Claremont Obituaries

Devoted husband, father, and son Matthew Daniel Wesley, 52, born August 12, 1972, died January 5 after a short illness. He was a former resident of Claremont and a current resident of Ontario. Matt graduated from California State University, San Bernardino with a business degree, then went to work with his father at SRS Construction. […]

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

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 […]

Beatriz Zita

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 […]

Loving mother, avid runner, tireless volunteer Longtime Redlands resident Anna Hollenberg died on December 20, 2014 at her home in Mount San Antonio Gardens in Claremont after a short illness. She was 85.   She was born in Los Angeles in December 1929 to Carl and Ruth Hoglund and raised in Alhambra. She graduated from the University of Redlands in […]

Loving mother and grandmother, pillar of strength Calm, strong and independent to the end, Betty Bulkley died peacefully on December 28, 2014 in her own apartment at Claremont Manor as she had wished, under hospice care after a recent diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Just shy of 88, she was able to enjoy a “big table” […]

Family, friends, colleagues, volunteers, Claremonters Mary Cooke Miller Joan Carolyn Coats Martha Kohl Ervin Audra A. Oleson Edra L. Navarro Young George Copenhaver Patricia Catherine Walker Dan Rhoades Donald Eugene Garner Wendy Christine Losh Lewis W. Snider Frank Rice Florence Graubart Mary Ellen Day Rex Wayne Slocum Anita Gwen Shanahan Kurt Harold Kenworth Beverly I. […]

Family anchor, enthusiastic volunteer Former Claremont resident Rena S. Smilkstein died in Sacramento on November 21, 2014. She was 91. She was born, raised and educated in Los Angeles, the daughter of Russian immigrants Henry and Molly Rosenblatt. Her father was a writer and poet and her mother a nurse. Throughout schooling and during undergraduate […]

John D. Sullivan

Pitzer professor, loving husband and father John D. “Jack” Sullivan, a longtime Claremont resident, died on December 2, 2014 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 77. He was born on June 30, 1937 in San Francisco to John and Elsie Sullivan. He served in the US Army for two years before going on […]