She was a shining light to all that knew and loved her….

She is now shining from above to light the way for all of us down here.

Bettie Mae (Praus) Marcum-Albright peacefully passed away on July 6, 2023, at the age of 91, with her family by her side.

Born on June 20, 1932, in Dickinson, North Dakota to Agnes and Clemens Praus, Bettie was the middle sibling to two brothers, Robert and Raymond - both of whom she loved dearly. Her early years took her from North Dakota to Montana, eventually landing in Springfield, Oregon for high school. Upon graduating, she met the love of her life, Richard Lee Marcum (our father), and they made their home in Eugene, Oregon.

Bettie held a special place in her heart for her younger brother’s wife Glenda, who was like a sister to her for life.

Bettie and “Dick” (Richard) journeyed through several homes over the years and during that time, they welcomed two children into the world, a son, Douglas, and a daughter, Susan. By 1962, they finally set down roots in Eureka (Humboldt County), where they lived out their lives.

Full of life, love, and laughter, our mother Bettie made our childhood fun and exciting. When we were young, she took up a job at Humboldt State College (yes, it was just a college then) working in the bookstore. We often remember her coming home from work excited with a new story to tell us. She created many friendships there that she cherished throughout her life.

Mom left Humboldt State University (it had become a university by then) around 1972, moving on to work at the College of the Redwoods’ bookstore. Her friend circle widened at CR. A few years later, she returned to HSU and began working in procurement, where (guess what?) she made even more new and cherished friends!

Sadly, during this time, our father Dick fell ill with cancer. After a brave two-year battle, he passed away in 1984. They were married for 32 memorable years. His passing greatly affected Mom. Knowing Mom was not one to be alone, he had assured her before passing that he would “find someone” for her.

A few months after Dad’s passing, Mom met Don Albright through some mutual friends. They hit it off and shared a blissful marriage of 23 years, until Don’s passing. Their time together was filled with adventures—trips, annual escapades to Palm Springs, cruises, dances—and of course, they cherished the friends they made along the way. It truly was a “match made in heaven.”

Don was the grandfather that Bettie’s granddaughters grew up with. Don had 3 children, and our families quickly blended, enjoying several years of fun and friendship. Don’s grandson Jason, his wife Jackie, and their three wonderful boys were always close to Mom and our family. Don was a wonderful man and very loved by us all.

Mom started facing health issues as she aged, leading to her decision to move to Timber Ridge in McKinleyville in October of 2022.

With her health declining, she moved to Renaissance, at Timber Ridge, where she spent her final months. And guess what? She made many more friends who cared about her as much as she cared about them.

Mom touched so many lives that it would fill an entire book to list everyone that was special to her. Please rest assured that she loved each of you and that you have a special place in her heart.

Bettie was preceded in death by her parents, brothers, both husbands, and several friends and relatives. She is survived by her children (Doug and Sue), and their spouses, her grandchildren (Vanessa and Amber) and their spouses, her three great-grandchildren, her “sister” Glenda Praus, and numerous nieces, nephews, and friends, all of whom she loved fiercely. Father Thomas Diaz was another special person in her life who she regarded as a second son.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the team at Timber Ridge, Renaissance, and Hospice for their care and support. We truly don’t know what we would have done without you – we know that Mom loved you all.

A celebration of life will be held in September at the Eureka Elks Lodge. It’s challenging to reach everyone she touched, so please email sueringwald@yahoo.com for more information.

Richard Danford Ecker, 84, of Fortuna, passed away peacefully on June 29, 2023, surrounded by his family. Richard, fondly known as “Dick” to his friends, was born to Danford and Alma on December 3, 1938 in St. Louis, Missouri. While Dick always liked to say he was born in “misery”, aka Missouri, Dick grew up in a happy household as an only child with his parents. When Dick was young,the family moved out to California to be closer to Danford’s sister, Nell, who lived in the Valley with her family. The Ecker’s drove across country for four days straight and settled in Hollywood.

When Danford got a job with the California Forestry Department, they moved to Alhambra to be closer to Danford’s work in Arcadia. Alma also worked at the AAA office in San Gabriel and together they created a comfortable life for their family.

