Rachel A. Spahr

1924 - 2010

Our loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister and aunt, Rachel A. Spahr, passed away on Sunday, Oct. 3, 2010 at the age of 86 years.

Rachel was born on Aug. 2, 1924 in Wynona, Okla., to William and Pearl Stockwell. She was six in a family of 11 children. They moved to Cucamonga, Calif., in 1934, coming out in small groups during the Great Depression Dust Bowl period. Her father and the older children came first looking for work, and securing a home, then her mom brought Rachel and the younger children.

Rachel graduated from Chaffey High School in Ontario, Calif. She got a job as a telephone operator with General Telephone in Pomona, Calif. When World War II was ending, the telephone company needed operators in San Francisco, because the returning servicemen were being discharged there, and needed to make phone calls back home. Rachel and some of her co-workers volunteered and were put up in a woman's only hotel. Men weren't allowed above the first floor. She and her girlfriends spent some of their spare time visiting the tourist sites in the Bay area.

Rachel met her husband Robert, a Navy seaman, on leave from the island of Guam, at a St. Patrick's Day USO dance. They were married in 1947 in San Francisco, and started their family, having four boys over a period of eight years. Rachel being a military wife, had to adjust to living in naval housing, moving every couple of years, when Robert was reassigned to a new naval station, or was serving on a ship overseas. She lived on the island of Guam, Oakland, Calif., New Orleans, La., Charleston, S.C., then out to Ventura County, where Robert was assigned to Pt. Mugu, and Port Hueneme Naval Bases.

Rachel and Robert decided it was time to set down some roots for their boys, so they bought a home in Camarillo in 1959. Rachel worked at Pt. Mugu, Port. Hueneme, and Oxnard Air Force bases as a telephone operator, retiring after 30 plus years. She was given many awards for superior leadership, rising to chief operator at Port Hueneme, and Oxnard Air Force bases. After retirement, she started working part-time at Pleasant Valley Hospital as a relief telephone operator, for 13 years.

She retired to take care of her husband Robert, whose health was failing. Rachel was a grandmother to all, not just her own. She had a special love for children and spent countless hours babysitting many young children of Camarillo.

Rachel was predeceased by her mother, Pearl; father, William; husband, Robert; sisters, Helen, Geraldine, Loretta; brothers, Harold, George, Ralph and William; son, Jeffrey; and grandson, Cody.

She is survived by a sister, Theresa; and brothers, Lawrence, wife Joanne, David, wife Judy; sons, Robert of Westminster, Marcus, wife Lupita of El Triunfo, BCS Mexico and Michael, wife Jeanne of Somis; grandchildren, Jacob, wife Carly, Jefflyn, husband Grant, Hilary, fiance Aaron, Hannah, husband Matthew, Hallie, fiance Bernard, Michael and Luis, fiance Zakimy; great-grandchildren, Leo and Liam. There are many nieces and nephews as well as cousins.

Special thanks to Mali's Place and Buena Vista Hospice for their loving and compassionate care.

A celebration of Rachel's life will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 8, at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park, Chapel of the Hills, 2052 Howard Road Camarillo.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to any children's charity of your choice.