Frank West, ex-Moreno Valley mayor, councilman, school trustee, dies at 68

Frank was a 1968 Moreno Valley High School graduate. Frank West, a former Moreno Valley city councilman and school board member, died Monday, Nov. 19, after a short illness. With his passing, he has returned to the “Halls of Valhalla” at Moreno Valley High. Back to a time when the Sun was warm on our backs and we were in the time of our youth. A time where Frank could practice his dancing and his signature splits! A time where we were innocent (well maybe not all that innocent! but the statute of limitation has expired.) 

West, who lived most recently in Redlands, was a long-time Moreno Valley resident. He is Survived by his, wife Karen and brother, Terence West, Class of 1972

Frank West, a former Moreno Valley city councilman and school board member, died Monday, Nov. 19, after a short illness. 

He served on the Moreno Valley City Council from 1996 to 2008, rotating through the mayor’s post, and for four years before that on the Moreno Valley Unified School District board, his wife, Karen, said Tuesday, Nov. 20. He also was a former director of the Diamond Girls Softball Association.

Terrence West, his younger brother, said that, politically, Frank West “never felt it was fair” that Riverside annexed the land between the 215 Freeway and Day Street, believing that should have been part of Moreno Valley. He added that his brother took a strong stance against plans to build multiple warehouses in Moreno Valley, something that may have cost him re-election in 2008.

Professionally, West worked for 30 years as a Riverside County probation officer, his wife said.

Theirs was a blended family, she said. “We were like the Brady Bunch,” she said. “He had two girls and I had two boys. And they were all raised together.”

Earlier in his life, Frank West married Barbara Rawdin, also a high school graduate.

West not only was active in youth sports, he was a big fan. West enjoyed watching Notre Dame, Karen West said, in large part because as a child raised in a military family the college football powerhouse often was the only team, he could follow on the radio overseas. He would never miss a Notre Dame game,” she said. In fact, the television in his hospital room at Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center was tuned to Notre Dame victory over Syracuse on Saturday, Nov. 17, she said.

Frank West had many friends. He will be remembered the www.Moval-High.com website in the “In Memory Column, where his fellow friends and classmates can leave notes of condolence for others to read and recant on their times with Frank

“He could make friends with anybody,” his wife said. “He was so funny.”

A memorial service is set for 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, at Cortner Chapel, 221 Brookside Ave., Redlands. It is open to the public.

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