OBITUARIES ON FUHS WEB SITE

I just stumbled across a private obituary page on the FUHS web site. Its hot link is http://members.aol.com/fuhsalumni/ptribute.htm

LARRY MYERS, FUHS TEACHER 1936-1972

Myers, Lawrence Alfred, 96, of Fullerton, passed away May 6, 2007. Survived by nephew, Ronald A. Myers.
Services 1:00PM, June 4, 2007 at 1st United Methodist.
Neptune Society
Published in the Orange County Register on 5/18/2007.
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(The Guest Book will remain online at O C Register.com until June 17, 2007.)
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Myers, Larry, one week shy of his 97th birthday, longtime Fullerton resident, Lawrence A. Myers died in a Santa Ana convalescent home on May 6th from complications of a hiatal hernia. He had taught 5 languages to generations of locals, not fully retiring until age 93, and was often seen in later years sporting about town on his electric scooter. He loved to regale interested parties with stories of his WWII service, his extensive foreign travels and his youth in Orange County. Larry was born on May 13, 1910 in Olive (now a part of north Orange), where he attended grammar school. Larry completed high school in Anaheim and attended college at U.C. Berkley (Spanish major, French minor). Larry married the former Alice Williamson in 1947, and the following year they moved into a house they bought on Jacaranda Place, where they would live the rest of their lives. They lived in Italy in 1953-54 when Larry won a Ford foundation study grant, and returned in the late '50s when he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study Russian (first in Indiana, then in the Soviet Union). He and his wife had no children, though they cared for various foster children over the years. Larry is survived by nephew, Ron of Los Angeles, and Don of Bear Lake, PA. A memorial service was held on Monday, June 4th at 1 p.m. at the Fullerton Methodist Church (Commonwealth and Pomona), with the Rev. Don Roe officiating. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Larry's name to Fullerton United Methodist Church.
Published in the Orange County Register from 6/3/2007 - 6/5/2007.
Notice • Guest Book (This guest book will remain online until 7/3/2007.)

May 31, 2007
Mike Johnson, FUHS '58, sent me the following newspaper article from the Fullerton Observer.

One week shy of his 97th birthday, longtime Fullerton resident Lawrence A. Myers died in a Santa Ana convalescent home on May 6th from complications of a hiatal hernia and resulting throat and blood infections.
He had taught 5 languages to generations of locals, not fully retiring until age 93, and was often seen in later years sporting about town on his electric scooter. He loved to regale friends with stories of his WWII service, his extensive foreign travels and his youth in Orange County.
Myers was born on May 13, 1910 in Olive (now a part of north Orange). One of his earliest memories of Fullerton was a visit to his grandmother's house - on East Chapman just off Harbor, across from today's McDonald's - on the day after Armistice Day, when locals celebrated the end of WWI by hanging the Kaiser in effigy on a float that wound through downtown. Larry completed high school in Anaheim and attended college at U.C. Berkeley.
At the express invitation of Superintendent Plummer (after whom the auditorium is named), he then began teaching Spanish at both Fullerton Union High School and Junior College, at a time during the Depression when college classes were still held on the high school campus.
In Feb. 1942, Myers joined the US Army and was trained as a Special Agent in the Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) in time to land, that fall, in Morocco as part of the Allied invasion of North Africa under Gen. Patton. Larry helped monitor communications and root out Nazi spies around the colony, often staying with local French and Arab residents, and soaking in many stories he told in his colorful account, "Hey, Nazis, I'm Coming For You" (self-published in 2004 via Amazon.com and based on over 450 V-mail letters sent home to his mother). He continued his CIC work in Italy in 1943, went to England to prepare for the invasion of France, and landed at Omaha Beach six days after D-Day. He coordinated with French and Belgian resistance fighters, interrogated prisoners and helped denazify local officials in Holland and Germany.
An Army training program in French language, based at the Sorbonne, prepared him for his return Stateside in late 1945, when he resumed teaching (French, Spanish, Italian and German) in Fullerton. Myers married the former Alice Williamson in 1947, and the following year they moved into a house they bought on Jacaranda Place. They lived in Italy in 1953-54 when Larry won a Ford Foundation study grant, and returned when he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study Russian (first in Indiana, then in the Soviet Union).
An avid nudist since the 1930s and a staunch Republican, Meyers financially supported a host of liberal & conservative causes, as well as many charities. He respected people for who they were, and enjoyed attending the same-gender-union ceremony of some neighbors in 2004.
Larry retired from full-time teaching in 1972 from Fullerton, in 1974 from St. Anthony's Long Beach, and in 1988 from adult-education night school. He then taught fellow senior citizens part-time as a volunteer at CSUF's Continuing Learning Experience (now OLLI) in Spanish, French and German until 1993.
After 40 years of marriage, Alice died after contracting an infection during a trip they had taken to the South Pacific. In 1994, Larry joined one of his surviving CIC comrades to travel to France for the 50th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion. Still fitting into his WWII uniform, he proudly attended Memorial & Veterans Day ceremonies until last year, by which time he'd outlived the bank actuarial's estimate on his reverse mortgage by 8 years.
Larry is survived by nephews Ron and Donald. A memorial service will be held on Monday, June 4th at 1pm at the Methodist Church on Commonwealth and Pomona.
From the Fullerton Observer
http://www.fullertonobserver.com/artman/uploads/fojunesm.pdf page 16

