Friends and family of Scott and Kendra Chan – the Los Altos father and daughter who died when a commercial diving boat they were bunking on for a weekend trip caught fire off the Santa Barbara coast last month – gathered at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco Saturday to honor lives cut short.
At approximately 3:30 a.m. Sept. 2, the Coast Guard and partnering agencies responded to a vessel fire off the north shore of Santa Cruz Island near Platt’s Harbor in Santa Barbara County, a memo from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office reported. By the time authorities arrived on scene, the 75-foot Concepcion was fully ablaze. It sank to the ocean floor just under four hours later, claiming 34 victims. The Chans were among several passengers on board with ties to the Bay Area.
Scott Chan, 59, taught physics at American High School in Fremont. Daughter Kendra, 26, who graduated from Mountain View High School and UC Davis, was a biologist who lived in Oxnard. Scott was remembered as a beloved teacher who used innovation to inspire his students, according to a statement from his employer, the Fremont Union School District. Kendra’s Mountain View High band director Jason Kneebone described his former student as outgoing, talented and passionate, with an “infectious positivity.”
The father-daughter pair were on a trip doing what they loved most at the time of their deaths: scuba diving. During a FaceTime call with a local television station after the tragedy, Scott’s wife and Kendra’s mother Vicki Moore said they took two diving trips to the Channel Islands every year and had been aboard the Conception before – it was how they bonded.
Moore’s niece Tamara Moore, who organized the family’s GoFundMe page to raise funds for causes Scott and Kendra supported, spoke at the memorial and expressed her gratitude on the GoFundMe page on Monday (Oct. 14).
“We learned more and more about this multifaceted and adventure-seeking father/daughter duo,” she said. “We know Scott and Kendra are looking down on us and are so touched by the generosity from all of the individuals who have made this campaign possible.”
The Chan-Moore crew, including Vicki, son Kevin and their extended family, set up the fundraiser in Scott and Kendra’s names to benefit nonprofit ocean conservation organizations. All proceeds, more than $43,000 to date, will be donated to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Ocean Conservancy and the California Academy of Sciences.
To donate, visit bit.ly/2k7prE3.
