In Memory of Don & Vivian Wallar

A Memorial to My Loving Parents
On January 18, 2001, I lost my beautiful mother when she was murdered walking from my father's hospital bed to her car. 10 days later my father died of heart failure. This page has some details of the event and will forever stand as a memorial to both of my parents. Over 1,100 people attended my mother's service and I receive mail and calls from all of the world from people that had been touched by my mother's kindess and love.
If you take anything away with you after visiting this site, my wish would be that you remember how precious life is and you tell the wonderful people in your life how much you love them. My parents died knowing of my love. My mom and dad live on in my heart and I am thankful for each person in my life.

Woman Stabbed to Death in Parking Lot at Area Hospital
January 21, 2001 By David Bradvica Staff Writer

It wasn't the bad news Don Wallar II thought he would hear. He picked up the telephone Friday morning, expecting to hear that his father, Don, ill with diabetes, had taken a turn for the worse. The news was much worse than that. He was told his mother, Vivian, had been stabbed to death the night before, in the parking lot of San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland just moments after the San Gabriel schoolteacher had finished visiting her sick husband.

So on Saturday, while Upland police continued to investigate the 55-year-old Upland woman's murder, friends and family members gathered at the Wallar's home to mourn her death. "She was the centerpiece of our family," Don Wallar II said of his mother, a longtime elementary school teacher who had spent much of the past two years caring for her ill husband and her now-deceased mother-in-law.

The shock of her sudden death also extended to San Gabriel, where she had taught with her husband at a Seventh-day Adventist school for the past decade. The man who hired her, San Gabriel Academy Elementary School principal Ken Phillips, had to break the news to students and staff. "We all knew Mr. Wallar was not doing well," Phillips said in a telephone interview. "I think the faculty expected to hear some bad news about him. To tell them she was killed, it was a real shock. There was a lot of uncontrolled emotion." Phillips also called the parents of all of Vivian Wallar's first-grade students to inform them of her death. "To a person, they all remarked on what a loving person she was," he said. "We will be dealing with a lot of grief on campus Monday."

Vivian Wallar's ailing husband, who retired from teaching last March because of heart problems and other diabetes-related complications, received the news with extra medication designed to calm him, Don Wallar II said. The 55-year-old father remains in the hospital's coronary care unit. "He's handling it OK," his son said. "Right now, he's doing the best he can."

Vivian Wallar, a Florida native, won a $1,000 award for outstanding teaching two years ago. More recently, she and her husband had cared for his ailing mother, who died in October. Even with her husband's illness, she still found time for others, Phillips said. "There wasn't anybody she wouldn't help," he said. "She epitomized Southern hospitality." Her death has prompted hospital officials to beef up security and lighting in the parking lot, which is surrounded by a quiet neighborhood.

San Antonio Community Hospital officials and a family friend also have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture of her killar. Police described the suspect as a Latino in his 40s, 5-foot-9 and between 180 to 200 pounds. The assailant had medium-length combed-back hair and a mustache, and police said he wore dark pants and a dark, zipper-front jacket. Anyone with information about the attack should call the Upland Police Department at (909) 946-7624.

Popular San Gabriel School Teacher Slain
January 23, 2001 By Emanuel Parker Staff Writer

SAN GABRIEL - Grief counselors talked to students Monday at San Gabriel Academy Elementary School, where students were reacting to the murder last week of a respected teacher. Vivian Wallar, 55, of Upland was stabbed to death at 10:15 p.m. Thursday after visiting her seriously ill husband at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland.

A first-grade teacher at the Seventh-day Adventist school for the past 30 years, Wallar was killed in the hospital parking lot. Wallar and other relatives and friends were heading for their cars after visiting hours when she was attacked. Several witnesses heard her screams and saw her struggling with her assailant, but she was stabbed before anyone could come to her aid. School officials didn't tell students about her death Friday, but called parents and asked them to break the news to their children over the weekend. Parents who picked up their children Friday after school noticed many teachers in tears. Parents who asked were told about Wallar.

Wallar's husband, Don, 55, was a popular fifth-grade teacher at the school until he retired in March due to heart problems and diabetes-related complications. He has been hospitalized in the coronary care unit since Jan. 15. A parent said the husband had lost a leg to diabetes and was known to entertain his students by removing and displaying his false leg in the classroom. Wallar and her husband had cared for his ailing mother, who died in October.

The couple has two grown sons. Hospital officials and a friend of the family are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the killar. Upland police describe the suspect as a Latino in his 40s, 5 feet 9 inches and between 180 and 200 pounds. He had medium-length combed-back hair and a mustache, and police said he wore dark pants and a dark zipper-front jacket. Anyone with information is asked to call the Upland Police Department at (906) 946-7624.

