KATHLEEN
ROSE TRUXAW, FUHS 1944?
OR DID SHE ATTEND CATHOLIC SCHOOL?
Life Legacy
Kathleen Rose O’Hanlon Truxaw
of Whittier, California, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, September 27th at
4:19 PM. Kathleen made the most of her 91 years: raising eight children, earning
multiple advanced degrees, holding several careers, and being a good friend and
neighbor. She was an activist who helped under-privileged youth, worked for
civil rights at great personal cost to herself, and embodied the charitable
aspects of her faith. Until her last days, she was recalled as having a “still
incredible mind and luminous soul,” and being “a great woman who changed so
many for the better" and "a formidable force of nature."
Kathleen was born on February
13, 1926, in Fullerton, California, to Daniel and Margaret (Cottam) O’Hanlon,
the fifth of seven children. Kathleen got her B.A. from Mount St. Mary’s
College in Los Angeles and taught in San Pedro, California, before marrying
John Edmund Truxaw on July 12, 1947 and beginning their family of eight
children. In 1953, John and Kathleen moved their family into the house they had
built in Whittier, where she still lived at the time of her death.
The family traveled extensively
in their own VW bus or in cars provided by car dealerships in exchange for
recognition in newspaper stories about the trips. Kathleen was determined that
her children have a wide range of exposure to the country and its people.
Education was a passion for
Kathleen. She substitute taught off and on while raising her eight children.
After having her eighth child in 1962, she went back to school and earned
multiple advanced degrees. In 1968, she earned her M.S. in Special Education
from California State University Fullerton, and then taught special education
classes while working on her doctorate in Educational Psychology, which she
received in 1973 from the University of Southern California. Following that,
she worked as a school psychologist and behavior specialist for Los Angeles
Unified School District. While doing that she decided to go back to school yet
again, earning her J.D. from Loyola Law School in 1986. She practiced estate
law and also investigated special education compliance cases for the State of California.
She represented the South Whittier Community Housing Corporation in an effort
to build homes for needy families. Through all of this time, she bought and
sold real estate.
Kathleen was an active member
of St. Gregory the Great Church in Whittier from the time the family moved
there. For a period of time, she was a member of the Third Order of St.
Francis. In her later years, she was active in a Bible Study group and attended
Mass every day that she could. She also took Communion to members of the Church
who were not able to leave their homes. In February of 2016, more than 100 of
her family and friends celebrated her 90th birthday at the Fullerton Public
Library on the site of an apartment where she lived in 1949 and within view of
the house where she grew up.
Kathleen is predeceased by her
husband, John Edmund Truxaw, her son, John Daniel Truxaw, her brothers Dan
(Father Dan) and Tom, and her sisters Margaret (Sister Eileen), Eileen (Sister
Kathleen) and Marjorie. She is survived by her brother Larry; her children
Kathy (Wayne), Danny (Mia), Margaret, Mary (Mark), Christopher (Diane), Matt
(Christine), and Claire (Kevin); her grandchildren Danielle (Max), Patricia,
Sarah, John, Ellen (John), Kathleen (James), James, Daniel, William, Andrew,
and Amelia; and her great grandchildren Sylvia, Hannah, and Cedar.
A Rosary and Visitation will be
held at St. Gregory the Great Church in Whittier on Monday, October 2nd from
6:00 to 8:00 PM. Funeral Services will be held at St. Gregory the Great Church
in Whittier on Tuesday, October 3rd at 10:00 AM, with burial services at Holy
Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange.
TRUXAW OBIT LINK
I couldn't copy her picture from her obit. Go to the link above to see it.
