Idyllwild Town Crier

Memorial services for Peggy Alexander were at 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 26. She was 70. Mrs. Alexander was born Nov. 24, 1934 in Gainesville, Fla. She and her husband, Lewis, were owners of the Pine Cove Center from 1975 to 1979 and then moved to the Hemet-San Jacinto area, where Mr. Alexander taught school for 15 years. Mrs....

Carola Jean Diven, 70, a retired legal secretary and active member of the community, died Tuesday, May 19, at Hemet Valley Medical Center from complications of pneumonia. Mrs. Diven was the wife of Otis "Friday" Diven. The couple retired to Idyllwild in 1982. Mrs. Diven was a legal secretary in Vista for more than 20 years and owned...

Respects and condolences for Victor Mark Besmertnuk, of Idyllwild, were given from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, May 11, at his residence on 52591 Sunset Dr. in Idyllwild. He was 38. Mr. Besmertnuk was born Dec. 23, 1959, in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from Valley Forge Jr. Military College in 1979, attaining an associate of arts degree and...

Memorial services are pending for Mary Blackburn of Placentia, who died April 15 in Fullerton from heart failure as a result of a stroke. Mrs. Blackburn was a resident of Fullerton at the time of her death. She was 91. Born November 12, 1906 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mrs. Blackburn was a long-time resident and business owner in...

Mrs. Foster was born April 6, 1906 in Ontario, Calif. She was a self-employed nurse for more than 50 years, For more than 30 years, she served as camp nurse at Orange County-YMCA Camp Osceola and at Camp TaTapochon. Mrs. Foster was a 20-year member of Idyllwild Community Presbyterian Church and an active member of the Idyllwild prayer...

Charles Marquiss, a voice familiar to thousands of Riverside County residents, is now silent. Mr. Marquiss, 50, news director of KATY-FM, died quietly in his sleep of natural causes on Sunday morning, March 22, according to a news release from the radio station. Although he had been suffering from a cold and bronchitis, Mr. Marquiss' death came as a complete...

Memorial services were held for Anthony Allan Schlant-Tourdot at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, at Sierra Memorial Chapel in Riverside. They were followed by burial at Olivewood Cemetery in Riverside. Anthony, a 4th-grade student at Idyllwild School, died of a gunshot wound at his residence in Idyllwild on Feb. 7. He was 10. Anthony was born Aug. 17,...

A memorial service for Harry "Doug" Watts, 40, of Idyllwild, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, March 8, at the Idyllwild HELP Center on Highway 243. Mr. Watts was born December 7, 1957, in Los Angeles and moved to Idyllwild in the early to mid-1980s, according to Kathy Gorzny. He passed away sometime in his tent camp off Saunders...

Memorial services for Phyllis Hord, longtime librarian at Desert Sun School, were held March 2 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arcadia. Burial followed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. She was in her 70s. Mrs. Hord passed away on Saturday, Feb. 21. From 1979 until the school's close, she served as dorm parent,...

Memorial services for Olga Beatirce Ayers, of Garner Valley, will be held at 2 p.m., Sautrday, Feb. 21, at Shepard of the Valley Lutheran Church in Anza. She was 88. Mrs. Ayers was born April 23, 1909, in Wakefield, Mich. to Antti and Katarina Lehtonen Kanninen. She was a self-employed Realtor for approximately 35 years. Prior to moving to...