Riley Kai Clark-Walkner, age 28, was born on November 11, 1995, in Arcata to Jessica “Jessie” Burns and Joshua Clark. After a long battle with addiction, he died on September 28, 2024, in San Francisco.

Riley was a precocious and curious young toddler who was running around at 10 months of age and speaking multiple-word sentences at just over a year old. He was extremely active and was obsessed with building intricate Lego creations, an activity he shared with his siblings for many years.

Riley received his education in local Humboldt schools, where he completed his high school diploma and attended College of the Redwoods. Volunteering at a local church and working as a general laborer and custodian, Riley worked in many positions throughout Humboldt and Trinity County. Riley was an enthusiastic and hard worker. He often helped his grandmother stacking wood and shoveling snow, as well as any other task involving strength and determination.

A loving big brother to his younger siblings — Adam, Owen, and Scarlett — Riley also maintained close relationships with his godmother, as well as grandparents on both sides of his family. He was known for his infinite creativity and love for life, always envisioning a new plan or idea and consequently never failing to bring excitement to those around him. His genuine nature, off-the-cuff sense of humor, strong work ethic and immense love made him unforgettable.

Through his everyday interactions, Riley touched the hearts of the young and old in all walks of life, from teacher to neighbor to friend. He lived with passion and courage, taking time to connect with nature in the beautiful and limitless outdoors.

In this way, Riley’s heart and boundless spirit live on not only in the memories of all who knew him, but in the earth itself — in the roar of the ocean, the gentle redwood mist, the warmth of the mountain sun — his energy all-encompassing.

Riley is survived by his mother, Jessie Burns; his father, Joshua Clark; his siblings, Adam Walkner, Owen Burns, and Scarlett Burns; son, Wiley Clark; stepfather, Joseph Burns; his godmother, Ranee Kletchka; grandparents, Judy Walkner, Mike and Carolyn Walkner, Pamela Foster, Dan and Joanne Clark; great grandmother, Joyce Craig; nephew, Alexander “Ronnie” Walkner; aunts and uncles; Casey and Laura Walkner, Mica Clark and Mari Persson, Cicely Ames and Jaimal Kordes, Guy and Ashley Walkner, and Isaac Clark; cousins, Wylie and Coyle Walkner, Noah Clark, James Holbrooks, Darrell Holbrooks, and Bella Crawford; and great-nieces; Tatum, Baylee, and Callie Walkner. He is preceded in death by his proud paternal great-grandfather, Richard “Papa Frostie” Foster; paternal grandfather, Jack Jones; and paternal aunt, Arlo Christiansen.

Riley‘s family would like to express the sincerest gratitude to the many kind people who supported him in his journey. Special love and appreciation to Darby Rose Madrone for friendship, connection, and support throughout Riley’s life, particularly in his later years.

A celebration of life for Riley will be held on his birthday, November 11, 2024, at Samoa Beach at 11:11 a.m. All are welcome. We love you, Ri. Your beautiful spirit can now fly free from earthly constraints. We are blessed to have had you touch our lives on so many levels and in so many ways.

If you or someone you know is battling mental health and/or substance abuse issues, please contact:

SAMHSA’s NationalHelpline | SAMHSA

SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.

1-800-662-HELP (4357)

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

Gerald “Jerry” Carter passed away on October 4, 2024 at Providence St. Joseph Hospital after a long battle with congestive heart failure.

Jerry was born on July 23, 1942 to Robert and Grace Carter in Shafter, California. He grew up with two brothers and a twin sister, and while his family moved around a lot, they stayed in Kern County and eventually settled in Tehachapi. After graduating from high school, Jerry moved to Humboldt County to attend Humboldt State University. While traveling to and from home via Greyhound buses, he met his future wife Ardith Meadows, another student at HSU, who was making similar trips to and from Glendale, California. It was love at first sight, and the two were married in Glendale on February 3, 1963.

