Yolande M. Curran

My mom, Yolande "Yo" Curran passed away peacefully early November 2, 2018 in San Juan Capistrano at the age of 95. She was born in Lausanne, Switzerland on January 21st, 1923 to Loulette and Jacques Thuret and raised in Gennetines, France, a rural farming town that was under German occupation during her school age years of World War II. Already adventurous, my mother would navigate for her brother Roger (DeLageneste) during road rallies throughout France and Switzerland in the early 1940’s. Roger would go on to win at Le Mans in 1964. My mother married Harvey Hanson in 1946 and moved to Spokane, Washington and became a US citizen in September, 1950. She gave birth to son Eric H. Hanson in 1951 and became divorced in 1955. She married my father, Hugh E. Curran in Elkton, Maryland in 1958 and moved to Pasadena, California in March, 1958. She gave birth to son (Hugh) Peter Curran in August, 1958 and moved to Costa Mesa, California in 1959. In early 1969, our family relocated to Irvine, California when the city was little more than orange groves and UCI campus. My parents became avid sailors and racers at the Dana Point Yacht Club (DPYC) during the late 70’s and 1980’s and participated in the Newport-Ensenada race for several years aboard the “Vulgar Boatman”. My mother divorced in 1986, moving to Fallbrook, California to become a lady avocado farmer and enjoy rural living. Never being one to sit still, even in her golden years, she traveled extensively, learned new languages and lived an amazing life of adventure. She rode in glider planes and dune buggies, jumped from the Swiss Alps with a paraglider and rode zip lines and parachutes in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. My mother embraced everyone she came in contact with her warm spirit, charm and laughter and made everyone feel as though they were part of the family. I still don’t like Campari, but cheers to a life well lived mom!

A memorial on will be held on December 6th at 2pm at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona Del Mar followed by a reception at Rothchild’s on Pacific Coast Highway.