Katie Jane Minnear

On February 3, 1945, Riverside, California residents, Leo and Lavonne Cohara (nee Turner), became proud parents of their beautiful daughter, Katie Jane. At birth, Katie already had an older half-brother, Bill Hayes, and five years later, a younger brother, Richard Cohara. Both brothers preceded Katie in death.

Katie was a happy friendly loving girl who was generous with her time and always wanted to help. Leo, whose parents were from Poland, was a nightshift machinist at Riverside Cement in Rubidoux, a suburb of Riverside. He built the home in which Katie grew up and which Katie owned at the time of her passing. Lavonne was a homemaker who was challenged with polio. She had to wear heavy leg braces and, at times, had to use an iron lung. As a result, Katie often helped around the house as a child and continue to do so until she married.

Katie attended Rubidoux high school, graduating with the class of 1962, the first class to attend all four years at the school. Because Katie was needed at home, she was unable to be involved in extracurricular school activities.

In 1962, when Katie was 17, she married Thomas Minnear (Tom), 21. In June 1963, Katie gave birth to their daughter, Pamela Jean (Pam) and a year later, to their son, Donald Roy (Donny).

Beginning in 1969, Katie volunteered as a teacher’s aide at West Riverside Elementary School in Rubidoux at which Pam and Donny attended. Because of her fine work as a teacher’s aide, Katie was offered a paid position which she accepted and served until 1978. This was followed by her working in offices at Mission Middle School and Rubidoux high school. She worked at Rubidoux High School in the attendance office until she retired in 2008. Katie was very active in the Staff Club and worked diligently to solicit donations from businesses to fund student activities and scholarships. She loved being a chaperon at senior proms and Senior Nights at Disneyland. After Katie retired from full-time work, she continued to work as a substitute at various school offices until 2018. She loved working and being around the students.

Katie’s husband, Tom, sold furniture, worked as an automobile mechanic, and worked as a maintenance man for Naugle’s drive-in, a fast food chain, toward the end of his life. Tom passed away in 1991.

In 1980 Katie was a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. After that, Katie was a contestant on the $25,000 Pyramid hosted by Dick Clark. Katie’s partners were Joanne Worley and Michael J Fox. In addition to the money she won, Katie also won a trip for two to London, England. She and a good friend, Sarah Van Buhler, greatly enjoyed making that trip. It was the first time that Katie flew on an airplane. Katie can still sometimes be seen at openings of reruns of the $25,000 Pyramid on the Game Show Network. It is planned to post videos of her competing on the $25,000 pyramid on YouTube.

In 1995 Katie met the man who was to become her partner for the rest of her life, Donald Manuel Ramirez (Don). He was with her when she passed. Don was an applied mathematician who had been working in aerospace for 20 years after living the first 13 years of his life in a Tagus Ranch labor camp in the San Joaquin Valley just north of Tulare, California. Don was in the process of finding a new life when he decided to try country-western dancing at the Midnight Rodeo in San Bernardino, California where Katie was already a regular. After a few weeks of Don’s going and trying to learn line dancing, he noticed a particularly cute woman who danced effortlessly. A couple of weeks later, while awkwardly line dancing, he looked over his shoulder to see this woman again. She gave him what Don later learned was a “monkey face” and a big smile which thoroughly perplexed him. Later that night, he asked her to join him in a couples’ stance. They immediately hit it off and agreed to meet at the Midnight Rodeo in the future. That didn’t happen for several weeks because they both had plans that took them out of state. After their travels, they both returned to the Midnight Rodeo and to their relief, the other was there. They then started to date frequently and in 1999, agreed to live together as life partners. On November 6, 2009, Katie and Don made it official by registering with the state of California as domestic partners, five months after moving into the home they were buying jointly in Menifee, California.

On October 24, 2019, at 11:10 PM, it was in their bed in this home that Katie passed on to a pain-free existence after putting up a valiant two-year fight against a rare form of ovarian cancer.

