Superintendent of CYA School Dies at 49
The superintendent of Ventura School, a California Youth Authority rehabilitation center in Camarillo, has died.
Sylvester Carraway, 49, a 24-year veteran of the CYA, suffered a heart attack at his home about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and was pronounced dead a short time later at Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, said Tak Watanabe, a spokesman for Ventura School.
Since 1987, Carraway had headed the coeducational, residential center, which houses about 880 youngsters assigned to it by juvenile courts for offenses such as drug dealing and murder.
“I think both the wards and the staff” will find his death “a big loss,” said Watanabe, adding that Carraway was active in supporting educational and job-training programs, such as one involving Ventura School students in which the youths take reservations over the phone for airlines.
Before taking the Ventura position, Carraway was superintendent of O. H. Close School in Stockton. He also worked at CYA schools in Whittier and Chino.
Carraway is survived by his wife, Ernestine, and two children, 8 and 10.
Services are pending.
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