John Russell Peltier Jr.

1936 - 2015

John Russell Peltier Jr.

1936 - 2015

John Russell Peltier Jr. was born in Westwood, CA (Lassen Co) on August 12, 1936 and passed away at home on April 4th, 2015 surrounded by loved ones. He was born to Helen and John Russell Peltier, Sr. and was one of seven.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Rella his brother, Ben and his son, Russ.

He is survived by his sisters, Josette, Louella (Honey), Denise and Gerilynn. John was married early on in his life and that marriage produced 4 children: Russell (deceased), Richard, Johnny and Janice (Mark) Hancock. From his children, he had 7 grandchildren: Jacob, Allie, John, Elise, Cami, Joey and Kerrie along with great-grandson, Russ and step great granddaughter, Leah.
He later married his wife for life, Vennie and gained stepsons, Mike (Crystal) Hall and Chris (Barb) Hall. Very soon, along came the grandchildren of his heart: Julia, Jenae, Johnmichael, J.T., Hannah and Emma.

John moved from Westwood to Old Shasta and attended Shasta High School. Immediately upon graduation he enlisted in the Army. He served in the army where he was on a surveillance team monitoring for incoming missiles from 1955 to 1958. He was stationed at Fort McArthur in San Pedro, CA with the rank of Specialist 3rd Class. After leaving the service he came back to Redding. Over the years John lived in Happy Valley, Ono, Big Bar, Burney, Etna and Yreka but mostly in Redding. John was a true craftsman with many diverse talents. His accomplishments are too numerous to list. Among those, he built the first 2 barbeques at Anderson River Park, developed Lake Shasta Caverns, discovering the Lake room and building the Cavern Queen as well as the rock entrance display and the steps in the caverns. He gave evening tours of the lake and could still recite his speech regarding the history, measurements, etc. He worked for Digby Logging and Rodan Logging, mostly as a heavy equipment mechanic. While with Rodan Logging, he supervised and worked alongside the employees in building a pellet fuel mill in Burney from the ground up named Western Power Company. He perfected the pellet fuel but the company was unable to complete the patent project. In the early 90's, John started his own welding and fabricating business. He rented a shop from Redding Truck Service. He performed his skills until he become ill and retired in 2013. He had many customers that he fabricated and welded for but his main focus was roofing trucks and bee trucks. He also made smoker/barbeques and one-of-a kind knives.

To hear and tell more about John's background, history and good times, you are invited to join his celebration of life on Saturday, April 18th at the home of his nephew Marv Jr. and his wife Laurel Cogle. Call 515-4851 for the address.

When preparing any stories, please be respectful with content and language as there will be ladies and children present.

In lieu of flowers, feel free to make a donation to the American Cancer Society or a charity of your choice.

Please sign the guestbook at http://obits.redding.com