California sends mixed messages when it comes to serving dyslexic students.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is the most famous dyslexic political official in the country, even authoring a children’s book to raise awareness about the learning disability. And yet, California is one of 10 states that doesn’t require dyslexia screening for all children.

Education experts agree that early screening and intervention is critical for making sure students can read at grade level. But so far, state officials have done almost everything to combat dyslexia except mandate assessments for all students.

“It needs to happen,” said Lillian Duran, an education professor at the University of Oregon who has helped develop screening tools for dyslexia. “It seems so basic to me.”

Since 2015, legislators have funded dyslexia research, teacher training and the hiring of literacy coaches across California. But lawmakers failed to mandate universal dyslexia screening, running smack into opposition from the California Teachers Association.

The union argued that since teachers would do the screening, a universal mandate would take time away from the classroom. It also said universal screening may overly identify English learners, mistakenly placing them in special education.

“We know how to screen students. We know how to get early intervention. This to me is a solvable issue.”
— Rachel Levy, Bay Area parent

The California Teachers Association did not respond to requests for comment for this story. In a letter of opposition to a bill in 2021, the union wrote that the bill “is unnecessary, leads to over identifying dyslexia in young students, mandates more testing, and jeopardizes the limited instructional time for students.”

In response, dyslexia experts double down on well-established rexsearch. Early detection actually prevents English learners — and really, all students — from ending up in special education when they don’t belong there.

While California lawmakers didn’t vote to buck the teachers union, they haven’t been afraid to spend taxpayer money on dyslexia screening. In the past two years, the state budget allocated $30 million to UC San Francisco’s Dyslexia Center, largely for the development of a new screening tool. Newsom began championing the center and served as its honorary chair in 2016 when he was still lieutenant governor.

“There’s an inadequate involvement of the health system in the way we support children with learning disabilities,” said Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, co-director of UCSF’s Dyslexia Center. “This is one of the first attempts at bridging science and education in a way that’s open sourced and open to all fields.”

Parents and advocates say funding dyslexia research and developing a new screener can all be good things, but without mandated universal screening more students will fall through the cracks and need more help with reading as they get older.

Omar Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the governor did not respond to questions about whether Newsom would support a mandate for universal screening. Instead, he listed more than $300 million in state investments made in the past two years to fund more reading coaches, new teacher credentialing requirements and teacher training.

The screening struggle

Rachel Levy, a Bay Area parent, fought for three years to get her son Dominic screened for dyslexia. He finally got the screening in third grade, which experts say could be too late to prevent long-term struggles with reading.

“We know how to screen students. We know how to get early intervention,” Levy said. “This to me is a solvable issue.”

Levy’s son Dominic, 16, still remembers what it felt like trying to read in first grade.

“It was like I was trying to memorize the shape of the word,” he said. “Even if I could read all the words, I just wouldn’t understand them.”

Dyslexia is a neurological condition that can make it hard for students to read and process information. But teachers can mitigate and even prevent the illiteracy stemming from dyslexia if they catch the signs early.

Levy, who also has dyslexia, said there’s much more research today on dyslexia than there was 30 years ago when she was first diagnosed. She said she was disappointed to find that California’s policies don’t align with the research around early screening.

“Unfortunately, most kids who are dyslexic end up in the special education system,” Levy said. “It’s because of a lack of screening.”

Soon after his screening in third grade, Dominic started receiving extra help for his dyslexia. He still works with an educational therapist on his reading, and he’s just about caught up to grade level in math. The biggest misconception about dyslexia, Dominic said, is that it makes you less intelligent or capable.

“Dyslexics are just as smart as other people,” he said. “They just learn in different ways.”

The first step to helping them learn is screening them in kindergarten or first grade.

“The goal is to find risk factors early,” said Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, a speech-language pathologist and a professor at the University of Houston. “When you find them, the data you collect can really inform instruction.”

Cárdenas-Hagan’s home state of Texas passed a law in 1995 requiring universal screening. But she said it took several more years for teachers to be trained to use the tool. Her word of caution to California: Make sure teachers are not only comfortable with the tool but know how to use the results of the assessment to shape the way they teach individual students.

A homegrown screener

UC San Francisco’s screener, called Multitudes, will be available in English, Spanish and Mandarin. It’ll be free for all school districts.

Multitudes won’t be released to all districts at once. UCSF scientists launched a pilot at a dozen school districts last year, and they plan to expand to more districts this fall.

