Yvonne Marie Arnold Scott was born on a Friday. August 6, 1965 in Bakersfield to Ray and Ginna Arnold. Growing up she enjoyed spending time with her younger siblings and valued her conversations with her elders. She loved reading, listening to music, dancing, daydreaming, playing RPG games and hanging out with her best friend, Darrla.

Yvonne went to grade school in Humboldt County and then moved and graduated from Ojai High School in 1983. Yvonne moved back to Humboldt County, where she married her first husband and the father of her children, as a young adult.

Throughout her life Yvonne had several jobs, including cleaning with Darrla’s Clean Team LLC, Roto Rooter, call centers, retail, and many service industry jobs, but the one she enjoyed the most was working for the carnival. This is where she met her second husband and love of her life, William Scott Jr., a.k.a Billy. Yvonne, who was known to her friends as Bonzo, got to see so many places and meet wonderful people while working and traveling with Billy and the carnival. She would constantly retell stories of her “carni days,” especially meeting Billy on the midway at Redwood Acres Fair.

Her most recent job, working from home with AT&T as a customer service representative, she described to her granddaughter, Arcadia, as “FINALLY having a job that allows me to take care of my family the way I want to.” She described to Arcadia many times how much she appreciated the true support that came from the job, and the people who mentored her.

Yvonne loved her family immensely. She was always excited about having “all the kids” for a night or two, and surrounding herself with her family. She cherished her partner, Scott Smith, with whom she grew as a person into someone she was happier being. She told her best friend, Darrla, “he makes me smile everyday” and expressed many times to her granddaughter, Arcadia, just how much Scott meant to her, and how many great ideas he came up with.She would constantly boast about him and all of the projects he would work on to truly better their lives. Yvonne also loved frogs, arts and crafts, reading, writing, watching the food channel, learning, gardening, listening to audiobooks, sewing, playing her “phone games,” raising her animals, and 48 years later, she still loved hanging out with her best friend, Darrla.

Yvonne loved to spend time in the kitchen, creating many masterpieces. She would always bake birthday cakes for Arcadia – using her extensive cake decorating kit, which she had so much fun with. She loved bringing people together through food, hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, and was famous for her homemade Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, which she made sure to share with the whole ‘farm’.

Yvonne was always open to talk to anyone who needed “an ear”. She had the unique ability to see things from a wide perspective, using her immense world knowledge and life experience to impart wisdom in bite sized and manageable pieces. She always made you feel welcome, heard, understood, and cared for. In her way, she saved us all. Through the love she provided and the conversations she had, and wrapped in the hugs she gave. She took a vested interest in people she cared about – and she cared about everybody. She would find a way to help you, even if you felt helpless. Many times she even truly saved Arcadia’s life as a suicidal teenager by investing her time in making sure to do a home suicide watch, involve herself in an anti-suicide campaign, and researched all of the symptoms and how to help them. Her best friend said, “I hurt for the people that have lost her and feel bad for the people that will never get to meet her.”

Yvonne went to be with her son, husband, and her God on Sunday, August 14, 2022, after suffering a stroke. She was a good daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, partner and friend. Yvonne was preceded in death by her husband, William “Billy” Scott Jr., her mother Virginia “Ginna” Green, her father Kermit “Ray” Arnold, her brother Kurt Arnold, and her son, Ray Marsh. She is survived by her mom, Charlene Davidson-Arnold, siblings, Christina, Lanette, and Keith, her best friend, Darrla Paquin, her partner, Scott Smith, her daughter, Allison Marsh, her granddaughters, Arcadia Marsh and Aamira Adams, and great granddaughter Arabella Marsh.

A potluck style Celebration of Life will be held at Sequoia Park in the Group Picnic Area on Saturday, September 17 between 2 and 4 p.m. More details about this will also be posted on Facebook as a public event.