Victoria Lee Onstine passed away April 3, 2024, at the age of 73. She was born January 31, 1951 to Bonnie Jean Fricker and Leon Jay Duste in San Francisco. Victoria spent her early years in East Palo Alto before relocating to Eureka, where she graduated from Eureka High School in 1969.

She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Humboldt State University in 1973 and began a 46-year career in Humboldt County as a registered nurse and public health nurse, primarily in the home health sector. Victoria was an active member of the community and a dedicated social servant. During her life, she served on the board of directors for General Hospital, the Area 1 Agency on Aging, and Redwood Concert Ballet. She organized and taught caregiver courses in Humboldt and Del Norte counties and was instrumental in developing the Area 1 Agency on Aging’s caregiver registry. Victoria was a member of the Rotary Club of Old Town Eureka, where she held the role of secretary for over 15 years, in addition to being a business owner for several years in downtown Eureka, along with her partner, Jayne. She participated in the Nutcracker in the role of grandmother for many years and held the position of costume mistress with the Redwood Concert Ballet, spending her evenings mending and altering tutus for the ballet dancers.

In Victoria’s private life, she was an avid gardener, showcasing her own garden in the Eureka Garden Tour in 2014. She was also known as a cook, crafter, and lover of science fiction and fantasy; however, she will be most remembered by her unconditional love and care for others. Victoria was steadfast in her devotion to family and friends, placing the needs of others before self, and a role-model of compassion and acceptance. Her quiet patience, positivity and eccentricities will be missed. At her request, Victoria was laid to rest at the Ferndale Cemetery following the guidelines of the Bahá’í Faith.

Victoria was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Billy Charles; sister-in-law, Jennifer Duste; and nephew, Patrick Fabian. She is survived by her partner, Jayne McNeilly; daughter, Molly Onstine; son, Justin Onstine and wife, Erin; brothers, David Duste and Christopher Charles; sisters Marta Charles, Nicki Charles, Zina Keeran, and Margaret Duste; grandson, Harrison Onstine; and nieces and nephews David, Casey, Trish, Matt, Jackie, and Madison.

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

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Cleone Rae (Conner) Monson.

In January of 2023, Cleone was diagnosed with leukemia and she passed away at home in Eureka, on March 26, 2024 with her husband Tom Monson at her side, just two days after their 23rd anniversary.

Cleone was born on June 26, 1947 at the old hospital in Scotia. She was raised in Rio Dell, attended Rio Dell Grammar School and graduated from Fortuna High School in 1965. After high school, she worked at Daly’s department store in Fortuna for a few years, eventually moving to Eureka and working as a sales clerk for Value Giant.

Cleone is probably best remembered for her years as a Frito-Lay driver. In 1978, she was hired as the only female route driver/delivery person for Frito-Lay in Northern California. It was a job she truly enjoyed, meeting so many different people over the course of her career, and fit her outgoing personality to perfection. She created long lasting friends and relationships with other drivers, her customers, store employees, and the general public. It seemed that everyone knew “Cleone the Frito driver.” This included a friendly meat cutter named Tom Monson, from the Eureka Safeway. The saying “she never met a stranger” certainly applied to her. While Cleone retired from Frito-Lay in 2002, after 24 years of service, she continued to work various jobs in order to stay busy, meet new people and make new friends. Far and away her favorite, was working with her kitchen crew at Pacific Union Elementary School, and getting to be with Makenzi each day.

In 2000, some 20 years after first meeting, a chance run in with Tom, the friendly meat cutter from Safeway proved to be a turning point in Cleone’s life, and she and Tom began dating. They were quick to realize they had something special, and in March 2001, Cleone and Tom Monson were married in Reno. From that point, until she passed, were the happiest times of her life. Tom and Cleone were an inseparable team, doing everything together, and enjoying every minute. Both retiring early, they went camping, fishing, golfing and traveled the western U.S. for 17 years together; always laughing, joking and teasing one another. Tom eventually taught her the basic and finer points of golf. She admitted she wasn’t very good at the game, but they had a great time playing. Cleone and Tom were always having fun and smiling together — a sight that will be sorely missed.

