Leanne Bauman Kerchner died November 27, four days after suffering a massive stroke. Her children—Paige Kaplan and Charles A. Kerchner—and her husband, Chuck, were with her as she passed. She was 79 and had lived in Claremont for four and a half decades.
Lothar “Larry” Fox died November 15 at age 91 in Upland. Larry was known and acclaimed for many things during his rich and varied life. He earned a number of medals during his 27-year career with the U.S. Army and was also a jazz disc jockey for many years as well as a successful and acclaimed jazz drummer.
Mark Thomas Hunter died peacefully November 4 at his home in Chino at the age of 60. He is survived by his wife of 17 years, Jennifer; children, Addison, Michael (Melissa) and Justin; stepson, Alex; daughter-in-law, Taylor; grandchildren, Hailey and Mila; mother, Nancy; brothers, Brian and Michael; sister-in-law, Tammy; and nephews, Scott and Ryan.
Suzanne Charlotte Festag Colp, a longtime Phoenicia, New York resident, died Monday, Nov. 9, 2020 at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, from injuries sustained in a fall at her home last July. She was 67. A native Californian, Suzanne was born on April 8, 1953 and raised in Claremont. She graduated from Claremont High School in 1971 and attended Chaffey Community College.
Longtime Claremont resident Jim Brost died November 27 at Sunrise Assisted Living after enduring a long illness. He was 76. Jim was born February 3, 1944 in Seattle, Washington to loving parents Otto and Agatha Brost. When he was five, the Brost family moved from Glendive, Montana to Pomona.
Donald Lee “Don” Obert was born November 8, 1935. His father, William John Obert, was from New York and his mother, Betty Jane Bohley, from Cleveland.
Don grew up with his father near the mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles. Those were delightful early years which saw bus trips to Santa Monica Beach with his cousin, Pat, fishing off the Redondo Beach pier, and many other family outings.
Sylvia Ann Phillips-Walker died peacefully on November 3 at the age of 77. She was surrounded by her three children and husband during her extensive hospital stay and at the time of her transition.
Sylvia was born January 16, 1943 in Charleston, West Virginia to Theodore DeWitt Phillips and Sheila King Phillips.
Both she and the man who would become her husband of 51 years, Robert Prince Walker, grew up in Institute, West Virginia.
Claremont resident Teresa Lynn Wolfe Ingalls, known by all as Terri, died November 13 at the age of 62.
She was a beloved daughter, wife, sister, mother, “grammy,” aunt, teacher, neighbor, colleague, friend and so much more.
Terri was born in Pomona in 1958 to Ed and Elaine Wolfe.
Loving husband, father, computer science professor, jazz educator, musician, mentor
Robert (Bob) M. Keller died September 13 at age 76 in Claremont after a battle with aggressive brain cancer, his wife and sons at his side. He was born on June 12, 1944 to Robert and Ella (Marion) Keller in St. Louis, Missouri, where his parents owned a small corner grocery store. The oldest of three children, he grew up living in the family home, which was attached to the store.
Mother, award-winning artist, Pomona College grad
Penelope “Penny” Claire Ross, age 59, died the evening of October 7 at her home in Houston, Texas after a nearly two year battle with pancreatic cancer.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1961 to Ralph Ross, a philosophy professor, and Alicia Johnson, a computer programmer, she spent her youth in Claremont, where she graduated from Claremont High School and earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from Pomona College in 1983.
CGU grad, political consultant, traveler, pianist
Peter Dan Vasilovich was born September 5, 1946, in Fresno, California. His grandparents immigrated to America from Montenegro in 1914.
He grew up on his family’s farm in Reedley, California, attended rural elementary schools and Reedley High School, where he served as student body president and boys’ state representative.
Beloved father, grandfather, 40-year Cal Poly Pomona professor Laszlo Szijj died October 3 at the age of 88.
Laszlo was born in Budapest, Hungary on February 16, 1932. He developed an interest in the natural world from an early age, and along with his brother Josef, pursued a career in academia.
Professor, pastor, social activist, musician, woodworker
Stanley Raymond Moore, longtime Pilgrim Place resident, died October 3, at the age of 90.
Many Claremont residents will remember him as “Stan the Music Man,” singing kids’ songs at the annual Pilgrim Place Festival. He was a founding member of the Pilgrim Pickers, a folk music ensemble, and organized and hosted the Pilgrim Place Comedy Night performances.
Dedicated Latter-day Saint, teacher, artist
Barbara Gustaveson died October 4 due to complications from sepsis. She was 61.
She was born in Pomona on September 27, 1959 to Robert Carl Gustaveson and Julia Anne Neville Gustaveson.
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