Dorothy Nicolson passed away peacefully on February 11, 2024.

Born on December 22, 1919, she lived to be 104 years old, spending her lifetime as a resident of Humboldt County. She grew up living in Trinidad, with her parents, Arabella, and Edwin Erickson, her sisters Mary, Bernice and June.

Dorothy married Edward Nicholson, January 1, 1938, and they made Eureka their home for over 60 years. While Ed served his country during the war, Dorothy went to work for Chicago Bridge and Iron. Years later she graduated from business college and worked for the Humboldt County Probation Department for 23 years.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Ed and Arabella Erickson, husband Edward Nicholson, sisters Mary Robertson, Bernice Riley, June Orlandi, and niece Joyce Miranda. She is survived by several nieces, nephews, great nieces, and great nephews.

The family wishes to thank the staff and management at McKinleyville Timber Ridge for their kindness and support of Dorothy during her residency. She celebrated her 104th birthday with the residents, staff, friends, and family.

The family would like to thank the entire medical and nursing staff at Mad River Hospital for their compassionate care.

Per her wishes, Paul’s Chapel did not perform a service but took care of the arrangements for her interment. She was laid to rest at Ocean View Cemetery next to her departed husband.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Dorothy Nicolson’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

Norita Rae Alcorn left this world on February 13, 2024 to be reunited with her husband of 67 years, Virgil Alcorn.

Norita was born in Longview, Washington on June 22, 1940, to Inabelle Buri and Ray Smith. In her early teen years she moved to Santa Cruz for a short period of time before moving to Arcata, starting her freshman year at Arcata High School. That was the same year that she met Virgil. Thereafter they had four children - Vicky, Rhonda, Michael and Tami.

Norita was a family woman who enjoyed camping, family vacations and family reunions. She also enjoyed going out dancing with Virgil and their friends.

The majority of Norita’s career was spent in retail, with the longest standing being the manager at Beno’s in Arcata. After the closure of Beno’s, she went on to work at Britt Credit Service where she ultimately retired from.

Norita is survived by her children Vicky Couch (Tommy), Rhonda Dellabalma, Michael Alcorn (Peggy), Tami Alcorn Gruetzmacher, grandchildren Eldon Cari (Courtney), Randy Cari (Leanna), Melinda Cari, Melissa Styir (Colt), Nicole Uhl (Ian), Christine Peets (Garret), Monica Rose (Andy), Christopher Gruetzmacher, Ryan Gruetzmacher, Terry Gruetzmacher, Christopher Hopkins, Brandalyn Schumacher, Tamerra Schumacher, along with many great grandchildren and great great grandchildren. Norita is also survived by her siblings Linda Johnson, Johnny Buri, Marla Rountree, life-long friend Virginia Dunson, and several nieces and nephews.

Norita is preceded in death by her husband Virgil Alcorn, parents Inabelle Buri and Ray Smith, and sister Bonnie Lytle.

Services will be held on February 22, 2024 at 1 p.m. at Greenwood Cemetery in Arcata.

Pallbearers will be grandsons Christopher Gruetzmacher, Ryan Gruetzmacher, Terry Gruetzmacher, Andy Rose, Ian Uhl, and Garret Peets.

Sharon Elizabeth Fifer was born on October 3, 1940, in San Mateo, to E.W. “Willy” Fifer and Marjorie Mason Fifer and was raised in the Scott Valley area outside Yreka. She passed away in Arcata on February 16, 2024. When Sharon was three years old, she was diagnosed with polio and spent her life working through those challenges. Sharon first married Johnny Moore and had two children, William “Bill” Moore and Tina Moore. She was next married to Ronald Swihart and had son Ron Swihart Jr. and in 1967 she married her husband of 57 years, George “Buzzy” Peterson. Sharon worked at Granada Care Home in the 1980’s and then accepted a position at Glen Paul School in Eureka as a teacher’s aide until her retirement. She always spoke fondly of her time there, the students she had and the friendships she made.

