Our dear father, Wesley E. Green Sr., passed away in Redding after a short illness.

Wesley was born on April 28, 1929 in their family farm house in Dows Prairie in McKinleyville to his parents, Wesley Clyde Green and Emma Green. Wesley attended Dows Prairie School and graduated from Arcata High School, in the class of 1946. Wesley then joined the United States Navy and was a proud sailor, serving his country. Wesley met the love of his life, Shirley Molander, on a plane flying to Monterey. They were married in 1954 and shared a loving relationship for 63 years until Shirley’s passing in 2017.

After serving in the Navy, Wesley went on to graduate from Humboldt State College with a degree in teaching. His first year of teaching was at Fieldbrook Elementary school in the old school across the street from where it is now. It was a two-room school with an outhouse. From there, he had the honor of being a teacher, school bus driver, vice principal and principal at Jacoby Creek Elementary School for 30 years. He would regularly see former students in the community and remember all of their names.

He retired after 30 years of teaching and went on to buy his own dump truck and trucked for another 20 years, which he really enjoyed his second career. Farming was always in Wesley’s heart, as his father taught him how to raise strawberries in Dows Prairie as a young boy. During his life he had several strawberry patches.

He also had rentals and a ranch that kept him very busy right up to the end of his life. He loved his rental business and loved helping people.

Wesley was a very positive, kind and optimistic person. He always saw the good in everyone and always told his sons, “If you can’t say something good about someone, don’t say it at all.”

Wesley was a proud member of the Arcata McKinleyville Seventh Day Adventist church, where he served as deacon for over 40 years. He was also the Ingathering leader, and would lead people in the church caroling door to door at Christmastime in the community, collecting donations for those in need. In the 1970s, he and his wife Shirley helped lead the church youth in a teen club and would drive the bus full of many teenagers to their activities on weekends.

Wesley was also a member of the Humboldt Model A Club. He enjoyed cars his entire life and really knew how to take good care of his classic cars.

Wesley is preceded in death by his parents, Wesley Clyde and Emma Green, his wife Shirley, his brother George (Rosie), his sister Emma Dudal (Hans) and his sister Mary Wagnor and brother-in-law Herman Lund.

Wesley is survived by his sons Wesley Green Jr. (Teresa) and Victor Green (Jewels), his loving 103-year-old sister Gladis Lund of Maxwell, California who traveled two hours to Redding to see her baby brother and spend precious time in the final days of his life. A special thank you to his loving niece Carmen Mason and nephew Richard Mason for visiting him and bringing their mother and his sister Gladis to Redding.

Wesley is also survived by his many grandchildren, Jason Green (Candie), Victor Green Jr. (Veronica), Erica Green (Brian Cestone), Danielle Cunningham, Nick Green, Whitney Green, Lyndsey Brunner (Travis), Korine Grandfield and 18 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild.

Wesley is also survived by his many loving nieces and nephews, Gaylene Dudal, Joyce Spini, Dolores Bell, Darlene Dungan (Casey) Janiece Kinsey, Richard Green (Dyanne), Dillard Kinsey, Carmen Mason (Richard), his brother-in-law Bob Clanton, Wally Molander (Marilyn) and his sister in law Sherry Molander.

A special thank you to Victor’s wife, Jewels, for looking after her father-in-law on a regular basis and treating him with unconditional love and respect.

Wesley leaves behind his childhood friends Don Decker and Max Schultz.

There will be a celebration of life for Wesley Green on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. at the Arcata McKinleyville Seventh Day Adventist Church: 1200 Central Avenue, McKinleyville, on top of Bella Vista Hill. A reception will immediately follow at Azalea Hall — 1620 Pickett Road in McKinleyville.

Mr. Green would be honored to have his former students attend, as well as friends and loved ones. We would also like anyone with a classic car, to bring their car to the celebration of life in honor of Wesley Green Sr. 

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting contributions made to the SDA Community Service — 1200 Central Avenue McKinleyville, CA 95519. This helps those in need in our local community.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Wesley Green Sr.’s family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.