Amanda Leighton Klamt

Mandy was a damn fine human and lived a long, remarkable life. She was a loving mother, wife, and friend. She loved cats, and they adored her too. She was strong, positive, bright, kind, adventurous, even-tempered, open-minded, and always committed to learning and trying new things.

Raised in upstate New York, she attended boarding schools as a child. A retinal inflammation at age 17 led to permanent partial blindness in both eyes. Never an impediment, she went to Mills College where she received a BA in Child Development in 1956. She also began making art, which she did on and off throughout her life.

While at Mills, she met and married Robert (Bob) Klamt in 1955, who was at UC Berkeley. Mandy was a dedicated wife and mother of three. Despite losing her first child, Robby, at age 4, she persevered. As a devoted mother, she raised both Greg, born in 1960, and Alex, born in 1963, often on her own due to Bob’s career.

Bob’s career in aerospace facilitated their love for travel, and Mandy embraced and encouraged their adventures to 43 countries. They lived in several countries as their sons were growing up. With a home base in in Southern CA; they had two tours to Kwajalein, Marshall Islands; to Bremen, Germany; and later moving to Russia in their 60s after Bob retired.

Even though she needed help to see the words on a page, Mandy voraciously consumed books by listening to them on tape (decades before Audible and other digital books became fashionable.) She was always a student, learning German and Russian to communicate in their new surroundings, and she improved her communication skills through Toastmasters, off and on, from 1974 through 2017. To express her creativity, she learned guitar, drawing, painting, crocheting, and even participated in community theatre. Later in life she stayed physically active by taking yoga and line dancing.

She received a MA in Communicative Disorders from CSUF in 1991 and worked as speech therapist before their move to Russia for 14 months. Bob and Mandy returned to their home-base in Orange, CA, where they remained since 1997.

Mandy continued Toastmasters, yoga, line dancing, etc., into her mid 80s.

Mandy is survived by Robert (Bob), her husband of almost 69 years; her sons Greg and Alex; and sister, Jennifer.

View a photo tribute to Mandy at: https://klamtfamily.myportfolio.com/mandy/