Claremont Obituaries
Mother, grandmother, teacher, chemist, volunteer, church worker Ruth Allin died May 24. She was in hospice care at Pilgrim Place Health Services Center following a brief illness. She was born […]
John Harold Calvin was born April 21, 1932, to Homer Calvin and Lucille (Robertson) Calvin, in Concordia, Kansas, and died on July 19, 2023, in Portland, Oregon surrounded by loving family.
The Rev. Robert B. “Bob” Davis was born April 3, 1939 in Burbank, California, the only child of Robert C. and Isabelle M. (Bryant) Davis. He grew up in North Hollywood where he attended Victory Boulevard Elementary, Sun Valley Jr. High, and North Hollywood High School. He attended the North Hollywood Methodist Church with his family, was active in scouting and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in 1955.
James (Jim) Otto Hillman, loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, died June 27 at the age of 88. He resided in Claremont with his wife Judy.
Artist, gardener, seamstress, friend Kathryn Herrman, textile artist and long-time participant in the Claremont arts community, died July 16 from complications from surgery. She was 72. Kathryn lived nearly all […]
C. Dean Freudenberger died quietly on July 2 at age 93 with family present at home, Pilgrim Place.
Dean was born in Los Angeles on March 9, 1930 to Carl and Minerva Freudenberger. He attended LA schools, graduating from Dorsey High School in 1948. Though he entered Occidental College that fall, “history of civilization” was not for him, and he transferred to then all men’s Cal Poly, San Louis Obispo, where he majored in landscape design and crops, graduating in 1953.
Virginia Benningfield, mother of former Claremont Mayor Diann Ring, died peacefully July 1 at Mount San Antonio Gardens with her granddaughter, Susan Ring, and close friends and caregivers at her side. She was born July 7, 1922, and had celebrated her 100th birthday with a large party last year.
Claremont resident and former mayor Joe Lyons died Thursday, December 8, 2022 at the age of 77. A celebration of life service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, July 22 at La Verne Church of the Brethren, 2425 E St., La Verne, CA 91750. It will be recorded and livestreamed on YouTube at youtube.com/live/5h0zxaNNALI?feature=share.
Colin Campbell McDonald, M.D., died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes March 10 at the age of 93.
Longtime Claremont resident Marguerite “Peg” Helena (Belair) Swanberg died July 7. She was 92.
Patricia A. Lambert died peacefully of natural causes on June 14 at her home in Claremont. She was 85.
On Wednesday, May 17, 2023, Andrew Rankin Caddes, beloved father, brother, uncle, and friend, died peacefully in Brea, California. He was 76 years old.
Longtime Claremont residents John R. Serpa, 91, and Margaret R. Serpa, 96, died within days of each other, peacefully in their home, on June 21 and June 23, respectively. They were lovingly married for 66 years.
Ruth Oakyung Chung, daughter of the Rev. Robert Chung and Kyong Sook Chung, and sister of Elliott Chung, Paul Chung, and Larry Jhung, (all deceased), died peacefully on the evening of June 19 at age 88.
Independent, straight-talking, and always brimming with motherly love and advice, Lynne Spear — a 44-year Claremont resident and retired Pitzer College staffer — died after a sudden illness on May 24, just days short of her 84th birthday.
“We mourn the loss of Hans C. Palmer, who died on May 26, 2023, at the Vinson Hall Retirement Community in McLean, Virginia,” his family shared. He had been ill for the previous six weeks.
Hans’ parents, Hans Peter Palmer and Dagny Ella Stockel Palmer, immigrated to the United States from Denmark in 1923. They eventually settled in New York City, where Hans was born on September 21, 1933.
Jane Prendergast, 81, of Claremont, died March 13.
Jane was born on December 14, 1941 to Eleanor and Gerard McGinty in New York. She grew up in the Bronx with her brothers James (“Jim”) and John (“Jack”), and her sister Patricia. The McGinty family spent summers at the family beach bungalow in Breezy Point, New York, where she developed many happy memories and a lifelong love of the sea.