James “Jim” Jarvaise’s Passing

James Jarvaise
Jim Jarvaise in his Studio, 2010

The VCCCDRA Board recently learned of the passing of Jim Jarvaise on June 19, 2015.   Although it has been more than four years, we wanted the retiree membership to be informed of his passing.

Jim Jarvarise was a Founding Faculty at Oxnard College having begun his tenure in 1975.  Jim was an internationally known painter whose works were displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Gallery San Jorge in Madrid Spain and many others.

There is a beautiful article about Jim, his family, and his home in Santa Barbara in the Santa Barbara Magazine (beginning on page 118), click  the link to read the article; and a  biography of Jim on Wipipedia and can be viewed thru this link.

To visit the VCCCDRA website, click here.

Jeri Chandler’s Passing

Jeri Chandler
Jeri Chandler

The VCCCDRA recently learned of the passing of Jeri Chandler.  Jeri worked at Moorpark College for nearly 20 years.  She served as Student Services Specialist and Matriculation Specialist.  She passed away peacefully on July 1, 2019.  A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, August 24th at 1 pm at the Thousand Oaks Inn — Banquet Center, located at 75 W. Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousand Oaks.

To read Jeri’s obituary please, click here.

To visit the VCCCDRA website, click here.

 

 

Miriam Gunderson’s Passing

Per information received from Steve Gunderson, Miriam’s son, Miriam Gunderson passed on June 25, 2019.  Miriam worked at the District Office as administrative assistant to Dr. Bill Lawson.  Services for Miriam will be held on July 12, 2019 at 10 am at Pierce Bros Cemetery in Westlake Village.

An obituary has not yet been published.  We will provide a link to it as soon as it is published.

To visit the VCCCDRA website, click here.

George Wymer’s Passing

Last week, the VCCCDRA Board learned of the passing of George Wymer on December 24, 2017.  Below is a shortened version of George’s obituary that was published by the VC Star on December 30, 2017.  Below the text is a link to the full obituary.

George Edward Wymer

February 14, 1945 – December 24, 2017

George E. WymerGeorge Edward Wymer, seventy-two years of age, passed away in his sleep in the early morning hours of December 24, 2017. He is survived by his two daughters, Wendy Wymer Frost and Jennifer Ann Wing, and their children and grandchildren.

George was born on the fourteenth of February, 1945 in Redding, California to Diane and Louie Wymer. He grew up in the small town of Central Valley, California in Shasta County where he enjoyed playing baseball, reading comic books, hanging out with his friends and swimming in Lake Shasta.

He had his first job there working at the local movie theatre running the projector. George graduated from Central Valley High School in 1962. George attended Shasta College and graduated with an Associate Arts degree in 1964. He and his wife, Lola, moved to Chico, California where he attended and graduated from Chico State University with both Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in English in 1967 and 1968, respectively.

After graduating, George moved his family to the beach in Ventura, California where he got a job as an English teacher at Ventura College. George worked at Ventura College for forty-two years until he retired in 2009. Throughout the course of his career he helped create the film program and the creative arts magazine at Ventura College. Over the years he shared his love of nature, film, creativity, poetry, satire, photography, writing, reading and literature with the thousands of students he taught during his long career. While his academic career was very important to him he most of all enjoyed spending time with his family especially his grandchildren. His retirement was rich with laughter, love, and family time.

Throughout his life, he displayed incredible generosity of spirit and a deep loving kindness towards all of those he came in contact with. He was the most giving, dedicated and loving father, a super amazing grandfather and great-grandfather, and a loyal and sweet friend. We are all better for having had him in our lives. He will be deeply missed.

Ojai has been home for George since the 1980’s. He loved the amazing colors of Ojai’s sunsets, particularly the Pink Moment, of which he often took pictures.

To read the full obituary, please use the following link.

To visit the VCCCDRA website, click here.