Marie-Louise deSouza died Feb. 8, 2022, and she was born in Singapore to Victor and Cora (maiden name Elliott) on Aug. 4, 1942. Marie's siblings were Evelyn, Brenda, and Jocelyn (age 13). This was during the Japanese occupation. Hence, Jocelyn was put into a concentration camp because he wouldn't fight in the Japanese Youth Unit, and Victor (civil-engineer) on a nearby island to design/work on tunnels. Hence, Cora decided to flee to Malaysia with her daughters after Evelyn (age 15), courageously asked the Japanese general for a pass. From a Shirley Temple movie, the family got the idea to hide British money in Marie's doll. The men later escaped their captivity to join the family in Malaysia. After the war, the family came back to an empty house.
After grammar school, Marie attended a boarding school near Perth, Australia, and later lived with Jocelyn and his family in Melbourne, Australia. She attended college in New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.) and worked in fashion for a number of years in New York and Los Angeles, California. Marie moved to Eureka, California, because Redwoods J.C. had a dormitory. She married her husband, James Ross, and worked in the rental industry. James died in 2000.
Marie is survived by her sister Evelyn (deSouza) Sassoon, London, England, niece Karenina Dixon (and her husband Chris), North Carolina, cousin Christine (deSouza) Galindo, and Christine's parents: father Terrance deSouza (age 98 and a second cousin); and mother Ruth deSouza. All live in Antioch, California.Marie will be buried in Ocean View Cemetery, Eureka, California.
Bunny Mae Walthuis, born Aug.. 25, 1977, in Thousand Oaks, California, died peacefully on Feb. 6, 2022, at the Hospice House in Eureka in the loving presence of her partner and close friends after a 21-month battle with stage 4 cervical cancer was finally over. Bunny is survived by her lover and partner, Tawny Foskett. Bunny and Tawny quickly fell head over heels in love after their first date on Jan. 7, 2020. Together they strove to fit the 40 years of life, love and adventure they longed for having with each other into the two years and one month they were granted, whilst fighting terminal cancer entirely in a pandemic.
Bunny is also survived by her father and stepmother, Dean and Jill Walthuis, who live near Yosemite, along with four siblings; Rory Walthuis, Jamie Garcia and family, Ryan Walthuis and Josh Pope and family. Last, but definitely not least, she is survived by “her Boys,” (her dogs) Henry and Bailey - infamous to most of Blue Lake where Bunny happily spent the last 10 years (of the 20 she had in Humboldt), which she’d come to call home. Besides her years living in Humboldt, Bunny also had adult life chapters living in Boise, Idaho, as well as New York City, Hawaii and a season working on a fishing boat in the Bering Sea off Alaska.
Bunny is also survived by a lot of close friends as well as numerous fans - after all, Bunny was voted Best Bartender of Humboldt County in both 2021 and 2019 for her 7-year tenure at The Logger Bar. She bartended and worked in many local businesses, including The Alibi, Six Rivers and Fish Brothers, where she was preparing to manage, prior to Covid and cancer. Bunny had a large and diverse friendship circle; she loved fishing with any of her many fishing buddies- whether on the ocean, bay or rivers, she loved cooking and dinner parties, golfing, cribbage, camping, music festivals and Dell’Arte shows. And of course, if you knew Bunny even a little, you knew she was a huge fan of the LA Dodgers and the Seattle Seahawks.
Bunny grew up primarily outside Seattle with her mother, Kathleen, and later younger brother, Josh. Bunny’s mother passed away in 2005 (of breast cancer) when Bunny was 27 years old. Bunny was able to share her love of Humboldt a couple times with her mother before that happened, and had special memories of time in Trinidad, at the beaches and camping with her. Bunny spent her high school years primarily with her dad’s family, attending Yosemite High and often recreating in Yosemite Park and nearby Bass Lake. Bunny was able to share this special area, as well as family, with Tawny both in August of 2021 and again for Christmas 2021.
To say she will be missed is the biggest understatement, as she already desperately is, and she will be remembered with love and fondness for many, many decades.
Bunny would want you to always tip your bartenders well, and to go have preventative checks at the doctor.
