CLASS OF 1964

KAREN EFFIE MOE (DIRKS)

6/12/1947-10/25/2023

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"Remembering Karen Moe Dirks

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family mourns the passing of Karen Moe Dirks, a member of the viola section from 1997 until 2013. She died in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 25, 2023, at the age of 76 following a long illness.

Dirks was born in San Diego, California, on June 12, 1947, and grew up in a house filled with music. Her mother was a cellist with the San Diego Symphony; her father, who taught high school English literature, built a pipe organ in their home; and her brother Emory played classical and blues guitar.

As a violinist in the San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra, she met her future husband, cellist Douglas Dirks, when she was eleven and he was fourteen. She studied violin with Gilbert Back (who was forced out of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1934, and, with the assistance of conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, subsequently emigrated to the U.S.), Daniel Lewis, Josef Gingold and Joseph Silverstein, and viola with Donald McInnes.

At the age of 17, Dirks began her professional career in the first violin section of the San Diego Symphony in the same month that she graduated from high school. She frequently shared the stage with her mother and later her husband, who were often stand partners in the cello section. Dirks’s musical endeavors put her through college, and she earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from San Diego State University.

For 32 years, Dirks performed as a professional musician in San Diego, as associate concertmaster and then principal viola of the San Diego Symphony and concertmaster of the San Diego Opera Orchestra. She performed in the Sun River Music Festival and was principal viola of the New Hampshire Music Festival. Dirks appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, Music of the Baroque and the New Hampshire Music Festival.

At the age of 49 in 1997, Dirks was invited by music director Daniel Barenboim to join the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a member of the viola section, a position she would hold for nearly 17 years. For five of those years, she performed alongside her daughter Jelena, who was a permanent substitute in the CSO’s oboe section; Jelena was appointed principal oboe of the St. Louis Symphony in 2013. In 2000, Dirks said that the best part of her job was "being inspired by and performing with the superb musicians in the CSO, many of them rapidly becoming dear friends." For many years, she performed on a viola made in 1724 in Brescia, Italy, by Antonio Pasta.

Upon her retirement from the CSO in 2013, Dirks and her husband relocated to St. Louis where they constructed a home designed by architect Stuart Shayman. While music was her central form of artistic expression, her life was filled with arts and crafts of all sorts. She was a talented weaver, knitter, quilter and seamstress, having sewn her own and her daughter’s wedding dresses. Dirks studied rosemaling (Norwegian folk painting) with Karen Jensen, and her Scandinavian heritage sparked her love of the outdoors, including skiing, hiking, kayaking and extensive gardening. Having trained Shetland Sheepdogs for competition, she was never without a canine companion for long.

Some of her greatest joys were in the sharing of her passion and knowledge in music and the arts, and she served on the faculty of DePaul University; taught privately; and worked with violinists, violists and other musicians who joined major orchestras across the country. Dirks also was a longtime member of the CSO Alumni Association.

Dirks is survived by her husband Douglas, and her children Olin and Jelena. The family is incredibly grateful for the extraordinary care she received from the doctors, nurses and staff at Siteman Cancer Center, Barnes Jewish Hospital and Missouri Baptist Medical Center.

A celebration of life service will be held on January 7, 2024, 2:00 p.m. at the Second Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri, and in lieu of flowers, the family has requested memorial gifts to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Missouri Botanical Garden, Pedal the Cause and the Vesterheim in Decorah, Iowa."

 

 

CLASS OF 1975

SHEILA ANN ROBBINS

(9/11/1957 - 9/15/2009)

 

WHEATLEY, SHEILA ANN Sept. 11, 1957 to Sept. 15, 2009 Sheila, a San Diego native, passed away at the UCSD Thornton Hospital after a courageous 20-month battle with lung cancer. She was 52. An active and supportive member of various community organizations, she graduated from St. John of the Cross, Helix High School, and SDSU. In 2004, the San Diego chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners selected Sheila as the Woman Business Owner of the Year. Sheila was a black diamond skier, a budding tennis player, and loved anything outdoors - especially the ocean. In December 2008, she and her husband Ken became ASA certified bareboat sailors and hoped to one day charter boats in the Caribbean. Her hobbies included traveling around the globe, including trips to Egypt, Jordan, Italy, the UK, Greece, the South Pacific, and Shanghai. She loved to hike, bike, read, do crossword puzzles, and recently discovered Suduko. She attended surfing camp in 2008. In 2004, Sheila and Ken completed a difficult 10 day Outward Bound expedition through the Chihuahuan Desert in West Texas. She even rappelled off an 80 foot cliff for the first time, like a pro. Her passion though was her overly productive garden and orchard of apple, orange, plum, apricot, lime, and pear trees. She was especially looking forward to the first fruits from the avocado tree. No matter what though, except for work, she and Ken were inseparable. They couldn't spend enough time together. Her active life and marriage to her soul mate was senselessly cut short by lung cancer. There were so many more things that she wanted to do, and many more places to visit. Sheila never smoked and lived a very healthy lifestyle. She encourages everyone - especially women non-smokers - to get a simple chest x-ray to catch the disease early. Sheila's illness was not discovered until it was stage 4. She is preceded in death by her youngest brother and is survived by her loving husband, Ken Wheatley, seven sisters, two brothers, seven nephews, and five nieces. We are truly blessed to have had her in our lives, and her strength and courage will always be with us. Friends, family, and previous employees will remember her love of life and adventure, her boundless energy, and her continual eagerness to face her next challenge. A loving wife, sister, and aunt, her joyous spirit and ever present beautiful smile will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her. Visitation and Remembrance Service will be held Monday, September 21, 2009, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at El Camino Memorial, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego, CA. Please make a contribution to the Lung Cancer Alliance to help find a cure.