The happy couple stayed in Humboldt County and started a family right away, giving birth to Karyn in 1964, Kathryn in 1966, and Steven in 1969. During this time, they also worked for Eureka City Schools. Jerry started out teaching typing at Eureka High School — not because he knew anything about the subject, but because he needed the job — and later transitioned to business education, which was more up his alley. After that, Jerry became an administrator for ECS, working for Eureka High School and Zoe Barnum, and helped guide ECS into the early years of the internet.

Jerry retired in 1996 and began focusing more on public service, especially after Ardith died of cancer in 2006. In 2010 he joined the Eureka Host Lions Club, eventually becoming its president, and he also assisted other non-profit organizations such as the Humboldt Grange (where one year he grew a beard so he could play Santa Claus for their Santa’s Workshop program) and the Salvation Army (where he regularly helped with their pancake breakfasts). Jerry even donated blood, surpassing the 13 gallon mark at the Eureka Blood Bank.

Jerry attended church every Sunday, starting at the First Christian Church and then moving to the United Congregational Christian Church (when the First Christian Church and the Congregational Church merged together). Jerry was a deacon for many years, and he contributed dozens upon dozens of cookies, cakes and dessert breads to church fundraisers and events. Jerry always enjoyed sitting with his friends and listening to Pastor Cindi Knox’s sermons.

Jerry loved talking to people. He made friends everywhere, he was always available to help or give advice, and he was genuinely interested in where people came from and what they wanted to do with their life. He also loved to tell people about growing up in Kern County, and how life was different in the ‘40s, including how the hospital bill for his birth came to $57.50, but only because his mother had twins and had to stay in the hospital for three weeks.

Jerry had numerous hobbies, including cooking, working with model trains, making puzzles, and rooting for the Dodgers — much to the chagrin of his many Giants-fan friends. He was always trying out new recipes, especially for cookies, and he kept tinkering with ideas for how to put a garden railway in his backyard, although sadly it never came to pass. He also spent a lot of time with his pet dog Bridget. He always made sure to bring her home a doggie bag when he went out to eat, and she in turn followed him around everywhere, until he finally went somewhere she couldn’t go.

Jerry was preceded in death by his parents Robert and Grace, his wife Ardith, his younger brother Bob, and his twin sister Cheryl, but he is survived by his older brother Ken and his three children: Karyn, Kathryn and Steven.

Arrangements are under the care of the Sanders Funeral Home in Eureka. A memorial service will be held on November 9 at 2 p.m. at the United Congregational Christian Church, 900 Hodgson Street, Eureka.

Contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to the United Congregational Christian Church, the Lions Club, or the worthy charity of your choice.

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

Press release from Cal Poly Humboldt:

In line with Cal Poly Humboldt’s Climate Action Plan 2.0’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2045, the University will purchase carbon offsets at the Arcata Community Forest. The purchase will help compensate for the carbon emissions generated by University-financed air travel.

“We don’t want to restrict air travel; we value the collaboration, communications, experiences, and relationship building that air travel affords to our campus community. But we also need to lower our emissions, so purchasing carbon offsets is a great way to neutralize the University’s air travel emissions,” says Morgan King, Cal Poly Humboldt’s climate action analyst.

Carbon offsets are certificates representing the removal of one metric ton of carbon dioxide emission (CO2e). Carbon offsets on the voluntary market are available for purchase by individuals, institutions, and businesses to offset carbon emissions from travel and daily activities. Essentially, carbon offsets fund projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, like forest conservation projects or improved forest management.

The University will partner with the city of Arcata to purchase verified carbon offsets from the Arcata Community Forest using rebate funding.

“The city of Arcata is pleased to continue our partnership with Cal Poly Humboldt on local sustainability programs. The purchase of carbon offset credits through the City’s verified forest carbon program will help compensate for greenhouse gas emissions resulting from travel for university business. The purchase of carbon offsets supports the Arcata Community Forest to continue growing large, old trees and sequestering carbon for the next 100 years,” says Arcata’s Environmental Services Director Emily Sinkhorn.