But experts and advocates say there’s no need to wait for it to mandate universal screenings. Educators can use a variety of already available screening tools in California, like they do in 40 other states. Texas and other states that have high percentages of English learners have Spanish screeners for dyslexia.

For English learners, the need for screening is especially urgent. Maria Ortiz is a Los Angeles parent of a dyslexic teenager who was also an English learner. She said she had to sue the Los Angeles Unified School District twice: once in 2016 to get extra help for her dyslexic daughter when she was in fourth grade and again in 2018 when those services were taken away. Ortiz said the district stopped giving her daughter additional help because her reading started improving.

“In the beginning they told me that my daughter was exaggerating,” Ortiz said.

“They said everything would be normal later.”

Experts say dyslexia presents a double threat to English learners: It stalls them from reading in their native language and impedes their ability to learn English.

California currently serves about 1.1 million English learners, just under a fifth of all public school students. For English learners, dyslexia can be confused with a lack of English proficiency. Opponents of universal screening, including the teachers association, argue that English learners will be misidentified as dyslexic simply because they can’t understand the language.

“Even the specialists were afraid that the problem might be because of the language barrier,” Ortiz said about her daughter’s case.

But experts say dyslexia presents a double threat to English learners: It stalls them from reading in their native language and impedes their ability to learn English. And while there are some Spanish-language screeners, experts from Texas and California say there’s room for improvement. Current Spanish screeners penalize students who mix Spanish and English, they say.

Duran, who helped develop the Spanish version of Multitudes, said the new screener will be a better fit for how young bilingual students actually talk.

“Spanglish becomes its own communication that’s just as legitimate as Spanish on its own or English on its own,” Duran said. “It’s about the totality of languages a child might bring.”

Providing Multitudes free of cost is important to schools with large numbers of low-income students. Dyslexia screeners cost about $10 per student, so $30 million might actually be cost-effective considering California currently serves 1.3 million students in kindergarten through second grade. The tool could pay for itself in a few years. Although there are plenty of screeners already available, they can stretch the budgets of high-poverty schools and districts.

“The least funded schools can’t access them because of the cost,” Duran said.

In addition to the governor, another powerful state lawmaker, Glendale Democratic state Sen. Anthony Portantino, is dyslexic. While chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he has repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, authored legislation to require public schools to screen all students between kindergarten and second grade.

The bill received unanimous support in the Senate Education and Appropriations committees, but the bill died in the Assembly Education Committee. Portantino authored the same bill in 2020, but it never made it out of the state Senate.

“We should be leading the nation and not lagging behind,” Portantino said.

Portantino blamed the failure of his most recent bill on former Democratic Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell, who chaired the Assembly Education Committee, for refusing to hear the bill.

“It’s no secret, Patrick O’Donnell was against teacher training,” Portantino said. “He thought our school districts and our educators didn’t have the capacity.”

O’Donnell did not respond to requests for comment. Since O’Donnell didn’t schedule a hearing on the bill, there is no record of him commenting about it at the time.

Portantino plans to author a nearly identical bill this year. He said he’s more hopeful because the Assembly Education Committee is now under the leadership of Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance. Muratsuchi would not comment on the potential fate of a dyslexia screening bill this year.

Levy now works as a professional advocate for parents of students with disabilities. She said without mandatory dyslexia screening, only parents who can afford to hire someone like her will be able to get the services they need for their children.

“A lot of high school kids are reading below third-grade level,” she said. “To me, that’s just heartbreaking.”

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

Gas prices have spiked in California.

That may sound like old news after months of high prices at the pump, but this time another kind of gas is running up the tab: natural gas, which fuels stoves and heats water and homes.

Average bills for PG&E residential customers in Northern California shot up to an estimated $195 in January, compared to $151 the year before; SoCalGas customers got hit with $300 on average, compared to $123 last year, according to data shared by Jean Spencer, supervisor of the energy division of California’s public utility commission, at a recent hearing. Meanwhile, across the country, wholesale natural gas prices have fallen an average of 50% since October, according to reporting in Bloomberg.

What gives? California’s Public Utilities Commission held a hearing Tuesday attended by different state energy agencies and industry representatives to look into the question and discussed strategies to mitigate high prices. While the commission can’t directly set prices, attendees raised different long-term options that might keep the cost of gas down for consumers.

