Claremont Obituaries

Early childhood teacher, county office administrator, quality knitter Thirty-five year resident at the Claremont Club HOA in Claremont, Aletrice Martin died of heart failure on Wednesday, July 18 at the age of 80. Aletrice was born in Ada, Oklahoma to Alma and Dr. Lenard Grindstaff. After the birth of her sister Sandra, the family moved […]

Philanthropist, grandmother, tireless volunteer, mother to many Joan Renken, a beloved wife, mother, and grandmother who was known as a generous charity patron, died unexpectedly on Saturday, June 30. She was 81. Ms. Renken was blessed with nearly 54 years of marriage to Keith Renken, former managing partner for Deloitte and Touche’s southwest region. She […]

Loving wife, mother, musician, community volunteer Ann Louise (Ritchey) Gray died peacefully with her husband and children at her side in Claremont on June 26, after a series of recent health setbacks. She was born on May 22, 1937 in Emporium, Pennsylvania to Clarence LaVelle and Helen (Gundy) Ritchey. After World War II she moved […]

Great grandfather, minister, volunteer George Aki, former US Army chaplain, retired minister, and longtime Claremont resident died July 4. He was 103 years old. Mr. Aki was born in Livingston, California on September 11, 1914 and was raised in Fresno. He became the first non-white civil servant in that city and later attended Fresno State […]

Wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend Longtime Claremont resident Nancy Elizabeth Hewitt Magnusson died July 1 at age 82. She was born August 11, 1935, and grew up in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. As a youth she enjoyed spending time in Traverse City, on the shore of Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay. She attended the University of […]

One of 17 siblings, longtime Claremonter, dedicated father, friend, volunteer   Twenty-seven year Claremont resident Hal Kent Platts died July 2 at the age of 82. Mr. Platts was born on Friday the 13th in September, 1935 in Lyman, Wyoming. He was the 16th of 17 children. He grew up in the small town, working […]

Loving mother, teacher, ambassador of Japanese culture, soul full of life and laughter   Yaeko “Jean” Davis died peacefully in her Ontario home on Monday, June 11 at the age of 93. She was born April 16, 1925 as the third child of a Kuge Samurai family in Kyoto, Japan. Due to her mother’s long […]

Grande dame of Claremont art scene, sculptor, influential gallery director   Barbara Beretich, a force behind the Claremont art scene for more than 50 years, died in her sleep Friday, June 15, surrounded by her art and the animals she loved. She was 82 years old. Considered by many to be the grande dame of […]

Music lover, son, brother   James Graham Jr. (Jim) died peacefully at his Claremont home on May 26.  Jim was born on August 28, 1952 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. He was a resident of Claremont since 1962, graduating from Claremont High School in 1970 where he played trumpet in the Wolfpack marching band. A lifelong lover […]

Great grandmother, longtime Claremont resident, volunteer, realtor   Jane Hinckley Johnson, a Claremont resident and Pomona College faculty wife from 1950 to 1976, died from natural causes at her assisted living home in Eugene, Oregon on April 17, nearly a month after turning 90.  She was born in 1928 in San Francisco to attorney Theodore […]

Loving husband, singer, traveler, citizen of the world   Kenneth E. Hunter, a resident of Claremont for 51 years, died May 20 at Mt. San Antonio Gardens at 86 years of age after years of struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was born in Los Angeles on March 4, 1932 to Kenneth E. Hunter, Sr. and […]

Longtime Claremont resident Gail Jerome Frampton died the night of June 4, with his family by his side. He was 90. Gail was born December 3, 1927 in Ocean Falls, British Columbia, Canada, to Charlie and Grace Frampton, and moved to Pomona shortly thereafter. It was in Pomona that he spent his formative years with […]

Passionate traveler, adventurous spirit, grandmother Longtime Claremont resident Julie Albert, PhD, world traveler, renowned cook, mother, intellectual, humanitarian and friend to many, died May 22 at her home surrounded by family. She had spent the last several months in home hospice visited by a constant stream of visitors. She was 85 years old. Ms. Albert […]

Mother, poet, pianist, lover of the ocean, boating and swimming Georgia Olmsted Rust Davis died peacefully after a long illness on May 18 at Pilgrim Place Health Services Center in Claremont. She was 89. She was born July 29, 1928, in Buffalo, New York, the youngest of five children with four older brothers. She was […]

Counselor, mother, vivacious spirit Ellen C. Warmbrunn, 89, a Pomona College graduate and longtime Claremont resident, died on May 2. Born in Seattle in 1929, she grew up on the shores of Lake Washington with Mt. Rainier on the horizon. Her father was a lawyer and civic leader who, during the Depression, once accepted a […]

Loving wife and mother, hospital volunteer Ruth Eleanor Gross, a resident of Claremont for more than 50 years, died peacefully on May 21 at the age of 96. Born Ruth Eleanor Cowguill on October 22, 1921 in Fairfield, Iowa, she was the third child of Jess and Hazel Moorman Cowguill. Raised on the family farm […]