Cleone was predeceased by her father, Kenneth (Bill) Conner, her mother and stepfather, Marguerite and Orlando Micheli, her brother Angelo Micheli, and her step-daughter Heidi Monson. She is survived by her husband Tom Monson, stepson Cameron (Nichole) Monson and family, and beloved granddaughter Makenzi Watkins; her brother Andrew Conner and family; sisters Neferti Kinser, Charmaine LaPrelle, Bettina Chittenden and their families; as well as her favorite aunt, Mary Rovai, and her family. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to Hospice of Humboldt in Cleone’s name. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date, details to be determined. So for now, please enjoy a beverage of your choosing with a friend or loved one, share some laughs, and give a toast to Cleone. She was certainly one of a kind, and loved immensely. Goodbye, Cleoney Baloney - we all love you and miss you more than you know. I will leave you with these final words from her husband Tom.

“She was my best friend and the love of my life. I will miss her forever.”

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

Bonnie Marie Butcher
June 11, 1948 – April 1, 2024

It is with heavy hearts that we announce that our mother, Bonnie Marie Butcher, passed away peacefully in her home on April 1, 2024. Bonnie was born on June 11, 1948, in Eureka, to Ernest and Nadine Bailey. She was the youngest of three daughters. Bonnie lived most of her life in Humboldt and graduated from Arcata High School in 1966. She retired as an optician from The Vision Center in Eureka in 2014. She loved spending time with her family, and was an avid gardener and a spontaneous traveler. Bonnie was also a beloved member of the Faith Center Foursquare Church in Eureka. Bonnie was loved by all who knew her.

She is survived by her oldest sister Roxanne Youell of Ukiah; her three children, Alicia Jones (Frank Mancinelli), Angie Esskew (Paul Esskew), and Byron Butcher of Eureka; her three grandchildren Scott Jones of Ashland, Sabrina Jones and Gregory Esskew of Eureka, and her great-grandchild Aryanna Leal of Eureka; her nephews Ernest Silva (Deborah), Lee Fleming (Vicki), Darren Fleming (Shannon), James Silva, David Silva; her nieces Sheila Silva and Tonya Fleming (Sarah); and her many great nieces and nephews and great-great nieces and nephews, as well as numerous cousins.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents Edward and Elva Bailey and Theodore and Kate Creason, her parents Ernest and Nadine Bailey (Creason), her older sister Sheryl Fleming, her aunts Enna Helm and Irene Knight, and her cousin Fran Mellon. Memorial services will be announced at a later date. Contributions may be made to the Paralyzed Veterans of America or to the donor’s favorite charity. We would like to thank Hospice of Humboldt for their loving care of our mother in her final days.

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

“Why is euthanasia almost always considered the appropriate end point for our animal companions, but not for our human loved ones?”

— Jessica Pierce in Psychology Today

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Neil Gaiman’s “Death of the Endless,” drawn by Chris Bachalo in Death: The Time of Your Life #1, DC Comics. (Lo-res version qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law.)

The March issue of our local Senior News (published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center) was dedicated to what the editor called “a difficult topic” which “may sound grim.” I was heartened that he took on this topic, one of universal relevance, although I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of death being difficult or grim, as in The Grim Reaper. Neil Gaiman’s “Death” character in his Sandman series — a kind, ankh-wearing goth girl — is more to my taste. In fact, the wealth of contributions in that issue of Senior News belie pessimism around the topic, many of which I found inspiring and compassionate.

I guess, at least at this point in my life, I’m in Kant’s kamp, so to speak: “The meaning of life is that it ends,” he wrote. Not just the meaning, either. Isn’t the certainty of death the whole justification for getting up in the morning and doing anything—writing a weekly rant, for instance? The only thing worse than dying, imho, is not dying—an awful eternity, day after day, century after century, whether on Earth or in some monotonous Barbieland, aka Heaven. Shudder.

