Garry Ray Folz

Garry Ray Folz, 71, of Yreka passed away at home September 30, 2015 following his battle with cancer. Born in Portland, OR on April 10, 1944, Garry spent most of his youth in San Diego County, graduating from Carlsbad High School in 1962. Immediately following high school, he started working for the California Division of Forestry. Garry was drafted and was in the Army from June 1965-June 1967 serving at an induction station in Dallas and in Vietnam. He reinstated with CDF immediately upon his return. During his career with what is now CAL FIRE, he worked in the San Diego Ranger Unit; County of Orange; and the Lake-Napa, Shasta, and Siskiyou Ranger Units. He worked in Siskiyou County from 1983-1997 as assistant chief alternating between the administrative and operations positions. During his career, he was a peace officer; spent time on a Federal Fire Team; was on several CAL FIRE Incident Management Teams as a Finance Section Chief; and served on several state committees. Following his retirement in December 1997, he continued to work part time for CAL FIRE as a retired annuitant and worked during tax season for Mike Pavlik CPA. In 2005 he reinstated with CAL FIRE working in the San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit until he retired in 2007. Garry spent his free time hunting, fishing, crabbing, woodworking, working on his many projects, and helping others. He ran the Peggin’ Miners, a grass roots cribbage club, for several years and held cribbage tournaments in Yreka with the top players from throughout the United States in attendance. Garry is survived by his wife of 42 years, Sandy; son Brian; daughter Debra Browne (Austin); grandson Weston Ray Browne; mother Marjorie Folz; brothers Mark, Paul (Lois); Guy (Melanie) and Patrick (Christine); sisters Natalie Burgess, Rebecca Folz (Bill Pfefferkuch); Sheila Goward (Rich); Vida Sheridan (Frank) and Yolanda Swatko. He is also survived by his mother-in-law, Marie Bennigsdorf Boudreau; brother-in-law Leon Bennigsdorf; and sister-in-laws Sharon Bennigsdorf and Kathy Martin. Garry is also survived by his aunts and numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his father, Peter Folz and brothers Tony and Philip Folz. Per Garry’s wishes, no services are to be held. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family has asked for donations to go to the family of one of Garry’s nurses who cared for him during several of his hospitalizations whose 14 year old daughter is also battling cancer: https://www.gofundme.com/xf3yt6s8.

Garry Ray Folz

April 10, 1944 - September 30, 2015