The city of Arcata oversees multiple programs and projects that actively sequester carbon including:

• The Arcata Community Forest emphasizes carbon sequestration by growing trees on extended rotations, designating reserves, and adding forest acres that could otherwise be developed
• The Riparian Forest Establishment, which established more than 100 acres of new riparian forest along creeks and bottomlands
• The Salt Marsh Project at McDaniel Slough Marsh Restoration Project, which sequesters additional carbon on its 240-acre site, creating a case study that will be used to help develop sequestration protocols for salt marsh restoration activities
• The Urban Forestry Project is an active program to expand the planting of trees in the urban landscape including parks, roadside greenways, and the downtown area.

As an example, in 2023-24, the University’s air travel contributed to about 2.5% of the campus’s carbon footprint or 316.45 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. To help offset this impact, the University could have purchased carbon offsets from the city of Arcata. Each carbon offset from the Arcata Community Forest represents removing one metric ton of CO2e and may cost $30, although the cost may fluctuate depending on the market and other factors, so it would have cost the University, $9,494 to neutralize last year’s air travel. This offset equaled 316.45 metric tons of CO2e, the equivalent of 809,342 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger car.

The University will make its first purchase of carbon offsets from the city of Arcata next July, neutralizing its air-travel carbon footprint for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

In 2023, Cal Poly Humboldt introduced its Climate Action Plan 2.0, a roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, featuring 35 strategies to reduce fossil fuel consumption and enhance climate resilience, including the purchase of offsets. The carbon offset not only aids in reducing the University’s carbon footprint but also brings benefits to a local partner and the campus community. The Arcata Community Forest, which spans 2,350 acres and borders the Cal Poly Humboldt campus, plays a vital role in providing education, research, and recreational opportunities to the campus community.

This sustainably managed redwood forest sequesters carbon, provides various ecosystem services that enhance the climate resilience of the campus and community and has undergone third-party verification to be included in the Climate Action Reserve carbon credit registry.

“Buying carbon offsets from the city of Arcata presents an incredible opportunity for the University to slash carbon emissions while also backing a valuable local resource,” King says.

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At a special meeting on Tuesday, the Eureka City Schools (ECS) District Board of Trustees unanimously voted to appoint Cynthia Bones, a senior planner with the Yurok Tribe, to represent Trustee Area 2 on the school board. The seat was previously held by former ECS Board President Mike Duncan, who vacated the position for unknown reasons sometime last month.

Four other applicants applied for the vacant seat, including Thavisak “Lucky” Syphanthong, who is also running for a seat on the Eureka City Council.

Bones has three children attending schools within the district and has volunteered as a parent representative on the school district’s Indian Education Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) and Lafayette Elementary’s School Site Council. She has also served on the Yurok Tribe’s election board and enrollment committee. 

“In the past committees I have sat on my first question is how does this help the majority of our students. I would like to continue this on a larger scale,” Bones wrote in her application for the Trustee Area 2 position. “I would like to be on the board so that I can help be an advocate for all children.”

The ECS Board of Trustees has been subject to intense scrutiny in the ten months since its five members unanimously approved a land exchange agreement with “AMG Communities - Jacobs, LLC,” a mysterious private developer who promised nearly $6 million for the long-blighted Jacobs Campus. The controversial decision put an abrupt end to years-long property negotiations between the school district and the California Highway Patrol, which had hoped to build its new headquarters on the site. In August, the board unanimously agreed to back out of the deal with AMG Communities- Jacobs following multiple delays in closing escrow.

In her application, Bones underscored the importance of public participation and transparency in decision-making, noting that the Board of Trustees should do more to ensure constituents understand the process. “I believe there should be an open door policy with the board,” she wrote. “The board should be able to hear concerns and work with the community to navigate the proper procedures to follow up on their concerns.”

Bones’ appointment to the Board of Trustees was approved in a 4-0 vote. Her four-year term will officially begin once she takes the oath of office at an organizational meeting on Dec. 12.