As a child, Sharon lived on the farm and raised many animals, participating in 4-H and FFA. She also enjoyed camping, going on hunts for deer and elk out of state with her parents as a child and young adult. Sharon loved to travel and she and Buzzy would take annual trips to Reno where they became regulars at Fitzgerald’s. Frequently they would hook up the trailer and head for the mountains and enjoy life and the quiet of the Trinity Mountain wilderness or to Brookings for the kite festival. When they purchased land in Trinity Pines, it became a family gathering place and Sharon enjoyed having her family close, swimming, playing, and enjoying food and fun around the campfire. She enjoyed growing and arranging flowers and took on the greenhouse at Glen Paul as a special project, teaching the children how to care for the flowers. She also loved frogs and any garden she had or worked in was always full of ceramic frogs of every size. She was an avid NASCAR fan and going to Las Vegas with Bill and Tina was one of her greatest thrills and until the end, she asked them when they could take her again.

In the past decade, her mobility worsened and Sharon took to riding a motorized scooter around McKinleyville, walking the dogs alongside as they traversed the Hammond Trail. You would always see her with a black Scottish Terrier, her favorite breed. This led to meeting several other people on scooters from her neighborhood (her posse) and they formed a group, going for daily rides to enjoy the outdoors.

Sharon is predeceased by parents Willy and Marge and her brother William (Bill) Willis Fifer as well as her brother-in-law John Coonrod and sister-in-law Joyce Peterson Coonrod in Oregon.

Sharon is survived by her husband Buzzy, her children Bill (Lynn) Moore, Tina (Larry) Wood and Ron (Paula) Swihart, grandchildren Nicole Moore, Kaitlyn Swihart, Alison Wood, Jory Wood, Ethan (Heidi) Swihart and Mason Wood and by great-grandson Cole Taylor, her sister-in-law Bonnie Fifer and her sister-in-law Karen (Al) Clark.

Sharon also leaved behind many friends and coworkers too numerous to name but a few who have become very special to her include Tim, Kammy, Darlene and the Mickey Jones family. She also leaves behind many cousins back in Scott Valley.

A celebration of Sharon’s life is being planned with a private family interment at the Fort Jones cemetery at a later date where she will be laid to rest with her parents and brother in the family plot.

When, four years ago, wealthy businesswoman Kelly Loeffler advertised herself as “more conservative than Attila the Hun” in a run-off election for a Georgia Senate seat (she held the seat for just three weeks — it’s complicated), she was doing the king of the Huns a disservice (unless she wanted to invade Mexico). Loeffler wasn’t the first to use the “right of Attila” line; it’s been either claimed by, or used against, linguist William Safire and conservative politicians such as Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. But in Attila’s time, “left” and “right” in politics didn’t mean much. Back then your politics essentially boiled down to, Were you an invader or a defender? Attila was an invader, no doubt, as opposed to the Romans, who were mostly occupied with defending their crumbling empire.

So who was Attila? We actually know very little about him, and what we do know is pretty tainted, since nearly all the sources we have for his life were written by his enemies, of whom there were many. History, it’s said, is written by the victors, but in this case, it was written by those who could write, in Latin and Greek.

What we know for sure is that Atilla was born early in the fifth century AD — probably 406 — and died about 47 years later, either from a hemorrhage while celebrating his latest marriage, or perhaps by assassination — in 453. Attila and his elder brother Bleda had succeeded their uncle, Rugila, as joint leaders of the Huns. After the early death of Bleda, Attila ruled alone, for a total of nearly 20 years as co-leader or sole leader. During his reign, he unified several other powerful tribes in Eastern and Central Europe, including the Ostrogoths, Bulgars and Alans, bringing them under his rule. In this, he seems to have been as much a statesman as he was a warlord. (Perhaps he inspired Otto von Bismark to do the same, over a thousand years later, when Bismark unified the Germanic independent states under the leadership of Prussia? )

Attila lived during the last days of the Western Roman Empire, a time when, increasingly, foreign mercenaries were employed by the state to protect the frontiers, and deals were made to pay what was essentially protection money to tribes that threatened the Pax Romana. At the time, Rome and its provinces were constantly under threat from Germanic tribes in the north and from nomadic tribes to the east, whose homeland was Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Huns seem to have been the most powerful of these, to the extent that Attila was able to threaten, first the Eastern Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople, and later the Western Empire based in Rome. By all accounts, they were expert bowmen on horseback, giving them an edge over Roman infantry in battle. One Roman historian wrote that they “are almost glued to their horses” while another said they “live and sleep on their horses.”

