Obits
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Mary Elizabeth Hurkett-McQueen went to heaven on Sept. 24, 2011 after losing her courageous battle to cancer.
Mary was known by many names such as “Buff,” “Auntie B” and “Mom” but she was best known as “Beth.”
Beth was born on May 25, 1960, the youngest of four daughters, Lori, Theresa and Julie. She was born and raised in Lakeport and attended Lakeport public schools from grades kindergarten through 12th, graduating from Clear Lake High School in 1978 and enrolling at Heald Business College.
She excelled in her studies and was one of the fastest typists in the history of Heald, where she is listed on their Hall of Fame.
After college, Beth started her career as a secretary, working for the Lake County District Attorney’s Office for the next 19 years.
She then began a new career at Lakeport Unified School District where she was the secretary to the superintendent, serving in that position from 1999 as a valuable and trusted employee.
Beth was the loving wife of Mike McQueen, a.k.a “Uncle Fuzzy” or “Captain Mike,” and loving mother to sons Jared and Brendan. They were the lights of her life and there was nothing that she wouldn’t do for her boys.
She was a person who exhibited love, kindness, integrity, truthfulness and loyalty. She loved her family and her dear friends more than herself. Her happiest times were spent with family and friends in Hawaii, at Giants baseball games and lounging outside the house on the deck with her pets, Happy, Hootie, Chuckie, Biscuit, Willow and Jasmine.
In addition to her husband and boys, Beth is survived by her three sisters and families, Julie and Mark Frazell, Theresa and Greg Pickle, Lori and Les Pinson, and numerous nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to a local animal shelter.
A celebration of Beth’s life will be held at 7786 Wight Way, Kelseyville, Calif.
The celebration will begin at 4 p.m. on Sept. 30, with a dinner/potluck to follow.
Please contact Carol Thorn at 707-349-6847 if you plan to attend the dinner/potluck.
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Clinton Edward “Dusty” Rhoades began his final retirement on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011.
Born Dec. 31, 1923 in Muncie, Indiana, he served in the Army during World War II from 1943 to 1945 in France. He was attached to support services, assembling and maintaining vehicles, from jeeps to
trucks to tanks.
After the war, he married Hueberta May Rinker of Anderson, Indiana in 1947. They moved briefly to Texas, then to Long Beach, California in 1948.
In 1950 Dusty was recalled, and served during the Korean War, stationed primarily in Japan.
In 1952 back in California, they moved to Compton, where he continued automotive work as a mechanic. His son Douglas Rhoades was born in 1953.
In 1961 he decided, after visiting Lake County with friends and relatives on several occasions, that he wanted to move north. The following year the family relocated to Nice, where he would remain for the next 43 years.
He opened his own automotive repair and service station business in Upper Lake, the R & R Garage (the second “R” represented his early business partner Lloyd Redfield).
He was also a bus driver for many years for the Upper Lake Union School and High School Districts, and many former students of those schools remember him fondly.
He continued his automotive business until his first retirement in 1989. In 1997, he and his wife celebrated 50 years of marriage.
Hueberta died in 2000 after a protracted illness, during which Dusty remained by her side for many months with the assistance of Hospice Services of Lake County.
Not one to stay at rest for long, Dusty went back to work, providing vehicle transportation for Airport Auto in Lakeport. There he met Ethel Evans, who provided financial services to that business. Her first husband Gil had died in a plane accident in 1987.
In 2005, he married Ethel and moved to Kelseyville where he remained until his rapid decline and death, after being diagnosed with leukemia just one month earlier.
Dusty was very involved in the community. He was a volunteer fireman for the Nice Fire Department, served on the board of the Nice Water Co., where he frequently helped with installation and repair of services for that utility.
He entered the Masonic Lodge in 1961 in Compton, and was a member and Past Master of Hartley Lodge No. 199 F&AM in Lakeport.
Dusty’s family came to America before there was something called the “United States.” He could trace his genealogy through his mother’s Dutch ancestors to arrival in the “New World” in New Amsterdam, now New York, in 1640.
He is preceded in death by his mother, Ellabell Winans Case; father, Gordon Rhoades, of Indiana; and his first wife, Hueberta May Rinker Rhoades of Nice, Calif.
He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Doug and Nancy Rhoades of Kelseyville; grandchildren, Jeremiah French and Sarah Joy Dutra (Joe); and his four great-grandchildren, Adriana, Taran, Ian and
Austin.
He is also survived by his sister, Adeline Monroe of Muncie, Indiana; and his four nieces, Rita, Renee, Julie and Brenda.
A Masonic graveside service will be held at Kelseyville Cemetery on Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, at 11 a.m. with participation by the Lake County Military Honors Team.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice Services of Lake County or the Masonic Homes Foundation.
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UKIAH, Calif. – The memorial service honoring fallen Navy SEAL Jesse D. Pittman is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds in Ukiah.
Pittman was one of 30 U.S. servicemen killed August 6, 2011 in Wardak Province, Afghanistan.
He was a 2002 Willits High School graduate joining the Navy in March 2005 and becoming a Navy SEAL in April 2007.
Pittman's extended family and friends ask the community Mendocino County and beyond to come out and show their support for the sacrifice made by Pittman and his family by lining the streets of Ukiah as the family is escorted to the fairgrounds for the service.
The procession is scheduled to travel from U.S. Highway 101 to the Perkins Street exit; head west to State Street turn north and travel to the fairgrounds.
The approximate time the procession should exit the freeway will be between 10 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. on Sept. 24.
Please bring a small American Flag if possible and pick a location on the designated route to help do your small part to let Pittman's family know that we all care and send deepest condolences their way at this time of tremendous loss.
For those who would like to make a donation to help with this memorial honoring Pittman, please send your donation to Agape Bible Church, C/O Jesse Pittman Fund, 290 S. Lenore, Willits, CA 95490.
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