George Thomas Epp

George Epp passed away February 7, 2026 in San Jose, California after a prolonged decline in health. George was born in 1941 to Bernice and George Epp of Alviso, California. He had a younger sister Lucy and younger brother Bob. During his youth he worked on the family farm, was a track and field standout at Santa Clara High School and later a competitive flat track and scrambles motorcycle racer. George served honorably in the Marine Corps. George married his beautiful wife, Sharon and they had three children, Stacey, Mike and Kathy. George was blessed to have 7 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren, whom he greatly enjoyed spending time with. George and Sharon had been married for over 60 years at the time of his passing.

George was a machinist for over 40 years and worked in the printing industry. He worked at the San Jose Mercury News for many years then at Arcata graphics. George was a skilled and hard worker. He also mastered many other trades. George was proud of the fact that he built his home of 50+ years himself with some help of from family.

George was very active his entire life. He was a runner and was sometimes known to jog after work in the middle of the night wearing his old USMC issued combat boots and a Ka-bar strapped to his hip. He would jog from his home in the east foothills down Story Road to King Road and back home. He especially enjoyed the spectacle of running the Bay to Breakers. George was a regular at the gym and competitive racquetball player until an injury forced him to stop playing.

George enjoyed taking his family to every sort of national park, lake, festival, show, circus and motorsport race imaginable and passed that enjoyment onto his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He especially enjoyed taking his family to sprint car races at Baylands, San Jose Speedway, the fairgrounds and other tracks all over California.

George had a lifelong love of motorcycles and owned dozens of motorcycles over his lifetime. He owned and rode everything from Triumph’s and Bultaco’s to Honda’s and Harley’s. He was about 80 years old when he last rode his Indian. He was proud of the fact that he successfully passed his motorcycle license renewal test a few years ago and maintained his motorcycle endorsement.

After retirement George enjoyed gardening and working on projects in his shop at home. He also finally found time to hike Half Dome with friends. George had always loved animals but later in life he somehow acquired his own little herd of a combination of misfit, unwanted and disabled dogs and cats. He passed on his love for animals to his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

George was an avid reader his entire life. He enjoyed reading about history especially local San Jose history. He read everything from books on religion and philosophy to finance. He was reading two newspapers daily (Wall Street Journal and the San Jose Mercury) until the day before he passed away.

George was proud of his parent’s hard working heritage. His father was a German immigrant and his mother was the daughter of Basque immigrants. They started off as poor working class farmers, but made a good life from the fruits of their labors. They passed that hard work ethic on to George who worked hard and also made a good life for his family.

George was loved by many and will be greatly missed.

Rest in peace, you’re home now.