| Born in Butte, Montana the daughter of William
Allen and the former Geneta Jackson, Mom spent a large part of her childhood
growing up in Mojave, California. After her father's death around 1945 (I'm
not certain of the year) Mom and her younger brothers, Bill and Donald, and
her younger sister, Willien, went to live at the IOOF Children's' Home in
Gilroy, California.
Arnett soon left the home to live with her mother who was then working at
Point Mugu Naval Base near Oxnard, California. There Mom met James Tewmey,
they were married and that union produced me, Gary Calen Tewmey, on July 24,
1947. James and Arnett soon parted and their marriage was annulled.
Arnett had met Vic Sanchez when she was going to Gilroy High School while
living at the IOOF Childrens' Home there. Vic and Arnett renewed their
relationship and were married. They had three children, Forest Sanchez,
Alyson Sanchez and Daryl Sanchez. Vic died in January of 1969.
After living briefly in town, Vic and Arnett made their home at Vic's
parents orchard on Roop Road 5 miles outside Gilroy until December of 1956
when they moved into their new home at 7281 Carmel Street in Gilroy. Vic was
the mechanic at Mike Conrotto Trucking and Arnett became a school bus driver
for the Gilroy Unified School District. She later worked for Rucker School,
one of the independent school districts now incorporated into the Gilroy
Unified School District and returned to the Gilroy District again for a
total of 20 years as a school bus driver.
Arnett was particularly pleased that she had enjoyed the opportunity to
be trained by the California Highway Patrol at their Academy as a School Bus
Driver Trainer. She also served as president of the local chapter of the
California School Employees Association and local Secretary of the
California Association of School Transportation Officials.
A few years after Vic's death, Mom began driving transit busses for what
was then the recently formed Santa Clara County Transit and is now known as
Valley Transit Authority (VTA). Mom drove for VTA for 15 years and was a
member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265. Arnett retired in 1996.
Mom lived with my sister, Alyson, for over 20 years. They were very close
and they bought a duplex together in San Jose. My sister died on March 30,
1999. The loss was very hard on Mom.
Mom enjoyed road trips and she and my sister Alyson went on a few long
trips to the North West and the Black Hills. Mom and I went to
Death
Valley, The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and points between on one trip.
In October of 2002 Mom and I went to visit her friend Donna Cramer in Ames,
Iowa and her friend Jo Ann via the Black Hills. Then we went on to
Harrodsburg, Kentucky to visit my father and Mom's first husband, James Tewmey and his family. We returned via Taos, new Mexico.
Arnett is survived by:
Her brother, Donald Allen, and her sister Willien.
Her children
- Gary Sanchez (I changed my name from Tewmey when I was 12)
and my children
-
Vicky
-
Ben, and his children
-
Daniel
-
Sierra
-
Chris
- Forest Sanchez and his children
- Marisol and her children
- Armand
- Jasmine
- Forest
(known to the family as Victor, his middle name)
- Melissa, and
- Yvonne
- Daryl (known to the family as Gus), and his daughter
- Amanda, and her children
- Michael
- Trinity
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