Karyl Joan Gurzi, a retired systems analyst with British Petroleum (BP) and a loving wife and mother, passed away at home in Signal Hill on August 2, 2023. She was 84 years old. 

Karyl is pred eceased in death by five days by her husband Fred, a retired electronics engineer; Fred passed away at home  at the age of 95 .

Karyl died in the company of:   Her youngest daughter Terisa , who was visiting from Milpitas, CA;  Rich Wion,  Karyl's hired caregiver from Santa Clara, CA, St. Jude Hospice nursing staff,  and Terisa's  longtime live-in romantic boyfriend, Richard Page.

Karyl is predeceased in death by her  parents Lyle and Ireta Brewer of Rochester, NY.  Mr. Brewer was a  nationally renowned  scientist with Kodak Eastman, and the published author of a book on the principles of color photography.

Karyl is predeceased by her older sister, Noreen Goodin, of Scottsdale, AZ. 

Karyl is survived by her two daughters, Evelyn and Terisa , and by her identical twin sister, Karen,  o f Woodland Hills, CA. 

Karyl was brought up in upstate New York. She attended high school in  Guadalajara, Mexico as an exchange student. She graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics. 

Karyl  met her  husband  Fred, a U.S.  Navy Veteran born in Eerie, Pennsylvania, in Los Angeles.  They were married in Rochester, New York and remained soul mates and best friends for more than five decades of marriage.  

Karyl and Fred brought up two daughters in  the bedroom community of Los Altos, CA.  Both daughters attended Homestead High School in Sunnyvale, CA and graduated from San Jose State University (SJSU).  

It was the positive encouragement from her mother that motivated Evelyn to  pursue her college Degree in  Radio/Television Journalism.   

She moved forward in a news reporting  and anchoring  career with NBC and CBS network affiliates in South Texas and in Bakersfield, CA.  Later, Evelyn pursued print journalism reporting, as well as marketing and communications opportunities. 

She reported for local newspapers including the Palo Alto Daily News and the San Mateo County Times.  Later, she represented technology companies with the Electronic Design Automation Companies (EDAC) Trade Association . Most recently she has pursued entrepreneurial opportunities as  a Real Estate Broker,  and as a Sales Agent with Cashin Company, San Mateo.  She started up and managed SafeKeepings Fine Antiques & Keepsakes,  a Peninsula Bay area interior design consignment business with  retail locations in the upscale areas of Menlo Park and Redwood City. 

Karyl and Fred's youngest daughter,  Terisa,  graduated  from SJSU with a Degree in Statistics. She worked for an insurance underwriter, a personal injury attorney and most recently for the probate firm of Chiles and Prochnow, formerly located  in Palo Alto, CA  and Redwood City , CA .

Karyl was a flight simulation computer programmer in Sunnyvale with Singer Link Division, the same Singer company that manufactures the famous Singer sewing machine.  Singer Link Division programmers were able to accomplish real time flight simulation by computing aircraft equations of motion.  Contracts included the US Army,  McDonnell-Douglas and NASA. 

Karyl was a full-time mother and homemaker as well. She sewed many of her own clothes, and all of her daughters' clothes when they were young.

She was skilled in the art of culinary cuisine and made dinner for her family every night. The bread  on the table was always home-baked,  as were the corn and flour tortillas. Karyl made 'from scratch' her own pasta, crepes, enchilada red chili sauce and her most special sausage tomato spaghetti sauce.  Fast food was reserved for special occasions only 

Karyl's personally favorite dinner was a medium-rare filet mignon with bearnaise sauce, accompanied with a baked potato and a roquefort cheese wedge salad .  Fred was at the helm of the barbecue. And Karyl prepared a fresh vegetable dish, never canned  nor frozen,  every night.

Karyl left Singer Link to work as a systems analyst with British Petroleum in San Jose, CA;  in 1998 she and her husband relocated to  Southern California where Karyl worked at the Long Beach BP operation (closed 2010). 

Fred and Karyl chose Signal Hill in which to settle down.   The city,  surrounded on all sides by Long Beach, was founded upon the discovery of oil in 1919. Signal Hill is known for its panoramic views which have become national tourist attractions. 

Upon  retiring from BP,  Karyl launched an Internet-based home business selling designer handbags.  She personally sewed and hand-stitched every bag.  She also designed her own machined embroidery patterns, with home software tools.   

Fred also operated a home business repairing vintage  vacuum tube car radios for classic car owners and collectors. 

Karyl and Fred often spent the weekends visiting  Shoreline Village,  or the public library. They went out for breakfast  every Sunday.  Polly's and Ruby's Diner were two of their favorite local spots.

Karyl collected fine china, Taos, New Mexico art and giraffe figurines of all sizes and various types of composition materials, including porcelain and paper mache. 

She had her house decorated and furnished in a Southwest style with Chinese Art Nouveau influence.  She loved to dress fashionably, and to spend the day shopping with her sister, Karen.  They traveled  internationally,  most recently to the UK and to  Hong Kong .  

Karyl kept in touch with her daughters who both resided in Northern California. They  enjoyed rollerblading, and the Hawaiian Gardens Casino,  upon their visits to Signal Hill. 

Karyl's favorite plant was bougainvillea.  Orchids were one of her favorite flowers. She enjoyed romance movies; Gone with the Wind and Wuthering Heights were sentimental favorites. 

She read murder mystery novels and drank black coffee and ice water.  Her favorite spirit had been blended whiskey, at one time. She and Fred stopped drinking alcohol later in life,  due to its potentially negative health consequences. 

Karyl's favorite breakfast was a berry and cheese crepe sprinkled with confectioners sugar, or a Denver omelette. 

Karyl was diagnosed with terminal cancer at Memorial Hospital in Long Beach,  in July 2023.  Doctors said she would not be able to sustain chemotherapy treatments. 

Fred and Karyl were cremated in Lawndale, CA. A private service of mainly immediate family members was held on a boat off the coast of Shoreline Village; their ashes were deposited into the Pacific Ocean.

Fred and Karyl donated every year to the United Way. Other charities to consider donating to in Karyl's memory are the Long Beach Mission Foundation or the Mexican-American Opportunity Fund, which helps families of all ethnicities and races find affordable, safe home care for their children and for the elderly. The Opportunity Fund assists in helping families across the state of California gain access to food banks and they independently operate a food bank in Montebello, CA.

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