Anthony (Tony) D’Arcy lived to be 87 years old.
He was born in Bell Gardens, California, and moved to San Marino in time to attend South Pasadena-San Marino High beginning his sophomore year. He graduated in 1953. He was a member of the Hi-Y, ran cross-country, and is remembered for having a vintage 1920 Studebaker.
He matriculated to the University of Southern California, graduating in 1958 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He worked to help pay for college, and enrolled in the Marine Reserve, serving for 8 years, rising to the E-2 rank.
Summers were spent at the family home in Avalon, on Catalina Island, where he worked for a few of the restaurants there. In 1953, he owned a 16-foot boat with an inboard motor called “H2O K9” (water dog), and on a memorable trip to Avalon, he ran out of gas, floundering in the ocean for 12 hours, before being rescued by the Coast Guard.
Tony was an excellent water-skier and could do backflips. With a friend and in front of a store in San Marino, he played ukulele and held out a tin cup for money. He married Barbara Deanna Gamble in May 1968.
Tony lived on Lido Isle, Newport Beach, where he could moor his Grand Banks yacht. He rose through the chairs to become a commodore of one of the local yacht clubs. He married Berit Mitchell in October 1975.
He became in independent real estate broker, then affiliated with Coldwell Banker as an industrial specialist in the Santa Ana office, and later moved to Jackson, in the Gold Country, a longtime bucket list item. There, he listed the Argonaut, one of the two largest gold-producing mines in California and married Doris Parker.
Tony always punched a hole in his business card, so while handing it out to people he met, they would not only notice, but comment!
Tony enjoyed ballroom dancing, 0-gauge model trains, entering various fruit cake competitions, Rotary, becoming an active participant in the International Fellowship of Motorcycling Rotarians (riding throughout California, Canada, Mexico and Australia). He mentored juvenile inmates at the California Youth Authority in the March 2 program for 10 years. He took special pride in maintaining a 100% feedback rating on eBay! When traveling, he always took along a favored shower head to switch out.
He then moved to Chandler, Arizona, and finally to Topeka, Kansas, the latter, to manage two single-family investment properties he had purchased.
Tony died of complications due to Alzheimer’s, and was predeceased by his sister, Mary, who passed away on December 9, 2022.
Tony will be remembered for being somewhat of a prankster, for his kindness and for being a good friend. He would always remember friends’ birthdays by giving them a call. He was one-of-the-kind.
