Ronald Martin Prestwood

1941-2025

After losing patience and faith that his wife will ever let my version of his obituary be published, I decided to make sure the truth about Ron’s life could be known by all. Ron was a private person who made many mistakes in his life, but he owned them, albeit privately, and re-earned my trust decades after he had lost it. He was the father whose name was on my birth certificate, who raised me, and never stopped loving me, even when we stopped speaking. He was the father of four other children, a lifetime older than me, who experienced shades of the same loss and frustration and erasure I did, but had less closure before he was gone. Their existence was omitted from our grandparents’ obituaries, but they were never forgotten by Ron, and they aren’t forgotten by me. If other obituaries are ever printed, they will mention the faith that guided him strongly in his last couple decades. They’ll praise his good deeds to others. These are important, but so is the foundation on which they are laid. This is his obituary as I knew him, with a few gaps filled in by his other children who knew him first.

Ronald Martin Prestwood, 83, passed on February 5 after complications following heart surgery.  His death was mercifully brief.  Born May 21, 1941 in San Mateo, CA to Vivian and Leon “Red” Prestwood, the young family, soon joined by younger brother Doug, moved to Eureka, CA where Ron lived for most of the first half of his life.  He met and married his high school sweetheart, LaVerne, and together they had Richard, Michael, Robert, and Cindy.  After short stints at Mission Linen, working with his dad, and Smuckers which took him to Salinas and Santa Maria, Ron’s father-in-law Jake brought him in at Arcata Redwood, where he would work his way up to mill manager.  Work at the mill was challenging, and at times life-threatening, but its structure and purpose motivated him.  Ron met and married his second wife, Lisa, in 1972 and they raised daughter Amanda together before divorcing in 1986.  Soon after meeting and marrying Linda in 1989, the two along with Linda’s teenagers, moved to Vancouver, WA where Ron would manage his final mill, Alder Creek Lumber.  Ever bursting with energy, in his “retirement” Ron found joy and fulfillment in his final years working at Fred Meyer.  He spent his non-work hours of service to his community, first as a volunteer firefighter in Eureka, then as an active member of his church, East Woods Presbyterian Church, in Vancouver.  Ron had a lot of missteps in his life when it came to his children, but welcomed healing conversations in his later years.  He was quick to laugh, warm, and reliably helpful to most everyone he met.  He is preceded in death by his parents Vivian and Red, and his beloved dogs Teddy and Brac.  He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Linda Prestwood, his brother Doug Prestwood (Arlette) of Sacramento, his sons Rick McCutcheon (Elena) of Bakersfield, CA, Michael McCutcheon of Port Townsend, WA, and Robert McCutcheon of Springhill, LA, daughters Cynthia Feldsine (Stan) of Freshwater, CA and Amanda Serenyi (Denis) of San Francisco, CA, stepsons John and Matthew Moschetti, stepdaughter Amy DeHaven (Jerry), and grandchildren, great grandchildren, and nieces.  He will be missed.