On August 12, 2025, Joe Avelar slipped away peacefully in the company of his two daughters, Helena and Paula, seven months after the passing of his wife, Natalia.

A fixture in the Arcata community for over sixty years, Joe was a constant both in St. Mary’s Parish and the Portuguese community. In the seventies he and a few friends formed a committee and together they took on the task to refurbish and revitalize the dilapidated Portuguese Hall building. They volunteered countless hours of labor, they and their families did fundraising, and they helped to breathe new life into the traditional festas that, at the time, were struggling to survive.

For St. Mary’s he was an integral part of the Building Fund committee organizing the push to fundraise for a new church building. Joe and Natalia along with their friends and families, volunteered hundreds of hours helping to fundraise by putting on community dinners, bake sales, selling Portuguese donuts on the Plaza for 4th of July, and the church Bonanza. If it needed doing they figured out how to get it done, and in September of 1996 the new St. Mary’s church was completed and soon after, the entire building project had been paid in full. Every special occasion celebrated at St Mary’s was adorned with Joe’s floral arrangements and decorations. His Christmas and Easter decorations in particular were legendary for their beauty and intricacy.

Jose Maria Avelar was born on April 11,1938 in Santa Cruz das Flores, Açores. He was the second of four children, Antonio the eldest, Lucilia and Fatima following. The island of Flores is one of the most remote and westerly of the archipelago making it difficult to travel to in those days. Often the population went months without adequate supplies due to bad weather forcing supply ships away. With no electricity, heat, or modern convenience it took grit, determination, and ingenuity to survive. At the ages of five and six, Jose Maria and Antonio had their assigned chores and helped their parents work the land. Before school they had already collected eggs and walked a couple of miles to move cows between pastures. After school the work was plentiful. In those days, if you weren’t able to grow it or exchange with a neighbor, you did without it.

Desiring better opportunities for their children was a goal for many Açoriano families. When Jose Maria was 17 his father accompanied him to Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel and left him in the care of a family acquaintance where he would live for the next four years while apprenticing to become a tailor. During those years Jose Maria acclimated to big city life, excelled in his work, and found a small community of friends. It didn’t take long before a golden-haired, blue-eyed girl caught his eye and after some sleuthing and the assistance of mutual friends, a ‘chance’ meeting was planned. Jose Maria and Natalia met by ‘chance’ as they were able and learned they had many things in common and so they began dreaming of a future together. Soon they were engaged and Natalia’s family took him in as one of their own. He loved the chaos of Natalia’s large family who gathered regularly to make music, sing, and dance together.

On January 17, 1959 Jose Maria and his father made the long trip to the United States to find work and better future opportunities. At Ellis Island, Jose Maria Avelar became Joe M. Avelar. The pair traveled to California and for the next year and a half they would work in the Tulare, CA dairy farms where they had one day off each month. Life wasn’t easy, pay wasn’t great, and often their work boots doubled as their pillows but they persevered. When Joe had made enough money to purchase a wedding gown for Natalia, plane fares, and a little extra to start his married life, he and his father returned to Sao Miguel. On April 30,1961 Joe and Natalia were married and by April of 1962 both had emigrated to the United States, this time to the northern coastal city of Arcata, where other Avelar family members called home.

They put down roots and had their first child, Helena. Joe and Natalia worked hard, made many sacrifices and in 1965 were able to purchase their home where they would live out their lives. Living modestly but always making fun out of very little was how they chose to live. Short trips to nearby destinations, picnics on lazy summer Sundays, fishing and bon fires on Mad River beach, spending time with friends, and dreaming of new adventures…they made every moment count.

In the late sixties Joe and Natalia studied English and learned the US government’s fundamentals and proudly became naturalized American citizens. Joe didn’t have the opportunity of higher education but he loved learning and never stopped. Instilled in him by his mother, he had a deep love of and appreciation of world history, fine art, and music.

In 1972 they made their first trip back home to the Açores and mainland Portugal and would return four additional times. They loved to travel to Oakland to visit with family, visiting the missions, Disneyland, San Diego, Reno, Lake Tahoe, and throughout Oregon. They traveled into Canada, Mexico, western Europe, took several cruises, and throughout the years made many trips to the east coast to visit with family. In 1975 they were blessed with their second daughter, Annapaula. This completed their family and they were able to build a lasting place in their community.

