Charles Richard Lloyd born Oct. 21, 1961 in Loma Linda — died Sept. 26, 2023, Fortuna.

How do I sum up our father’s life? Do I go back to his childhood? My grandmother says that he was a sweet boy that always liked to help out with everything. So I guess that is a good place to start. Fifteen years ago my dad moved to Fortuna and started going to the SDA church during which time he volunteered to bring food to the homeless. He built a life here trying to do for others even when he had nothing to give. He made friends everywhere he went with his sarcastic wit and his love of a good joke, although he’d still laugh at a bad one.

Our dad had three children starting with me in 1982, then my sister Mandy in 1984, and finally my brother James in 1996. In 2004 my sister gave him his grandson Daniel. He was married 3 times, first to my sister and my mother Wendy until they got divorced and he married my brother’s mother Darla where he gained a stepson Johnathan until she passed in 2005, then finally to his third wife until their divorce a few years ago. My mom also had another daughter Karrie after their divorce and even though she was not my father’s child he still treated her like she was one and when she had a daughter Trinity he treated her like a granddaughter. Maybe we all didn’t get along all of the time but we were a happy family for the most part.

He loved to create things with his hands, building fantastic pieces with any kind of wood that he could get his hands on. Beautiful cabinets that when into a friend’s home or the cabinets that helped our grandparents sell their house or the dresser he made for Trinity that was made to grow with her. He could do anything and watching him create will always be a strong memory for all of us.

There are a thousand little things we will miss. Like Mandy getting a happy birthday two days early and me getting one two days late, because no matter how many times we told him he had our dates switched he would still get it wrong every year. Sitting around the breakfast table waiting our turn to get his Spanish eggs, although it was probably not exactly traditional in any sense. Going off roading with him became a lifelong event that we shared with Daniel to carry on the fun we all had. Sitting and having conversations from things that were silly to philosophical debates and everything in between. We all carry on these memories and will pass them to the next generation to keep him in our hearts.

Sitting here writing this has made me nostalgic and miss when he was well before he started to feel sick. So many thoughts and wishes that he was still here to talk to just to see if there was some awkward and ridiculous joke that he thought I should add to this. Something silly and probably on the darker side. He would probably tell me not to cry or be sad. I’m only crying a little, but I’m not sad. Not really. We all miss him. We all wish his life wasn’t cut quite so short. I am not sad though knowing that he is finally not in pain and lives on in us. Every time I look at my hands I see his reflected in them, talking to my sister I hear his banter in ours, looking at my brother or hearing him laugh I hear a shadow of our dad in him and see how much he looks like him only a lighter version. Even Daniel has something of his that will always make me smile when I see it or hear it. We all got his sarcasm and quick wit. When we are all together we all do it and it’s because of him and his influence in each of us. We are all different, but there will always be that small part that makes us all the same.

He will be missed by his mother Ellen who knew him from the beginning of his life and his siblings that shared his childhood. He will be missed by his children, those that are by blood and those that are honorary. He will be missed by his friends, the old and the new. By all that loved him, faults and all.

James is wanting to get a service together, so if you know how to reach him he will let everyone know when he has put it all together. If you have any questions or a desire to attend please contact him and he will pass it along.

Thank you for listening to my musings. I know it turned out longer than I wanted, but it was still just a drop in time compared to a man’s life and all of the moments it contains.

###