Kathleen was born on October 9, 1945 and passed away on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 in Ventura County. Kathleen was a resident of Port Hueneme, California
I first met Kathy when I moved to Claremont in the fifth grade in 1955. She made me feel welcome in my new school, Vista del Valle. We were in 5th and sixth grades together. She was outgoing, friendly, spirited and fun. She was also very talented. We joined Job's Daughters together at age 12 and I remember her dad was our musician the first 6 months our bethel was getting organized. He was such a spirited dad and encouraged us to do our best in learning the music he taught us. He always also made it a fun and welcoming place to be in the choir. Her mom was also an outgoing spirit who volunteered to head different activities for all of us. I will always remember Kathy's expertise and vivacious personality as cheerleader at Claremont High, along with her beautiful smile. The last time I got to see Kathy, she was giving a party for her mom on her 90th birthday and my mom and I received an invitiation. It was a beautiful celebration. My mother kept in touch with her mom, Irene, until my mom passed away at 101 years. I will remember Kathy fondly.
I met kathy when I came to Claremont High as a sophmore. We had such a great time together on our "Girls Nights Out". She was a wonderful friend and I will miss her dearly.
The romantics among us, fueled by films and songs and fantasies ~ and, of course, hope ~ believe in true love; there is a soul mate out there, somewhere, and destiny will bring us together. I don't know if Kathy Moffett was one of those romantics, but there can be no doubt that she was one of the fortunate few touched by kismet who found her "other half". Or perhaps, "re-found" is a more apropos description. This is a love story.
Kathy Moffett first met Mike Snelson in fifth grade when they attended Oakmont School. At that time, Oakmont and Vista del Valle put on their annual "Pioneer Days", which was basically a Cowboys and Indians get-together, complete with Conestoga wagons, brave pioneers, and marauding Indians out to seize pioneers, followed by everyone sitting down together to eat. Kathy was a pioneer lady trying to escape an unthinkable fate when Indian Mike felt "something touch him" and point his way to her, where he promptly captured her.
They began dating in ninth grade and were together until spring of our junior year, when Mike took two weeks off for Easter vacation but didn't tell Kathy or contact her while he was gone. And as far as she was concerned, he was truly gone: she told him that if his actions showed how much he cared for her, it obviously was not enough. Early in our senior year, Mike and I had dated for a short while when, one night after parking in front of my house, he told me "it just didn't feel right" for us to continue to date because he was "still in love with Moffett". I am happy to say that instead of being all shook up, I was impressed by his truthfulness in doing what today I still see as a gallant deed.
After high school, they went their separate ways: Mike to Vietnam, marriage, and the birth of two daughters; Kathy to college, marriage to Paul Rasmussen, and the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, where she was bitten by a rabid dog and learned to bake pies in a wood stove, which greatly impressed the local chief. Neither marriage lasted; Kathy's was particularly painful.
Mike found Kathy again in the early 80's in San Diego. At dinner, he heard that in those intervening years, she had learned to sail, held a 50 ton (and later a 100 ton) skipper pilot's license, was a scuba diver, and ran boats up and down the coast. After dinner, she asked Mike to lift up his glasses and when he did, she said, "I've been looking for that face for twenty years." But she was gun-shy and apprehensive about a "new" relationship. When Mike, however, told her he wasn't prepared to lose her again, she replied, "Well, okay ~ but no funny business!"
Together, they began Harbor Yacht Maintenance in Oxnard, repairing and maintaining fifty boats and also making boat deliveries to San Diego and back. When Kathy became pregnant in early 1983, she told Mike she was sure it was a boy and that he'd be called Michael. As our 20th reunion approached that summer, she told Mike "This will be fun", and they informed no one in advance about their relationship or her pregnancy. I don't know about anyone else but seeing them together ~ Mike grinning broadly and Kathy looking like a small ship under sail ~ is, for me, an indelible memory. Their son Michael was born in September, 1983, and was a witness when his parents married in February, 1984.
In the years that followed, Kathy and Mike continued their work on boats until an accident nearby helped Mike decide that they were too old for either of them to be hurt. Kathy next worked in accounting and then started her own debt reconciliation business when their son was in high school. Soon, she and Michael started a tax business and prospered. According to Mike, she was a "workaholic" who loved to be busy, who was happy and greeted each sunrise with "What's today's challenge?" and then took it on. She never complained about aches and pains and just got on with living.
So Mike was concerned when, in March, 2011, Kathy complained of a headache which worsened throughout the day. At the hospital, it was discovered that she had suffered a brain aneurysm which was irreparable. She died on March 9th, 2011. That February, she and Mike had celebrated their 27th anniversary.
Those of us who "knew" Kathy in school and college knew a cute, whimsical, smart, and bubbly girl. We did not know the skilled sailor who loved the sea or the generous step-mother of Mike's daughters or the successful business woman or the mother of a now-grown, creative and thriving son. The loss is ours.
When they scattered Kathy's ashes at the mouth of the Ventura River, Mike and his daughters and their spouses and his and Kathy's son, all saw on the nearby ocean, a sailboat with a woman on board, waving at them. Make of this what you will. Mike believes it was Kathy, and he saw her again last March in the same place on the same day. And that's good enough for me.
The romantics among us might take heart that Mike believes each of us has a true love, a soul mate. Some of us are blessed to have found that"other half". Kathy's was Mike, and she was his. Our memories of her cast a glow over the years that have now spanned five decades beyond our youth.