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CLASS OF 1954

STANLEY CLAYTON DAVIES

(9/9/1936 - 4/15/2023)

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On April 15, 2023, Stan Davies passed away at his La Mesa residence in the company of his beloved family.

He was born Stanley Clayton Davies to Owen and Beulah Davies in New London, CT, on September 9, 1936. As the son of a Naval officer, he lived many places before settling in San Diego. In 1951, he entered the newly built Helix High School where he was a stand-out athlete in three sports, including football, his first love.

At Pomona College, in addition to playing on the Sagehen football team, he was elected to a men's honorary service society, the Ghosts, and chaired the student Judiciary Council. At graduation in 1958, Stan earned his Bachelor's Degree in Botany and his father, a Pearl Harbor survivor, commissioned him as an Ensign in the Naval Reserve.

Three days after graduation from Pomona, Stan married his Pomona classmate and life partner, Elaine Godding. His Naval postings took them to Hawaii where he joined the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific fleet, and to Washington DC where he studied Russian and served in naval intelligence during the Cuban Missile crisis. During his final tour in the Philippines, he established a courier station during the Tonkin Gulf Crisis.

In 1964, Stan left the Navy and began a career in secondary education which included a year teaching and coaching at St. Augustine High School and then 32 years in the Grossmont Union High School district where, in 1974, he was on the founding staff of Valhalla High School. A consummate educator, he had a lasting influence on high school students, teaching biology, coaching varsity football, and providing career guidance and college counseling. He continued his own education, earning an MA at Cal Western University and doing post-graduate studies at Oregon State University on a National Science Foundation grant. He retired in 1996 and pursued his love of gardening, fishing, Bridge and traveling the world over with family and friends.

As husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, his family was always first in Stan's heart. He is survived by Elaine, his wife of 65 years, his daughters, Claire Bridge and Gayle Fisher, his son, Scott Davies, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Services will be private. Donations may be made to Meals-on-Wheels, San Diego, or Sharp-Grossmont Hospice.

 

CLASS OF 1954 

GEORGE MITROVICH

(7/29/1935 - 7/24/2019) San Diego

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     A man of intellect, passions and pursuits, George Sherman Mitrovich was an immutable force in San Diego and elsewhere for more than a half-century.Mr. Mitrovich, best known to his many friends as George, died on July 24, 2019, at age 83, several days before his next birthday. A native San Diegan, George was a proud graduate of Helix High, where he competed in baseball and basketball. He earned his undergraduate degree from Pasadena College, which later became Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. In 2007, the institution awarded him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters.George might have been most proud of his lengthy career as a ballplayer. He played and served as a player/manager for several decades with the Marston Mets of the San Diego Adult Baseball League (SDABL), 45 and over division.George's world was one without limits on whatever he deemed intellectually stimulating and worthy of impassioned dialogue, his sharp wit and high-pitched laugh always a welcome presence.His close connections to leaders of influence were legendary, extending into politics, civics, religious history, philosophy, literature and, of course, baseball. It seemed as if he knew everyone who was anyone, not only in San Diego but everywhere else his travels took him. When George said he "knew" someone, it was doubtless true, despite his forgivable tendency to drop more than a few names. Above all, he was a crusader for the enduring tenets of democracy, civility and kindness, given freely to all those he met along the way whatever their social standing. A life-long Democrat, George earned his political stripes with several national figures, led by his role as press aide to the presidential campaign of 1968 of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He subsequently served as press secretary to Senator Charles E. Goodell (R-NY), whose son Roger went on to become NFL Commissioner; and Senator Harold E. Hughes, Democrat of Iowa. He later served as the driving force for public forums in San Diego (The City Club), Denver, Boston and Washington DC. In a span of more than 40 years, he presented more than 2,000 public forums in those cities, an average of some 50 every year.George also chaired the Red Sox's annual birthday tribute to Jackie Robinson and played a pivotal role in Robinson posthumously receiving the Congressional Gold Medal in 2005. A United Methodist layman, he preached in some of America's leading churches, including Washington's National Cathedral and Highland Park United Methodist in Dallas. In addition, George wrote extensively for numerous major local and national publications, as well as faith-based magazines.Throughout his life, George served on dozens of public boards and commissions that helped re-shape San Diego, most notably as chairman of the Committee on Charter Reform, whose proposal for changing city government from council manager to mayor council was adopted by voters in 2004. He also chaired the Committee of 2000, a citizens group that successfully supported the building of Petco Park, which opened in 2004.

George Mitrovich leaves behind his wife, La Verle; their three children, Carolyn, Mark and Tim; and three grandchildren.In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the George Mitrovich Memorial Journalism Scholarship at Point Loma Nazarene University, attn. Dean Nelson, PLNU, 3900 Lomaland Drive, San Diego, CA 92106 or online at www.pointloma.edu/mitrovich

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