Former Willows resident and educator Adolph Wutzke died in Chico on Monday, Jan. 9, 2023. He was born on a farm southeast of Elgin, North Dakota, on June 21, 1934.
He graduated from Elgin High School in 1952. He paused his higher education to serve two years in the Army, continuing as a reservist until 1962.
After active duty, he returned to Dickinson State to complete his B.S. in English and Industrial Arts. In 1966, he received a Masters in English, graduating with honors from Adams State in Colorado.
He married the love of his life, Dorothy Mutschelknaus in 1957.
He taught in North Dakota before moving to Willows in 1963, where he taught English and served as English Department Chairman, advisor for the FTA and the Tattler, and coach for JV baseball for three years. He also taught English classes at Butte and Yuba Colleges.
In 1976 they moved back to North Dakota, where he worked as a supervisor at the North American Coal Corporation.
They moved to Yuba City in 1977, where he taught architectural drafting and design and became the Vocational ROP Administrator. He was named the Outstanding Vocational Administrator in the Sutter, Yuba and Colusa Counties in 1992 and 1994.
He worked summers as a supervisor for Harter Packing Company. He also painted houses and did carpentry work throughout his life.
He retired from teaching in 1994, moving near Oroville Dam where he and his wife spent many years fishing. They also spent many summers near the Hood Canal in Washington, fishing, harvesting seafood, and enjoying their family and friends.
He loved spending time watching his grandchildren grow and play sports. He was greatly loved and will be deeply missed.
He leaves behind his daughters, Deborah (Lance) Lambert, Carolyn, and Barbara; grandchildren Amanda Lambert, Jason (Breanne) Leube, Kaitlin (Raymond) Vondran, Nathan Leube, Justin Lambert and Chase (fiancée Megan) Lambert; six great-grandchildren; sister Irma Lowe; sister-in-law Elaine Mutschelknaus; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy; parents Emanuel and Alvina; and brother Carl.
Services are planned for 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19, at First Lutheran Church in Willows. In lieu of flowers, you may contribute to your favorite charity or the First Lutheran Church.
This was the dominant sight and sound at the scene of a fatal vehicle accident Thursday evening on January 12, especially after family members of the deceased began arriving.
A brother arrived at scene first, walking on the north side of the road from east of the accident scene at the intersection of East Walker Street and Papst Avenue. As he neared the scene, he began approaching the body lying in the westbound side of East Walker Street, in the right turn lane for northbound Papst Avenue.
Law enforcement officers saw him and, firmly but as gently as they could, stopped the young man from entering the crash scene. As they led him back a hundred feet or so to the east, he screamed repeatedly, “You don’t understand! That’s my brother!”
The body was mostly covered by a white sheet, except that the upper part of the motorcyclist’s helmet was partially visible.
About a half-hour or so later, two more family members entered the scene from Papst Avenue, north of East Walker Street. The couple was older than the first person, perhaps the mother and father of the deceased and his brother.
Although they walked very close by the cloth-covered body, they did not seem to notice it. Officers very quickly led them away, eastbound on East Walker to where the first family member could still be heard.
Soon, the loud weeping of the older couple also became clearly audible.
Some minutes later, another brother walked onto the scene from Papst Avenue. Appearing distraught and confused, he looked in the direction of the body on the ground and asked a law enforcement officer, “Is that my brother?”
He was quickly guided away from the scene and directed toward the other family members.
Coming upon the scene perhaps 20 minutes after it occurred, the first thing this reporter heard was the sound of one of the drivers, a woman, crying inside an ambulance. Walking across Papst Avenue from the northwest corner of Papst and East Walker to the northeast corner, the reporter noticed a white 2013 Toyota Corolla stopped in the westbound lane of East Walker Street, facing west, about 30 feet or so east of the intersection.
Just 10 or 12 feet from the passenger side of the Toyota was the body of the motorcyclist. And near the southeast corner of the intersection, in the street facing northwest, was a red 2019 Subaru Crosstrek.
The motorcycle could not easily be seen. The bike, a 2015 Yamaha FZ07, ended up as a crumpled heap in the bushes that run alongside East Walker Street, between the sidewalk and the Round Table Pizza/O’Reilly Auto Parts parking lot, about 20 or 30 feet to the east of the Toyota.
The Subaru sustained significant damage to the rear half of its passenger side. However, the damage to the Toyota was major, with its roof and windshield destroyed by the collision with the motorcyclist and/or his Yamaha.
