United States High School Yearbooks by County
Glenn Beckham
Glenn L. Beckham died
at age 57 in Mountain View on Sept. 5.
A native Californian and 35-year resident of Mountain View, Beckham was a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and served in the Vietnam era. An avid skier, Beckham also had a love for singing. He belonged to two choirs, Immanuel Lutheran Altos and United Methodist, both of of Los Altos.
Beckham is survived by his brother Jerry, daughters Cristin Herrera and Tara McKeown, son Kirk, grandson Gabriel Herrera, and a niece and nephew.
Memorial services were held Sept. 7 at Immanuel Lutheran Church.
Obituary dated: Friday, September 12, 2003
Severino Catli
Severino Bitun Catli, owner of Catli's Oriental Market in Mountain View, died
Sept, 6 at age 75.
A native of the Philippines, Catli was retired from the United States Geological Survey. He was recently awarded the designation of Mountain View Crossing Guard of the Year, 2002-2003.
Catli is survived by brothers Bonifacio, Bernardino and Ponciano; son Chris; daughters Perla Menchavez, Mely Rispoli and Bev Mazano; nine grandchildren; and two great grandchildren.
Friends may visit at Cusimano Family Colonial Mortuary in Mountain View after 3 p.m. on Sept. 11. A vigil service will be held that evening at 7 p.m. at the mortuary.
Funeral services will take place Friday, Sept 12 at 9:30 a.m. at the mortuary, with a funeral mass scheduled for 10 a.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Mountain View.
Obituary dated: Friday, September 12, 2003
Lillian Holand
Lillian Holand of Los Altos died
at El Camino Hospital Sept. 20 at age 85.
A native of North Dakota, Holand was a member of the Mountain View Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Quidalco Club of Mountain View, the Sew Some More group, an original member of the Los Altos Golf and Country Club, and the Rotary Club.
Holand is survived by sister Ada Beglau, husband Henry, daughters Linda Martin and Janice Stephenson, and grandchildren Kimberly Stevenson and Michelle and Dean Martin. Services were held Sept. 24 at the Los Altos Chapel of Spangler Mortuaries.
Obituary dated: Friday, October 03, 2003
George Y. Izumi
George Izumi died
in his Mountain View home on Sept. 12. He was 88.
Izumi was a carpenter and native of Maui. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America in Hawaii and in the Stanford area council. Izumi was preceded in death by his wife Caroline and survived by sons Clyde and Neal, daughter Gail Kurisu, and grandchildren Stacy and Tomio.
Memorial services were held Sept. 19 at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple.
Obituary dated: Friday, October 03, 2003
Francis Charles Leamy Jr.
Mountain View native resident Francis Leamy Jr. died
Sept. 5 in Carbon County, Pennsylvania at age 43. A native of Cranston, Rhode Island, Leamy served as a Navy Seal.
He is predeceased by his brother David and survived by his mother Margie and father Frank of Mountain View. Private family services have been held. Those wishing to remember Leamy may make a contribution to their favorite charity in his name.
Obituary dated: Friday, October 03, 2003
Steve Yamamoto
When Steve Yamamoto, a popular swim coach and teacher at Saint Francis High School, didn't show up for work last Monday, his colleagues began to worry.
Yamamoto, who began teaching at the Catholic high school in 1975, hardly ever missed a day of work.
When he didn't show up the following day, Saint Francis administrators called police.
Officers found Yamamoto dead at his San Jose condominium home Sept. 30. An official with the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office said Monday that a cause of death had not yet been determined. He was 53.
"I am devastated. ... He was an incredible man," said Maggi Knochenhauer, who coached swimming with Yamamoto for 17 years and is now director of academics for the high school.
"The kids loved him. I think they had a great respect for him," Knochenhauer said during an after-school interview last Friday.
"It's been real hard," she added.
The school has brought in interim teachers to take over Yamamoto's five classes, which include science, math and computers. He was also the science lab coordinator.
Knochenhauer said she is unsure if administrators will replace Yamamoto, who headed the science department from 1991 until 1995, before the end of the school year. But such a thought, Knochenhauer said, takes a back seat to another, more pressing issue -- the wrenching task of cleaning out her friend's desk and swim locker.
"I'm not looking forward to that," Knochenhauer said quietly, a box already full with some of his classroom belongings sitting next to her desk.