TISH COHEN, FUHS '82, BOOK PUBLISHED

Cohen attended Fullerton High and will be back at her alma mater for her 25-year class reunion and a local book signing. (7 p.m. Friday -May 11?- at the Borders in Brea, and later will be holding an informal high school reunion at the nearby Buca de Beppa restaurant)

Thursday, May 10, 2007
Woman fulfills destiny with novels
By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register
Tish Cohen first glimpsed her future in the form of a comic strip beagle she'd sketched on a flimsy piece of cardboard from one of her father's freshly dry-cleaned shirts.
"I was staring at my Snoopy, knowing that I was supposed to write a story, a book, about Snoopy," Cohen says of the still vivid memory of her childhood in Canada in the 1970s.
"I sat there knowing it but not having the guts to do it, and I felt guilty about it, because even at that young age, I knew that I was walking away from something that was meant for me."
So she buried the dream in that part of the heart where the things one is too scared or insecure to risk are locked away.
By high school, Cohen's dysfunctional family had split, and she had moved to Fullerton with her father and brother, escaping each weekend for the underground clubs of Hollywood and dissolute parties of the canyon hillsides where her showbiz uncles lived.
But when you're supposed to be something so specific and real, no amount of school or partying or work can entirely snuff out destiny's flame.
And so years later – after she'd returned to Canada, married, mothered two sons and started to have anxiety and panic attacks – Cohen decided to find out if there was a novel within her.
Writing at her computer day and night, her phobias receded into the background at the same time as they provided her with part of the key she needed to unlock the success of which she long had dreamed.
That Cohen, now 43, would gravitate toward fiction makes a certain sense. Her life story unfolds like a novel, filled with picaresque encounters with celebrities and oddball characters, wild times and hard times, and a final twist that brings it all full circle.
Her parents split when she was 13, and Cohen and a brother moved to California with her dad, the businessman in an otherwise artistic clan.
"We flew in, and I think we went straight to my aunt and uncle's in Laurel Canyon," Cohen says. "I followed these broken stone steps down to the pool, very excited to go swimming, and the pool was filled with naked, drunk actors – a shock, coming from Toronto."
That uncle, Severn Darden, was an actor with roles in dozens of TV series and films such as "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" and "Werewolves on Wheels." Another uncle, Paul Sills, co-founded the influential Second City comedy troupe in Chicago.
Her dad opened a medical laboratory across the street from Fullerton Union High School, where she made friends quickly despite the pasty Canadian complexion and odd accent that marked her as different.
The writer's dream got a spark when an English teacher wrote on a short story assignment that Cohen should be writing children's books and novels.
Still, the idea seemed out of reach to her, and between school pranks, such as driving her car across campus, and partying in Hollywood – the ruins of Errol Flynn's mansion and the Odyssey club favorite haunts – it was easy not to think about it.
"I had to rebel," she says. "I had no mother, no home life. And because of that, I think I was just sort of going wild."
By her late 20s, Cohen had settled down. In fact, the party girl was now almost afraid to go out of the house.
Parenthood had tilted the balance, tormenting her with panic-inducing fear that something might happen to her out there.
"I call myself an agoraphobe waiting to happen," Cohen says. "For me, I'm not afraid of open spaces or crowds, but just the underlying fear of going out of the house.
"I do go out, but there's that thought: I can go out there and probably live, or I can stay inside and definitely live."
After bouncing from job to job, she fell into writing by accident. The charity where she worked asked her to proofread letters, and from that she became editor of its newsletter.
Sentence by sentence, she slowly moved toward the dream. As she approached her 40th birthday, she decided to risk writing a novel.
"I decided I'd try to write one page," Cohen says. "I called my girlfriend and read it to her, and she thought it was funny, and so I thought, 'OK, I'll do another page.' "
The manuscript about a woman who bounced from job to job as Cohen had got her an agent but did not sell.
"I would have stopped at that point if the rejections were horrible, but the rejections were fantastic," she says. "They were all, 'She's a writer to watch,' and things like that."
A second book, based on her work as a decorative painter, also failed to sell, but by then she had the idea for a book that would become the novel "Town House." Once more, the story – Jack, the agoraphobic son of a dead rock star, brought back to the world outside by Lucinda, a precocious kid next door – had its roots in her life.
"I'm in every single character," Cohen says. "My wild-child self is in Lucinda. My reclusive anxious self is in Jack."
After 3 1/2 weeks, the manuscript was finished. On a Thursday in 2005 it went out to the publishers, and the anxious waiting began.
"At this point I had a theory: If somebody's going to buy your book, they buy it right away," Cohen says. "If you don't hear anything, they're not going to.
"By Sunday, I hadn't heard anything, and I was in tears. I thought I should go get a job at the department store and forget it.
"And by Monday, my agent called and said: 'Do you have a photo? Because Publishers Weekly is doing a story on you.' "
In the stunned silence that followed, her agent caught her up on the whirlwind that had swept up her manuscript.
Editors at several publishers saw movie potential in "Town House" and forwarded it to Hollywood literary agents and studio contacts, lending it the buzz that gets deals done.
"I couldn't have been more floored," Cohen says. "And here's the irony: That night I went to bed and woke up at 3 a.m. – now my book is about a man who is crippled by panic attacks – and had the biggest panic attack I'd ever had."
Two days later, Fox 2000 and directors Ridley and Tony Scott's production company had bought the rights. (A screenplay by the writer of films including "Quills" is complete.)
A week later, HarperCollins bought the book, out this week as a paperback. Cohen, on a book tour from her home in Toronto, will sign the book at 7 p.m. Friday at the Borders in Brea, and later holding an informal high school reunion at the nearby Buca de Beppa restaurant.
She's written and sold two young-adult novels and is finishing a second adult novel for her publisher, putting the days when she doubted her ability to succeed as a writer further behind her.
"I always thought that writing was for special people, and I was just a regular person," Cohen says. "But I also knew from the time I was really young that I was supposed to do it."

