Obituary of Desmond John Ooghe

Desmond John Ooghe

October 27, 1927 - May 21, 2018

Desmond John Ooghe slipped away peacefully in Hamilton, NJ on May 21, 2018 in the company of his family after a mercifully brief illness. Des was proud of his West Coast roots spending most of his 90 years in the San Francisco Bay Area and all but his last year in California.

He joins his wife Patricia, his mother and father Charlie and Mary and his siblings Charlie, Tommy, Arthur and Winifred in death and leaves behind his 4 adoring children, Gerianne (Michael) Lindquist, Robert Ooghe, Rosemary (Keith) Krabbe, and Sean (Karla) Ooghe, 11 loving grandkids, Dylan, Jennifer, Samantha, Joshua, Gwendolyn, Michael, Meghan, Izaac, Sean-Aaron, Aaleya and one great-grandson Izaac.

Des was born in San Mateo, CA and grew up in San Bruno and San Mateo. He served proudly in the US Navy during the end of WWII and the Korean War. Between the 2 wars he was part of the first graduating class at Junipero Serra High School. After marrying and finding work as a member of the International Longshoremen's Workers Union as a shipping clerk and eventually, Cargo Superintendent, he made his home in Belmont where he and Patricia raised their children and served actively at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church and School. Des and Pat retired to Arnold in Calaveras Co. where he was active in the Moose Lodge, the Lion's Club and was an especially proud member of Santa's Elves. The Elves built wooden toys for disadvantaged youth and to send overseas to our brave soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to hand out to the local children in order to win the hearts of the locals. He was proud of the fact that their work may have saved the lives of our troops.

Des enjoyed camping, traveling, home renovation, stain glass and woodworking and most of all he was always there for his children and grandchildren. He left a huge imprint on those whose lives he touched along the way.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Walnut Creek, CA on June 30, 2018 at 12pm. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Hospice Association of America.

Published in San Francisco Chronicle from May 26 to May 28, 2018