Idyllwild Town Crier

Martin O. Lein, 82, of Idyllwild died Thursday, June 5, 2003, after a short but steep decline in his health. Mr. Lein was born July 15, 1920, in Chicago, Ill. Growing up, he was a strong swimmer and developed his abilities to fix almost anything, teach creatively, and work effectively with young people as a church-school teacher, youth evangelist and Boys...

Wilhelmina Solleveld, 80, of Idyllwild, died Monday, May 19, 2003, at Kaiser Hospital in Riverside. She was born in 1922 in Amsterdam, Holland. She was a homemaker and seamstress, and belonged to the Women’s Club. A memorial service is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday, June 8 at Oma’s European Restaurant and Bakery. She is survived by two sons, Maurits Solleveld of Corona and...

Gerry M. Hodges, 71, of Idyllwild, died Sunday, May 18, 2003, at Ramona Manor Convalescent Hospital after a long illness. He was born April 20, 1932, in Boise City, Okla., and lived in Idyllwild for 23 years. Mr. Hodges was a supervising probation officer for San Diego County for 25 years working with adult narcotic offenders. After retiring in 1979, he and...

Elaine Ashcraft Holmes, widow of Robert Evans Holmes, died at home Tuesday morning at 8:57 of a heart attack. Mrs. Holmes was 85 and had been suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) for the past several months. Mrs. Holmes was born in York, Neb., in 1914. She attended Otterbein College to become a school teacher, and met Robert Holmes....

Herman Garcia, 84, of Baxter Springs, Kan., died Monday, April 21, 2003, in Kansas. He was born Dec. 6, 1918, in El Paso and grew up in San Diego. Mr. Garcia attended Hoover High School with the famed Ted Williams and graduated in 1937. He joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Hawaii. He married his sweetheart from San Diego, Alice L....

'Granny' Lavern Head, 85, died in her sleep Thursday, April 10, 2003, at Valley Christian Home in Hemet. Granny was born Oct. 20, 1917, in Barren County near Glasgow, Ky., the sixth of seven children, to James Elbert “Pap” and Flora Bailey Reed. When the great influenza epidemic of 1919 came, both her mother and her baby brother died. She and her...

Dorrit Jessie Oyen, 89, of Hemet, died Saturday, March 15, 2003, at Hemet Valley Medical Center. She was born Jan. 1, 1914, in New South Wales, Wales. Mrs. Oyen was wed to her husband, Richard “Scottie,” on Jan. 21, 1944. The couple were married 59 years and were Idyllwild residents 14 of those years. Mrs. Oyen was a homemaker. The couple had lived...

Norma Jeanne Wilson, 82, of Idyllwild, died of natural causes in Palm Desert Monday, March 10, 2003. She was born July 28, 1921, in Saginaw, Mich. Ms. Wilson was an occupational therapist working with children. She was a member of the Idyllwild Bible Church and was a volunteer of the children’s program at the Wycliffe Bible Translators, formerly in Idyllwild. A memorial service...

James Edward Morrow, 80, formerly of Idyllwild, died from cancer of the throat Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2003, at Pt. Loma Convalescent Hospital in San Diego. He was born June 28, 1922, in San Diego. He attended Florence Elementary, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. High and San Diego Sr. High schools. During his senior year of high school, he commanded the greater San Diego ROTC...

Joan Plummer, 69, of Idyllwild, died of cancer Monday, Feb. 10, 2003, at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Desert. She was born Jan. 4, 1934, in Detroit, Mich. Ms. Plummer traveled around the states for most of her young adult years working in various nightclubs as a dancer, model and showgirl. She settled in the Los Angeles area in the mid-1960s...