There is an Ofrenda altar at The Logger Bar, which can be viewed and contributed to at least through February. If you’d like to contribute money - which will go towards her spring memorial as well as for dog care, there is a jar for donations at The Logger Bar or you can donate to the Patreon page Tawny and Bunny made for their Bucket List Year. Otherwise, donations to either The Breast and Gyno Project in Arcata or Hospice of Humboldt would be very appropriate and welcomed.
William G. Troiano, Jr, passed away after a brief illness on October 2, 2021, in Eureka, California. His passing has left his life partner, family, and friends with disbelief and sadness. Bill suffered from a heart condition and aspirated pneumonia, which came on suddenly and left us behind to wonder why the good have to leave us.
Born into this world on July 10, 1946, to William G. Troiano, Sr. and Ruth Troiano in Glendale, California, he grew up enjoying life and all that it held for him with annual trips to Yosemite with his parents, siblings, nieces, nephew and friends. Bill graduated from Glendale High in 1964 and realized his passion for design is where he needed to be so he attended and graduated college at Woodbury University from 1964-1967 with a degree in Interior Design. From there his career was to be set working at JW Robinson from 1967-1985, where he was an interior designer and consultant.
In 1985, Bill moved to Santa Barbara, California, to care for his mother. With some time on his hands, he was drawn to the Santa Barbara Historical Society, where he served on their board for six years, as well as overseeing two historical homes. From 1998- 2003 Bill was involved with the Pearl Chase Society of Santa Barbara where he served as a docent, also having his own home on one of the Pearl Chase Society Home Tours. While living in Santa Barbara, Bill expressed his love of interior design and collecting of antiques and would have numerous yard sales finely displaying his merchandise on clothed tables with lit lamps. His sales brought in dealers and customers alike to purchase his fine goods.
In 2003, Bill purchased his home in Eureka. After some renovations, and many trips back and forth from Santa Barbara, he moved to his new home in 2004. Bill soon became involved with several organizations, including the Eureka Heritage Society in which his home was on their annual home tour event in 2006. Bill would also join a local Splinter Group, the American Fuchsia Society, the Eureka Bonsai Society, Eureka Sequoia Garden Club and the American Rhododendron Society of Eureka where he was responsible for the annual silver polishing of their awards. Bill was also a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society and Prime Timers.
Bill’s enjoyment of collecting often found him at an estate sale, a thrift store or one of many yard sales locally. He would never leave a sale or thrift store without buying something, whether it be a small trinket to an antique item. He enjoyed cleaning his finds and making them beautiful again. Bill was an admirer of antique clocks and enjoyed collecting when he would find that special one, though it would be hard to find him arrive early for anything. As a creature of habit, Bill enjoyed his Saturday luncheons with his group of friends as well as his weekly drives exploring the many wonderful sites of Humboldt County, often to end up parked at a favorite spot by the ocean or bay to watch a beautiful sunset. Bill loved to visit Victoria, B.C., Canada where he thoroughly loved the Victorian architecture, Butchart Gardens, and the Craigdarroch Castle mansion.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents William G. Troiano, Sr. and Ruth Troiano, brother Jerry Rehfield, sister Diane Grassmueck, partner Donald Bjorkman, husband William Furst and many beloved pets. Left behind is his life partner Randy Eaton, nephew Michael Grassmueck (wife Theresa), niece Jeri Welbourn (husband Dennis), niece Diane Rehfield (husband Mark), grandnieces and grandnephews, cousins and many friends from Glendale, Santa Barbara, and here in the Eureka area.
“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one can steal”
Richard was born Louis Richard Theos in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Martha Smart (Vernal, Utah) and Louis P. Theos -Theophilaktopoulos-Theophilou (Kalavryta, Greece). From the time he was a baby, he was raised by his mother and his maternal grandparents Paula Margarette Schreiber and William Haines Smart. He was later adopted by his stepfather Benjamin Thompson-Tomelovich-Tomalonis and his name changed to Richard Louis Thompson.
