Proud Minnesotan, Lutheran minister, Bard lover, traveler; Lowell Larson died peacefully of natural causes at age 95 on May 10, in Claremont. He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and Lutheran minister. Lowell was born in LacQui Parle County, Minnesota, on October 22, 1914. He married Helen Akerson on April 28, 1946, and they had five children and 47 years of marriage until Helen’s death in 1993.
Great grandfather, car enthusiast, pilot; Longtime Claremont resident John Proffitt died suddenly at home on April 30. He was 72. John was born October 26, 1947 in Kansas City, Missouri. He came to California when he was 16 and never left.
Beloved mother, grandmother, educator. Patricia Ann (Patti) Brant, beloved mother and friend, died April 30, in New Haven, Connecticut. She was 74. She was born December 14, 1945, in Long Beach, California, to Opal and Ralph Thayer. Patti lived in Upland and Mt. Baldy most of her life. After graduation from Upland High School and The University of La Verne, she went on to become a respected science and home economics teacher in the Alta Loma School District.
Peace and civil rights activist, educator; James Joseph Lamb, aged 92, died May 15 at Pilgrim Place retirement community in Claremont. He was born in 1927 (the same year as Charles Lindbergh’s famous transatlantic flight) to a working class Irish Catholic family in the Bronx in New York City. Jim’s youth was spent in the Bronx’s City Island and in Riverside, New Jersey.
Suzanne Hall Christian died surrounded by loved ones on May 5, of complications related to a rare and longstanding neuroendocrine cancer.
Born in Hollywood, California to Gertrude and Pierson Hall, Suzanne was raised in Santa Monica when the now decidedly urban locale was primarily fields and farms.
Passionate outdoorsman, sports enthusiast, loving father; Paul Martin Peterson, 63, a Bend, Oregon resident who grew up in Claremont, died on March 24. Paul is survived by his wife of 38 years, Teri; their son, Christopher; his mother, Rosemary; sister, Sally; brothers, Mark and Jim; and numerous aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, in-laws and extended family.
Longtime Kaiser Fontana surgeon, US Air Force veteran, writer; David Bradford Welsh died from Alzheimer’s disease and a stroke on May 5 at Mt. San Antonio Gardens in Claremont, at 78 years of age, with his wife and son at his side. He will be missed by all as a loving husband and father, and a caring physician.
Beloved mother, grandmother, groundbreaking Christian Church leader; Janice Robinson Newborn, loving wife of 63 years to Ernest Joshua Newborn, Sr., mother of two, and grandmother of four, died peacefully from natural causes at the age of 91 at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California on April 21.
Longtime Claremont resident, Diana Northup Lockard, died on March 22, following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 95.
Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Ms. Lockard received her BA from Smith College, an MA from Columbia University, and a PhD in higher education from Claremont Graduate University. At Smith, a classmate remembers her as “a golden girl, admired by many, and a key player in her class.”
71-year Claremont resident, US Army vet, educator, accomplished musician; Glenn Davenport was born on August 18, 1924 in Sugar Pine, California. Sugar Pine was the site of the Sugar Pine Madera Lumber Company, located near the south entrance of Yosemite National Park. His father, Clint Davenport, worked there as a camp foreman for many years. Along with his mother, Edith (Knippenberg) Davenport, and sister, Ethel, the family lived in one of the camp cabins at Sugar Pine.
Jerry R. Johnson, 81, died quietly on Monday, April 13. He was surrounded by both of his daughters and his only grandson.
Jerry earned his bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and attended the Claremont School of Theology. He spent his entire 27-year career with the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services as a Los Angeles County Child Protective Services agent.
Longtime Claremonter, beloved father, aerospace industry veteran, Kiwanian; Alan Robb, loving husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather, died unexpectedly on April 17 in Pomona at the age of 74. A 33-year resident of Claremont, Alan was born on July 18, 1945 in Winslow, Arizona to Josephine Helen Calhoun Robb and Clement Merle Robb.
Esteemed Scripps College professor, Presbyterian elder, US Army veteran; Bradford “Brad” Blaine died in Claremont on April 14 at the age of 89 after a prolonged illness. For more than three decades, he had a monumental presence at Scripps College, where he was oftentimes referred to as “Mr. Scripps.”
David William Kriezel died peacefully on April 12 at the age of 77. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Betty (Spann); sons, Bobby (Leslie) and Douglas (Tina); brother, Gary (Shirley); and sister, Sandy Kriezel. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Douglas and William “Bill” Kriezel.
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