(Practically speaking, we are virtually immortal, in a sense. Our “germ plasm,” as the late biologist George Wald called it, represents an unbroken line stretching over three billion years, all the way back to the first primitive organism to appear on our planet. The other part of us, what Wald called the “soma,” is merely the vehicle for the germ plasm to get from one generation to the next. He writes, “Death is the casting aside of the body, of the soma, after it has done its work. That work is to carry the germ plasm, to feed it, to protect it, to warm it in a warmblooded organism, and finally to mingle it with the germ plasm of the opposite sex. With that, it has completed its function and can be discarded.”)

Philosophy aside, in my dotage I follow legislation relating to MAID, Medical Assistance in Dying, which currently, in California and a handful of other states, glosses over the problem of dementia. As the law now stands, MAID permits assisted death if two physicians confirm that death is likely to occur within six months, and that, absent intervention, the period between now and then is likely to be painful — not just for the dying person, but for their caregivers.

However, dementia, including Alzheimer’s, is rarely fatal in the short term (i.e. six months), typically taking years from onset of the disease to death. I dread the possibility that I might live a life in which I’m no longer conscious, behaving in ways that I wouldn’t want my wife Louisa, my family or friends to deal with. I believe that if someone with dementia meets the criteria for MAID — mental capacity for informed consent, intolerable suffering, and a foreseeable death, even if not within six months — they should be eligible.

Louisa and I already have advance directives, but we wish we could add that if, for instance, we became verbally or physically abusive, required physical restraint/locked door facility, or couldn’t feed ourselves — we’d want MAID. Unfortunately that’s not an option under California law, nor in any of the other nine states with MAID laws. We would like to see the legislation liberalized so that dementia, as defined under clear guidelines, would be a permissible reason for allowing a medically assisted death with dignity.

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Press release from Humboldt Bay Fire:

On 4/05/2024 at 19:25 hrs. Humboldt Bay Fire responded to a reported Structure Fire at 1404 14th St. in Eureka. Humboldt Bay Fire responded with 1 Chief Officer, 3 Engines and 1 Truck for a total of 13 fire service personnel. Additionally, 2 volunteer Fire Support personnel responded and provided traffic control.

The first Engine arrived on scene in 4 minutes and reported a working fire in a residential structure and began to attack the fire. Due to the size of the fire in the residence another Humboldt Bay Fire Engine was requested to respond bringing an additional 3 fire service personnel to the scene. The second arriving unit was assigned to search the interior of the residence for any potential victims and the third arriving unit was assigned to vertically ventilate the smoke and fire from the residence. The fourth arriving unit was assigned to assist the first arriving unit with extinguishing the fire. The fire was controlled in 25 minutes and all occupants had escaped the residence prior to the arrival the first fire Engine.

Humboldt Bay Fire remained on scene for an additional 2 hours to completely extinguish the fire and conduct a cause and origin investigation of the fire. The cause of the fire is still under investigation and PG&E arrived on scene and disconnected the electrical and gas service to the residence. There were no civilian or Firefighter injuries and the value of the property is estimated at $450,000 and damage from the fire is estimated at $75,000.

Smoke Alarms Save Lives. Humboldt Bay Fire would like to thank City Ambulance, PG&E, Samoa-Peninsula Fire and Arcata Fire for their assistance on scene and providing coverage to other emergency calls during this incident.

Humboldt Bay Fire would like to remind everyone to immediately call 911 and get outside in the event of a fire in your home and to please have a designated meeting place outside your home in case of a fire so all occupants of the home can be accounted for by arriving fire service personnel.

“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.”

— Aldo Leopold

Do you also have a gnawing, seemingly ever-present hum in the back of your head — an intrusive thought about the immensity of the climate crisis and your own minuscule ability to do anything about it? If so, you are not alone. Some 83% of the United States thinks that climate change poses a “serious and imminent threat to the planet” and “59% of youth and young adults said they were very or extremely worried about climate change.”