For more information, go to www.tishcohen.com
Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com

DONN CLOR, FUHS 1979

Clor, Donn Robert, 45, born May 10, 1961 in Anaheim, CA died May 2, 2007 in Boise ID of a heart attack. Donn, a Fullerton High School graduate, married Danarae in 1988, they had son, Carleton in 1990, and daughter Catherine, in 2002. Donn and Danarae moved to Idaho in 1997, and continuing the family tradition, they established a real estate investment and property management company, Clor Investments. Donn will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him, but he will never be forgotten. Donn is survived by: his mother, Gloria; brother, Dana; sisters, Dianne and Denise; wife, Danarae; son, Carleton; daughter, Catherine. Memorial service/celebration of his life will be held Sunday, May 13, 2007 at the Idaho Botanical Gardens, No black attire please. A memorial garden will be established at the family home. Live plants and flowers may be sent to: 280 N. 8th suite 132, Boise, ID 83702.
Published in the Orange County Register on 5/9/2007.
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BERTHA YORBA PIZZO KLEMANN, FUHS 1933

Klemann, Bertha Agnes (Yorba/Pizzo), passed away May 3, 2007 in Anaheim at the age of 93. She was born on February 18, 1914 in her parent's home on Esperanza Road in Anaheim. Bertha is fifth generation Californian and a direct descendant of Jose Antonio Yorba, one of the oldest family names in California. She was the third of nine children born to Ernesto Tomas Yorba and Dolores "Lolita" Ruiz. The Yorba children; Berta, Ernesto, Bertha, David, Orlando, Herbert, Doraldina, Juanita, and Rudolph, grew up in beautiful Santa Ana Canyon close to their cousins and friends. She attended Yorba Elementary and graduated in the class of 1933 from Fullerton Union High School. She lived her whole life in the Orange County. Through years she watched the land she grew up on change from ranches to housing tracts. Still, on a good day, she could sit in Yorba Regional Park, smell eucalyptus and be transported back to another time when the weekends brought the whole family together to share a meal, old stories and play baseball. Bertha Yorba married Antonio Pizzo. They had two children, Lucy Mary (Pizzo) Hernandez and Ernest John Pizzo. They were farmers and lived a wonderfully simple and happy life. Tony passed away in 1955. Bertha was strong and continued on to raise her children. She found love again when she met and married Michael F. Klemann. They loved to travel and take care of thier grandchildren. Michael died in 1979. The rest of Bertha's life was doting on her grandchildren and great grandchildren and singing in the senior citizen choral group. Bertha Agnes S. Yorba Pizzo Klemann is survived by her siblings, Doraldina, Herbert, Juanita, her two children Lucy (Al) Hernandez and Ernest (Cornelia) Pizzo, her 7 grandchildren Jackie, Tony, Robbie, Suzie, Juan, John, Jessica, and 11 great grandchildren. Visitation will be held Mon., 5/7/07, 4 to 8 p.m. with a vigil service at 7 p.m. at Hilgenfelds, Anaheim. The mass will be held at Saint Anthony Claret, Anaheim on Tues. 5/8/07 at 10 a.m. with burial immediately after at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery, Orange.
Hilgenfeld Mortuary
Published in the Orange County Register on 5/5/2007.
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Friday, May 11, 2007
She spent her 93 years in Orange County
