Claremont Obituaries
Grandmother, public servant, longtime Claremont resident Longtime community member Marilyn Hazel Engelke, 79, died in the early morning hours of December 1 in Pomona after a brief hospitalization for sudden heart failure. She was described by family as a “devoted grandmother, mother and community member.” Born in 1945 in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley, Marilyn […]
Longtime Claremont resident and dentist Gerald “Jerry” Juergens died on July 10, 2015 after a brief illness. He was 90. He was born in Whittier on November 22, 1924 to Frederick Juergens and Etta Ernst. He lived his entire life in southern California except for a three-year tour as a dentist in the US Navy […]
Eleonore Regina Russak Powell died June 29, 2015 at Pilgrim Place in Claremont. She was 98 years old. She was born on June 12, 1917 in New York City, New York where she attended Hunter College. She was active in the First Presbyterian Church of Jamaica, New York where she met her future husband, Oliver […]
Dedicated professor, gifted musician Mark David Parsons died peacefully, surrounded by his family, on June 3, 2015 at his parents’ home in Bend, Oregon following an extended battle with cancer. He was 55. Mr. Parsons was born on December 29, 1959 in Enid, Oklahoma to David and Avalon Parsons, and spent his junior high, high […]
Margaret Woosley died on May 30, 2015. She was 96. Mrs. Woosley was born in Los Angeles on July 21, 1918 to Vera and Jonas Frownfelter and spent her early years in Upland. After her family moved to Alhambra, she graduated from Alhambra High School. In 1978, she married Dean Woosley, a former high school […]
Laurie Lambert Nix died on May 13, 2015 at the age of 46. She was born on July 4, 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her family moved to California in 1971 and she was a Claremont resident for many years. Laurie attended Condit and Our Lady of the Assumption elementary schools and St. Lucy’s Priory High […]
Entrepreneur, veteran, loving patriarch Mario “Marty” Gottuso Sr., a longtime Claremont resident, died on May 22, 2015. He was 92. He was born in 1922 in Utica, New York to Vincent Gottuso, a Pentecostal minister, and his wife Evangeline, both of whose parents immigrated to the United States from Sicily, Italy in the early 1900s. […]
Jeffrey Nelson, a longtime Claremont resident, died on May 13, 2015 after a brief battle with brain cancer. He was 68. He was born in New York on July 13, 1946 to Lala and Clarence Nelson. Mr. Nelson graduated from Brooklyn Tech and earned his bachelor’s degree at Wagner College and his master’s degree at […]
Loving wife, mother and grandmother Martha Leone Noble Russell of Claremont died on April 22, 2015 at Pomona Valley Hospital. She was 93 years old. She was born on April 21, 1922 in Riceville, Iowa, the youngest child of Floyd A. Noble and Martha Mosher Noble. She was called Leone by friends and relatives […]
Newspaperman, jazz musician, loving patriarch Harrison Lee Stephens, a longtime Claremont resident, died on May 4, 2015, two months short of his 100th birthday. He was born on July 7, 1915 in Los Angeles, the son of Jess and Alice Stephens. His father was city attorney of Los Angeles for several years and then became […]
Activist, woman of faith, loving mother Mildred “Millie” Moser Smith, a longtime Pilgrim Place resident, died on April 1, 2015. She was 95. She was born on August 11, 1919 on a farm in Iowa, the fifth of sixth children of Edna and Alex Ross. Her father died of blood poisoning when she was six […]
Engineer, family man, practical joker Christopher Alan Stelzer died on February 3, 2015 from complications following surgery. He was 43. Mr. Stelzer graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993, after receiving a full scholarship to study mechanical engineering. He went on to spend his entire professional life at Technip, where he worked […]
Teacher, avid reader, loving mother and sister Beatriz Zita, a longtime resident of Claremont, died after a brief illness on Friday, March 27, 2015 at Pomona Valley Hospital. She was 84. Mrs. Zita was born in 1930 in Argentina to Leopoldo Salazar and Elvira Riondet. She received her degree in English there and began her […]
Reporter, loving mother and grandmother Longtime COURIER reporter Patricia “Pat” Lee Yarborough died on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 at the Pilgrim Place Health Center. She was 80. She was born on December 12, 1934 in Riverside to Clifton and Leona McCasland. Her parents had come to California from the dustbowl area of Arkansas and settled […]
Dedicated teacher and missionary, loving mother and grandmother On the evening of February 5, 2015, Marie Catherine Clarke Losh died peacefully in her home at Pilgrim Place from complications of multiple myeloma. She was 89 years old. She was born in Mishiwaka, Indiana on November 18, 1925 to Maybelle Pfaff Clarke and the Reverend Arthur […]
Music lover, tireless volunteer, beloved aunt Kathryn Theresa “Kit” Tournay, a longtime Claremont resident, died on February 3, 2015 of a stroke. She was 87. She was born March 18, 1927 in Newark, New Jersey where she graduated high school. Since World War II was in progress and women were needed in keeping the economy […]
Influential political philosopher, Lincoln scholar Harry V. Jaffa, professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College and the Claremont Graduate University, died on Saturday, January 10, 2015 at Pomona Valley Hospital. He was 96. Mr. Jaffa was born in New York City on October 7, 1918 to Arthur and Frances Landau Jaffa and grew up in Long […]