Vera G. Anderson died February 10, a month shy of her 97th birthday. She was born Vera Gertrude Norman to her parents Iris and Alfred in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, West Indies, in 1924. Vera moved to Detroit, Michigan at the age of 19 to attend what is now the University of Detroit. As was customary in the culture from which she came, she stayed with family, her maternal grandfather known as “Gramps,” who owned apartments in an area of Detroit known as “Black Bottom.”
Paul Minus, a resident of Pilgrim Place in Claremont, died on February 12.Paul was born on July 16, 1935 in Columbia, South Carolina and grew up in Charleston. A few weeks after turning 16 he left this home to attend Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Noted Claremont artist and stained glass maker Jane Slater Marquis, 98, died at her home in Claremont on the afternoon of March 26 .Born Elizabeth Jane Slater in Ogden, Utah, in 1922. While attending the experimental college she became a student and protege of influential artist Josef Albers.
Grandfather, soldier, award-winning peace activist, longtime Claremont Colleges professor, author. Beloved father, James Warren “Jim” Gould died March 13 at the age of 96.
Byron Hiller Light, grandfather, minister, pianist and peace activist The youngest of three children born to the Rev. Lyman M. and Viva S. Light, Byron, was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange, on December 16, 1931.. As a “P.K.” (preacher's kid), he lived in Long Beach, San Bernardino, Ontario, Los Angeles and Burbank, graduating from high school in 1949.
Dorothy Leslie Murray Hawkins died March 20 at the age of 85. Pre-war Balboa Island and wartime Long Beach shaped her earliest years. She lost her father when she was only 13. The girl who emerged from those experiences had friends she would keep forever, and a strong sense of self. Adventurous and open to new experiences from the start, she adapted when her mother moved the two of them from Southern California to Kansas halfway through high school.
Grandmother, Holocaust survivor, author, musical prodigy and Claremont resident since 1973, died November 13, 2020 after a valiant two-year battle with stomach cancer. She was the beloved mother of three children and devoted wife of Donald J. Huber, MD, who died July 14, 2020.
Charlene taught bilingual primary and music education for 25 years. She was a Brownie and Girl Scout leader in Claremont, a member of Claremont Presbyterian Church’s choir and also worked as an ambassador with the Claremont Chamber of Commerce.
Longtime Claremont resident Alan Sydney “Fraser” Pemberton died at home on February 1 of COPD-related causes. He was 86. Fraser was born in Hertfordshire, England and emigrated to Ontario, Canada at age 17, where he found work on a farm.
Claremont resident Lori Clonts Bodhaine died January 25 at the age of 57. She was a beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. Lori was born in Los Angeles in 1963. She grew up in Glendora, and was the third child in a family of eight children. Being the only girl, she was a great help to her parents in caring for her brothers. She was adored by her entire family. She graduated from Glendora High School in 1981.
Devoted father, grandfather, artist, athlete, avid sports fan, baseball coach, Gary Clobes, a Claremont resident for the past 40 years, died February 6 at Inter-Community Hospital in Covina. He was 73. Friends and family gathered for a celebration of his life on Saturday, February 20.
Silviano Aguilar, a longtime presence in the Claremont community, died January 16 at the age of 76. Silviano was born on October 18, 1944 in Jalisco, Mexico, and at the age of 16 moved to La Verne. As a young man, he worked in the area’s citrus orchards and for a paper company. Later, he became a building attendant at the Claremont Colleges. He worked many years with the professors, taking care of their classrooms. He was very well liked by the faculty, staff and students, and received a handsome watch when he retired that he wore proudly for the rest of his life.
Dudley “Duke” Arkell Warner, Jr. was born on May 20, 1937, raised in Hollywood, and attended Black-Foxe Military Institute, then Occidental College, where he met his future bride, Tamara Wenzel of Mexico City. They were married in 1961 and had three children. The family first made their home in Glendale, California, and then for 44 years, Claremont, before a final move to Prescott, Arizona in 2019.
Helen Rae, the contemporary artist who broke down barriers in art, age and accessibility has died at 83. She grew up in Claremont, where her father was a professor at one of the Claremont Colleges. She was deaf and nonverbal, and learned sign language and other methods of communication, most importantly visual art.
Claremont Courier on Social Media