Memorial Service Celebrating Life of Former City Council Member Karin Mohr

A memorial service celebrating the life of Karin Marcia Mohr will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 at the Pleasanton Senior Center, 5353 Sunol Boulevard.

Mrs. Mohr died on Nov. 11, 2013 from injuries suffered in a fall while she was cleaning the gutters of her Pleasanton home.

She served four terms on the Pleasanton City Council from 1980 to 1996 when critical decisions were made that determined what type of community Pleasanton would be today. During her service on the City Council, Hacienda Business Park and three other major business centers were approved as well as key retail centers along Interstate 580 and the first major apartment complexes.

Ken Mercer, who was a council colleague as well as mayor during her council tenure, told the Pleasanton Weekly, “Karin Mohr left a wonderful legacy for the people of Pleasanton. She was actively involved in many of the wonderful amenities that we have today—from the Wheels bus system to the Pleasanton Sports Park and also including the Pleasanton Senior Center, the Pleasanton Public Library, the gymnasiums at the middle schools that are shared use by the school district and the city, and so much more.”

One key reason she ran for office was her interest in getting the 18-wheel tractor-trailer rigs carrying gravel off of First Street. After winning election, she pushed that issue until the city passed the weight limit on First Street. The ensuing legal action was settled and, eventually, the trucks were banned on First Street.

Cheryl Cook-Kallio, a current councilwoman and a long-time friend, recalled both Mrs. Mohr’s key role in the gravel truck ban as well as her role in the Elected Women’s Lunch.

“She was one of the founding members of the Elected Women’s Lunch, originally very small group of regionally-elected women. It has grown into a network of more than 175 women who mentor other women in our community.

“Pleasanton has lost a great civic leader and many of us have lost a friend,” Cook-Kallio said.

Mrs. Mohr was born May 1, 1939 in Green Bay, WI, to Walter and Marcia (Ernst) Stromberg. She grew up in Lake Geneva, WI and lived there until graduating from Lake Geneva High School.  

After high school, she moved to Sacramento with her family and earned a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Psychology from Sacramento State University. She worked for the Sacramento County youth authority and then Riverside county adoption agency after they moved south.

She married Larry Mohr on Sept. 1, 1962 in Sacramento and they moved to Pleasanton in 1969. She focused on raising her daughters and volunteered through the Valley Volunteer Center. She also served as president of the homeowners’ association. She was member of the American Association of University Women.

While on the council, she embarked on a career as a real estate broker and worked in that field after stepping down from the council until she retired. Her hobbies including gardening and oil painting.

Her sister, Gloria Stroemer, recalled how Karin loved to travel. Before they started traveling together, Mrs. Mohr had only been to Canada and Mexico. Together, they took 12 trips to 28 different countries among them England, Greece, New Zealand, China and Peru (Machu Picchu). A favorite trip was a three-week safari adventure to Tanzania and Kenya.

They were planning to return to Africa this summer to see the gorillas in Uganda as well as taking an elephant safari.

“She was a wonderful traveler. She would go into any store, any museum and climb anything that wasn’t roped off no matter how many steps,” said her sister, Gloria.

Those safaris and travels brought out Karin’s love of animals.

“She seemed to know more about the animals that the safari guides,” Gloria said. “One of my favorite pictures of her was taken in New Zealand when she was holding a baby lamb. She just loved animals and loved feeding them.”

Mrs. Mohr is survived by her sister, Gloria Stroemer of Lincoln, her daughters Jennifer Mohr-Hawkins of Pleasanton and Allison Corcoran of Seattle; grandchildren Tyler and Zachary Hawkins and Katherine Corcoran. Her oldest sister, Shirlee Huff, died a few years ago. Her ex-husband, Larry, died in 2013.

The family prefers contributions in her memory to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 49 Stevenson St., suite 1200, San Francisco, CA 94105 (jdrf.org).

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