By ROBIN HINCH
The Orange County Register
It didn't occur to Bertha Klemann to leave her native Orange County.
Her daughter moved to Texas, to Mexico City, even to Spain. Bertha happily went to visit her, but didn't give a thought to moving.
A member of the Yorba family that was among the first settlers of the county, Bertha was happy to stay right where she had grown up.
The third of nine children, Bertha was born to Ernesto Tomas Yorba and Dolores "Lolita" Ruiz at home on an orange ranch in what was then known as Esperanza in Santa Ana Canyon – an area now part of the city of Anaheim. She took pride in being a fifth-generation Californian.
A horse and buggy took her the three miles to Yorba Elementary School, which went through eighth grade. She then graduated from Fullerton Union High School in 1933, an accomplishment of which she was fiercely proud.
Soon after high school Bertha married Antonio "Tony" Pizzo, a farmer. They lived a quiet, simple life rearing their two children and tending their orange trees and their chickens. Tony made wine, and Bertha took up sewing, embroidery and crocheting.
From Anaheim they moved to Yorba Linda, then to La Habra, always living on farmland.
On weekends, they went to her parents' ranch, the family gathering spot, where their children played baseball and swam in the irrigation ditch behind the house.
If her youngsters learned nothing else from their mother, Bertha wanted them to appreciate the value of family closeness. Those weekends filled with cousins, grandparents, uncles and aunts left an indelible impression on all the kids of the warmth, importance and rewards of spending time with relatives.
In 1955, Tony died, and two years later Bertha married Mike Klemann, a machinist, and moved to Brea where he lived and worked. When Mike died in 1977, she moved back to Anaheim.
She was a quiet woman who watched philosophically, if a little sadly, the hills and farmlands of her youth become gradually paved over with high-density housing and bustling shopping centers.
Mostly, she didn't like the traffic.
But Bertha made few demands on life. Material things mattered little to her, although she did say that the washing machine was the best invention ever.
Until her daughter moved to Spain, Bertha expressed no desire to travel. A trip to her was a visit to the beach to hunt grunion, to a park or to the county fair.
When she had family abroad, however, she didn't hesitate to board a plane to Barcelona, Spain, or Mexico City to pay a visit. While in Spain, she insisted on going to the town of Jorba in the province of Cataluña, which, some say, is where the Yorba family originated.
She was proud of her heritage as a Yorba but wouldn't boast of it. She said she didn't need to talk it up because she was a Yorba. And she urged her children not to crow about their Yorba lineage in school when they studied local history.
"Just stand tall and be proud you are a Yorba and participate in family things," she told the grandkids who were hoping for extraordinary historical tidbits that would guarantee them A's on their school reports.
A tiny woman with vibrant blue-green eyes that twinkled when she smiled, she acknowledged that she hadn't had an exciting life. But she had no regrets.
She knew that her legacy was a loving family that will carry forward the Yorba heritage of which she was so proud.
Contact the writer: 714-796-6082 or rhinch@ocregister.com