Richard graduated in 1957 from South High in Salt Lake City, Utah. He served a mission in Germany and became fluent in the language and love of German culture. He then graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. He worked briefly for Hercules Chemical Co. as a chemical engineer on Minuteman missiles and rocket propulsion. He related that he found this boring. During this time he met the love of his life Betty James and sold his motorcycle to pay for her wedding ring. They married in August of 1964 after knowing each other for only three months. They then moved to Seattle where she taught elementary school while he completed his doctorate in Particle Physics in four years (typically seven) at the University of Washington. He also did research at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, New York, and then at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Together Richard and Betty enjoyed many fun times hiking, fishing, hunting and rockhounding. In 1968 they moved to Arcata, California, when Richard was hired by Humboldt State University where he enjoyed his passion for teaching physics and inspiring students to learn until his retirement in 2001. His focus at HSU was always on providing excellent education, not on making a name for himself as a researcher. He felt very strongly about it. He was dearly loved and respected by his colleagues, faculty and students. His career at HSU provided opportunity for three year-long sabbaticals. One in Hamburg, Germany, at DESY (a nuclear particle accelerator) and later at Oxford University in England, where he continued studies in particle physics. During one experiment he was involved with discovering and measuring, for the first time, the mass of one of the quarks.
Richard and Betty raised two children at their home in the Freshwater area. They also kept a variety of pets and animals including a hound dog, cats, sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese and a horse. Music also played a role in Richard’s life. In his youth he played the tuba and also played the piano and sang in the church choir. His love of music, especially classical, was further rewarded by their son Paul’s talent and career in opera.
Dick and Betty loved to travel and spent time exploring Europe, Asia, Africa, India and Australia as well as North, Central and South America. He was a super planner and mapped and planned these trips in great detail. Richard taught himself Greek and traveled with his family to Kalavryta to research his Greek heritage, which was always a major part of his identity. A favorite place Richard and Betty loved to hike was in the slot canyons of Escalante, Utah. He was also very artistic and did a beautiful job carving and polishing rocks and laying decorative brick. After his retirement he took geology classes at HSU as a hobby.
Richard’s love of physics applied to many aspects of his life. In 1998, he even calculated the rate of fall on his rapid descent from the roof! This accident resulted in serious trauma with lifelong consequences. He was very physically active, determined and worked hard to recover. Their daughter’s education in nursing proved useful during his various hospital stays. Richard was known to be a strong athlete. He skied, played football and loved to play basketball in school as well as with his friends in the Arcata Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the HSU Intramural team. He was star center for the University of Utah basketball team when they went to the Championships. Richard was an avid runner and member of the Six Rivers Running Club.
Richard loved his wife’s gourmet cooking. He especially loved meat and desserts. Dark chocolate was always a favorite and he kept a “stash” of it by his chair. His family always knew it was a special occasion when Richard had buttoned every button on his flannel shirt. He felt that by doing every other button he was saving time and energy, another physics principle, the conservation of motion.
Richard took great satisfaction in gardening and landscaping. He had a vast knowledge of trees, shrubs and plants including their Latin names. His knowledge of levers moved mountains from the quarry to his “rock garden” where he and Betty spent many days together perfecting their piece of paradise.
Richard was preceded in death by his elders, including Theos half siblings Mary (Kingdon), Alexander, Nickolas, George, Theodora “Teddy” and Virginia (Cook).
He is survived by his wife of 57 years Betty Jane (James) Thompson, their son Paul Richard Thompson (Emeryville, California) and daughter Heidi Jane Van Buskirk and her husband Charles (Eureka, California) as well as his grandchildren Elle Jane McCall (Thomas V. Evans), Chelsea L. Van Buskirk, James C. Van Buskirk (Cynthia), Sophiana M. Van Buskirk and Rebekah J. Van Buskirk as well as great grandchild Remi Maria Van Buskirk (James).
The family would like to extend their gratitude and thanks to Mad River Home Health, Hospice Of Humboldt, Agape Home Care and Ayres Family Cremation for excellent care and service.
His wish is for any donations to be made to The Nature Conservancy.
A celebration of life will be held on Saturday February 26th, at 1 p.m. in the Thompson’s garden. (Alternate site pending weather)