Led by Attila and after many battles and skirmishes, they were finally defeated — or at least brought to a standstill — at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in northeastern France on June 20, 451, when the Huns faced a combined force of Romans and Visigoths. Within two years, Attila was dead and soon after the Huns disappeared from history. Almost. In the middle ages, several Hungarian writers portrayed the Huns positively as their “glorious ancestors.”

So, Scourge of God (as Attila was later referred to) or brilliant statesman? Either way, labeling him as an arch-conservative minimizes what we do know about him. Too bad almost all our information comes from those who had most to gain by vilifying him; I’d have been happy to buy him a beer and listen to his side of the story.

Roberto Pacheco Freitas was born January 30, 1930, in Ponta Ruiva, Flores, Azores to Antonio Pacheco Freitas and Maria Emilie Freitas and passed away at the age of 94 years old in Arcata on February 15, 2024.

Roberto grew up in Ponta Ruiva, Flores, Azores, Portugal before moving to Central California in 1975 and later settled in Arcata in 1977.

Throughout his life, Roberto found joy in activities such as fishing, gardening, raising cattle, attending his grandchildren’s sporting events and, above all, spending time with his family.

Roberto will be dearly missed by children: son Jose Roberto Pacheco and daugher in-law Dee Pacheco; daughter Maria Celestina Homen and son in-law Isidro Homem, daughter Maria Fernanda Bell and son in-law Larry Bell, son Jose Hermino Pacheco and his younger brother Jose Freitas.

His memory will be cherished by his grandchildren: Jaime Pacheco, Jeane Pacheco, Joseph Pacheco and granddaughter in-law Darci Pacheco, Raymond Homen and granddaughter in-law Elizabeth Homen, Erik Homen and granddaughter in-law Ashley Homen, Jesse Homen and granddaughter in-law Shastina Homen, Bobby Donahue, Chris Ryans and granddaughter in-law Kaila Ryans, his 14 great-grandchildren, Sabastian Pacheco, Lili Pacheco, Dominic Pacheco, Lanee Pacheco, Laila Homen, Beau Homen, Kaedin Homen, Hayley Homen, Brooklyn Homen, Alora Homen, Alaina Homen, Dylan Donahue, Averi Donahue, Marshall Ryans and the numerous other family and friends.

Roberto is preceded in death by his parents Antonio and Maria Freitas, brothers Antonio, Ermilio, Pedro Freitas, sisters Maria Sousa, Jusifina Furtuna and Georgina Freitas and numerous other relatives.

There will be a Rosary and Mass held at St. Mary’s Church in Arcata on February 20, 2024, at 12 p.m. PST, with a reception to follow at the Portuguese Hall in Arcata.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Roberto Freitas’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

The Humboldt Bay Harbor District has been in the news a lot this year. The Harbor District has committed to a “green terminal” strategy that commits the District to a goal of a zero emission terminal capable of building offshore wind turbines. And Congressman Huffman helped to deliver $426m in federal funding for the construction of this new green terminal.

What does building a green terminal look like? Maddy Hunt and Ysabelle Yrad, fellows at the Blue Lake Rancheria, have produced a new white paper on the state of port electrification that offers insights into what a green terminal in Humboldt might look like.

The Great White Fleet of the United States Navy left Hampton Roads, Virginia, on December 16, 1907, with the greatest display of naval power ever assembled for a world cruise.

With gun and brass reflecting the sun’s rays like mirrors and the signal flags snapping in the wind, 16 white battleships made for the open sea.

President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt aboard the Mayflower, the presidential yacht, signaled the flagship Connecticut with Rear Adm. Robley D. “Fighting Bob” Evans in command — to “proceed upon duty assigned.”

The President wanted “young and vigorous lads” to man the ships — they would be the “torch bearers.” From the central plains states came sailors who had never seen the ocean, and from all over the Union came young men to answer the newly coined phrase “Join the Navy and see the World.”

Aboard the 16 battleships were 24 grand pianos, 60 phonographs, 300 chess sets, 200 packs of playing cards, and equipment for handball and billiards, plus 200,000 cigars, 400,000 cigarettes, and 15,000 pounds of candy. Each ship had a library, a stage for theatricals, sheet music for group singing, nickelodeon peep shows (censored), and, in the ship’s canteen, ice cream and soft drinks. No rations of liquor, or grog, had been permitted aboard since the Civil War.