The crash was so violent that one of the motorcyclist’s shoes was knocked off and ended up in the east crosswalk of East Walker Street. The other shoe flew across the Round Table Pizza parking lot, stopping just feet from the south wall of the building.
According to a press release from the Orland Police Department, at about 7:43 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 12, an Orland police officer witnessed a motorcycle traveling east on Walker Street through the intersection of Sixth Street perform a “wheelie” and continue eastbound on Walker Street at a high rate of speed [over 100 miles per hour, Orland police told Glenn County Sheriff’s deputies].
The release states, “The officer attempted to catch up to the motorcycle with lights and siren, but the motorcycle failed to yield and continued east on Walker Street at a high rate of speed while passing other vehicles that were also eastbound on Walker Street. Due to the speeds involved and risk to the public, the officer stopped trying to catch up to the motorcycle and turned off the lights and siren.
“The motorcycle continued east on East Walker Street at a high rate of speed and failed to stop at the red light at the intersection of East Walker Street and Papst Avenue.
“The motorcycle, later identified as a 2015 Yamaha FZ07, collided with a red 2019 Subaru Crosstrek that had entered the intersection, then with a white 2013 Toyota Corolla stopped in the westbound lane of East Walker Street at Papst Avenue.
“The motorcyclist was ejected during the collision. Officers soon arrived and began life-saving measures on the motorcyclist.
“Westside Ambulance personnel and Orland Fire Department volunteers arrived quickly on scene and also began life saving measures. However, the motorcyclist was pronounced deceased.
“The 24-year-old female driver of the Subaru Crosstrek was evaluated and released on scene, having sustained only minor injuries. The 20-year-old female driver of the Toyota Corolla was transported with major injuries by ground ambulance to an area hospital [presumably Enloe Medical Center in Chico].”
The Orland Police Department press release does not name the drivers of the two involved cars, but the Glenn County Sheriff’s log item for this incident does: Rebekah Mae Erickson and Andrea Mondragon-Salcedo, both of Orland. However, neither press release indicates which woman was driving which vehicle.
The OPD press release continues, “The intersection of East Walker Street and Papst Avenue was closed and controlled while this collision was investigated with the assistance of the California Highway Patrol and Glenn County Sheriff’s Office. [Orland VIPS and firefighters blocked East Walker Street at Woodward Avenue, East Colusa Street, and County Road M 1/ 2, with some drivers on southbound Papst Avenue able to turn west onto East Walker Street.]
“The roadway was reopened at around 10 p.m.
“The Glenn County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a coroner’s investigation. The decedent has been identified as Gustabo “Gus” Angel Ramirez, 20, of Chico.
The press release concludes, “This collision is still under investigation and the Orland Police Department would like to thank the CHP, GCSO, Caltrans, Orland Volunteer Fire Department, Westside Ambulance, and the Orland VIPS for their assistance during this incident.”
The roads were mostly dry at the time of the accident. Rain did not begin to return until later in the evening.
The body of Gus Ramirez was removed from the scene at about 9:15 p.m. The funeral home’s van was carefully parked just east of the body so that it blocked the family’s view.
Sadly, the family realized what was happening and the volume of the weeping increased.
Moments after the van left, tow trucks from both Bambauer Towing and Zips Towing removed the automobiles.
With family members by his side, Willows resident Joe Bert Hinton died on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, at Glenn Medical Center. He was born on a farm southwest of Stockville, Neb., to Vera and Bert Hinton on July 14, 1934.
His family moved to a ranch near Douglas, Wyo., in 1942, where they lived for five years. It was there he had his first job, delivering on his bicycle The Denver Post door-to-door to about 50 customers, earning $2 a week.
At his young age, he had his one and only debut as a professional cowboy when he signed up to ride a steer at the Wyoming State Fair. He was thrown off on his head and received a concussion but still enjoyed the professional bull riding and rodeos, live and on TV.
His family moved back to the farm near Stockville in 1947. He rode a horse to Walnut Hill country grade school near Orafino, Neb., where his sister was his teacher.
He graduated from Stockville High School in 1953. In 1954, he volunteered for the draft in the Army, took basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and transferred to Fort Knox, Ky., for tank training.
He was made Tank Commander at Fort Knox, and part of the cadre to train another cycle. Augsburg, Germany, was his next stop, where he served with the 5th Armored Division, 10th Infantry Tank Company.