The meeting followed a decision by the commission last week to speed up a climate credit for consumers that should reduce gas bills. That move will translate to roughly $50 off customer’s bills — but, said commission president Alice Busching Reynolds, it “was a short-term Band-Aid and this is a longer-term problem.”

At least one California gas company expects bills to go down in February.

Why are prices so high?

California pipes in 90% of the natural gas it uses from elsewhere, making the state vulnerable to issues outside its borders.

Several factors conspired to send natural gas prices soaring in the West, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency: below-normal temperatures; high gas use; lower imports of natural gas from Canada; gas pipeline constraints, including maintenance issues in West Texas; and lower gas storage levels in the Pacific region.

On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom made clear he isn’t satisfied we have the whole story, writing in a letter to federal regulators that “those known factors cannot explain the extent and longevity of the price spike.” He asked federal energy regulators to investigate “whether market manipulation, anticompetitive behavior, or other anomalous activities are driving these ongoing elevated prices in the western gas markets.”

What, if anything, can be done?

The price of natural gas is set by regional and national markets. But the utilities commission and industry representatives raised short- and longer-term changes that could insulate California customers from wildly fluctuating bills.

In addition to accelerating the climate credit, the Public Advocate’s Office at the utilities commission has proposed spreading the increased cost over three to six months, to make each individual bill more affordable and mitigate the risk of disconnections.

Industry representatives raised gas storage capacity and regulations as topics the commission should consider.

Storing gas can help protect California customers from shocking bills because, if a utility has ample gas in storage when prices are spiking, “you can run down your (current supply) for a while and not have to buy quite so much at the super expensive time,” said Borenstein in an interview.

Roger Schwecke, senior vice president at Southern California Gas Co., suggested reevaluating how much gas is stored at Aliso Canyon, the largest natural gas storage facility in the state. A major leak occurred at Aliso Canyon in 2015, causing Southern California Gas to temporarily relocate thousands of households. In the aftermath, the utilities commission capped how much gas could be stored at the facility.

Mark Potca, a program manager at the utilities commission’s Public Advocates Office, also emphasized the importance of storage capacity at Aliso Canyon, mentioning a proposal to increase the cap, which would provide more storage capacity. How Aliso Canyon gets used is something “that the commission will need to consider closely moving forward,” Potca said.

Lucy Redmond, director of gas reservoir engineering and facilities at PG&E, raised the impact of regulations from California Geologic Energy M​anagement Division, which went into effect in 2018. She said the regulations have caused, on average, a 40% decline in the utility’s well capacity.

Those rules, which were much stricter than previous gas storage standards, were enacted after the Aliso Canyon leak, said Mike Florio, a senior fellow at Gridworks and a former utilities commissioner, in an interview with CalMatters. “A lot of people think it’s really excessive, that they kind of went from not paying any attention at all to being really too strict in these regulations,” Florio said. The rules require testing of gas facilities, and some of the tests can take a well out of service for as long as a year, he said.

“They’ve created a price problem,” he said.

But the utilities commission couldn’t revise the rules even if it wanted to, since a different entity, the Geologic Energy M​anagement Division of the Department of Conservation, wrote them, Florio said. “The only way this gets resolved is if it goes up their respective chains of command, maybe even as far as the governor’s office, to say, ‘Hey, let’s get these agencies on the same page.”

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

When the earthquakes struck late last Sunday and early Monday, I was besieged with messages from anxious family and friends back in America. “Are you OK?” they asked, the way they always do whenever anything happens in this part of the world. Fortunately, I was able to report that yes, we were fine. The massive quakes occurred in southeast Turkey near the Syria border, very far from our home here in Istanbul.

Like many others, we spent Monday glued to the news, watching with horror as CNNTurk showed images of buildings collapsing, of survivors sobbing while rescuers searched the rubble for their loved ones, of the multitudes suddenly left homeless, or else afraid to return to their homes, stranded outside shivering in the freezing weather. As of Wednesday, news reports put the death toll at 11,000 between Turkey and neighboring Syria. That number could reach 20,000, some fear.

Winter arrived very late this year — just a week or two ago, you could see people here in Istanbul walking outside in shorts. Now, as I write this, outside the early morning streets are covered in snow, a brittle Arctic wind pounds the windows. All I can say, thinking about those people down south, huddled in government buildings, sleeping on floors of municipal buildings with donated blankets, is that it feels profoundly good to have a home. The buildings we saw collapse on the TV look very similar to ours, and it’s disturbing to imagine how your whole world, everything you possess, including your life, can come crashing down in a matter of seconds.

