John Ellis Tweten

Obituary

Beloved husband, father, grandpa, educator, and community leader, John passed away peacefully on February 5th. He was 84. John was a shining light in San Jose’s education community for over five decades. His passion for working with young people, particularly underserved students, started early in his career as a counselor at Sonoma’s Hanna Boys Center. From there, he began a 30-year career with San Jose Unified School District, serving as a school psychologist, a Vice Principal at San Jose High, and as the founder and principal of Broadway, a continuation school that gave a second chance to students struggling in traditional school, even pioneering a program for young mothers. He then became a lecturer at San Jose State, training graduate students as school counselors. He was particularly enthused to work with the University’s GEAR UP program, which focused on creating a college-going culture in low-income high schools. He also played a lead role in the passage of former Assemblymember Mike Honda’s AB 1845, which generated millions of dollars to fund schools across California similar to his cherished Broadway. John was born on June 20th, 1939, in North Dakota, and his family lived in Missoula and Seattle before finally settling in Los Banos, CA, for his “Happy Days”-era high school years. He graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in psychology and later earned a Master’s in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling at San Francisco State. In 1962, he made a life-changing decision to join the Peace Corps. He was among the first volunteers deployed by President Kennedy. He has a personal letter from JFK thanking him for his service in rural Colombia, where he worked on community engagement and development initiatives, including building a local school. He held the friends he made and the lessons he learned there close throughout his life. Before returning to the States, he traveled around Colombia and met the love of his life, Sylvia, who was born and raised in Medellin. They married in 1964 in Sonoma, CA. They enjoyed just shy of sixty beautiful years together, raising a family of three grateful children. John’s wife, children, grandchildren, and children-in-law were all the apple of his eye, which he managed to let them all know daily. He dearly loved and was loved by an ocean of friends, colleagues, tennis buddies, fellow music lovers, students, Sacred Heart parishioners, neighbors, and people he was honored to mentor. John’s family and friends alike were all made better for having experienced his kindness, humor, insights, and strong sense of justice. John is survived by his wife, Sylvia Tweten; children Lisa Hoyos, Johnny Tweten, and Kristan Kelly; children-in-law Chris Kelly, JB Tengco, and Pearish Smith; grandsons Kai Tengco, Luke Kelly, and Cruz Tengco; sister Carole Clark and sisters-in-law Elisa and Graciela Hoyos and Luz Helena Ronga; and many beloved nephews and nieces. Passing away before John were his parents John and Helen Tweten, sister Betty Loeffler, and brother Lynn Tweten. A funeral service and celebration of John’s life will be held at San Jose’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church (325 Willow St.) on Saturday, Feb. 24th at 11:00 a.m. A viewing will take place Friday, Feb. 23rd from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. at Lima-Campagna-Alameda Mission Chapel (600 S. Second St.). Donations in John’s memory to Sacred Heart Community Service, which provides essential services to local families, are welcome and appreciated.