HUNTINGTON BEACH : Trust Fund Started for Teacher’s Sons

The Ocean View School District has established a college trust fund for the three young sons of Anita Garcia Lachenmeyer, an Oak View Elementary School teacher who died suddenly this week.

Lachenmeyer, 39, coordinator of an acclaimed Ocean View School District bilingual program, was seven months pregnant with her third child when she died Wednesday, a day after she suffered a brain aneurysm. The child she was carrying, a boy, lived.

Lachenmeyer is also survived by her husband, Scott, and her two other sons, a 2-year-old and a baby nearing his first birthday.

Funeral services are scheduled at 2 p.m. today at St. Francis of Rome Church in Azusa, her hometown. A prayer ceremony in her memory was held Friday at the church.

Oak View staff members plan to have a commemorative gathering for Lachenmeyer after school Thursday, and on June 17 there will be an event for parents with whom Lachenmeyer worked as coordinator of Project EXCEL.

Lachenmeyer helped develop EXCEL, a district program, during her three years at Oak View. Its aims are to teach English to young immigrant children, encourage their parents to become more involved in their children’s education and train district teachers to become bilingual instructors.

Hundreds of parents, friends and co-workers visited Lachenmeyer while she was at the hospital, and since her death, many have phoned and written to express their sympathies, said Joyce Lachenmeyer, her mother-in-law.

The trust fund is being organized by Oak View Principal Joan Buffehr and officials from the district and the Orange County Department of Education bilingual division.

“We want Anita’s involvement in our lives to live on through her children,” said Buffehr, who is scheduled to deliver part of today’s eulogy for Lachenmeyer.