Having lived in Northern California for many years, I am no stranger to earthquakes. In ‘95, I was rudely jolted from bed one morning when a modest but sturdy 5.0 rocked the North Coast. It slammed just hard enough to send everything sideways for a heart-stopping second, so I can just imagine how a 7.4 or 7.8 must have felt for those who experienced the two earthquakes here this past week. The first one hit about 4 in the morning, while the residents slept. Can you imagine that? For those people, Sunday evening was probably the usual Sunday, a bit of dinner and relaxing before bed to gear up for the week ahead. You go to bed assuming tomorrow is another Monday. Then as you sleep the earth opens up and swallows you whole.

Some people, perhaps blessedly, probably never even woke up. Those who did awoke to a nightmare, one that has not yet ended.

Here in Istanbul, we are anxiously looking on, but also dealing with the onset of this late winter. Schools (including my university) are closed this week because of the snow, hundreds of flights at the airports were canceled, the city pulverized by freezing rains and relentless winds, not to mention the fact that the earthquakes did some damage to the country’s power infrastructure, leading to some outages and conservation measures.

Of course, we in Istanbul and the rest of the country were lucky. We have roofs over our heads. I think of our 3-year-old son, Leo, asleep now in the other room. He’s had a bit of flu, but is feeling better. His grandparents and my wife are also still asleep, cozy and warm while temperatures outside are freezing. I shudder as I think of those people waiting in despair in the cold for rescuers to arrive, wondering if their loved ones trapped in the rubble are still alive.

Yes, we are very far away and safe, but the earthquakes still hit home. After all, Istanbul also lies on a faultline — the 1999 ‘quake here left many thousands dead, so for us it feels like we just dodged a bullet — this time.

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James Tressler is a former Lost Coast resident and journalist. He now lives and writes in Istanbul.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Larry Robert Bollmann, 76, of Loleta and his wife Suzanne Louise Bollmann, 74, of Loleta. Larry passed away suddenly at home on Saturday, December 10, 2022, and Suzanne passed 21 days later on December 31, 2022. After 54 years of marriage, not even death could keep them apart.

Larry was the first-born child of Robert and Melba Bollmann, born on October 22, 1946, in Rhode Island. He had three younger sisters and four younger brothers. Larry grew up in Eureka and graduated from Eureka Senior High School in 1964. He then attended California State University Humboldt from Spring 1971 - Fall 1974 as an undergraduate, completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Zoology on December 13, 1974. He also attended as a graduate student from 1975 to 1976.

Born on November 23, 1948, in Eureka, Suzanne was the youngest child of Gregory Felt Pierce and Louise Isabelle Jones Pierce. Suzanne had an older brother, Larry Gregory Pierce. Suzanne also grew up in Eureka and attended Eureka Senior High School and graduated in 1966.

Larry and Suzanne were married at St. Bernard Catholic Church in 1968 in Eureka. They celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary in September of this year. They have two sons, Timothy Robert Bollmann and Joseph Gregory Bollmann.

Larry and Suzanne opened Bollmann’s Taxidermy in 1978 where it remained open until they retired in 2014. Larry also created and sold Bollmann Tanning Cream, a product used during the taxidermy process. Larry had the honor of contributing to the book The Breakthrough Mammal Taxidermy Manual written by Brent Housekeeper and Jim Hall. Suzanne did all the bookkeeping at the taxidermy office, as well as the bookkeeping for her family’s business, E.W. Pierce Company.

Larry and Suzanne were members of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association. They spent many years raising Thoroughbred horses and traveling all over the country for horse races. Larry spent many hours on the road with his horse trailer delivering mares to farms all over California. Larry & Suzanne were also co-owners of Oak Leaf Productions, which brought many country music concerts to the area in the mid-1990s.

Larry was preceded in death by his father Robert Bollmann, his mother Melba Bollmann, brother Mark Bollmann and sister Laura Bollmann. Suzanne was preceded in death by her husband Larry, her father Gregory Felt Pierce, mother Louise Isabelle Pierce and older brother Larry Gregory Pierce.

Larry and Suzanne were kind, genuine people who were well known and respected in their community. As parents, nothing brought them more pride than watching their sons succeed and accomplish their goals in life. Larry and Suzanne’s life together was a true partnership and their passion was working together on numerous projects, whether it was for the business, the horses, or their home.