Email Don Wallar II

Pair Honored with Graveside Remembrance
February 03, 2001 By Melissa Pinion-Whitt Staff Writer

COLTON Don Wallar taught at night when he met Chuck Huff, a teen-age boy who wanted to go fight in the Vietnam War rather than finish high school. Wallar convinced Huff to stay in school.
The guidance given by the young teacher and his wife, Vivian, grew on the boy -- so much that he snuck into their house one night and decided not to leave. "My father basically adopted him," said Don Wallar II.

Such stories were remembered Friday when family members said goodbye to the Upland couple at the Montecito Memorial Park in Colton.
Vivian, 55, was fatally stabbed Jan. 18 in the San Antonio Community Hospital parking lot after visiting her husband, hospitalized with complications from diabetes. Police are still searching for her killar. Don, 55, died 10 days later in the hospital. Pink, white and red flowers in a heart-shaped wreath sat between the two gray coffins and about 50 relatives and friends gathered under the late-afternoon sun. "Because Don and Vivian Wallar were teachers by profession, they taught enduring truths almost daily to boys and girls," said Arthur Lesko during the service.

The Wallars taught at the San Gabriel Academy Elementary School -- Vivian for 32 years and Don for 31. Seventeen-year-old Natasha O'Brien said Don Wallar used to pick her up, along with her younger brother and sister from Pomona early in the morning to get to the San Gabriel academy on time. It was routine for him to stop at Burger King, feed them and pick up some coffee for himself, O'Brien said. "We talked about everything, quizzing off homework and sometimes we'd just sing along to the radio," she said.
Don Wallar II, one of the Wallars' two adopted sons, said he remembered trips with his younger brother, Jayson Kyle, to Mexico where his parents would give food to the poor. A week before Vivian died, Don decided to give her a plane ticket to Florida to visit her parents. Vivian hesitated at first, because her husband was in the hospital. She decided to chance it because her parents were in their 80s and celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary, her sister, Lennette Lesko said. "She said to me, I don't know why, but I just feel the drive to go," Lesko said. "I think she thought it might be the last time she would see them, not realizing she would be the one to go first."

The service, full of spiritual song and scripture, ended with family members placing roses and gardenias atop the caskets as they sunk into the ground, Vivian's casket placed atop her husband's.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Don and Vivian Lester-Wallar Memorial Scholarship Fund, San Gabriel Academy Elementary, 8827 E. Broadway, San Gabriel, CA, 91776.

Man Dies 10 Days After Wife Killed
Friday January 29, 2001 By David Bradvica Staff Writer

Ten days after his wife was stabbed to death by an assailant in a hospital parking lot, Donald Wallar has died. The 55-year-old Upland man was pronounced dead of diabetes-related complications at 9:14 a.m. Sunday at San Antonio Community Hospital, San Bernardino County Supervising Deputy Coroner Randy Emon said. His death prompted family members to delay his wife Vivian's graveside service, which was set for today.

Now, a joint service will be held Friday for the Wallars at Montecito Memorial Park in Loma Linda, family friend Ken Phillips said. "I know that Mr. Wallar's death did not come as a surprise," said Phillips, principal of San Gabriel Academy Elementary School, a Seventh-Day Adventist elementary school where both Wallars taught. "But coming as it did after Mrs. Wallar's murder, this feels like a one-two punch."

Vivian Wallar was walking back to the car after visiting her husband on the night of Jan. 18 when an assailant attacked and fatally stabbed her. Upland police released a composite drawing of the suspect last week but have not yet made any arrests in the case, Lt. Ed Gray said late Sunday. Phillips said he last visited Donald Wallar on Thursday - just a day after Wallar was readmitted to the hospital's cardiac care unit after suffering another heart attack.

"He was trying to get his strength back so he could go to Vivian's memorial service," Phillips said. "It broke his heart that he couldn't go. I think mentally and emotionally, he just gave up." San Antonio Community Hospital and a friend of the family have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect. Anyone with information is asked to contact Upland police Detective Cliff Mathews at (909) 946-7624, Ext. 3237 or Upland police Detective Barry Belt at (909) 946-7624, Ext. 3238.

Police Investigate Hospital Murder
Upland police are asking for the public's help in finding the assailant who apparently stabbed to death 55-year-old Vivian Wallar who had just finished visiting her sick husband in a hospital last Thursday night (1/18/2001). Lieutenant Ed Gray says visiting hours had just ended at San Antonio Community Hospital and several witnesses either saw the attack or heard Wallar's screams. Gray says one witness saw the assault and left his car to come to her aid. Gray says it's not known whether the suspect was frightened away by his arrival.

Police hoped to released a sketch (above, click on image to enlarge) of a suspect. Gray says no motive has been established. He says Wallar's purse and other personal belongings were untouched.

The hospital and a family friend are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Witnesses or anyone with information are urged to call the Upland Police Department at (909) 946-7624 or the WeTip Hotline at (800) 782-7463.