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The ECS Board of Trustees will convene for its regular meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Board of Education for Eureka City Schools – 2100 J Street in Eureka. The board will meet in closed session with CHP’s negotiating team to discuss the sale of the Jacobs Campus. There’s no telling when the board will make a decision.

Tonight’s agenda can be found at this link.

A year ago, a ballot measure to raise the statewide minimum wage to $18 seemed poised for an easy win in California, where costs have skyrocketed, affordability is a key concern and many of the state’s biggest cities already require businesses to pay close to that much.

But weeks before California decides on a measure that would do that, voter support appears to have fallen significantly amid heightened concerns about the economy that opponents are stressing, and a relatively quiet campaign in favor of Proposition 32.

A poll released Wednesday night by the Public Policy Institute of California shows just 44% of likely voters backing the measure, which would raise the minimum wage in January from the scheduled $16.50 to $18, with a delay for small employers. That’s a decline from 50% of those polled in September, and more than two-thirds surveyed last November who said they supported raising the minimum wage until it reaches $18.

The change in voter sentiment could reflect broader concerns about the state’s economy and the jump in costs for housing and food that hammered households over the past three years.

Despite signs of a resilient economy that continues to add jobs and falling inflation, Americans continue to remember lower prices from before the pandemic, and have consistently reported feeling pessimistic about the economy this year in a mismatch experts have dubbed a “vibecession.”

Californians are no different: In the new poll, the economy is by far the issue that respondents said is the most important facing the state, with a solid majority of likely voters saying they expect bad economic times in the next year.

Business groups opposed to raising the minimum wage, which include the California Chamber of Commerce, restaurant and grocers’ groups, and the agricultural industry, are seizing on the concerns. A digital ad released by opponents this week shows a shopper at a grocery store saying the measure would cause prices to increase, while another says she “can’t take it anymore.”

The National Federation of Independent Business, another opponent of minimum wage hikes, also is running radio ads saying the measure would worsen inflation, “hurt small businesses and harm their ability to grow and add jobs.” In response to questions about inflation falling, spokesperson Anthony Malandra said the group’s members still list inflation as a top concern.

Proponents of the wage hike dismissed the ads’ claims, but acknowledged it’s a powerful message this election year. The pro-Prop. 32 campaign, said spokesperson Angelo Greco, is also running digital ads and sending text blasts to turn out voters in big cities that are more likely to reliably support the measure.

Proponents say the measure could give raises to about two million California workers, at a time when costs are so high even single Californians with no children need to earn at least $27 an hour to be self-sufficient, according to researchers at MIT.

“While it’s the same argument that we have always heard (from businesses) the last 20 years, it resonates more when people have seen the cost of goods and services go up,” said Jane Kim, state director for the Working Families Party, a progressive group supporting the ballot measure. “That’s the softening in support that you’re seeing. We are concerned, and that’s why we are reaching out to voters that we think naturally will support an increase to the minimum wage.”

Proponents pointed to recent studies showing the state’s $20 fast-food minimum wage, which began in April, had little effect on employment in that industry, and only raised menu prices by about 3.7%.

California did have slower growth than the nation this year, but Jerry Nickelsburg, an economist who directs the UCLA Anderson Forecast, said that’s unusual and he’s predicted the state’s economy will again grow faster next year.

The state’s unemployment rate is 5.3%, higher than the nation’s 4.1%. Nickelsburg says that’s only in small part influenced by recent minimum wage hikes. Unemployment in California, he said, is driven mostly by downsizing in tech and entertainment, higher wages and reduced reliance on delivery drivers since the pandemic-era peak of online ordering and two stormy winters that put many farm laborers out of work.

“All of those (factors) will dissipate over time,” he said.

Mark Baldassare, statewide survey director for the Public Policy Institute, said he suspects likely voters who were surveyed are confused by the relative lack of a vocal campaign for the measure.

After pouring $10 million into qualifying the measure for the ballot in 2022, the measure’s author Joe Sanberg, a startup investor and anti-poverty advocate, resisted some labor advocates’ calls to withdraw the measure this year. But he still appeared to take a step back from formal campaigning, telling CalMatters in August that the message of workers needing higher pay to afford living in California would sell itself naturally.