Larry and Suzanne are survived by their oldest son, Tim (Amber) Bollmann of Redding, their youngest son, Joe (Kristina) Bollmann of Fortuna, Larry’s sisters Linda (Mike) Grundman of Eureka and Polly Fuller of Redding, and his brothers Rick (Jacque) Bollmann of Spaulding, Chris (Kate) Bollmann of Fairfield, and James (Anne) Bollmann of Texas. They are also survived by Suzanne’s two dear cousins Denise (Chuck) Worth of Chico and Kent (Alice) Pryor of Pleasanton. Because Suzanne didn’t have a very large family, her cousins were very special to her. Larry and Suzanne also have four grandsons, Lane Bollmann of Redding, Robert (Charis) Bollmann of McKinleyville, Jace Bollmann of Ontario, Oregon and Jackson Bollmann of Redding.

Larry and Suzanne were cremated by Humboldt Cremation & Funeral Services. A potluck celebration of life will be held at Larry and Suzanne’s home on Saturday, March 25, 2023 from noon to 3 p.m. 

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

On December 6, 2022, one day after her 77th birthday, Carmen Viramontes Golden passed away peacefully, surrounded by her daughter Hannah and her grandsons. Her last days involved visits with friends and family, her bed placed in the living room that overlooked the beautiful McKinleyville landscape from the same house that she had cherished for over 40 years.

Carmen Viramontes Golden was born on Dec. 5, 1945 to Antolina Gurrola, a single parent. Because Antolina, or “Toni” as she was known, worked full time as a seamstress for financial support and Carmen was raised with the help of her grandparents in East Los Angeles, a Mexican-American working-class community. Carmen attended Santa Teresita grammar school, becoming a parishioner at Dolores Mission Church. While studying at Sacred Heart High School she met Pamela Rueben and Alejandra Benavides and the three developed a close and steadfast friendship throughout the years from youth to maturity. It was attending Immaculate Heart College that landed Carmen in the Sixties counterculture, which influenced her activism for the rest of her life. Fully bilingual in Spanish and English, she threw herself into social services resisting inequality at every level, also participated in a number of demonstrations against the Vietnam war, racial and linguistic discrimination. She worked in for the Department of Children and Family Services for both Los Angeles and Humboldt County. It was during her early years as a social worker that she met her good friend Gloria Katona.

Carmen was iconoclastic by nature, a playful traveler, an adventurer who sought out ways of being within the political turbulence of the time and experimented with various dimensions of her personality. As a theatrical actress, for example, she performed in a satire on the Nixon presidency completely wired with twinkly lights on her mass of curly wild hair. As a volunteer with various activist collectives, she was always ready to bring her full corporeal attention. It was in one of these collectives that she met her former husband, Jack Golden. One of Carmen’s favorite stories of their early romance involved her tidying his bachelor apartment, throwing out a bag of dust along with the trash. Later, when Jack returned home, he discovered that Carmen had unknowingly thrown out the cremation ashes of his favorite cat!! They married on her birthday, December 5, 1980 and it was Jack who convinced Carmen to move to Humboldt County.

It was challenging to relocate hundreds of miles away from her beloved mother, cousins, and friends, and grandparents. In addition, when Carmen was thirteen, she reconnected with her father and discovered that she had nine half-siblings, one half-sister of which was only a month apart in age. A few years of awkwardness between her and her half-siblings ensued — as this was as much a surprise to her as to her half-siblings. Carmen’s artistic flairs and self-confidence were much admired, and everyone slowly grew to love one another with unwavering tenderness and deep affection. Being a single child, Carmen had said she felt ”thrilled” to discover she was part of a larger family while the female heavy Viramontes familia came to embrace another sister/hermana with wholehearted love.

The city of McKinleyville in Humboldt County offered an encouraging place to root a family. Jack and Carmen bought a house that had plenty of windows and open space. They also ran an Arcata deli called “Plaza Gourmet” from 1981 to 1989 even during the births of their two children. Once the deli was sold and the children were old enough, Carmen returned to social work in Humboldt. While working in the Child Welfare-Social Services, she became a mentor to younger social workers like Carol Smillie. Recognizing the incredible stress that such depressing work can evoke, Carmen’s self-depreciating humor taught Carol and others how laughter released the burdens of such responsibilities. It was her laughter and friendly demeanor, as well as her rebelliously curly hair that left lasting impressions with former Humboldt County co-workers like Jean LaPietra who developed deep friendships that lasted over 30 years.

