Vicki Jean Sveda; Agoura High School Teacher

Vicki Jean Sveda, a high school teacher, died Thursday morning in Thousand Oaks after a five-year battle with breast cancer. She was 54.

She was born Oct. 20, 1946, in Ventura and was the eldest daughter of Charles and Jean Reynolds.

She graduated from Granada Hills High School in 1964 and attended San Fernando Valley State College. In 1969, she earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a teaching credential.

While in college, Sveda played basketball, tennis, volleyball and field hockey.

After graduation, she began a career as a physical education teacher at Lindero Middle School in Agoura Hills. She founded the school’s first after-school program for girls and served on a committee that wrote the first Las Virgenes Unified School District curriculum for physical education.

In 1975, she transferred to Agoura High School, where she taught classes and coached the drill team, pep squad, basketball, softball, volleyball, soccer and tennis. She was known as “Coach Sveda.”

She stopped coaching in the early 1990s but continued to instruct students in the classroom with lectures in health, geography and California history.

She is survived by her husband, Michael P. Sveda of Thousand Oaks; a daughter, Angela M. Sveda; two sisters, Valene E. Lee of Olympia, Wash., and Vanessa R. Spidel of Simi Valley; and a brother, Charles W. Reynolds Jr. of Torrance.

Church services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Pascal Baylon Catholic Church in Thousand Oaks followed by a funeral service at Pierce Bros. Valley Oaks Mortuary in Westlake Village.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Las Virgenes Unified School District, 4100 N. Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, CA 91302.

Arrangements are being handled by Pierce Bros. Valley Oaks Mortuary in Westlake Village.