He closed the proposition’s campaign account earlier this year. Aside from money in a campaign account tied to Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León, who supports the proposition along with two other measures, the measure hardly raised any funds this year until Sanberg donated about $100,000 this week. (Groups opposing the measure have raised more than $700,000 this year.)

The ballot, which for the first time this year lists supporters and opponents of propositions, does not include the name of any organizations pushing for Prop. 32. The state Chamber of Commerce, Restaurant Association and Grocers Association are listed as opponents.

“Here’s the thing about ballot propositions and initiatives in particular: People are cautious about voting ‘yes’ on them,” Baldassare said. “If it’s on the ballot, the question is, why? Who put it there? Who’s supporting it?”

A spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office told CalMatters that Sanberg declined to list himself or another group as the supporters. Sanberg did not respond to a request for comment.

Greco called the campaign “more of a grassroots effort.” But the quiet campaign drew criticism from a statewide union group. In 2016, unions were instrumental in muscling political support for a series of minimum wage increases that made California the first state in the nation to require $15 an hour.

“We support an increase in the minimum wage,” said Lorena Gonzalez, leader of the California Labor Federation, which endorsed the measure. “We still support Prop. 32. But we’re disappointed there’s been very little activity from the campaign.”

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

In January 2021, seven of the 11 California Republicans in Congress refused to certify the 2020 presidential election results, boosting former President Donald Trump’s false claim that he lost in a rigged vote.

Now, as Trump attempts a return to the White House, only a third of California’s Republican U.S. representatives have pledged to certify the results this November.

Only four of the 12 GOP incumbents — who are all seeking another term — have promised to uphold the election results. Of the three GOP challengers in California’s most competitive districts, two — Scott Baugh in Orange County and Kevin Lincoln in the Central Valley — made the same pledge in response to a CalMatters inquiry. And in California’s U.S. Senate race, GOP candidate Steve Garvey made the commitment in February.

The refusal to commit by most GOP congressional candidates comes as Trump and his allies are already casting doubt on the outcome of the November election, stoking fear among election officials of disruptions and violence. Trump has peddled unsubstantiated claims about widespread voting by non-citizens, argued that Vice President Kamala Harris will only win if the Democrats cheat and questioned the constitutionality of Democrats replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket.

The vote by Congress to count all electoral votes that are already certified by each state is the final step in electing a president. Usually a formality, it was anything but after Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden.

On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Early the next morning, 147 Republican members of Congress voted to object to the counting of Electoral College votes from either Arizona or Pennsylvania, or both.

All 44 California Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate at the time voted to certify the election.

Eight of California’s current Republican members of Congress were in office, but only Rep. Young Kim — who flipped her northern Orange County seat in 2020 — voted to certify the results without casting doubt on the election outcome. “The constitution does not give Congress the authority to overturn elections. To take such action would undermine the authority of the states,” she said in a statement in 2021.

She told CalMatters she plans to uphold the results of this election as well.

Rep. Tom McClintock was the only other California Republican to vote to certify the election. But he said it was because he believed Congress did not have the constitutional authority to reject the electoral votes — not because he didn’t have concerns about how the election was conducted.

In December 2020, however, McClintock was one of four California Republicans in Congress to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge the election outcome in Pennsylvania, arguing that mail balloting “invites fraud and incubates suspicion of fraud” and claiming that “ballot harvesters” collected ballots with “no chain of custody.” Multiple fact checks found no evidence that there was widespread ballot harvesting or voter fraud during the 2020 election, and courts rejected more than 50 lawsuits Trump and his allies brought to challenge the election results.

McClintock told CalMatters he will vote to uphold the electoral votes for the upcoming election. “Congress’ only role in the matter is to witness the counting of the ballots. Period,” he said.