After serving in Germany for about eight months, he was made mail clerk for the remainder of his Army career due to having a hernia. He returned to the States for an operation at Great Lakes Navel Hospital and received an honorable discharge at Fort Sheridan, Ill., in 1956.
He attended McCook Junior College, McCook, Neb., with the assistance of a GI bill. From September 1956 to July 1962, he worked summers and vacations on the engineering training program with the Bureau of Reclamation in McCook, Neb., and completed his Civil Engineering Degree at Denver University, Denver, Colo.
On April 4, 1958, he and LaVonne were married in Curtis, Neb. They were blessed with two children (Brock and Tamara) and four granddaughters (Amanda and Brittney Jerd and Cassandra and Allie Hinton).
From July 1962 to June 1964, he served as an inspector for the Bureau of Reclamation, Kansas River Project, McCook, Neb., inspecting work performed by the contractor to ensure conformance with bureau requirements, including system of canals, laterals, drains, subsurface drains, roads, conservation dams, fencing, etc.
From June 1964 to September 1965, he was the Supervisory Construction Engineer and Chief Inspector responsible for planning and executing a program for work performed on the modification of the Granby Spillway, Colorado-Big Thompson Project at Grand Lake, Colo.
In September, 1965, his job took him to Buena Vista, Colo., where he was the Supervisory Civil Engineer at Leadville, Colo., and the chief inspector for the construction of the Continental Divide Tunnel and the Sugar Loaf Dam of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project.
In July, 1968, he was the Chief Inspector and Assistant to Resident Engineer on the construction of Saddle Island Intake and Tunnel for Pumping Plant No. 1 of the Southern Nevada Water Project at Henderson, Nev., residing in Boulder City, Nev.
In December of 1971, the family moved to Fresno, Calif., and Mr. Hinton worked in Tranquility at the Fresno Central Valley Project Construction Office as Supervisory Civil Engineer, responsible for inspection of various phases of construction of major portions of Westlands Water District Distribution System for earthwork, pipelines and structures.
In May of 1972, he transferred to Willows as Supervisory Civil Engineer and Field Engineer. He was responsible for construction of Reaches 3 and 4 of the 120-mile-long Tehama-Colusa Canal.
Other projects completed under his supervision was Thomes Creek Siphon: Reach 1 of the Tehama-Colusa Canal; 500kV Transmission Line and Towers; Red Bluff Operations and Maintenance Suboffice Complex; Erosion Control at Red Bluff Reservoir; Tehama-Colusa Fish Facility Transfer Stipulations; and the Recirculation Structure and Pumping Plant, Kanawha Water District, Laterals 1 and 2.
He was responsible for management of the 120 miles of concrete-lined Tehama-Colusa Canal; Funks Dam and Spillway; and 150 miles of pipeline.
In January, 1986, he assumed the duties and responsibilities of the Office Engineer, Repayment and Land Management and Operations and Maintenance Engineering Branch. He was Acting Project Construction Engineer for the Sacramento Valley Central Valley Project Construction Office and Acting Project Superintendent on numerous occasions.
He retired from the Bureau of Reclamation in Willows in November of 1990, with 36 years of government service.
Mr. Hinton was a california licensed professional engineer, real estate salesperson and co-owner, with his wife, LaVonne, of Hinton Auctioneering. He assisted with youth sports and activities when his children were in Boy Scouts, swim team, baseball and softball.
He was a member of the Willows Elks Lodge #1786 and a life member of VFW Post 1770. He was an avid hunter and fisherman.
He joined the Willows Lions Club in l973, was a Life Member of Lions Club International, and had maintained perfect attendance for 40 years. He had been President, Vice President, Club Secretary, Treasurer, Tail Twister, Director and Club “Lion of the Year” three times, chaired and served on many projects.
On the district level, he served as Chairman of Visitation, Special Activities, Pin Trading, Youth Exchange, New Member Recognition Night, Zone Chairman and he served on the Humanitarian Foundation. He was Deputy District Governor, Treasurer, District Trustee for Lions in Sight, District Lion of the Year in l984-85, District Governor in 1991-92, Lions in Sight Area Director and a Melvin Jones Fellow.
He had sponsored 56 members into the Willows Lions Club. He and wife, LaVonne, have hosted five Lions youth exchange students from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Holland.
Lion Joe and the late Lion Wayne Stroll instigated the Lions District 4-C1 All-Star Football games. He served on that committee since its organization started in 1977.
He belonged to Lions International Pin Traders and California Pin Traders, enjoying the friendships as much as the pins. He designed All-Star Football, District 4-C1, club and individual pins.