Joe worked in the lumber mills until the late seventies when the timber industry all but faded away from Humboldt County. He often worked doubles, and sometimes triples, on an empty stomach all to bring home a little extra money so he and Natalia could realize their dreams. In the early eighties, after the local mills closed, he went to work for Arcata High School as a custodian and remained there for 20 years. After he retired from AHS he went to work for Holly Yashi Jewelry where he worked into his eighties.

Joe was a force of nature and there wasn’t anything he put his mind to that he didn’t accomplish. Over the years he assisted friends in planning and executing many beautiful wedding receptions. He had a unique eye for beauty and elegance. Joe loved to create with his hands no matter if the job was construction or the fine detailed embroidery work he and Natalia did to create many church vestments and banners for St Mary’s as well as queens’ capes, angels’ wings, and saints’ vestments for the Portuguese Hall.

Christmastime in the Avelar household was like no other. From the early years and with little money he fashioned the decor himself and later on enlisting help from his eldest daughter.. Hours were spent around the kitchen table listening to music and creating ornaments and garlands. Outside, he erected a lifesize Nativity scene year after year. After a major remodeling of the house, he modified his Nativity and moved it inside. Honoring the Portuguese tradition of building a ‘presepio’ to celebrate Christmas, Joe created a Nativity and detailed village scenes that took up the majority of the living room. Year after year the presepio grew and he made improvements. Friends and neighbors would gather and bring their children to visit, enjoy Natalia’s baked goods, and gaze upon the village happenings, lights, and music. Nothing brought Joe more happiness than to see the expressions of wonder and joy on their faces.

In 2010 and 2012, Joe and Natalia’s granddaughters, Ava and Sophia, arrived. They were the jewels in their family crown and they were so grateful to help raise them and spend time with them. Simple fun like trips to the pumpkin patch, nail painting, learning about SnapChat filters, and attending school functions were precious to Joe and Natalia.

In the summer of 2019 Joe and Natalia treated the family to a trip to Disneyland. They insisted on traveling by car so they could take the time to gaze upon the California they had traveled so often and had left them with so many good memories.

Later that summer Natalia would suffer a stroke leaving her in a wheelchair and drastically changing their rhythm of life. They were on the go at all times and things came to a halt. They acclimated as they always did and learned to live a more quiet life spent reminiscing about their lives together, dreams realized, all their adventures, and all the fun they had with their dearest friends. They looked at old photos and recounted their successes and bumps along the way. All in all they were satisfied and often said they could have never dreamed of having achieved so much and that the two young dreamers who had traveled from two tiny islands in the Atlantic to a faraway country with little more than the clothes on their back, and little money in their pockets, had done pretty well.

Natalia passed away in January 2025 and Joe never regained his spark for life after that. He spent five years taking care of Natalia’s every need. His loyalty and selflessness were evident in the beautiful care he gave her, and we are forever grateful for that. His last months were spent quietly missing her, going on drives, and enjoying the occasional Fresh Freeze strawberry milkshake.

Many thanks to the 2025 Portuguese Holy Ghost committee who encouraged Joe to participate in this year’s centennial celebration in any way he was able. One last time he decorated his beloved church, sang in the choir, and visited with people he hadn’t seen in many years. He was filled with a joy and pride during that week that he had been missing for a while. We will always remember that final gift to our family.

Many thanks also to his close friends who never forgot him and reached out regularly to check on him and offer encouragement.

Joe was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years Natalia, his parents, Jose and Maria Avelar, and his elder brother, Antonio. He leaves behind his daughters, Helena Avelar and Annapaula Walton (husband Jeff), and granddaughters Ava and Sophia Walton; sisters Lucilia Pimentel (husband John), Fatima Avelar, and sister-in-law, Irene Avelar and numerous other family members.

Funeral will be held Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 11 a.m., St Mary’s Catholic Church. All are invited to attend. Private interment to follow.