Longtime Claremont resident Mary Elizabeth Briggs Blanchard died peacefully in her sleep on November 18, 2014 at Mt. San Antonio Gardens in Claremont. She was 105.
She was born in Valparaiso, Indiana on October 5, 1909. She graduated from DePauw University in 1931 and later received an advanced degree in library science from the University of Michigan in 1950. She married William G. “Doc” Blanchard in 1932 and in 1936 they moved to Claremont when Doc accepted a position as professor of music at Pomona College. They had three children, William, Mildred and Margaret.
Longtime Claremont resident Jack Newton Pocock died peacefully at home on October 6, 2014. Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, December 5, 2014 at 343 W. 12th St. in Claremont.
Longtime Claremonter and arts leader Ellen Knight Phillips Litney died on Saturday, August 16, 2014 at the age of 67.
Mrs. Litney and her husband Dale were on their annual summer sojourn to Hamlin Lake, Michigan when she unexpectedly became ill. During a brief hospitalization beginning July 25, her doctors determined she had a viciously aggressive, incurable form of cancer, so she chose not to endure futile treatments and entered Faith Hospice at Trillium Woods in Grand Rapids. In her final days, she was comforted by her husband, children, grandchildren, sister and nephew.
John Fassbinder, a Claremont resident and noted ceramic artist, died on Sunday, October 19, 2014. He was 83.
Mr. Fassbinder was born on August 6, 1931 in Washington State to Mark and Martha Fassbinder. He earned his bachelor’s degree in art at the University of Washington in Seattle where he studied with Robert Sperry and Paul Bonifas, pioneers in the American Studio Craft movement.
Elliott Chung, a longtime Claremont resident, died on August 29, 2014 in Claremont. He was 81.
Elliott Chung was born on July 2, 1933 in Seoul, Korea, the first child of Reverend Robert Chung and Kyong Sook Chung. He spent his childhood in Seoul with his brother Paul, sister Ruth and youngest brother Larry.
Growing up, Elliott always had a big heart and was surrounded by lots of friends. “Elliott was my big, strong brother,” Larry shared in a tribute.
Berkeley feminists and world poetry lovers are saddened to learn of the death of a pioneer translator and anthologizer of women’s poetry from around the world. Deirdre Eberly Lashgari, professor emerita of English at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, died August 16, 2014 in Los Angeles. She was 73. She was born April 7, 1941 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A specialist in ethnic and world literatures, Ms. Lashgari translated both classical and modern Iranian poetry, and wrote, published and lectured on Iranian fiction and film as well as on women writers of fiction and poetry in Iran, China, India, Ghana and the United States.
Please allow us to share our thoughts and memories of our mom, Dorothy “Dot” Sheehy. She loved her community and her family so much that we feel it fitting to bring the two together to try to capture her essence more than a standard formal obituary could ever do, although we know we cannot do her essence justice.
Our mom, Dorothy “Dot” Frances Sheehy, was born on April 20, 1943 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. She died suddenly and unexpectedly on September 29, 2014. She was 71 years old.
