THELMA SEARL DREHER, 92, passed away on September 9, 2014. Thelma was born in Hemet, California on February 7, 1922 in the little ranch house on Searl Brothers grain ranch in Diamond Valley. Her Searl grandparents had begun homesteading in the valley around 1892. She attended the grammar school, junior high school, and senior high school in the Hemet Unified School District. She graduated in 1939 and was valedictorian of her class. She obtained her BA degree from UC Berkeley, graduating on her 21st birthday in 1943. During the rest of the war, she worked as an airport control operator at Lindbergh Field in San Diego. She married RIchard Daniel Hagopian in 1946. They had three daughters: Patricia and the twins, Martha Sue "Susie" and Marsha. Susie died of pneumonia at 5 months old. The marriage ended in 1954. Thelma obtained her teaching degree at San Diego State College. She taught at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School for 9 years. Thelma was remarried in 1963 to Edward John Dreher of North Hollywood, CA. He was a Los Angeles fireman. They lived in North Hollywood for 14 years. Thelma taught another 14 years at Plummer Elementary School in Van Nuys, CA. Ed and Thelma retired in 1977 and moved to San Diego where they lived for 34 years. They traveled all over the world, and Thelma was always active whether singing in a choir, exercising at the YMCA, or playing golf. In July 2011, they moved to Santa Rosa, CA to be near their family. Thelma is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Edward, her sister, Ayleen Bruderlin, and her brother, Leonard Searl, and her daughter, Martha Sue. She leaves behind her children, Patricia and Marsha, her grandchildren, Francesca and Steven, Theodore and Sierra, and her great-grandchildren, Yasmine and Amaya, Calvin and Alice Mae. She was buried in Hemet, CA next to her husband on September 12, 2014.

Published in Press-Enterprise on Sept. 26, 2014.