Joseph Alfred (Hurkie) McCovey was born on August 24,1998, and was tragically taken from us on July 19, 2024, at the young age of 25.

Hurkie was born in Eureka and grew up along the Trinity and Klamath Rivers. He was a proud Hupa, Karuk and Yurok man, and was a member of the Yurok Tribe. He attended Hoopa Elementary and Hoopa High School and enjoyed playing baseball and basketball. Hurkie loved hunting, fishing, eeling and doing anything outdoors. Most of all, he loved being with his family, and he loved his boys more than anything. His greatest joy was being their dad. If you were looking for him, you’d find him with his parents, Terry and Julie Ann. He was his mom’s love bundle.

Hurkie was the youngest of all his siblings and first cousins and was the baby of our family. He was the definition of a grandma’s boy and shared a special relationship with his Grandma Judy. They had coffee together every morning from the time he learned to crawl up the hill to her house. Hurkie was an old soul, with a beautiful heart, who will be missed forever by those who loved him. Our world is not the same without him.

Hurkie is survived by his parents, Terrance and Julie Ann McCovey, his grandmother, Julia Farnum, his children, Odell, Joseph and Julian McCovey; siblings Ruby (Phillip), Terrance Jr, and Dorothy McCovey, Natalie (Brandon) Scott, Brammel, McKenzie (Monte), Stanley III (Weeya) McCovey, and Florence Peters. His nieces and nephews; LaDayle, Ramona, Gary, Chey, Farron, Tishawnik, Shawn, Chemooch, Deja, Keyla, Eugene, Credence, Cynthia, Teressa, Terrance III, Curtis, Miles, Liam, Tristan, Atuyuriam, Bessie, Keech, Ike, Thaddius, Mark, Peyton, Cooper, Lailie, Lovella, Wyatt, Natalia, Myra, Clara, Ben, Stanley IV, and Barthel. He is also survived by his aunts, Marilyn Powell, Cynthia Henderson, great-aunts Claudette Rogers and Sylvia Carroll, his great-uncle Victor Starritt and his cousins and great nieces and nephews, too many to mention.

Hurkie is preceded in death by his grandparents Julia Starritt Trejo and Stanley “Cart” McCovey, Sr, and Byron Grant, Sr; his siblings Bessie McCovey and Duane Van Pelt III, his uncle’s Dean Powell, Barry McCovey, Sr, Farron McCovey, Sr, Stanley McCovey II and his nephew Phillip Coleman II.

Services will be held Saturday, July 27 at 1 p.m. at the Neighborhood Facilities (NF) Building in Hoopa, CA. Burial will be at the family cemetery in Orleans, CA, with a reception immediately following at the Karuk Tribe’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) building.

Pallbearers are Chiefy, Brammel and Stanley “Boy” McCovey, Gary Juan III, Shawn and Chemooch Logan, Eric Phines, John Acuna, Tahn and Mawah’che Blake, Kenek Turner, Logan and Delmer Ferris, Farron and Harwood McCovey, Perry Sanderson, Nah-tes and David Jackson, Kistay and Donald Powell, Dellavin McCovey and Barry McCovey, Jr.

Honorary Pallbearers are Charlie, Inker, Gordon, Mikey, Long Gone, Cogy, Kit, Buck, Romeo, Kitsay, Cash, Howie, Touch and Juju McCovey, Ron and Butchie 2nd Place Reed, Robert Starritt, Boyd Ferris, Shawn Turner, Phillip Coleman, Anthony Rogers, Martin Cervantes, Emmanuel Bussell, Alfie Bussell, Hurk and Wade Nixon, Punky Colegrove, Ben Hunsucker, Rick Sanderson, Waymond and Victor Starritt, Willie Willson, Tony King, Sam Jones, Wilson Donahue, Johnny Pratt, Robert Hostler, Alex Lamebear, Sebastian Ferris, Billy Buck Peters, Arden McCovey and Sport Surber. We know Hurkie had a lot of pards, and we are truly sorry if we missed any of you!

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Joseph McCovey’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.