk died peacefully on October 26 in New Jersey at the age of 94. Helen was born in Chicago to Polish immigrants on Christmas Eve, 1924 She married Stephen in May 1943, just five days before he was shipped out to fight in World War II. She was […]
Grandfather, pastor to international and US churches, active at Pilgrim Place Born in Chicago in 1934, the Rev. Thomas Duggan died from complications of lymphoma, on October 21 at his home in Claremont. When Tom was a young child his family moved from Chicago to Pelham, New York, with his father practicing law in New […]
Teacher, voracious reader, was 101 Virginia Rose Delman died peacefully on Wednesday, October 23 at her home in Claremont at the age of 101. Virginia was born in Chicago to Ralph and Celia Rose on February 21, 1918. The family included siblings William (Bill) Rose and Leonore Rubey, and numerous nieces and nephews After receiving […]
Outdoorsman, travel enthusiast, mechanical engineer Surrounded by family and friends, former Claremont resident Chris Miller died September 27, at the age of 49, following cardiac surgery. Chris was born in Duarte, California. He lived in Claremont from the age of four, attending Oakmont Elementary School and El Roble, and graduating from Claremont High in 1988. […]
Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, biochemist, educator, quilter With great sorrow and love for a life fully lived, the family of longtime Claremont resident Barbara C. Dev announces her death, which took place October 8 while in the company of loved ones. Barbara fought a prolonged battle with ovarian cancer. Barbara was a beloved wife, mother, […]
Caring minister, trailblazing woman Frances Florence Shorrock joined us on earth as a real lightweight, but left as a spiritual heavyweight—and along the way made the world a little bit better for us, her family shared. She was born on July 30, 1930 in Seattle, Washington, and due to pneumonia weighed just two and-a-half pounds. […]
Great-great-grandmother, concert pianist, traveler, was 104 years old Lucile Gates Carr died peacefully Wednesday, September 4 at Mt. San Antonio Gardens’ Oak Tree Lodge in Pomona. She was one month shy of her 105th birthday. She was born October 5, 1914 in Marble Rock, Iowa, and suffered early from serious childhood asthma. When she was five years […]
Compassionate legal advocate, musician, loving wife Catherine Rose Lombardo died at 12:44 p.m. September 18 at her Claremont home, surrounded by her family. She was 54 years old and fought a brave four-year battle against ovarian cancer. Catherine was a musician from the age of 10, when she started playing the guitar. She earned a […]
Episcopal deacon, longtime Alaskan, great-grandmother Betty Lou Anthony died August 9 at age 89. She was born 90 years ago today, on Friday, September 13, 1929, at the beginning of the Great Depression. Being a child of this era she learned frugality, perseverance, and a great deal of common sense. Betty Lou was an ordained […]
Brother, son, uncle, music lover Alan E. Wray was born, October 11, 1961 in Pomona. He grew up in Claremont, where he was the fifth of five children born to Bob and Daisy Wray. He attended Pomona’s El Camino School for developmentally disabled children until he was 21. Soon after he joined the Ontario-Pomona Association […]
Beloved mother, grandmother, longtime Claremonter, devout Catholic, sports fan Mary Frances Patterson Brehaut died peacefully at her Claremont home on Sunday, June 16 at the age of 95. Mary was born December 19, 1923 in Los Angeles. The daughter of James and Loretto Patterson, she was one of five children. She lived in several […]
Buddhist, minister, sculptor, musician, teacher, journalist, gardener Former Claremont resident Jeanne Variell Stott Chippendale died August 25 at the age of 94. Jeanne was born March 9, 1925 in Golden, Colorado to Helen Variell Cole and Charles Edwin Stott. Prior to her mother’s death from tuberculosis when she was four, she was sent to live […]
Beloved matriarch, mother of nine, devout Catholic, minister, dancer Ellen Catherine Carlson died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Claremont on August 25. The daughter of the late James J. and Evelyn McQuaid, Ellen was born March 3, 1932, in Los Angeles. She grew up in Glendale, attended Bellarmine-Jefferson grade school and high […]
Esteemed Pomona College professor, professional soprano vocalist Gwendolyn Lytle, who led a distinguished career as a vocal soloist and college professor at the University of California, Riverside and Pomona College, died August 22 in Claremont, after a courageous battle with liver cancer. She was 74. Beloved sister, aunt, colleague, teacher and friend, her life was […]