Charles F. Peterson was born August 14, 1946 at the old Trinity Hospital in Arcata. My parents were Aaron Peterson and Mabel (Light) Peterson. After a brief sudden illness I passed away peacefully at the age of 78 on May 27, 2025. Most people called me Charlie but I was also called Chuck, Pete and from some of my old motorcycle rider friends, “Sweetpea”. Growing up in Bayside and the Jacoby Creek valley was a great experience and many basic skills were learned at an early age as we lived on a small farm with Jacoby Creek running through it. My dad and two older brothers taught me to drive tractors, cars and ride motorcycles but there were also chickens, cows, a horse, a couple of acres of garden and lots of family picnics by the creek. I didn’t take much to riding the horse though and as my dad used to say, “they didn’t have a switch to turn them off”!

I started school at the original Jacoby Creek School and graduated from Arcata High School in 1964. After attending Shasta Junior College for a short period of time, the allure of becoming a famous flat track motorcycle racer brought me back to Humboldt County. After several seasons of flat tracking, a little motocross and some enduro competitions, in 1981 I hung my helmet on the wall next to my steel shoe, some various body part braces, crutches and a cast that had been sawn off. Although motorcycle racing was very exciting, I decided there were many other ways to enjoy life and have fun!

I went to work for Arcata Redwood Company at the Brainard Remanufacturing facility in the summer of 1965. My first job was as the delivery person, the lowest position at the facility. After several position changes, a company change of ownership and making many long-time friends, I retired after 43 years as Superintendent of the Brainard Remanufacturing Division of the California Redwood Company subsidiary of the Green Diamond Resource Co.

During these working and retirement years many days were spent fishing on the Mad River in an effort to outsmart that elusive steelhead trout. I especially enjoyed hunting locally with my long-time hunting partners primarily in the Maple Creek area as well as making several hunting trips to Oregon, Montana and Idaho. With my wife Karen, of 28 years, we traveled to many places in the U.S attending golf tournaments, motorcycle races, various types of auto racing, quilt shows, air shows and simply taking in natures beauty. We also enjoyed spending time at our place in Willow Creek, with its four definite seasons you could experience all weather conditions and to top it off we had great neighbors. Having grown up with a father and two older brothers who were always working on cars or motorcycles, I too inherited those traits. After “tinkering” with many vehicles throughout the years I subsequently ended completely disassembling a 1935 Ford coupe and then rebuilt and modernized all of its operating systems making it into a fairly nice, bright purple street rod which I still love to take for rides with country, rock or pop music blasting away on the cassette player.

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As family members looked over this recount of Chuck’s life there are some things he left out. One thing in particular and as Karen often said, he was a “cat whisperer”, if he was working on any project there was usually a cat right there, “helping” with his current project. There were many special cats throughout the years and they all left paw prints on his heart.

Charlie is survived by his wife Karen Peterson, brother and sister-in-law Jim and Rita Peterson, sister Gayle Bear, sister in-law Rachel and her husband Rick Fusi and too many nieces, nephews and cousins to list. He was predeceased by his parents Aaron and Mabel Peterson, grandparents Harry and Annie Light, Milford Peterson, older brother Jerry Peterson, sister-in-law Sharron Peterson and niece Terri Peterson. Also, aunt Dorothy (Light) Anderson and her husband Runar, uncles Andrew James Light (KIA in WWII), Roy Light and his wife Lee, Richard Light and his wife Margie, and cousin Robert Miller who was a dear friend since childhood and most likely as infants they laid side by side while their mothers changed their diapers. Robert was also a partner in just about all of his activities in one way or another.

We would like to thank Doug & Judy White and Don and Barbara Darst for the support they have given us through this process.

At his request no services will be held. He had a great life but not a complicated one, so in the end he wished to keep things simple as well. He’ll be laid to rest at the Greenwood Cemetery in Arcata in the Light family plot. In memoriam, plan a family get together and discuss your family history with the younger generations. As he stated, most of us realize in later life that we should have listened more carefully to our parents and grandparents when they were explaining their family history and life experiences when they were growing up. And if anyone desires, in lieu of flowers you can contribute to a local animal shelter, that would be “pawsome”!

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