Luella Mae Anderson

Luella Mae Anderson

Luella was born to Harold and Afton Coulter in Marshfield (Coos Bay), Oregon, on November 9, 1923, and passed away in Eureka, California, on December 17, 2008. She is survived by her daughter, Enid Stoveland and husband Dale of Willow Creek, Granddaughter Katrina McFarrin and husband Mike, and great grandchildren Bryn and Carl McFarrin of Eureka; son Robert Anderson and wife Lee of Willow Creek, granddaughters Emily Anderson of San Francisco and Johanna Anderson and her partner Jon Minton and great granddaughter Marianne Minton of Redding; Elaine Weedman and husband Gerald and family of Rochester, Washington; and sister Bethel Mirante and husband Frank of Walnut Creek. She was preceded in death by her husband Carl A. Anderson, parents Afton and Harold Coulter, brother Eugene Coulter, and grandson Jakob Carl Stoveland.

Our mother grew up in El Cerrito, CA, during the pre war years, and married the love of her life, the boy across the street, Carl A. Anderson, in 1944. After the war, Carl and Lu started their family and a career in California State Parks. They lived in parks the length and width of California, but their hearts were always in the Redwoods.

Family was the center of Lu’s life. She was a loving daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother, and she taught us by example of what a family really is. She was a good cook, seamstress, loyal friend, sometimes taskmaster and fierce defender when she needed to be. She liked garage sales, traveling, casinos, entertaining, crafting, and many things in between, especially when her family was involved.

Our father wrote the following poem for Mom:

Spring Song For Lu

In our springtime

Blue skies above

Flowers blooming

We fell in love.

The birds were singing

Our hearts sang, too.

In our springtime

I married you.

Came the summer

Days golden and long

Filled with laughter

Our children’s song.

Time was joyful,

Though fleeting fast.

Soon our summer,

Like spring, was past.

Now it’s autumn

The tall trees shed

Changing green leaves

To golden red.

Our children gone now

To their own spring.

Alone together

Our hearts still sing

Come our winter

When life goes slow

Flowers sleeping

Beneath the snow.

You still warm me

Like in the spring

Though cold and older

my heart still sings.

In the spring time

Wild flowers bloom,

Fill the air

With faint perfume.

Birds are singing,

My heart sings, too.

Always springtime

When I’m with you.

The family would like to thank the following for their excellent care and compassion: Dolly Frye and staff, Dr. Doug Wimer and Linda Miller, and Hospice of Humboldt.

It was Lu’s wish not to have a service. Memorial contribution suggestions include Hospice of Humboldt, the Save-the-Redwoods League, 114 Sansome Street, Suite 1200, San Francisco, CA 94104 or the charity of your choice.

Arrangements are under the care of Pierce Mortuary, 707 H Street, Eureka, CA.

Please sign the guestbook at www.times-standard.com, click on obituaries.