Jack and Carmen separated in 1996, after 16 years of marriage. Sharing parenthood, they remained steadfast friends throughout and divorced amicably in 2008.

Carmen returned to East Los Angeles temporarily to care for her elderly mother and returned to part-time social working only to retire a few years later after Antolina’s death. Both Carmen’s son Josh and Jack also relocated to Southern California. Carmen continued to live in Antolina’s apartment, where Nancy Miramontes became not only her landlady but her devoted friend and helper. In the meantime, Carmen had become a grandmother and she plunged into the experience like all her other experiences with loving enthusiasm. She sought to spend as much time as she could with her grandchildren, flying across states and oceans for visits. When Hannah returned to McKinleyville permanently with Dash and Scout in tow, Carmen would move back to Humboldt and to her home.

Throughout most of her life, Carmen emanated a semblance of health and even in the glow of age, she carried herself with shimmering elegance. Several years ago, she had received the diagnosis of breast cancer with realism and determined patience, judged it as something else to have to deal in the long line of things needing dealing. Remission offered a renewal, another loving embrace for her world and her faith deepened. When she received her diagnosis of colon cancer last year, she was extremely sad, but her faith never wavered and somehow because of this deepened faith, she became less frightened at the prospect of death. After so many years of practicing empathy, she was able to do so with herself and uttered “I know I’ve done things I regret, but I also know I’ve done some good things I am proud of.” Thus was her legacy, no doubt feeling proud firstly of her children, secondly at being proud of her grandmotherly status, and thirdly at choosing ways of being in the world that were honest, radical, loving, creative, forthright, and foremost unforgettable. Although she would never visit Barcelona, nor see the great Niagara falls, she lay satisfied knowing of a life well lived is measured by the peacefulness of farewell. The world is dim without her, but faith in God reminds us that her light can be felt everywhere.

Carmen Viramontes Golden is predeceased by her mother, Antolina Gurrola, her father, Serafin Viramontes, her grandparents, half-sister Frances Viramontes, half-brother Serafin Viramontes Jr. She is survived by her son Joshua Golden, daughter Hannah Golden, two grandsons Scout and Dash Townsend, East Los Angeles Gurrola cousins, the Viramontes family, and lifelong friends both in northern and southern California.

Services are private, and in lieu of flowers, please contribute to the charity of your choice.

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

Jimmy H. Brown
September 3, 1935 - January 17, 2023

Jimmy Harold Brown was born on September 3, 1935 in Coldwell Parish, Columbia, Louisiana. He was the fifth of seven children born to Virgil Terry Brown and Helen Marie (Chilton) Brown. He passed away on January 17, 2023 with his daughter Helen and granddaughter Laura by his side.

Jimmy was born at home on a rural cotton farm, and weighing only 3.0 pounds at birth, spent the first several weeks of his life in a box on the wood-fired oven door. He spent his early years working the farm and learned to tend crops, take care of livestock and fell and cut cypress trees for firewood (using a crosscut saw). His most memorial times were spent trapping, hunting and fishing the bayou to help feed his large family. His mother was a wonderful cook and Jimmy learned from her and became a wonderful cook as well. He often said that if he didn’t kill something for the pot with every shot fired, he was in big trouble when he got home.

Jimmy attended school in Columbia before traveling to Monroe, Louisiana to work on the new hospital. At the age of 18 he made the trip to Humboldt County, following in the footsteps of two uncles also from Coldwell Parish, Jack and Ramage Brown. Jack settled in Fort Bragg and Ramage in Rio Dell. Shortly after arriving in Rio Dell in 1957, Jimmy found employment at the Pacific Lumber Company in Scotia. He started in production, but was soon moved into maintenance as a millwright because of his natural talent for being able to fix things. He stayed with the company 43 years until his retirement in 2000.

Soon after moving to Rio Dell he met the love of his life, Billie Marie Griffith, whose family had been in Humboldt County for five generations. They were married on June 28, 1957 and shared 63 wonderful years together. They were blessed with three children; Marilyn Joyce (Brown) Summerfield, Helen Marie (Brown) Dinsmore and Jimmy Harold Brown Jr. (passed at birth).