Doomerism is not the only option. Would you like to reduce your own eco-anxiety? This show is for you. Join Chelsea Pulliam, EcoSomatic Coach at Somatic Earth, for a discussion about how you can cultivate resilience.

Want to hear more? Check our interview with Sarah Jaquette Ray, author of A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety.

“Tales from Cowtown,” a puppet theater project led by Tayloranne Finch and Daniel Nickerson, will soon be traveling to rural sites across Northern California, thanks to a California Upstate Creative Corps grant. Finch and Nickerson, multi-hyphenate veterans of the Humboldt music scene and partners in art and life, play music together as the Cowtown Serenaders; they also have a rock and roll band / jukebox project called the Blueberry Hill Boogie Band. Their new, all-ages multimedia performance with fellow puppeteers Rory Cullifer and Sara Kei debuts in Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties this spring.

“Tales from Cowtown” presented a welcome opportunity for Finch and Nickerson to expand the fictional world of Cowtown, which they introduced in previous Serenaders performances. Cowtown’s puppet residents come together as a community to model resilience when they are challenged by natural disasters. They get to do some thinking about human beings’ relationship with the natural world along the way. Rural regions in Northern California have been shaken in recent years; kids in the “Tales from Cowtown” audience will have already experienced disruptions and evacuations due to earthquakes, wildfires and floods. The artists want their show to acknowledge the reality of an increasingly unstable environment, while at the same time demonstrating that climate crisis accentuates the need for rural communities to come together. When I sat down with them, our conversation touched on puppet theater’s radical potential and the manifold challenges of taking puppets on the road.

“So much about natural disasters is about relationships,” Nickerson observed. “I was in Ferndale recently talking to a couple of locals, who were both like, ‘Yeah, as soon as the earthquake happened, it didn’t matter who you voted for. Everybody’s checking in on each other to make sure they have water to drink.’ Ultimately, we all need water and food and access to safe and clean places. We come together, even if there are some differences.”

“We’ve been thinking about theater and how to use it, what it brings to rural audiences, what it has to say to folks who live out in the country,” Finch explained. “The performance is set in Cowtown, and we know some things about Cowtown,” Nickerson agreed. “Puppet theater is connected to talking about the Earth, because puppet theater is elemental and performative. There’s a great quote from (the poet) Gary Snyder: ‘Performance is art in motion, enactment, embodiment, which is exactly what nature herself is.’”

When they’re not playing music or creating puppet theater, Finch and Nickerson are likely to be doing “earth work” in the garden or the field. The duo live and farm off the grid in southern Humboldt, observing permaculture principles. This spring they have been rehearsing “Tales from Cowtown” at Outer Space Arcata, taking advantage of grid-powered electricity to work on scene painting in the weeks before Daylight Savings Time began.

Part of serving a rural population is adapting to different standards of resource availability. With upcoming tour dates scheduled for outdoor spaces, Finch and Nickerson are working to create a theater that’s electricity-independent. They travel with a collapsible marionette stage that breaks down into a trunk, which Nickerson built. “That’s been one of our guiding design elements,” he explained; “how do you engage or bring entertainment without needing to be in an electrified space? We like the idea of a puppet theater that pops out of the back of a truck, in the middle of a place where there’s no theater and no lights or electricity.” “Tales from Cowtown” is inspired by projects that take art and bring it to life in unconventional spaces. The Bread and Puppet Theater, based in Vermont, is an influence. “They started with performances that protested the Vietnam War,” Finch said, “advocating for puppet theater because of its radicality and its affordability. We realized that this was applicable to our setting out here in rural Humboldt, where people have limited media access. Not everybody has the internet, or a personal laptop. A film wouldn’t reach a lot of these audiences, in the places we’re visiting.”