Dick and Danford had a special bond that was partly based on their love of baseball that would last Dick’s entire life. From a young age, Danford would take him to games and Spring Training Camps to include Casey Stengel Park in Glendale (N.Y. Yankees), Brookside Park in Pasadena (Chicago White Sox) and Parris Hill in San Bernardino (St. Louis Browns). Collections of ticket stubs and programs with signatures of players speak volumes to Dick’s true love of the game. Throughout his youth, Dick was active in sports and loved baseball and football the most. One of Dick’s fondest memories was when he played baseball with one of his first coaches, Al Goodman. Dick would not only be friends with Mr. Goodman, but would eventually end up buying his sporting goods business from him.

Dick attended Granada Elementary School and then Alhambra High School, where he excelled at both JV football and baseball. Dick worked by sweeping floors for Mr. Goodman at his sporting goods store, W.A. Goodman & Sons, to make extra money.

Dick’s other passion during his youth was for sports cars, and he owned an Alfa Romeo Spyder, red with black interior. Dick, with his girlfriend Ann, joined a car club and would attend Rally’s and go on excursions regularly. Dick continued to work at W.A. Goodman’s after High School and would eventually go on to marry his first wife, Ann.

Not long after that, Dick was drafted into the military and would end up stationed in Texas. Dick attended basic training at Ford Ord and was then stationed at Fort Hood as Military Police (MP). During Dick’s two-year service from 1961-1963, he had the honor to be assigned to President Kennedy’s protection detail when visiting the base. Dick was honorably discharged from service when his time was served right at the time of the Kennedy assignation. Had that timing been different, his active-duty time could have been much longer. Dick remained in the Army Reserves until 1967, but returned home with Ann and their dog, Boo-Boo, to settle in an apartment in San Gabriel.

It was there they met their lifelong friends, Harry & Jean Schumacher, who lived in the same complex. Truly a “Ricardo’s and the Mertz’s” friendship, the two couples spent a lot of time together traveling to San Francisco, going to weekly dinners and were on a local bowling team.

Dick regained his employment with Al at W.A. Goodman’s and was eventually given an offer to buy Al’s parent’s house in Monterey Park, since they were aging and would be moving elsewhere. Dick and Ann were anticipating starting a family during this time, but when that became a medical impossibility, they instead turned their excitement to the adoption of their first child, Archer Danford Ecker, born April 29, 1966. Archer was a handful from a young age but was also his dad’s pride and joy as they, too, shared a love of sports, much like Dick and his father. Arch was exposed to all kinds of sports because of Dick’s job at the sporting goods store but loved hockey the most. Dick got Arch up on skates and playing hockey when he was very young, and Dick became a coach where they won many championships and tournaments over the years. Eager to grow their family, they adopted their second child, Tracy Jean Ecker, born April 23, 1970. Arch was involved in this process as much as possible, even “picking out” his sister from the choices of babies that were ready for adoption. Shortly after getting Tracy, the family bought their next home from a relative of Ann’s in north Alhambra.

Dick’s next move would be to buy the sporting goods store from his friend and boss, Al, and together with his partner Chuck Poehler, they made a go of it! They moved the business into downtown Los Angeles and the small athletic equipment supplier grew to producing uniforms for baseball, hockey, football and others, to include the Dodgers, Kings and many other premiere sports organizations. Dick and W.A. Goodman & Sons were known for their personal service and Dick would oftentimes have to bring in his best seamstress in the middle of the night after a trade announcement so they could sew on the new players name on the back of the jersey before the next day’s photo opportunity. Dick explained that they would sew the names into the fabric ; not the patches that you see on today’s uniforms.

Dick and his family remained in Alhambra for many years while Dick ran the business and raised their children until Dick eventually decided to part from his family as he grew weary of the “hustle and bustle” of the city and corporate America. Dick stayed in Southern California on his own and close with his children but began enjoying the outdoors and backpacking in his local mountains. In 1980, fate brought Dick and Deborah, his current wife, together, even though they were living different lives in different parts of the County. Dick attended a class entitled “Advanced Wilderness Survival,” while Deborah attended a “Beginning Backpacking” class from the same teacher on the other side of town. Apparently, the teacher taught both classes the same, a beginning class in backpacking. Dick stuck it out, bringing his topo maps and compass to class and helped teach the class. In the end, both classes combined for an overnight backpacking trip, and the rest they say…is history! Dick and Deborah were married in 1984 in a simple and small and beautiful ceremony. Dick and Deborah backpacked every weekend in the Angeles National Forest and loved being out in the High Sierra’s. One trip took them to the Trinity Alps where Dick met Deborah’s brother, Stephen Nesvold, and sister, Vikki Nesvold, along with her boyfriend, Marty King. They both fell in love with Humboldt County and decided to ditch the city life and move. At the same time, Deborah’s brother Tom, along with his wife Terri, decided they wanted to explore life outside of where they currently lived in San Diego as well so the four of them decided to finally move to Humboldt County and join their family members, Steve and Vikki.

