Yale Guen Mar

Yale was born on February 1, 1938 as the first born child to Tony Chee Mar and Kim Hi Wong, in Lung Hing Lay, a small rural village in Taishan, China, in 1938. His family fled the Communist revolution in China, arriving in the US for his first Thanksgiving in 1949. After growing up in Safford, Arizona, he was the first in his family to graduate from college, at Arizona State University.

After ASU, he served in the Army for 2 years, then worked as a software developer at Naval Air Weapons Stations at China Lake, near Death Valley, then the Pacific Missile Range near Ventura, California. There he met his first wife Lillian, with whom he had daughters, Kimberly and Valerie.

He later moved to Baltimore to work for the Social Security Administration. He married his second wife, May, during that time, and they had a son, Brenton. Moving back to the Bay Area in California, Yale continued work as a software developer in the private sector, including at Lockheed, Trimble Navigation, and Mentor Graphics.

After separating from May, he eventually found his lifelong partner, Yuhua, and helped raise her son, Carlton, in his teenage years. After retiring to Merced with Yuhua, he enjoyed a quiet life and was recognized throughout the neighborhood as he would always take his beautiful red Shiba Inu dog, Huli, for walks.

Yale is survived by his partner Yuhua Luo, and stepson Carlton Zhang (Spouse: Isabelle Lui), as well as his children, Kimberly Ann Mar and Valerie Yamashita (Spouse: Tony Yamashita), Brenton Garrett Mar (Spouse: Silvia Buonamici), and five grandchildren: Ryan, Jason and Keira Yamashita, and Valentina and Luca Mar.

Yale is also survived by his siblings, Fay Chan, Ellen Heath, Donald Mar and Eugene Mar.

A visitation will take place on Friday, January 26 at 9am at Oak Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park, with a funeral service at 11:30am and burial at 1pm.

9am Visitation

11:30 am Funeral service

12:45pm close casket for committal

1pm burial