Maureen Grace Van Tuyl

Maureen Grace McClellan Van Tuyl died peacefully in her sleep on the morning of December 24, 2025 in San Jose, CA. She was a beloved wife, mother, and grandmother. She taught for 44 years as a French teacher at Carden El Encanto, an English teacher at Piedmont Hills High School, and as an ESL teacher for adults who had recently immigrated to the United States. She made a memorable impact on her students, and she stayed in touch with many of her students throughout the years. Her adult ESL students honored her by giving her a solid gold ring to thank her for the English she gave them through cultural exchanges, potluck, and laughter. Mrs. Van Tuyl's students may remember her as the teacher with eyes in the back of her head offering a French or English Christmas carol to memorize.

Maureen's love for horses and dogs can be seen throughout her shopping sprees at antique shops and through the clothes that she wore. Who can say when she rode her first horse, but we know it was love at first sight. Maureen rode many horses throughout her lifetime; Prince, Gracie, Mark, Pie, and Sport. Maureen was heavily involved in the United States Dressage Federation and the California Dressage Society. She taught horse-back riding lessons, and later became a judge and technical delegate. She also found joy and inspiration working at horse shows celebrating para-equestrians.

Maureen was always up for a traveling adventure. She spent summers scribing and volunteering around the world for her favorite Dressage judges. Because she was bilingual in French and English, Maureen wrote comments for many of the European judges at the Olympics and the World Equestrian Games. Maureen wrote of her tales for the CDS newsletter sharing her foreign friends with the horse people of California.

In later years, she enjoyed trailer trips with her family, going to Oregon in summers, Plymouth in fall, and select destinations across the US. She took her last trailer trip to the annual Thanksgiving trip in Plymouth in 2024 where she sat in the warmth of the party tent on a late fall afternoon surrounded by Van Tuyls, Lingelbachs, and Horgans, sharing turkey, pie, good stories and ignoring her green beans completely, as was her custom.

Maureen also enjoyed training her Standard Poodles and competed in Rally prior to COVID. Between her love for dogs and horses, she was always busy following her passion for the show arena. Her compassion for her animals has been handed down to her daughters and grandchildren. She taught her brother Denny, both her daughters, and attempted to teach her husband, Bob, how to ride horses. Maureen also became involved with Town and Country Dog Training in San Jose and encouraged her daughter, Gretchen, to become involved with training her dogs through the club.

After her retirement from Piedmont Hills High School, she started playing bridge almost daily when she wasn't off with her dogs. She continued her bridge playing until her last weeks. She loved her bridge friends, Sue, Jack, Verna, Ernestina and many others and was proud of any master points that they earned.

Maureen leaves behind her husband Robert, her daughters Gretchen (Jeff Larese) and Kirsten (Linda Lingelbach), her grandchildren Juliann and Justin, her brothers Gary and Dennis, and her Standard Poodles Marti and Billy. She will be missed dearly.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the United States Dressage Federation, the United States Para-Equestrian Organization, or the NorCal Poodle Rescue in honor of Maureen's passion:

United States Para-Equestrian Organization

https://uspea.org/

United States Dressage Federation

https://www.usdf.org/donate/make-a-gift.asp

NorCal Poodle Rescue

https://www.norcalpoodlerescueadoption.com/donate-cp39