Dick and Deborah bought 80 acres on the top of Buck Mountain, which they later found out was called “The Lawyers Cabin” and lived the country life. They spent their time hiking, fishing and enjoying their life together but after five years, a real winter came and at 5,000 feet above sea level they were either snowed out or snowed in for half of the year. Reality set in and they moved back into town and eventually settled in Fortuna. Deborah resumed her banking career and Dick settled into his role as the best “house spouse” ever! Dick and Deborah attended the annual Dixieland Jazz Festival every year and kept active in local clubs and political committees. Friday night dances at the local Moose Lodge were a weekly event and kept them active and social with their friends. Dick loved to cook and made sure he had dinner ready when Deborah came home. Deborah has a binder of all of his special recipes that many of his family re-create regularly. Dick was a master at the BBQ and loved being out in the backyard with his dogs amongst the flourishing vegetable garden and beautiful wisteria tree. Dick was a husband, father, Grandpa, Great- Grandpa, Uncle, friend and master Rummikub player. He was always up for a lively talk about politics, sports and the condition of the world as we know but was a sensitive and heartfelt man at heart and was an undying romantic. We all loved to listen to his stories and adventures of the past.

Dick is survived by his wife, Deborah of 39 years of Fortuna; his daughter, Tracy (Michael) of La Verne; his four grandchildren, Kenneth Ecker of Topeka, Kansas; Stephanie Pruett (Jacob) of Bakersfield; Bradley Benschop of La Verne; Lauren Gonzales of La Verne; great-granddaughter Hazel Pruett of Bakersfield. Deborah’s brothers and sister: Fred Nesvold (Pin) of Flagstaff, Arizona; Tom Nesvold (Terri) of Vista; and Vikki Nesvold-King (Marty) of Maui. He is pre-deceased by his son Archer Danford Ecker and his brother-in-law Stephen Nesvold. Nephews and nieces: Freddie Nesvold of Lafayette, Indiana; Nona Nesvold-Clements (Scott) of Waynetown, Indiana; Chris Nesvold (Lea) of Sacramento; Alex Nesvold (Melissa) of Windsor; Trevor Nesvold (Lea) of Santa Rosa; Elissa Nesvold of Eureka; David Nesvold of Oceanside and Rachel Nesvold-Bouworth (Mike) of Escondido. A lifelong lover of dogs, Dick is survived by his current companion, Cooper, who was also at his bedside while he passed. Dick has had many other special dog companions throughout his lifetime and is pre-deceased by Duke, Rebel 2, Butch & Eubie, Rebel 1, Shadow, Rebel, Sandi and Boo-Boo.

Please consider making a donation to one of our local animal shelters on behalf of Dick to the Sequoia Humane Society 6073 Loma Avenue, Eureka, CA 95503 and Redwood Pals Rescue P.O. Box 2913, McKinleyville, CA 95519. Please join us for a celebration of life honoring Dick on Saturday, September 2nd, 2023 at Rohner Park in Fortuna at noon for a BBQ and 1 p.m. for a service. Please bring your laughter and stories to tell!

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

Robert (Bob) Allen Rode had the good fortune of celebrating two milestones this past Monday, July 31. The first celebration was making it to his 98th birthday. The second was passing on to eternal life to be with God. Bob was born July 31, 1925, in Los Angeles. He was the youngest of 3 children. He had a brother, Harold, and a sister, Geraldine. Growing up in the depression, Bob’s dad, Theodore (Ted) kept busy as a carpenter in the Los Angeles area, always being able to provide for the family. His mom, Carolina (Lena) was a homemaker and always had an extra meal for a homeless person in need. In high school, right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Bob was a messenger courier during the California coast blackouts when there was fear of invasion from Japan.

Bob was drafted into the army in 1943. After initially training in the anti aircraft division, he was then transferred to infantry replacement. Bob served In Italy, initially arriving in Naples and eventually ended up in Florence as the war progressed. After the war, Bob finished out his enlistment at Fort Benning, Georgia, achieving the rank of sergeant.