In 2022, Congress passed the Electoral Count Reform Act, which made it more difficult for Congress to object to election results and clarified the vote counting process. All California Republican incumbents who were in office at the time voted against it.

But even with that new guardrail, political experts say efforts to overturn the election are to be expected now. That’s a stark departure from a decade ago, said Kim Nalder, political science professor at California State University in Sacramento.

“It’s really kind of horrifying that we’ve normalized this abnormal sort of situation,” she said. “We can’t survive with this level of distrust in our basic institutions, and I don’t know what will give to change that, but something has to.”

Veteran lobbyist Chris Micheli said the presidential election results could be challenged again, partly because of how close polls say the race is in seven battleground states. Both Harris and Trump are preparing legal teams in the case of a challenge.

“It’s definitely a dark period of American history, both what transpired on Jan. 6, but also earlier that prior December, when members of Congress voted against certifying the election of the clear victor in the presidential election,” Micheli said. “Those votes raised the ire of a lot of voters, particularly in California.”

The California Republican Party is confident that the election results will be certified, spokesperson Ellie Hockenbury said in a statement to CalMatters. Still, the party is preparing for issues that may arise.

“To make sure we didn’t leave anything to chance,” she said, the national and state GOP “have invested heavily in an Election Integrity operation to ensure that all concerns are addressed in real time and that Californians can cast a ballot with confidence that it will be received and counted.”

The state Republican Party is firmly behind Trump, who — despite losing to Biden 63% to 34% in 2020 — still won more votes in California than any other state. In a new Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday night, Harris leads Trump 59% to 33% among likely voters. But in the swing congressional districts, likely voters are generally evenly divided.

Rep. Ken Calvert, who represents the 41st District in Riverside County, is the only California Republican member of Congress to commit to certifying the presidential election results this time after objecting four years ago. He also joined in the court brief challenging Pennsylvania’s results in 2020 and advocated for a “thorough investigation” of voter fraud allegations in 2021.

Calvert’s campaign did not say why his position has shifted from four years ago.

Rep. Jay Obernolte, who voted to object to the count, told Southern California News Group in 2022 that he still had “serious constitutional reservations about the things that happened in those two states” — Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Reps. David Valadao and Michelle Steel missed the vote in 2021. Steel said she had tested positive for COVID-19, while Valadao had not been sworn in yet because he also tested positive. However, Valadao said on social media he would have voted to certify the election.

The three incumbents who took office in 2023 will face that decision for the first time if they win re-election. But not everyone is answering the question: Rep. John Duarte — a Modesto farmer facing a fierce challenge from Democrat Adam Gray — is the only one to state his position publicly, telling The Sacramento Bee he would vote to certify the presidential election. (Duarte did not respond to a CalMatters inquiry.)

Reps. Kevin Kiley, Vince Fong, Doug LaMalfa, Darrell Issa and Mike Garcia, as well as Obernolte and Valadao, also did not respond to CalMatters inquiries. Matt Gunderson, a candidate for the toss-up 49th District in San Diego County, did not respond to CalMatters.

Republicans are reluctant to speak publicly about the issue because they’re concerned about losing votes from Trump supporters, strategists say.

“It puts Republicans in competitive districts in a difficult position,” said Jon Fleischman, former executive director of the California Republican Party.

“Of course they’re going to vote to certify the election results, but they don’t really want to inflame the conservative grassroots side either, because they need them for their Get Out the Vote. So this is an issue that’s divisive for Republicans, and so I don’t think they want to talk about it much.”

For Republicans running in swing districts, the answer to whether they will uphold the election outcome depends on which voters they want to court, Nalder said.

“Coming out strongly in support of certification would make sense if the goal was to recruit some moderate voters or some voters from the other party in these close races,” she said. “But if the strategy is more about turnouts amongst their base … it probably makes sense to equivocate.”

For GOP members of Congress in safe Republican districts, however, the calculation is more about their “future in the party,” Nalder said.

