On January 18, 2001, I lost my beautiful mother when she was murdered walking from my father's hospital bed to her car. 10 days later my father died of heart failure. This page has some details of the event and will forever stand as a memorial to both of my parents. Over 1,100 people attended my mother's service and I receive mail and calls from all of the world from people that had been touched by my mother's kindess and love.

If you take anything away with you after visiting this site, my wish would be that you remember how precious life is and you tell the wonderful people in your life how much you love them. My parents died knowing of my love. My mom and dad live on in my heart and I am thankful for each person in my life. 

It wasn't the bad news Don Wallar II thought he would hear. He picked up the telephone Friday morning, expecting to hear that his father, Don, ill with diabetes, had taken a turn for the worse. The news was much worse than that. He was told his mother, Vivian, had been stabbed to death the night before, in the parking lot of San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland just moments after the San Gabriel schoolteacher had finished visiting her sick husband.

So on Saturday, while Upland police continued to investigate the 55-year-old Upland woman's murder, friends and family members gathered at the Wallar's home to mourn her death. "She was the centerpiece of our family," Don Wallar II said of his mother, a longtime elementary school teacher who had spent much of the past two years caring for her ill husband and her now-deceased mother-in-law.

The shock of her sudden death also extended to San Gabriel, where she had taught with her husband at a Seventh-day Adventist school for the past decade. The man who hired her, San Gabriel Academy Elementary School principal Ken Phillips, had to break the news to students and staff. "We all knew Mr. Wallar was not doing well," Phillips said in a telephone interview. "I think the faculty expected to hear some bad news about him. To tell them she was killed, it was a real shock. There was a lot of uncontrolled emotion." Phillips also called the parents of all of Vivian Wallar's first-grade students to inform them of her death. "To a person, they all remarked on what a loving person she was," he said. "We will be dealing with a lot of grief on campus Monday."

Vivian Wallar's ailing husband, who retired from teaching last March because of heart problems and other diabetes-related complications, received the news with extra medication designed to calm him, Don Wallar II said. The 55-year-old father remains in the hospital's coronary care unit. "He's handling it OK," his son said. "Right now, he's doing the best he can."

Vivian Wallar, a Florida native, won a $1,000 award for outstanding teaching two years ago. More recently, she and her husband had cared for his ailing mother, who died in October. Even with her husband's illness, she still found time for others, Phillips said. "There wasn't anybody she wouldn't help," he said. "She epitomized Southern hospitality." Her death has prompted hospital officials to beef up security and lighting in the parking lot, which is surrounded by a quiet neighborhood.

San Antonio Community Hospital officials and a family friend also have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture of her killar. Police described the suspect as a Latino in his 40s, 5-foot-9 and between 180 to 200 pounds. The assailant had medium-length combed-back hair and a mustache, and police said he wore dark pants and a dark, zipper-front jacket. Anyone with information about the attack should call the Upland Police Department at (909) 946-7624. 

January 23, 2001 By Emanuel Parker Staff Writer

SAN GABRIEL - Grief counselors talked to students Monday at San Gabriel Academy Elementary School, where students were reacting to the murder last week of a respected teacher. Vivian Wallar, 55, of Upland was stabbed to death at 10:15 p.m. Thursday after visiting her seriously ill husband at Vivian WallarSan Antonio Community Hospital in Upland.

A first-grade teacher at the Seventh-day Adventist school for the past 30 years, Wallar was killed in the hospital parking lot. Wallar and other relatives and friends were heading for their cars after visiting hours when she was attacked. Several witnesses heard her screams and saw her struggling with her assailant, but she was stabbed before anyone could come to her aid. School officials didn't tell students about her death Friday, but called parents and asked them to break the news to their children over the weekend. Parents who picked up their children Friday after school noticed many teachers in tears. Parents who asked were told about Wallar.

Wallar's husband, Don, 55, was a popular fifth-grade teacher at the school until he retired in March due to heart problems and diabetes-related complications. He has been hospitalized in the coronary care unit since Jan. 15. A parent said the husband had lost a leg to diabetes and was known to entertain his students by removing and displaying his false leg in the classroom. Wallar and her husband had cared for his ailing mother, who died in October.

The couple has two grown sons. Hospital officials and a friend of the family are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the killar. Upland police describe the suspect as a Latino in his 40s, 5 feet 9 inches and between 180 and 200 pounds. He had medium-length combed-back hair and a mustache, and police said he wore dark pants and a dark zipper-front jacket. Anyone with information is asked to call the Upland Police Department at (906) 946-7624.