Renee Leanne Isaacson passed away on September 19, 2024. She was born on April 24, 1961 in Goldendale Washington. Renee grew up in Carson, Washington and met Eric Isaacson in 1985 around the time Eric moved up there. They got married on July 6, 1991. Eric worked at a couple mills and then did timber falling, while Renee worked in a psychiatric ward at Vancouver hospital. They moved in together in 1986 in Carson, Wash. and then moved to Eureka in 1990. They got married on July 6, 1991.

Renee worked in the health center at HSU as a referral coordinator for insurances. She retired early in 2005 to become a stay-at-home mom for her twins, who were seven at the time.

She is survived by her husband Eric, her son Michael, and her daughter Molly.

Written by Molly Isaacson:

My mom was kind, light-hearted, and had an amazing sense of humor. She was hilarious and very quick-witted! I have so many of her funny quotes written down. Mom was creative and did many different crafts throughout the years. She painted rocks, canvases, and then got into sewing in 2020. She had turned a room in their house into a “craft room” and it was filled with any fabric you could think of! She made masks during the pandemic, but then transitioned to making rice packs, bags, bowl cozies, ornaments, bows, baby blankets, gnomes, and more. Mom’s favorite activity was sewing in the craft room and listening and singing along to music playing on the Alexa. Speaking of Alexa- she had one in every room! My brother and dad never quite understood, and it almost became a joke to see what they’d say about her growing collection. For the last few years, mom attended a couple craft fairs a year including the veterans memorial building craft fair and the Loleta craft fair to sell her sewing creations. I would go with her and help out and we’d spend the day chatting (and shopping the other vendor booths) together.

My mom also loved Disneyland, taking many trips over the years with her relatives Carla, Heidi, Mitchell, Alexandria, Beatrice, my brother and I (and my dad a couple times)! Her favorite was when it was decorated for Christmas, which we got to see on our last trip out there in 2018.

My personal favorite memories with mom are our family trips up to Washington to visit family. We have gone to Washington almost every summer for as long as I can remember and I have so many fond memories of those adventures. We would play music in the car and eat road trip snacks and just have the best time ever being with family. As my brother and I became adults, we would drive up ourselves and meet mom up there. Mom would sometimes visit there for a month at a time and it truly was one of her happy places. This past July, my partner and I drove up to Washington with mom! It was just like old times when we would all drive up together. We stopped at Burgerville on the way up (it’s a necessity) and then went out to Backwoods Brewery once we made it to Carson. It was a beautiful, warm night and the excitement for the upcoming week of adventures was tangible. Later that week, we visited Mt. Hood because mom had never been there. It was beautiful and extra special looking back, now.

I am extremely grateful for the memories I have and for my mom and dad for giving my brother and I the best childhood ever. We were such happy kids and our days were filled with magic, especially this time of year. My mom LOVED Christmas. Growing up, she did not get to experience Christmas magic but it made her go above and beyond so that my brother and I would always have the best Christmas ever. Our tree would be up extra early - oftentimes before Thanksgiving! My dad and brother were in charge of putting up the lights outside and they always did a beautiful job. She loved snow globes and Christmas music and we used to watch the Christmas Story 24-hour marathon every year!

My dad told one of my favorite stories that I have heard of my parents: January 1986, Renee and I decided to drive up to catch the sunrise in the snow. We got stuck in the snow and I went out in the woods to gather slabs of cedar to use for planks to put behind the wheels to get unstuck. I was pushing and she was driving. I didn’t realize at the time but she had no idea how to drive in reverse. I told her to back up and go down the main road. She accidentally got off the main road onto the side road and got stuck in the ditch and I had to do the same thing all over again! She ended up in the ditch about twice. We finally got to a spot where she got out and we were able to drive back home. We used to drive out the logging roads because I was familiar with those since it’s what I was doing while timber falling. We got stuck more than once. When we moved down here to Eureka, she wanted to go to Samoa beach and we got stuck and had to sleep overnight in the car. She could hear the ocean and swore the tide was going to come up and reach us. — Eric Isaacson

To know Renee was to love her, and she is so missed. Grief is just love. It’s the love you want to give, but cannot. How lucky are we to be filled with so much love for my beautiful mom …

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Renee Isaacson’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.