Richard Hornby, who fought Parkinson’s disease for many years, died peacefully just after midnight this past February 11 due to a brain hemorrhage. He had a sweet half-smile on his face to the end, reported his wife Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei. He was 79.
Forty-seven year Claremont residents George Murray Bailey, 94, and his loving wife Claire Busk Bailey, 92, shared a poignant end when they died within a week of each other, on July 31 and August 6, respectively.
The celebration of the life of Barbara Beretich will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, September 15 at Balch Hall, Scripps College, 1030 N. Columbia Ave., Claremont. Speakers will include renowned artists Diane Divelbess and Ms. Beretich’s friend from elementary school, Sis Wenger from Washington DC.
Successful wholesale rose entrepreneur
Chino resident Verona E. Weeks died August 29 at the age of 102. She was born March 18, 1916, in Bentonville, Arkansas. For more than 40 years Ms. Weeks was the co-owner of Weeks Wholesale Roses. She utilized her marketing skills to grow the company over the course of 15 years from a small parcel of land in Wasco, California, to more than a thousand acres of thriving roses.
Great grandmother, devoted Catholic, English teacher
Margaret Mary (Mackenzie) Cox died peacefully at age 99 on August 29 at her home in Claremont, surrounded by family and her caregiver, Betty Leon.
Beloved family physician, advocate for the mentally ill and addicted
Dr. Louis Joseph Biscotti died at his home in San Diego on August 24 at the age of 73 after years of failing health.
Dr. Biscotti raised his three children Dina, Bridget and Michael Biscotti in Claremont. From 1980 to 2008 he had a thriving business as a family practice physician specializing in allergy in Montclair, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga. He saw patients at Doctor’s Hospital of Montclair, Upland’s San Antonio Community Hospital and Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. He was also an adjunct professor of addiction medicine at Loma Linda University, and served as medical director at Loma Linda Behavioral Medical Center for several years.
Pioneering aerospace engineer, baseball, movie and music fan, great grandfather
John George Gabel, 90, died peacefully at his home in Claremont on August 31 after a very brief illness.
John was born in Tonawanda, New York, August 4, 1928 to Josef Gebel and Terese Svarczkopf, both of whom immigrated as teenagers from the same village in Tur Terebes, Hungary. He was proud of his Hungarian ancestry and visited his parents’ village (now Turulung, Romania) on his 80th birthday.
Philip Cushman Myhre, emeritus professor and former chair of the Department of Chemistry at Claremont’s Harvey Mudd College, died of Alzheimer’s disease on August 26 in Tennessee at the age of 85.
He had been cared for at home for many years, and with increased urgency as his struggles with the disease intensified over the last month.
Mr. Myhre was born in Tacoma, Washington to Ardnt Edwin Myhre, a minister, and Selma Alfrieda Peterson, a teacher.
Nurse, friend, devoted ‘prayer warrior’
On August 20, at the age of 83, Diana Speakman died while surrounded by her family and friends.
Her life was filled with helping and nurturing others as a wife, mother, friend and registered nurse, and she lived a productive, fruitful life, always faithful to her family and savior, her family shared.
