Longtime Claremont resident and dentist Gerald “Jerry” Juergens died on July 10, 2015 after a brief illness. He was 90.
He was born in Whittier on November 22, 1924 to Frederick Juergens and Etta Ernst. He lived his entire life in southern California except for a three-year tour as a dentist in the US Navy in the early 1950s. Prior to that, he served as a navy dentist during the final two years of World War II. Following his second tour of duty, Dr. Juergens returned to Claremont where he established a long and successful dental practice.
Eleonore Regina Russak Powell died June 29, 2015 at Pilgrim Place in Claremont. She was 98 years old. She was born on June 12, 1917 in New York City, New York where she attended Hunter College. She was active in the First Presbyterian Church of Jamaica, New York where she met her future husband, Oliver Powell. They were married in 1937 and lived at Union Theological Seminary where Mr. Powell earned his Master of Divinity degree.
Mark David Parsons died peacefully, surrounded by his family, on June 3, 2015 at his parents’ home in Bend, Oregon following an extended battle with cancer. He was 55.
Mr. Parsons was born on December 29, 1959 in Enid, Oklahoma to David and Avalon Parsons, and spent his junior high, high school and early college years in Bend. He developed an interest in music early on, taking piano lessons and then moving onto the trumpet, followed by the French horn.
Margaret Woosley died on May 30, 2015. She was 96. Mrs. Woosley was born in Los Angeles on July 21, 1918 to Vera and Jonas Frownfelter and spent her early years in Upland. After her family moved to Alhambra, she graduated from Alhambra High School.
Laurie Lambert Nix died on May 13, 2015 at the age of 46. She was born on July 4, 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her family moved to California in 1971 and she was a Claremont resident for many years. Laurie attended Condit and Our Lady of the Assumption elementary schools and St. Lucy’s Priory High School. Always a good student, she earned a degree in finance from Loyola Marymount University in 1990, graduating with honors.
Mario “Marty” Gottuso Sr., a longtime Claremont resident, died on May 22, 2015. He was 92.
He was born in 1922 in Utica, New York to Vincent Gottuso, a Pentecostal minister, and his wife Evangeline, both of whose parents immigrated to the United States from Sicily, Italy in the early 1900s. The eldest of 10 children, he spent his early years growing up on the family farm.
Marty loved school and, as he claimed, was always the teacher’s pet.