The purpose of the voyage around the world was to impress the world with American naval might, as well as to check on Japan’s growth and expansion in the Pacific, since rumors abounded that the United States was about to enter a war with the Japanese.

The voyage of the Grand Fleet was heralded by the international press and followed by American newspapers with unwaning interest.

The Great White Fleet circled South America stopping in all major ports to wild enthusiastic receptions. Passing the Isthmus of Panama (the Panama Canal was not yet finished), the armada was greeted with an outpouring of patriotic support and great fanfare as it paraded up the coast by seemingly the entire populaces of San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

By the time “the White Glory of the Navy” reached the North Coast on May 19, 1908, all of Humboldt County was awaiting its arrival. For months the newspapers had chronicled its progress with almost daily reports, and as “Fleet day” neared, the papers were filled with announcements and advertisements for “Greet the Fleet” excursions and special sales of “stylish linen suits, sailor hats, and parasols” for the ladies who are “going to see the Fleet.”

Plans to welcome the “big fleet and its gallant crew” included special chartered excursions and parties and an announcement that “all Humboldt will enjoy a general holiday, and do homage to the great ironclad fleet.” The Naval Militia prepared to fire a 13-gun salute; the Hammond Lumber Company chartered the steamer Ravalli for its club members; and the Pacific Lumber Company announced that the plant at Scotia would be closed and the employees would have the “opportunity to see the passing vessels.”

It was a holiday for just about everyone but “the members of the police force.” Thousands turned out along the North Coast that rainy Tuesday morning to greet the fleet. The experience and feelings of many of them were articulated by the Humboldt Times writer Mrs. CM. Shields in a May 20, 1908, cover story:

We were not a moment too soon, for those ahead had scarcely reached the summit [Humboldt Hill on the Buhne Point] when the cry arose, “They are coming! I see the smoke!” Sure enough, a tiny dark thread of smoke was discerned amid the wavering layers of fog and haze, now visible and then lost to sight. The fleet seemed to be rounding False Cape and it was some time before the several ships could be separated.

…At times the clouds would lower and obscure the sight, then arise again to show them nearer and more beautiful than before.

One by one we counted the ships as they swept closer inshore, and found to our joy that not one noble ship was missing. Sixteen battleships in stately array, keeping an even distance apart, moving sure and strong without a roll or dip, the white foam falling in cascades from the prows, passing before us in invincible array, the energized force and power of a great nation, aroused emotions that lie too deep for words….

At the moment when they seemed to be directly opposite us, and almost motionless, the clouds broke and the sun shone a Humboldt benediction on the white glory of our noble fleet; and as the bright rays drove the dark clouds and mist seaward, it seemed a beautiful comparison of the ease with which those powerful battleships could drive back from us the dark clouds of danger….

We watched the fleet as it stood off the bar and performed its maneuvers, forming in squadrons of four and making its pretty acknowledgement of courtesy, and then steaming swiftly off to sea. It quickly sailed out of our sight and we descended the hill feeling that we had seen the greatest sight of the times and one that we would not forget in a lifetime.

The joy of the occasion was marred by a local tragedy: In southern Humboldt hundreds of people from Ferndale, Grizzly Bluff, and Centerville had gathered in the early morning at the Centerville beach to greet and salute “the greatest fleet of fighting ships ever assembled under our flag,” and a group of them “acting on the impulse of the occasion” had brought out an old cannon and with a “booming roar hurled its fraternal greeting to its great brothers of war.” After six shots had been fired, it was suggested that a salute of greater volume be fired. When Ike Davis, a young Ferndale man, fired the heavily loaded cannon, the cannon exploded, killing him and seriously injuring several spectators.

Some of the largest crowds gathered at Trinidad because it was thought it would afford one of the best views of the fleet. Although the weather did not cooperate, the drama and emotional impact of the Great White Fleet was not lost on those who greeted it there — and in the Oregon and Washington ports that were next on the great voyage.

