Corolean Stewart

Corolean Stewart was born on February 13, 1914 as Theola Corolean Brown to Alice and Flave Brown. She was raised on a farm in West Virginia. She had two sisters, Virginia and Georgia as well as a brother Paul and a half- sister Hazel.

She worked at Pacific Telephone for 25 years. She was a member of the Telephone Pioneers of America.

She married John Roy Harper in 1931 and raised two children Michael Ronald and Jacqueline Joyce in their home on Chapel Street in Alhambra, California. They were married for 32 years until Jack passed away in 1963 due to a blood clot. Jack was a welder who worked in a variety of areas, including high-rise building structures. Corolean had also worked briefly at a local dry cleaner.

In 1965 she met William Stewart who was the Assistant Post Master in Arcadia California. They both lived in the same apartment complex in Arcadia. This began her next phase of her life as they married a couple of years later and settled into their new lives together in Arcadia. During this period Bill was promoted to Postmaster of Acadia. As Postmaster, Bill received complementary tickets every year to Santa Anita Horse Track. Both she and Bill enjoyed following the jockeys and the ponies and often shared that experience with their children and grandchildren. It was always a fun afternoon. Also, on days when the races were not happening, Corolean would take the Grandchildren to the massive parking lot at the race track and let them practice driving her Cadillac. After Bill retired, they moved to Lake Arrowhead and enjoyed the clean air and the chance to shovel snow. They lived there several years and eventually moved down the hill to the warmer climate of Hemet. Their house was located on the 9th fairway of the Seven Hills Golf Course. This made for a standard golf gathering when holidays were celebrated at their house. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren would meet around 8:00 AM and we would all head over for 9 holes of golf, looking forward to making that run down the 9th fairway where the Corolean and the other non-golfers would be cheering us all on.

Once they were settled in Hemet, Corolean worshipped at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic church, which she attended until she could no longer drive.

During their time together after Bill's retirement, Corolean and Bill enjoyed traveling. Sometimes they would travel just the two of them and sometimes with a variety of friends and family. They made cruise trips to the Caribbean, to Hawaii and to the Scandinavian countries. They loved to travel by cruise ship. It was one of their favorite modes of transportation. I believe that one of her best overseas trips was when she and Bill went to Ireland. They both loved that trip.

One of their favorite land vacations was to Las Vegas or Laughlin. Grandma was the "Queen of the nickel slots" while Poppy Bill loved those dollar slots.

As their health hit some peaks and valleys, their road trips became less frequent and finally her beloved husband Bill passed away in 2004, after celebrating 39 years of marriage.

Corolean was so proud of her family. She always told us "family is the most important thing". She really loved it when holidays and birthdays rolled around and she was joined by her 2 children, four grandchildren, four great grandchildren and most recently 3 great-great grandchildren. In February of this year we joined her for her 97th birthday.

Her family and friends all knew her as Pep. This was in regards to her always upbeat and peppy attitude. Dick Andresen said she was the most energetic 80 year old he had ever known. She remained so for the next 17 years too!

Corolean was so full of energy. Her house was always neat as a pin. Her outfits were always starched and pressed. Altogether a very "put together" Lady.

She was so welcoming to those of us in her "extended" family. She always made you feel special, like you'd been there all along. Corolean always had time for every family member, no matter what, when or where. The world would be a much better place if Corolean Stewart was every family's Grandma.