After the war, Bob returned to Los Angeles and started working for Rode Brothers Hardwood Flooring, a company started by his uncles in 1930. He would go on to spend the rest of his career working at Rode Brothers.

Bob met Carolyn Ellen Ferree at Hollywood Lutheran Church. They had known each other prior to the war, but started to spend more time together in 1947, upon his return from the army. They were married October 21, 1949 and had three kids; Ellen, Allen and Thom and lived in the San Fernando Valley until 1981. In 1981, Bob took an early retirement so that he and Carolyn could buy their five acre mini-farm in Hydesville and fulfill their lifelong dream of “country living.” They raised a couple of cows, chickens, eggs, fresh vegetables and fruit trees. They truly enjoyed the cooler climate and rural lifestyle. Carolyn passed away from cancer on October 29, 1984. Bob married Carol Dillingham on January 16, 1988. Bob and Carol lived at the Hydesville mini-farm and enjoyed spending time with their kids, grandkids and great grandkids until his passing.

Bob is preceded in death by his first wife, Carolyn, parents, Ted and Lena, siblings Harold and Geraldine and inlaws Royal and Jewell Ferree and Harriet Ferree. He is survived by his second wife Carol, his children, Ellen, Allen and Thom, stepchildren Sherry, Rochelle, Arlene and Bob, grandchildren, Jason, Gregg, Joshua, Jessica, Karin, Jenny, Eric, Russell, Valerie, Ashleigh, Kyle,Dean, Emily and Sarah. Great grandchildren, Jazmin, Sybastian, Ruan, Royal, Johnnie Joe, Jericho, Zephaniah, Henry, Joann(Jo Jo), Matthew, Reed, Quinn, Jack, Zane, Calvin, Tyler, Tobie, Taylor, Luke, Jackson, Caroline, Jasper, Ryan, Nathan, Selah, and Liam-Jean. Bob is also survived by nieces Judy and Kathleen and nephews Jim and John. Bob loved his family and they loved him; he was the ultimate family man.

A graveside service will be held at Sunrise Cemetery in Fortuna on Friday, August 11 at 2 p.m. A reception will immediately follow at the Hydesville Community Church.

In my naivety, I thought creationism, under the guise of “Intelligent Design,” would have taken a deep decline after the “Dover” trial 18 years ago. Good luck with that. A recent Pew poll found that Creationism/Intelligent Design is still alive and well in the Land of the Free. The poll found that 40% of us think God created humans in the past 10,000 years. And even if you don’t believe in the Genesis account, we—average we—hold the opinion that our species evolved under God’s guidance. Only 22% of us believe that God had no role in the making of humans. 

Some 2,500 years ago, a bunch of Jewish exiles in Babylon came up with their own creation myth, one that extolled their claim of being “the chosen ones.” The stories codified in the Book of Genesis was written long before DNA sequencing had been developed, so it’s no wonder that folks back then thought in terms of, not only Jewish exceptionalism, but human exceptionalism, aka anthropocentrism. The claim is that our species is central, the most important entity on Earth (or, taken to extremes, in the universe). From that, it follows that we’re both separate from, and superior to, “nature.” Animals and plants are merely resources, put here for our benefit. 

Those Iron Age folks didn’t have DNA sequencers, but we do. We know—unless the entire enterprise of molecular biology is a vast conspiracy—that we share about 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees and bonobos. Seven million years ago, we were the same species.

“Dover” (above) refers to the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, which pitted pseudoscientific “experts” against actual scientists. The former claimed that the complexity of life, including various biological organs—eyes come in for particular attention—is just too great to be explained by natural selection, and therefore God must have created it, and us.

(Ironically, the Father of Evolution may have thought the same. Darwin wrote, “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one…from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” He added the italicized words to the second edition of Origin of Species, but later regretted it.)

In the Dover trial, evolutionists countered the “complexity” claim saying:

1. Even if the theory of evolution was wrong, that doesn’t automatically lead to the conclusion that “God did it.” Evidence against evolution doesn’t constitute evidence for design.
2. The emergence of, for instance the eye, is readily explained. A process that started with the spontaneous appearance of a circular patch of photoreceptor cells—perhaps 600 million years ago—can evolve into full-blown eyes. The idea is that mutations naturally led to a slight improvement in each generation, and creatures that can detect prey better than their peers have a slight reproductive advantage over their peers.