He enjoyed helping others and lived the motto of “We Serve”.
The Hintons traveled throughout California, most of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Germany, Holland, Canada, and cruised Alaska and the Panama Canal.
He is survived by his wife, LaVonne; son Brock Hinton (wife Nancy); daughter Tamara Jerd (husband Michael); and granddaughters Cassandra and Allie Hinton, and Amanda McCormick (husband Kyle McCormick) and Brittney Jerd; and brother Jack Hinton.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Bert and Vera Hinton; sisters Ruth Johnson, June Arent. and Roberta Dunn; and brothers Ted Hinton and Glenn Hinton.
A Celebration of Life is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17, at Open Gate Christian Fellowship Church in Willows, with military honors performed by the local VFW. Inurnment is to take place in the Arbor Cemetery in Stockville, Neb., at a date to be determined later.
No donation is necessary, but if you choose, it can be made to Open Gate Christian Fellowship Church, P.O. Box 1022, Willows, CA 95988; the Willows Lions Club, P.O. Box 822, Willows, CA 95988; or your favorite charity.
At about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11, the Glenn County Office of Emergency Services reported that Old Highway 99 between County Roads 48 and 39 is closed again due to flooding.
Orland resident Charles Dale Walker died in Orland on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023. He was born in Antioch, Calif., on Aug. 2, 1943.
Growing up, he loved music, fishing, boating, water skiing, camping, animals, farming and all things outdoors. He was drafted into the Army and after boot camp was assigned to accounting school at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Ind.
It was there that he met Una “Tim” Timaline Haney, marrying her nine weeks later on Oct. 9, 1965. She says, “He was the sweetest person I have ever known and was very positive and encouraging in all things and at all times. He was the steady rock in the family.”
During his military service, he was stationed in Ft. Greely, Alaska, serving his country during the Vietnam war.
A Christian man, Mr. Walker nurtured his family in Christian education by being faithful to take them to church all of their lives. He was a good husband and father to his four children and their families, supporting them in all their pursuits.
His love language was giving gifts and provision. He loved the pursuit of knowledge and information: history, geography, science, and technology.
He pursued higher education at Diablo Valley College, in Concord, Calif., then earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Olivet Nazarene College, Kankakee, Illinois, with a major in Business Administration and a minor in Christian Education.
Over the years, he served in supportive roles in many areas of church ministry, including choir directing, song leading, children’s ministries, all forms of technical equipment as well as administrative support.
He enjoyed traveling and sightseeing, and had a keen mind, remembering historical events, dates, people, and places with encyclopedic accuracy. He also enjoyed gardening, tracking weather patterns, coin and stamp collecting, and aquariums.
He retired after 27 years with T.D. Williamson as a pipeline master technician, where his work took him all over the world and he loved to talk about his travels and the mementos he collected.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Tim; sister Mrs. Donna Farley; daughters Mrs. Rebecca (Becky) Snow, Mrs. Mary Ann Burkett, and Mrs. Cassandra Lonestar; son Charles (Chuck) Walker Jr.; 21 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his father, Mr. Charlie E. Walker, and mother, Mrs. Frances Mae Walker.
His loved ones agree, “We will cherish his memory as a person and as a role model of a godly man whose good deeds will follow after him and continue to bless our lives.”
They quote James 1:17a, “Every good and perfect gift is from above.”
Here are the road closures in Glenn County as of 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 9, as provided by the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Emergency Services:
Old Highway 99 from Second Avenue in Willows, north to County Road 39;
Highway 162 from the Willows City Limits on the east side of town to County Road P;
Capay Avenue from First Avenue to Third Avenue;
County Road FF between Roads 9 and 200 (Newville Road);
County Road G between Roads 9 and 200;
County Road 25 from County Road F to Road H;
County Road 35 from County Roads D to H;
County Road 39 from Highway 99 to County Road P;
County Road 48 from County Road KK to Road 47;
County Road KK between Roads 49 1/ 2 and 48;
County Road D from Road 65 to Road 68;
County Road F from Road 68 to the Colusa County Line;
County Road 68 between Interstate 5 and County Road D;
County Road 67 from County Road Z to the Butte County line;
Forest Highway 7 from the forest boundary in the east to the Mendocino County line in the west; and
County Road 309 from the forest boundary.
The Observer will attempt to periodically update this situation throughout the rest of the week.
The Glenn County Observer 