“Assuming Trump wins, they will need to have loyalty exhibited within the party, and so having committed beforehand to something that the party maybe goes against later would not be helpful for their political career,” she said.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Terry Daily Guthary
Sept. 13, 1975 - Sept. 20, 2024

Terry Daily Guthary passed away at Mad River Hospital on September 20, 2024 surrounded by family and loved ones, just a short week after his 49th birthday. Terry had been sick for a few days leading up to his passing. Unbeknownst to everyone, Terry was suffering from septic shock due to a GIST.

Terry was born September 13, 1975 in San Bernardino and adopted by Dennis Guthary and Beverly Guthary (Gadd). When arriving to the adoption agency, Terry’s brother Brian Guthary was so excited, begging for a baby brother. Little did he know he would be going home as a big brother that day. The Gutharys resided in Southern California for a few years before relocating to Hydesville to be closer to family, eventually making their way to Eureka.

Terry was known for his passion of sports, having the kindest heart, and best humor. Terry played numerous sports growing up, from basketball, baseball, and soccer to cycling, which was his favorite. Terry was a die-hard Chicago Bears fan. We believe he’s up in heaven pulling strings to make the Bears play in the Super Bowl again.

Dedicated, loyal and hardworking are words that barely scratch the surface when describing such a beautiful man. To those who have had the privilege of looking to him for fatherly advice, he never hesitated in his efforts to pass on his knowledge through kind words, an ever-listening ear and his companionship he offered to all. He never judged anyone. Running a thrift shop and lawn service business, he had multiple different clientele. As we have been closing down the shop we have had numerous customers come in stating that Terry had changed their life in one way or another.

His humor was the kind that infected everyone around him. A sad face was a challenge to Terry, a challenge that he always won by evoking a grin or giggle from even the most saddened of us all. Making jokes was his forte. Terry was known for his signature wave, the middle finger always being offered with nothing but love behind it. He loved creating face-swap videos dressed up as famous female or male singers and actors/actresses, and he would always manage to pull it off looking good no matter what face he swapped with.

In 1990 Terry attended Eureka High School, where he met his soulmate Jessica. They had lockers next to each other and grew more and more fond of each other. Jessica had always joked and told Terry that one day she was going to marry him. Terry had become a proud teen parent. There’s nothing he loved more than being a father. Later in life Terry fell into substance abuse. He hated himself during those times. All he wanted to do was be a better person, son and father. In October of 2008 Terry received his certificate of being clean and sober. He took so much pride in his sobriety never touching substances again. Terry passed and was 16 years clean and sober and beyond proud of who he was.

Even with life taking Jessica and Terry different directions they still managed to stay in contact throughout the years and finally gave into fate in 2009. From that moment on they were inseparable. They had a bond that no one could break. In September 2013 they joined hands in marriage. Since Terry’s birthday was the 13th, their anniversary being the 14th, and Jessica’s birthday the 15th of September they would call it their “Annivirthday” week. He had a beautiful relationship with his children, Ashley and Dillon, and grandson Spencer. And with Kaden and Devin. Terry took so much pride in his family and animals, always putting his family before anything.

In 2022 Jessica and Terry began the search for Terry’s birth parents. Taking multiple different DNA tests and with much investigation they had finally found them. Later that year they reconnected in person. They were welcomed with open arms to two large loving families. It healed a piece of Terry’s heart that was a mystery.

He is preceded in death by his mother Beverly (Pepper) Guthary, his father Dennis Guthary, best friend Shelby Marquez, brother Mikal Anderson, his beloved dog Edward and cat Meow Mix.

He is survived by his wife Jessica Smith-Guthary; daughter Ashley (Anderson) Graben, son-in-law Dillion Graben, grandson Spencer, unborn grandbaby Graben; his son Kaden Lindquist, daughter-in-law Devin Lindquist (McGill); dog-hter Mini Pin and big boy (cat) Skitty; along with many other family members and friends, too many to list, but if he considered you family, you knew you were family.

A celebration of life will be located at the Wharfinger Building 1 Marina Way, Eureka, on Sunday October 27, 2024 at 2 p.m.

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