Winter 2019 /
to walk the beaches and foothills of Montecito. In her 50s, Joya followed her passion for art and moved to northern California where she earned a second bachelor’s degree in fine arts at UC Santa Cruz. She was an artist in the Bay Area for a decade, showing her works in watercolor, oil painting, sketches, mixed media, and sculpture, and working as an activist for peace, anti-nuclear efforts, and environmental protection. She is survived by her three children and four grandchildren.
Elaine Pottenger Ward ’52 Elaine, a life-long resident of Pasadena and San Marino, died July 12. She entered Westridge in 10th grade and was immediately elected class president. She showed strong qualilties of leadership from the start. The following year she was junior class president while also being active in many other activities. During her senior year she was head of Welfare. Elaine attended Polytechnic School and graduated from Westridge. After Westridge she went on to Scripps College in Claremont, CA. Elaine was an active member of the Pasadena community, involved with fundraising for cancer research and participating as a coach and leader in the Southern California and national racewalking communities, and as a USAA Track and Field official. She founded the North American Racewalking Foundation (NARF) and the North American Racewalking Institute (NARI). She published monthly racewalking newsletters, contributed articles to Masters News and Runners World, and published a number of books. Club members and coaching students will miss her enthusiasm and leadership. Elaine is survived by her two daughters, six grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.
Valerie Thom Read ’53 Valerie Thom Read passed away peacefully, in her sleep on November 2. As a student at Westridge she exhibited a love of animals, and in her senior year she became head of riding. She was famous for comedy characterizations that she created in many Westridge skits and plays. She was a member of Glee Club, varsity hockey, the riding team, and Mask and Brush. After graduation from Westridge, Valerie attended Scripps College. Her children Whitney Read Warren ’86 and Robert Read related: “Valerie, a longtime resident of Pasadena and Capistrano Beach, was, along with her late husband Larry, a fixture in their neighborhoods, helping to define the very personality of the communities. In Capistrano Beach, Valerie was the thin, stately figure that walked her dogs to the park, greeted all neighbors cheerfully, all the while dutifully cleaning the sidewalks of bits of paper and litter. She was the neighborhood yoga instructor, conducting classes in her home for all willing to attend and able to keep up with her pace. She was the soft-spoken world traveler who enlightened and entertained her friends with tales of adventures in places that many would never have a chance to visit, save through her stories. She was the sharp-witted and politically savvy foil to intemperance, anger, and narrow-minded rhetoric.” Valerie is survived by her two children and three grandchildren.
Barbara Tuohy Ives ’54 Barbara passed away peacefully on August 6 at her home at the age of 81. At Westridge she was described as a collector of crazy records and a singer of wild songs. She had the ability to make people feel at ease and could get along with anyone. After graduation from Westridge she attended the University of Colorado and completed her degree in education at USC in 1958. She was an avid
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Trojan football fan. She loved going to games and later watching and cheering for the Trojans. Barbara took up oil painting and created many wonderful pieces of art. She also enjoyed playing tennis and bridge and entertaining her many friends and family. She was a gracious host to everyone. She was a member of the Shakespeare’s Club, the La Cañada Women’s Club, and the Pasadena Women’s Club. She loved traveling and took that love into a career as a travel agent that allowed her to travel widely. She is survived by her husband, three children, and three grandchildren.
Dorothy Kieffer Maffett ’60 Dorothy passed away June 1 in Grants Pass, OR. At Westridge she was president of Mask and Brush. Upon graduation she attended Wellesley College and UCLA.
Julie Vinograd ’61 Julie Vinograd died December 4 at the age of 75. A Berkeley native, Julie was raised in Pasadena before returning as a Cal undergraduate in 1961 to study poetry. At Westridge she was a member of the Outlook staff. She is described as having a “poetic pen” and “lofty images perfectly expressed.” Caught up in the turbulent events of the early ’60s, she found herself among the 700 students who occupied Sproul Hall for the Free Speech Movement Sit-in. After graduating from Cal with her B.A., she attended the University of Iowa at the Iowa Writers Workshop earning her M.A. Her studies focused on poetry. Returning to Berkeley in 1967 she found a massive cultural and political change in full swing. She continued writing poetry and became known as a street poet. Julie was for decades part of Berkeley’s cultural DNA writing 50 volumes of poetry, much of which is about Berkeley, making real those who were wanting and lacking and forgotten and invisible.
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