After its patriotic reception in Puget Sound, the fleet returned to San Francisco in early June 1908, passing by the North Coast out to sea without fanfare. On the seventh of July the fleet set sail from San Francisco for Hawaii, then south to Samoa and Figi, further south to Auckland, New Zealand, and on to Sidney and Melbourne, Australia.

After leaving Australia, the fleet sailed to the Philippines, which Spain had ceded to the United States under the 1898 Treaty of Paris.

Leaving Manila, the Great White Fleet encountered the worst typhoon to hit the China Seas in 40 years, with winds more than a hundred miles an hour.

The fleet’s arrival in the port of Yokohama was storm battered but magnificent. President Roosevelt had instructed his admirals to “choose only those on which you can absolutely depend. There must be no suspicion of insolence or rudeness” while on liberty in Japan. The Japanese policemen and soldiers were instructed by their government to salute Americans in uniform: thousands of Japanese children had been taught to say “welcome”: and tens of thousands of red, white, and blue lanterns had been hung.

The 3,000 American sailors permitted ashore under the watchful eye of the shore patrol behaved themselves, while the Japanese served soft drinks, paper parasols, and rickshaw rides — free. It is interesting to note that the Navy Shore Patrol was created on the world cruise of the Great White Fleet.

Upon leaving the Paciflc, the fleet sailed to Ceylon and Port Said through the Suez Canal — “the big ditch” — and the Mediterranean, splitting into four divisions to call on the ports of Beruit, Smyrna, Athens, Naples, Marseilles, and Tangier. Finally, the ships rendezvoused in Gibraltar for the straight-line non-stop cruise across the Atlantic. Arriving in its home port of Hampton Roads on February 22, 1909, the naval column, seven miles long, passed in review past the Mayflower with President Roosevelt looking on in pride, while thousands of citizens cheered as each battlewagon flred a 21-gun salute. The 14,000 sailors — having traveled 46,000 miles, visited 26 countries, and flred 100,000 rounds of saluting powder (about 30 times the amount expended in the Spanish-American War) — were home after an adventure of a lifetime, each of them having taken part in Uncle Sam’s Greatest Show on Earth.

From the Humboldt Times, May 20, 1908:

Eurekans on Fleet Day

• How the people fared forth to see the “fighting peace preservers” as they passed this port
• Beaches and bluffs lined as far as the eye could see — the trip on the steamer Kilburn

By George F. Nellist

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The Atlantic fleet, sixteen battleships and one tender, floated proudly past this port yesterday, and after a short maneuver, the beautifully arranged flotilla wheeled out to sea, and was soon lost to sight in the light haze hovering about the surface of the water.

By 6:30 o’clock in the morning, the passengers residents of Eureka were astir, and ” making ready to meet the much heralded fleet when it arrived off the entrance. In the early part of the morning, dozens of automobiles were to be seen scudding arrival out to Table Bluff, South Bay, and Trinidad. Two thousand people took the train to Trinidad. Other innumerable hosts took advantage of the launches plying across the bay, and journeyed to the sand dunes ofthe peninsula. Last but not least, were the 500 patriotic citizens, who braved the dangers of an attack of mal de mer, and embarked on the Kilbum, Ravalli, and Ranger for the purpose of crossing out over the bar to see the armada at first hand.

And Humboldt style, it rained. Nearly all during the entire forenoon the elements were turned wide open, and IT RAINED.

Despite this inauspicious state of the weather, the optimistic patriots were in the best of humor, and awaited the first appearance of the yellow-funneled war dogs with unabated zeal.

The Kilburn was the first of the excursion steamers to leave her dock. She had been preceded by the Naval Militia boys in their launch and cutter. Soon after the departure ofthe Kilburn, the Ravalli followed, and close to her was the tug Ranger. In the passage down the harbor, every saw mill on the shore roared out with a whistled salute, being in every instance answered by the passing steamers.

Before the entrance was reached, people could be discerned up and down the beach as far as eye could reach. The abandoned trestle work of the old jetty undertaking was the place selected by many as a position from which to witness the passage of the ironclads.

The Kilburn, in the lead, continued on her way over the bar, until a position in close proximity to the stranded Corona was reached, when on account of the ugliness of the bar, the mud hook was cast over the side and the vessel anchored. The Ravalli followed the lead of the Kilburn, and hove to some three hundred yards to the rear of the leading steamer.