The anti-evolution, pro-creation crowd at the Dover trial was organized by the Discovery Institute, founded in 1991 with the aim of “spreading creationism in its Intelligent Design incarnation, its overarching goal being the replacement of materialism in science and life with the idea of God,” to quote evolutionist Jerry Coyne.

Eighteen years later, the Discovery Institute hasn’t gone away, and currently has about 40 employees. After the ruling from the (Republican!) judge in the Dover case—that teaching ID alongside evolution violates the separation of church and state, ID being thinly-veiled Biblical creationism—the DI has abandoned its original goal. Instead of aiming to have Intelligent Design taught in public schools, it now focuses on highlighting problems with the theory of evolution (which isn’t hard to do, it’s complicated!) and with reminding us that we’re not machines. 

As if we’d know.

Frank X Gloeggler Jr. passed away peacefully on Sunday, July 2, 2023. He chose to have a simple death at his home with his best friend Liea and his beloved pets, a golden retriever, Goose and a cat, Mir at his side.

Frank was a dedicated Certified Public Accountant with an office in Fortuna and an office in Garberville. He loved life and his clients. He worked until his death in July. He was born September 5, 1943, in Palo Alto to parents Frank and Rose Gloeggler. He graduated from Mountain View High School, served in the United States Air Force, and graduated from San Jose State College.

During Frank’s lifetime he was surrounded by three families besides his birth family: former belated wife, Audrey and her daughter, Carolyn Albee, as well as her two daughters; former wife, Connie Goucher with three children and a grandson, Ryan, that he was very fond of and helped raise; best friend, Liea and her five children, 22 grandchildren and one great grandson. He is survived by two sisters: Barbara Hooper (Jim) and Margie Chaffin (Bill), niece: Mary, and nephews: Alan, Joe, and John.

Frank spent his lifetime helping others in whatever way he could best serve them. He loved children, cars, animals, nature and food. He once said, “I fix things; that is what I do.” He was a true gentleman to the day he passed.

Wednesday, August 16th, a funeral Mass will be held at 3 p.m. at St. Joseph Church located at 810 14th Street, Fortuna, CA 95540. Military Honors and a reception will be held after Mass at Goble’s Fortuna Mortuary at 560 12th Street, Fortuna, CA 95540. Please come and share memories, food…lots of food, and laughter, as Frank would have wanted us all to do.

There will be a slideshow and an opportunity to share feelings. For those of you who are not able to attend, there will be a live feed for the service available on Facebook.

Thank you all for your kindness and love. To his past employees, specifically Connie B. in Garberville, he was so proud of the excellent work that you all did as a team. Thank you all very much for helping us through this time. I pray you all know just how much you all meant to this gentleman. I think we all agree that he was a spectacular man with a huge heart and a strong laugh. Everyone he met he treated with respect. Frank lived by his word and tried to make the most of every moment he had.

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

Call it what you want—supply side progressivism, a “liberalism that builds,” or good ol’ permitting reform—a debate has emerged within progressive circles about whether environmental laws get in the way of good things, like renewable energy, and if so, what to do about it. As the executive director of a non-profit law firm that regularly uses environmental laws to fight bad things like oil and gas development, Erik Schlenker-Goodrich of the Western Environmental Law Center, has some thoughts on the matter. He joins the show for a conversation about the perils and potential of amending environmental laws to make good things easier to do. 

“The EcoNews Report,” Aug. 5, 2023.

REQUIRED READING:

• We Must Tend the Garden of Environmental Law
• A Liberalism That Builds Power
• What America Needs Is a Liberalism That Builds

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Fire crews have made significant progress containing a small wildfire burning north of French Gulch in western Shasta County. The Ridge Incident, which ignited yesterday afternoon around 2:30 p.m., has burned approximately 20 acres and is 40 percent contained, according to a morning update from the Shasta County Fire Department and CalFIRE Shasta-Trinity Unit.

The quick-moving fire prompted evacuation orders for residences on the east side of Trinity Mountain Road, south of Drunken Gulch Road and north of Fawnridge Road, on Friday evening. The Shasta County Sheriff’s Department lifted all evacuation orders and warnings shortly after 9 p.m.

The cause of the fire remains unknown. No structures have been destroyed and none are currently threatened.

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