Obituaries

Earl Catlett, retired District 1 worker

Note: The following obituary appeared in the Lost Coast Outpost on April 16.

Retired Caltrans worker Earl Catlett was born on August 2, 1946, and passed away suddenly in his home on the early morning of March 21. He was 77.

Earl was born in Havana, Arkansas, to Dee and Florence Catlett. He had four siblings. He spent many years working in the oil fields throughout Texas, Oklahoma and California.

In 1989 he excepted a position with the Caltrans and shortly after he was transferred here to Humboldt County. While working for Caltrans he was able to continue doing what he loved most – being a driller, a.k.a. roughneck!

During his retirement he spent many years tending to his beautiful flowers in the front yard, of which he was always so proud. You probably had a chance to visit with him if you ever walked by his home on Henderson. He even made room for a small vegetable garden in the alley of his home where you could always find onions, lettuce or fresh herbs to pick.

He also enjoyed fishing, going to the local casinos, and taking road trips back to Arkansas to visit family and many other stops along the way. But most of all he was a family man. He spent countless years picking up grandkids from school (18 years of picking up grandkids at Grant Elementary) and taking them to get a cheeseburger or ice cream after school.

Earl is survived by his wife of 47 years, Sharon Catlett. His children; David Catlett (Deb Catlett), Kimberly Marshall (Heath Marshall), Lisa Catlett, Krista Catlett and Stephanie Peterson (Josh Peterson). He had eleven grandchildren: Jordan and Robert Christie, Joshua Jr., Madison, and Aubrey Peterson, Tisha and Christopher Smith (Molly), Spencer Vaughn (Emilie), Zachary and Jackson Callison, Ash Lee Hicks (Brad). He had five great-grandchildren, Brodie, Mia, Abigail and Benson Hicks, and the newest great-grandchild Tabitha Vaughn. His sister Ina Gail Hunt and her husband Delbert Hunt. His two sisters-in-laws, Regina Ross and Andrea Stuckey, who were more like sisters to him. And countless other family members.

Earl is preceded in death by his parents Dee and Florence Catlett, brothers, JD Catlett, Otho Catlett, Herbert Catlett, his sister Verzene Bell, his mother-in-law Lavon Hogge and brother-in-law Steven Ross.

Everyone who met him loved him. He never thought of anyone as a stranger. He was loved by so many. He will be missed by everyone who knew him. He will live forever in our memory by the stories he told, the love and life he created for his family, and his chocolate gravy!

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Steve Harris, environmental-permit expert

Note: The following obituary appeared in the Wild Rivers Outpost on July 9.

Steve Harris, 71, an environmental-permit expert, died on May 17 in Northern California.

Steve was born on Sept. 4, 1952, in Berkeley to Marjorie Jean (neé Peth) Harris and Clarence Alfred Harris, where Clarence worked as an electrical engineer at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. Steve was the youngest of three, with older sisters Barbara and Patricia.

The family relocated to Los Altos in 1963, where Clarence took a job at the Stanford Linear Accelerator and Marjorie worked as an assistant librarian. There, Steve lived at the family home on Russell Avenue until he graduated from Awalt High School in 1970 and left to attend Humboldt State University in Arcata.

At HSU, Steve earned a B.S. and M.S. in natural resources. His master’s thesis examined the relationship of fog and the coastal redwoods.

In Steve’s youth he worked in a variety of nature-oriented jobs for the National Parks Service, U.S. Forest Service, on boats as a marine fisheries observer, and an environmental consultant. His favorite job was serving as a wilderness ranger in the Trinity Alps northeast of Arcata.

The last nine years of his career were spent working to assure that Caltrans staff and construction contractors complied with environmental permit requirements. During this time, he became an expert on the bats that sleep on the underside of the Yolo Causeway east of Davis, and the salamanders that live along U.S. Highway 101 north of Santa Rosa.

Due to his tall stature and distinctive gait, Steve was a familiar figure in and round Arcata for decades. His likes were contra dancing, old-time music, singing with the Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir, making and playing a mandolin, fencing, foraging for wild mushrooms, playing chess and blowing soap bubbles.

He disliked having strangers ask him how tall he was, and Steve would typically answer, “81 inches.” The more dull-witted questioners would often reply “No, really, how tall are you?”, to which Steve would respond, “I just told you,”and stride away.

He also did not like being asked if he played basketball, to which the answer was a curt, “No.” Steve’s sport was hacky-sack, where his long legs let him cover lots of ground. Those legs also helped him move through a forest at an amazing speed that left those of lesser stature running to keep up.

Steve lived out his final years in a 1940-vintage bungalow landscaped with native plant species. He was visited by the turkeys that roosted in a nearby creek. Deer frequently bedded down in the comfort of his woodsy front yard.

Steve was a shy, kind and loyal man who, once he came to know and like you, was your friend for life. He had a passion for native plants and protecting the environment.

Steve had cheated death multiple times in his life, surviving cancers, a severe head injury, and problems with his circulatory system, all complicated by the scoliosis he was born with. His health gradually worsened over time, and in the end, his heart and lungs just couldn’t keep up with the demands of that big frame.

The Grateful Dead and Emmylou Harris were some of Steve’s favorite music makers. On his final day, the ICU nurse was a Dead fan who kindly served up hours of tunes from Jerry Garcia and Emmylou to send him home smiling.

Steve was predeceased by his parents, Clarence and Marjorie Harris of Los Altos, and sister, Barbara Harris, of Utah. He is survived by sister, Patricia Harris, of Sacramento.