Obituaries

Kevin Douglas Coles was born in Lakeport, California 1937 and died in his home in Manila, California on March 7, 2024, with his wife Mary and his daughter Shannon by his side.

Kevin was 86 years old and he spent those years living close to the things and people that he loved, doing the things he loved and wanted to do. He was a sailor at heart, all about boats and bays and sailing. He loved to tinker with trucks, boat motors and small engines and get them to work. He loved discovering and exploring new places and making people laugh.

He died of old age, of nothing in particular, of a body that just grew too old and fragile to go on. He quietly stopped breathing, passing away peacefully, on to the Great Spirit or to see God or the Buddha or maybe all three, as we believe he had some questions for them. 

After he was disabled in his early 40s by heart disease, Kevin became a jewelry artist. He will be remembered for his beautiful jewelry that he sold at fairs and at the Mattel Cooperative Art Gallery in Garberville where he was a member  until he retired. 

He’ll also be remembered for teaching Tai Chi classes for several years. He had studied with a well known teacher in San Francisco and wanted to bring those teachings back  to his community in Southern Humboldt County where he lived at the time.

Kevin was a Sanga member of Daishu-In West Buddhist temple in Benbow. Zen Buddhism and its teachings were the center of his spiritual life and the other members of the Sangha were his closest friends.

In his 70s, he found and married Mary Sanger, who was the love of his life and with whom he spent many of his happiest and most peaceful years.

Kevin is survived by his wife Mary, her children and grandchildren, by his daughter Shannon and his grandson Thomas and his niece and nephews John Smith, Paul Smith and Charlotte Visser-Gasser and their families.

Kevin was a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. He was a good man, a kind man,  a man that cared about the world,who wanted to live simply and in harmony with it . We will love you forever and see you in time.

A celebration of Kevin’s life will take place Sunday, May 5, at the Hospice Chapel  in Eureka, 3327 Timber Fall Court starting at 2 p.m.