Brian Alexander Listoe

Brian Listoe, 86, of Yreka, surrounded by his family, passed peacefully at home on the afternoon of April 13, 2025. Born in Klamath Falls, Oregon, Brian was raised on his family's homestead, beside Beaver Creek. There he learned to tend to animals, to appreciate the land, and to draw strength from his connections to the wide range of people who lived and worked along the Klamath River. After getting his early education in the one-room Honolulu School, he moved to Sebastopol in Sonoma County to attend Analy High School, lettering in football and spending summers as a hand on a Montana cattle ranch. He later attended College of the Siskiyous and went on to earn a degree in political science from Sonoma State University. That interest in politics and belief in the value of citizenship shaped his career with the California Employment Development Department, for whom he managed offices in communities as diverse and different as Vallejo, Petaluma, Napa, Mt. Shasta, and Yreka. In retirement, he volunteered with Fairchild Medical Center as a driver and assist travelers as an attendant at the California Welcome Center. Throughout his life he was keen to help family and neighbors with generous gifts of time and effort. He believed, and lived, quietly, as an embodiment of what his favorite author, Wendell Berry, saw as the essence of a strong community: "the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other's lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedom with which they come and go among themselves." His early experience in ranching carried on in some fashion for most of his life. For many years he ran a substantial walnut orchard in Sonoma, worked with sheep ranchers and dairymen, hauled domesticated buffalo, took a strong interest in the training of sheep dogs, and raised and sold his own livestock. Above all those interests was his deep and abiding appreciation of horses, which he handled with great love and expertise. Although age meant less of such outdoor work, he still tended to his garden, baked bread, did the crossword puzzle at a table with a view of the birds that would come to feed, and structured his days around the schedule of the San Francisco Giants. His steady, generous presence will be dearly missed. He is survived by his wife, Phylis; his children, Anna, Daniel, Jeremy, Melissa, and Michelle; and his grandchildren, Armand, Mitchell, and Sierra. A private ceremony to honor his memory was held along Beaver Creek on May 10, 2025.

Brian Alexander Listoe

February 5, 1939 - April 13, 2025