People walk along Trail #5 in the Arcata Community Forest to remember Bill Spenceley, who was found attacked there earlier this year. Photos by Sage Alexander.

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For decades, Bill Spenceley started his morning in the woods. He’d ritually jog or hike through the Arcata Community Forest, through a web of trails and old logging roads in the redwoods.

“This was my brother’s sanctuary,” said Christine Peter.

On Saturday, an altar for Spenceley was set up. Family, old friends, coworkers, neighbors — even a student from his time as a preschool teacher decades ago  — all gathered in the cool October air to remember the man, who was found brutally attacked in the forest early this year at age 75. He died last month.

His family saw the gathering as taking back the forest, reclaiming Trail #5 as a place of peace for him and the broader community.

Peter said the trails she’d walked since she was three had become a scary place to her after he was attacked. But she wanted to face her fears.

“We’re not going to be scared of walking in the forest,” she told those who gathered to walk together.

On the altar sat a painting of his, a bowl of inspirational word stones, an iPad displaying photos of him throughout his life. His guitar leaned nearby, along with a statue of Saint Francis of Assisi — the patron saint of nature and animals.

People sprinkled dried lavender as they walked by lanterns on the forest floor. They spoke about seeing him every day roaming the trails, working alongside him serving people with disabilities, or a time he helped a neighbor build a path in their backyard.

“We want to remember him for his impact to the community, not just how we lost him,” said Lauren Spenceley, his niece, who flew from Arizona for the memorial. She’s been struck by the knowledge she’s now the last person with the Spenceley name.

Bill Spenceley had moved to Humboldt County in the early 1970s to attend then-Humboldt State University. He’d fallen in love with the area and stuck around.

Those who knew him remembered him as a gentle soul — a vegetarian since age 13, someone who “wouldn’t even hurt a fly.” He had a connection with spirituality, practicing yoga and meditation.

He spent his time hiking, running ultramarathons as a younger man, and went on backpacking and camping trips.

“He was so amazing, because he brought [adventure] to my childhood,” said Peter. She remembered as taking her on trips — often taking her to an offbeat trail or camping in one of his “hippie” cars.

He taught preschool, then worked at the Humboldt Community Access & Resource Center for 34 years, mostly as the organization’s director. The social services organization helps people with developmental disabilities live independently. He’d coordinate the social workers appointments with clients and ran the organization.

He had retired not long before his death.

Family members are working to get a bench in his honor into the community forest. Loved ones also want to see justice for his death.

Spenceley did not know the man accused of attacking him. Police have testified that the pair had only exchanged brief ‘hellos,’ with overlapping morning walk routines.

He was found with serious head injuries and no defensive wounds.

Random attacks in Arcata are incredibly rare. But the violence of the attack left neighbors feeling concerned — a violation of the forest for the whole community, something that made it feel suddenly unsafe.

Spenceley’s death is considered particularly tragic, as he was remembered as such a gentle person. He’s the last person many who knew him expected to be involved in any kind of violence. And with his good health and genetics, family members expected to have him around for two more decades.

Peter, Spenceley’s sister, wants to hire a lobbyist with money raised on a GoFundMe to address the release of people accused of being violent offenders.

Suspect Shawn Kolpak was out of custody on pretrial release at the time of the attack. He had been charged in a separate incident for allegedly attacking another man in the head using a two-pound exercise weight, just a few months before Spenceley was attacked.

The court allowed him to be released under supervision, with terms that he would not engage in assaultive behavior.

Peter wants a bill in her brother’s name to address this, as well as mental illness as a whole.

The next court date for the case is in January. Kolpak has pleaded not guilty.

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