Liz Rehrmann, a 1994 Saint Francis grad, was on Yamamoto's varsity swim team for four years. When she got the call that "Mr. Yam" had died, "I just lost it," Rehrmann said. "My first thought was that he was supposed to coach my kids someday."
Yamamoto was introverted, Rehrmann said, but she added he was one of her best teachers.
"There are so many things that he taught us as swimmers," she said. "He taught us how to be a team and swim with heart."
Rehrmann was part of Yamamoto's 1993 "dream team," the group which brought Saint Francis its first CCS championship in more than a decade.
"Ladies, this is it," Rehrmann remembers her coach telling her and her teammates near the end of the final meet that season. He'd given each of the swimmers a yellow rose for good luck. And as his team rushed toward him after clinching the championship, he'd grinned before being pushed into the pool.
Rehrmann smiled at the memory. She'd poured a bottle sparkling apple cider over his head just before the he was dunked.
"As a team, we swam our hearts out for that man," Rehrmann said, her eyes watering. "His passion was coaching. His passion was his girls.
"We were his family, that's why it's been really hard on us," she added.
Born Dec. 31, 1949, Yamamoto grew up in the San Diego suburbs before moving to the Peninsula. He began his teaching career at Saint Francis soon after his arrival. He was a patient, methodical teacher, but coaching, agreed Knochenhauer, was his passion.
Yamamoto coached boys' and girls' varsity swimming and girls' varsity water polo. His teams won numerous league and section championships. In 1993, Yamamoto was named a CCS Honor Coach. He was the Holy Cross Aquatic Center pool manager since 1998.
Yamamoto never married
and didn't have any family in the area. A sister, Janice, lives in the San Diego area and came up last week to help arrange a memorial service. Knochenhauer said both of Yamamoto's parents are deceased.
Teachers broke the sad news to students the morning after police discovered Yamamoto's body. Knochenhauer said shocked teens immediately began asking how they could commemorate Yamamoto.
"Our family members do not begin their new journey alone. They take with them our prayers and support," reads a message on the Saint Francis Web site.
A memorial service will be held Oct. 10, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Raskob Center on the Saint Francis campus. The school is located at 1885 Miramonte Ave.
Obituary dated: Friday, October 10, 2003
Loren L. Greibe
Mountain View resident Loren L. Greibe died
Nov. 7 in Santa Clara. He was 57.
Greibe worked as a machinist for 30 years at a commercial fabricating company. He was a member of the Eagles Club and enjoyed the outdoors.
A native of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Greibe is survived by his mother, Arloine Greibe, of Sheboygan. Funeral services were held in Kohler, Wisconsin.
Obituary dated: Friday, December 05, 2003
Norman Fournier
Norman Fournier died
in Mountain View on Nov. 19. He was 84.
A native of Maine and a World War II veteran, Fournier was an avid fisherman and hunter. He was preceded in death by his wife Ruth and is survived by sons Richard, Ronald, Robert, Dennis, David, and Steve; 13 grandchildren; and four great grandchildren. Fournier was the brother of Donald, Jim, and Roger Fournier; Narmond Plourde; Pearl King; and Joanne Ocobock.
Those wishing to remember Fournier may make a contribution to the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society.
Obituary dated: Friday, December 05, 2003
Virginia O'Brien
Virginia O'Brien, a Mountain View resident since 1937, died
Nov. 23 at age 90. She lived at the Forum in Cupertino for the last four years of her life. O'Brien was born
in Plad, Mo. During the Dust Bowl era, her parents left their Missouri farm in search of a better life in California. They packed up their family and possessions and settled in the Central Valley. O'Brien grew up on a farm in Laton, Calif. with her five siblings. She earned her RN degree in 1934 and worked at Santa Clara County Hospital.
Known as Ginny, O'Brien was a full-time mother to her four children and involved in their schools. She was a founding member of the St. Joseph's School Mother's Club. She also volunteered in her children's high schools.
She loved family gatherings, cooking, travel, music, gardening, reading, and the company of friends and family.
Predeceased by her husband of 50 years, Richard O'Brien, she is survived by children James, Gail, Karen and Michael and six grandchildren. Services were held Nov. 28. Donations in her memory may be made to Books Aloud Inc., 150 E. San Fernando St., San Jose, CA 95112 or a favorite charity.
Obituary dated: Friday, December 19, 2003