Whenever possible, weekends and holidays were spent hunting, fishing and camping. Some part of Billie’s large family of fourteen brothers and sisters and their families were always included in these outdoor adventures, as were their best friends Ronnie and Pricilla Johnsgard. Fort Bragg for abalone, Shelter Cove for saltwater fishing, and crabbing in the bay and mouth of the river were always favorite get-a-ways. When the steelhead were in the river you could expect to see Jimmy and various family members drifting from High Rock to Scotia or Rio Dell, usually ending the day with a boatload of fish to smoke. Usually a couple bottles of brandy were kept onboard to combat the chill during those cold January and February mornings. Ruth Lake usually took a beating whenever Jimmy decided he needed a “mess” of crappie, brim, or bass to cook up for the crew on Saturday night. Although these were all highly anticipated outings, buck season was the time of year he most looked forward to. Scouting for bucks during grouse season and hunting for a wall hanger every weekend of the season while camping on Eight Mile or at the Race Track on South Fork. In later years he hunted from Uncle Dave’s lease lot above Ruth Lake. During the late season nothing beat Jimmy Brown’s squirrel and quail feeds. It was always funny to see how many members of other hunting camps would show up at dinner time.

Jimmy lost his son Jimmy Jr. at birth and his wife Billie to Alzheimer’s in 2021. He is survived by his daughter Marilyn (husband Richard Summerfield) and their children Chris (wife Amanda, daughter Ginger and stepson Gabe), Glen Summerfield and Richard J. Summerfield (daughter Jesyka and granddaughter Juno). He is also survived by his daughter Helen (husband Doug Dinsmore) and their children Laura Dinsmore (partner Carlos Comacho and son River Noah), and Robert Dinsmore (wife Kendra and their daughter Kara and son James). Jimmy is also survived by his sister Maudine (Brown) Douglas. He was preceded in death by his parents Virgil Terry Brown and Helen Marie (Chilton) Brown and two brothers, Virgil and John Brown and three sisters, Betty Jean James, Helen M. Oliveau, and Mary F. Melfatti.

Furthermore, Jimmy is survived by his brother in laws David Griffith and Tom Griffith (wife Barbara) and sister in law Vicky Aust (husband Alan).

A special thank you to Jimmy’s granddaughter Laura and partner Carlos for spending eight months living with and caring for “Poppa” during a most difficult time in his life.

There will be a celebration of life held at the Rio Dell Fire Hall on February 25 between 2 and 4 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, please send monetary donations to Hospice of Humboldt, 3327 Timber Fall Court, Eureka, CA 95503.

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

Mary Magdalene (Nolen) Ray went to be with her Lord, that she had faithfully served for over 56 years, on January 31, 2023, at 80 years of age. She is survived by her husband of 62 years, James C. Ray, her sister Linda Joy Summers of Riverside, brother David Nolen of Elk City, Oklahoma and her two beloved sons, James and Jerry Ray. She had four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren whom she loved abundantly, along with so many cherished church family and friends who meant so much to her. She is preceded by her brother Rod Nolen, father Garvin Commodore Nolen and mother, Olivee Elizabeth (Carr) Nolen.

Mary met and married James C. Ray on May 14, 1960 at the Assemblies of God church in Dows Prairie. Mary was born in Delight, Arkansas on December 28, 1942. Her family moved to California at a young age. She attended grade school in Susanville and high school at Arcata High.

After her boys went into the military, Mary worked as a bookkeeper and later as a legal secretary. Mary would retire from Humboldt County Public Defender’s office, where she loved working and made life-long friends.

In 1993 James and Mary founded North Fork Full Gospel Community Church, where they have pastored for almost 30 years. Mary worked as the bookkeeper, piano player and Sunday school teacher. Over the years Mary used her God given musical talents to share the Good News by playing the accordion, piano and singing with her husband in such places as Pelican Bay State Prison, retirement homes and special meetings all over Northern California.

Those who knew Mary loved her quick wit and dry sense of humor. She loved to tease her husband and their banter was a source of hilarity for those around them. Mary exemplified the scripture Proverbs 18:22: Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. The family would like to thank the doctors at Open Door Clinic for their love and care for Mary as well as the Hospice nurses who were with us at the end.

Memorial Services will April 29 at 11 a.m. at North Fork Full Gospel Church in McKinleyville — 1675 Pickett Road. Potluck afterward at Azalea Park.

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