Margaret S. Allen (Gray)
I first met Kathy when I moved to Claremont in the fifth grade in 1955. She made me feel welcome in my new school, Vista del Valle. We were in 5th and sixth grades together. She was outgoing, friendly, spirited and fun. She was also very talented. We joined Job's Daughters together at age 12 and I remember her dad was our musician the first 6 months our bethel was getting organized. He was such a spirited dad and encouraged us to do our best in learning the music he taught us. He always also made it a fun and welcoming place to be in the choir. Her mom was also an outgoing spirit who volunteered to head different activities for all of us. I will always remember Kathy's expertise and vivacious personality as cheerleader at Claremont High, along with her beautiful smile. The last time I got to see Kathy, she was giving a party for her mom on her 90th birthday and my mom and I received an invitiation. It was a beautiful celebration. My mother kept in touch with her mom, Irene, until my mom passed away at 101 years. I will remember Kathy fondly.
Jan McDaniel (Ponce)
I met kathy when I came to Claremont High as a sophmore. We had such a great time together on our "Girls Nights Out". She was a wonderful friend and I will miss her dearly.
Marsha G. Lomax (Sanders)
The romantics among us, fueled by films and songs and fantasies ~ and, of course, hope ~ believe in true love; there is a soul mate out there, somewhere, and destiny will bring us together. I don't know if Kathy Moffett was one of those romantics, but there can be no doubt that she was one of the fortunate few touched by kismet who found her "other half". Or perhaps, "re-found" is a more apropos description. This is a love story.
Kathy Moffett first met Mike Snelson in fifth grade when they attended Oakmont School. At that time, Oakmont and Vista del Valle put on their annual "Pioneer Days", which was basically a Cowboys and Indians get-together, complete with Conestoga wagons, brave pioneers, and marauding Indians out to seize pioneers, followed by everyone sitting down together to eat. Kathy was a pioneer lady trying to escape an unthinkable fate when Indian Mike felt "something touch him" and point his way to her, where he promptly captured her.
They began dating in ninth grade and were together until spring of our junior year, when Mike took two weeks off for Easter vacation but didn't tell Kathy or contact her while he was gone. And as far as she was concerned, he was truly gone: she told him that if his actions showed how much he cared for her, it obviously was not enough. Early in our senior year, Mike and I had dated for a short while when, one night after parking in front of my house, he told me "it just didn't feel right" for us to continue to date because he was "still in love with Moffett". I am happy to say that instead of being all shook up, I was impressed by his truthfulness in doing what today I still see as a gallant deed.
After high school, they went their separate ways: Mike to Vietnam, marriage, and the birth of two daughters; Kathy to college, marriage to Paul Rasmussen, and the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, where she was bitten by a rabid dog and learned to bake pies in a wood stove, which greatly impressed the local chief. Neither marriage lasted; Kathy's was particularly painful.
Mike found Kathy again in the early 80's in San Diego. At dinner, he heard that in those intervening years, she had learned to sail, held a 50 ton (and later a 100 ton) skipper pilot's license, was a scuba diver, and ran boats up and down the coast. After dinner, she asked Mike to lift up his glasses and when he did, she said, "I've been looking for that face for twenty years." But she was gun-shy and apprehensive about a "new" relationship. When Mike, however, told her he wasn't prepared to lose her again, she replied, "Well, okay ~ but no funny business!"
Together, they began Harbor Yacht Maintenance in Oxnard, repairing and maintaining fifty boats and also making boat deliveries to San Diego and back. When Kathy became pregnant in early 1983, she told Mike she was sure it was a boy and that he'd be called Michael. As our 20th reunion approached that summer, she told Mike "This will be fun", and they informed no one in advance about their relationship or her pregnancy. I don't know about anyone else but seeing them together ~ Mike grinning broadly and Kathy looking like a small ship under sail ~ is, for me, an indelible memory. Their son Michael was born in September, 1983, and was a witness when his parents married in February, 1984.
In the years that followed, Kathy and Mike continued their work on boats until an accident nearby helped Mike decide that they were too old for either of them to be hurt. Kathy next worked in accounting and then started her own debt reconciliation business when their son was in high school. Soon, she and Michael started a tax business and prospered. According to Mike, she was a "workaholic" who loved to be busy, who was happy and greeted each sunrise with "What's today's challenge?" and then took it on. She never complained about aches and pains and just got on with living.
So Mike was concerned when, in March, 2011, Kathy complained of a headache which worsened throughout the day. At the hospital, it was discovered that she had suffered a brain aneurysm which was irreparable. She died on March 9th, 2011. That February, she and Mike had celebrated their 27th anniversary.
Those of us who "knew" Kathy in school and college knew a cute, whimsical, smart, and bubbly girl. We did not know the skilled sailor who loved the sea or the generous step-mother of Mike's daughters or the successful business woman or the mother of a now-grown, creative and thriving son. The loss is ours.
When they scattered Kathy's ashes at the mouth of the Ventura River, Mike and his daughters and their spouses and his and Kathy's son, all saw on the nearby ocean, a sailboat with a woman on board, waving at them. Make of this what you will. Mike believes it was Kathy, and he saw her again last March in the same place on the same day. And that's good enough for me.
The romantics among us might take heart that Mike believes each of us has a true love, a soul mate. Some of us are blessed to have found that"other half". Kathy's was Mike, and she was his. Our memories of her cast a glow over the years that have now spanned five decades beyond our youth.
Smooth sailing and safe journey, Kathy.