William Carden, 83; La Mesa Senior Softball Player, College Professor

As a fit 66-year-old, William Carden didn’t let a little thing like age get in the way of leading his softball team to victory in the 1994 California Senior Olympics.

Likewise with playing tennis and running 5K marathons, which he enjoyed in his later years as well.

Carden died April 7 of congestive heart failure.  He was 83.

A longtime La Mesa resident, Carden was selected by the Grossmont Union High School District to teach science at the brand-new Mount Miguel High School in 1957, where he became head of the science department and coached the Matador tennis team.  His teaching career continued at Grossmont College—with stints at San Diego State University, where he remained until retirement in 1985.

Earlier in life, Carden served in the Marine Corps, and later joined La Mesa Masonic Lodge 407, where he became a Master Mason in 1955.

According to his family, Carden had a great sense of humor and boasted quite a collection of jokes, which were no doubt shared among loved ones who attended his memorial service last week at Eternal Hills Memorial Park in Oceanside.

More information about William Carden is available on his announcement.

Other La Mesans in memoriam:

Before serving many years as a member of the La Mesa Optimists, served in World War II as a gunner on a B-24.

Another World War II veteran, followed a stint fighting in the Pacific Theater with a relatively quieter life in La Mesa.