RUDY KAUBLE, FUHS '39

Kauble, Roderick Jordan "Rudy", 85. Born May 14, 1921 in Los Angeles, died April 30, 2007 in Fullerton.
He graduated from F.U.H.S. in 1939 and Fullerton College in 1942. Then he met his wife Ethel Tanner in 1942 and served in the Army Air Corp from 1942 to 1945 during WWII. He also served as a fire fighter in the city of Fullerton from 1955 to 1975.
Rudy is survived by his two sons; Jay Arthur Kauble and Kent Ace Williams; two daughters in law, Susan Kauble and Janet Williams; 4 grandchildren, Lisa Looney, April Bachman, Jacob Kauble, and Scott Kauble, and 8 great grandchildren.
Services will be held Fri. 05/04/07 at 11:00AM at the LDS Raymond Ward, 801 N. Raymond Ave., Fullerton. McAulay and Wallace Mortuary assisted the family.
Published in the Orange County Register on 5/4/2007.
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Be sure to read the comment (click on "Comments" below) from Bill Hilser, FUHS '55

CATHERINE "KAY" WAITS BAKER, FUHS 1937

Baker, Catherine A. "Kay", age 86, went home to be with the Lord April 24, 2007. Greatly loved by a host of friends, her husband of 66 years, Arch Baker; 3 sons, Norm, Jim and Doug; 5 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren. Kay was born and raised in Fullerton, CA. Parents Pearl and Charles Waits, 3 brothers and 2 sisters. Kay attended First Baptist Church of Fullerton, CA. from age 6; served in many offices of the church, but loved her 16 years working with her husband on the church's high school programs. Kay later served as church greeter and weekly link from the church to the sick. She will be greatly missed.
A viewing service will be held May 4th at Neels Mortuary in Brea and a memorial service will be held at Noon May 5th at the Wilshire Avenue Community Church in Fullerton.
Neels Brea Mortuary
Published in the Orange County Register on 5/1/2007.
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