Cowtown is a place where animals, plants and even inanimate objects may voice perspectives on current events. “A lot of our characters are animals and plants,” Nickerson said. “It’s about listening to non-human voices; river-speak and earth-speak and plant-speak. Puppetry lends itself to that.” Finch continued the thought. “What’s fun and sort of radical about puppet theater is, it’s about relating to otherness. You take something that’s non animate, and then you animate it, and people can relate to it. And, like Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers taught us, a little sock puppet thing can create deep and profound feelings and relationships. Sock puppets can speak truths that would maybe feel a bit absurd for two humans to try and say to each other.”

Engaging with puppets “puts you in a certain head space,” Nickerson agreed. “Puppets have this way of bringing out the child. You have to imagine, to believe in a puppet. So then, you have to imagine that other worlds are possible.”

Puppet theater may even be able to encourage rural audience members to reach out across the political divide, the performers reckon. Nickerson pointed out that, while California is perceived as a liberal state, he and Finch hail from parts that are decidedly not. “People perceive Humboldt and Mendocino as liberal, hippie counties, which is not necessarily the case. If you are outside of city centers, there’s a lot of rural conservatism. We’re living on the divide between those two worlds. And we’re peacekeepers by nature, you know? Some people wanna fight the fights that wanna be fought, and we don’t; we want to find ways for the people who are fighting to come together and chill out. Being humans together is hard, and there’s many things that happen that cause you to lose trust,” he concluded. “But ultimately, when you’re talking about disasters, you need each other. Telling stories about the imaginary world of Cowtown gives us the opportunity to ask, ‘what does it look like to live together and work together?’”

Both performers laughed about puppetry’s tendency to burgeon into a life-consuming, situational endeavor. When developing a previous Cowtown Serenaders show in 2019, they worked from a pre-existing script. This time around, Finch pointed out, they had been developing the puppets and the script at the same pace. “The character comes first, and then the script evolves to include it. You query the puppets: what’s going on? We ask our river puppet — how do you feel, river? What is your motivation? We’re trying to let the story synthesize. Not micromanaging the details, but letting it evolve in a natural way. It’s a delightful, maddening process,” she continued. “I value that, and I believe in it. And then sometimes I’m like, ‘Oh, this is a form of self-induced insanity!’”

Finch and Nickerson believe in a “radically inclusive” approach. “Taylor’s credo is: ‘How do I say yes to everybody’s creative idea for this show?’” Nickerson commented. “That’s a hallmark of Taylor’s aesthetic as an artist: the yes. It’s a generous way to work. And, you get to be surprised by things. We have some control, but not a lot. I bet some theater professionals like to create in very controlled environments. But if you ever hang out with farmers, you know they do not have control. Maybe some elements of control, not much. I don’t know if we’re attracted to earth work because of that. Creating theater is much like creating on the farm. When you’re maintaining a production farm, you’re maintaining a very eclectic to-do schedule. You’re working toward yes, moving in the path of least resistance by developing everything simultaneously, doing a lot of different things and including a lot of different resources. The Earth has its say on certain projects. You have to be able to adapt and say, ‘Okay, Earth, you can have that one.’”

“Puppet theater is definitely the art farm, in some way,” Finch agreed, laughing. “Seasonal, a lot of things happening at once. The art farm aesthetic: that’s a good summary of Cowtown working style.”

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To learn more about “Tales from Cowtown” or donate to help support this project, go to this link.

Follow on Facebook and Instagram @thecowtownserenaders

Check out Cowtown Boogie Records on Bandcamp.

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“Tales from Cowtown” upcoming dates:

• Saturday, April 27 - Blue Lake Block Party
• Friday, May 10 - Covelo Farmers Market
• Saturday, May 11 - Willits - Recreation Grove Park
• Friday, May 17 - Willow Creek - Tish Tang Park
• Saturday, May 18 - Weaverville - Lee Fong Park
• Sunday, May 19 - Hyampom Community Hall
• Saturday, May 25 - Redway - KMUD Block Party
• Friday, June 21 - Middletown Farmers Market
• Saturday, June 22 - Lakeport Waterfront Park