George Earl Mosher

George Earl Mosher was born on June 28th, 1924 in San Diego, CA to Herbert Holbert and Mary Roberts Mosher. He passed away on January 12, 2022 at 97 years old after calling Bellflower, CA his home for over 70 years.

George and his family, which included his three beautiful sisters, Connie, Mary, and Phyllis moved to Pasadena, CA in 1932. His parents lived in the same home on Fremont Ave. from 1935 -1961. He graduated from South Pasadena High School in 1942, where he ran track and played football. Go Tigers!

During WWII, he attended Monmouth College’s U.S. Naval Flight Preparatory School to become a Naval Pilot. George always told the story about the day he “washed out” of training because of a hard practice landing on a training run. The war was winding down, and the US didn’t need as many pilots. George believed that for that reason and his one mistake, his career as a Navy Pilot ended. However, he continued in the Navy as a Seaman, First Class until his discharge in 1945, which included a non-combat tour in Japan at the end of the war.

After the war, he attended the University of Wyoming and earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1949. George was very proud of his alma mater. Go Cowboys!

His first job out of college was for Texas Oil Company, in Maracaibo, Venezuela. It was here at the camp that he met his wife of 67 years, Ana Vitelia Acuña, who also worked at the camp as a nurse. George loved to share the story of how he won Ana over even when they did not speak each other’s language. According to the tale, the camp held dances for the workers every weekend. George loved to dance and sing and make people laugh. He used these talents to entertain every woman available at those dances. However, there was one beautiful young woman that did not want anything to do with the “loud American” and kindly refused his every request to dance with him. George made a bet with his friends that he would eventually get Ana to dance with him, but his smile and bad efforts at Spanish did not win him a “yes” until he came up with the big plan. He borrowed a trombone from one of the musicians (he played the instrument briefly in high school), went to the women’s house one evening, and serenaded her outside the window. After that performance, which finally got Ana laughing, she agreed to dance with him at the next event. Turns out that George, according to Ana, knew how to lead her around the dance floor very well and the rest is history! They married in 1952.

He returned to California with his new bride and began working for North American Aviation in Downey, California as a Design Engineer. Soon he bought his little three-bedroom stucco home on a cul-de-sac in Bellflower, CA. This is the home on Greenbrier Ave. that was in a constant state of additions and improvements that he loved with all his heart for the rest of his life.

Everyone that knew George also knew that he was a UCLA sports fanatic. Yet, he didn’t attend UCLA. So why was he so enamored with UCLA? Here is the story as told by George. Before he went off to Naval Pilot School, he was accepted to college at USC and had originally planned to go there for his engineering degree. He decided to try out for USC’s football team as a walk-on. During the drills, he sustained a painful hamstring injury. As he was lying on the field in agony, none of the coaches or fellow players helped him at all, instead they yelled at him to get his a** off the field! He crawled off the field and he hated USC ever since. He became a staunch UCLA fan because they were USC’s biggest rival. “Go Bruins!”

George lost both his legs to peripheral arterial disease when in his late 80’s. The disease was attributed to his many years of heavy cigarette smoking earlier in his life. He quit in his 50’s and became an adamant non-smoker for the rest of his life, but it was too late to stem the damage. When his first leg was amputated, and because of his advanced age, doctors did not think he had the strength to learn to walk with a prosthetic. They recommended that he use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. George intended to prove them wrong! He worked hard on his strength and balance and learned to walk with his new leg. His first steps with his physical therapist were recorded while he sang a song doing it! The second leg had to be amputated soon afterwards, and he learned to walk again for a second time. His daily walks around Greenbrier Ave. were punctuated by talks about the dangers of smoking to all the children who came to ask him why he didn’t have legs. His prosthetic legs were decorated with the names and colors of his alma mater, the University of Wyoming, and, of course, his favorite college as a sports fan, UCLA. He much preferred wearing shorts and rolling up his pants in order to show his metal legs off to the world.

George’s favorite songs were: “Happy Birthday to You”, “That Lucky Old Sun”, and “There! I’ve Said it Again”.

George is survived by his four children: first daughter, Carol Jean Staggenborg and her husband, Donald, of Bellflower, CA, along with their children, Kimberly, Michele and Kevin; his second daughter, Virginia (Gigi) Marie O’Brien of Dallas, TX and her son Kiley Thomas; his first son, David George Mosher and his wife Maureen (Sheila) of Huntington Beach, CA, along with their son Brian; and second son, Richard Alexander Mosher and partner Fabrice Garcia of Las Vegas, NV. He was predeceased by his wife, Ana Vitelia Mosher, and his sisters, Connie Hilburn of Laguna Niguel, CA, Mary Case of Hawaii, and Phyllis Leithauser of Wyoming.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.whitesmortuary.com for the Mosher family. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer’s Association may be made in memory of George at alz.org linked below.