During their 24 years together, Katie and Don did many things. They loved taking road trips and visiting national parks. They Visited Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Death Valley and Yosemite national parks and the coastal redwoods in California, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Denali National Park in Alaska, as well as many state parks and other national monuments. After Don retired from aerospace at TRW, he had a photography studio. Katie assisted at almost all his wedding photo sessions. One of their favorite things to do was to ride Don’s Honda Gold Wing motorcycle whenever they could. They literally wore it out.

While Don did not particularly care for casinos, he went with Katie because she loved going to their buffets and playing video poker at which, she was quite good. Toward the end of Katie’s life, Pam took her mother to Pechanga Casino in Temecula, California almost every Saturday to enjoy the buffet and give Katie time to play video poker. One month before Katie passed away, Pam drove her mother to Laughlin where they enjoyed a girls’ weekend at the Edgewater Casino and visited Katie’s long-time friend, Bob Byrd, of Golden Valley, Arizona. They had a ball!

Katie’s only grandson (Pam’s son), Thomas Richard Minnear, lived with Katie and Don from age 3 to age 17. Thomas came to see his grandmother the day before she passed. Everyone thought Katie was hanging on to see her grandson one last time.

Katie and Don exposed Thomas to museums, zoos, aquaria and national parks. They also took him on two cruises, from Alaska to Canada and round-trip from New York City to Eastern Canada. While in Alaska, the three of them made a round-trip drive from Anchorage to Fairbanks and visited Denali National Park along the way.

The trip to New York City and Canada took place shortly before Katie had knee-replacement surgery. Though she was in great pain during the trip, she forged on, saying, “It hurts if I just sit, so let’s keep going.” That was pure Katie.

Katie has one granddaughter, Caitlin Maya (nee Minnear), who is the daughter of Donny and his wife, Penny. Caitlin is married to Alex Maya. Caitlin and Alex have two daughters of their own, Katie’s only great-granddaughters, Lilia, age 3, and Olivia, age 2. Caitlin brought her girls to see Katie shortly before Katie passed. The girls loved on Katie and Lilia sang the ABC song and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” for her while Olivia danced and played. It was a wonderful sight to see Katie enjoying the girls so much.

Caitlin visited her grandmother the day Katie passed. It was clear that Caitlin’s visit meant a great deal to Katie.

Katie had many friends from all walks of life. She had groups of political friends, crafting friends, school employee friends, Bunco friends, and friends that she had met accidentally. Everyone loved her and all had virtually the same things to say about her: She was loyal; she was loving; she was selfless; she was generous with both her time and money; she was a hard worker and she was a brave fighter. If one Googles “Katie Minnear,” they will find links to YouTube videos showing her bravely addressing the Menifee city Council. Katie was quite involved in city politics and was quite vocal at city Council meetings on a wide range of topics.

While it’s true that each of us is unique, Katie was especially so. Everyone touched by her was given a gift even if some did not realize it. Katie often changed people for the better. She will never be forgotten. She will always be loved. And she will forever be missed.

To ensure that Katie’s name and memory live on, The Katie Minnear Memorial Scholarship in Perpetuity will be established at the Jurupa Unified School District for Rubidoux High School. For as long as the school district exists, every year on Senior Night when scholarships are announced, Katie’s name and a brief description of what she meant to Rubidoux High School will be repeated.

Katie Jane Minnear’s Survivors:

At the time of Katie’s passing, she left her life partner of 24 years, Donald Ramirez, her daughter, Pamela Shimanek, her son, Donny Minnear, and his wife, Penny, her grandson, Thomas Richard Minnear, her granddaughter, Caitlin Maya, and Caitlin’s husband, Alex, Caitlin’s two daughters, Katie’s great granddaughters, Lilia and Olivia, in addition to numerous cousins with whom Katie was close. Pamela’s husband, Dan, preceded Katie in death.