Our friends and neighbors in the North Delta have had an extended season of personal loss with the passing of several community members over the last six months.
We offer our sincerest condolences to the Hemly Family, the Go-Arnold Family, and the McClain Family.
We noted in a prior post that Cathy Hemly passed away this spring. In July, Cathy and Doug’s son, Matthew passed away too soon due to an accident. Our hearts are with his wife Sarah Hemly and their children, and the entire Hemly family. We simply do not have words to express how this type of sorrow envelops a family. We simply extend all our love to the Hemly family and their friends in the community who are living through the sorrow. Matt embodied the best qualities of Delta farm life. We pray his memory will always be a blessing for his family.
This past spring, Dr. Henry Go, the Delta’s Doctor for sixty years, also passed away. Over the years in collaborating with Dr. Go and his wife Dr. Barbara Arnold, we not only learned about Dr. Go’s extraordinary service as a physician for the North Delta community, but of his family’s story in the Delta. As Chinese-American residents, Dr. Go’s family had to wait for changes in laws to even own land, and then decades later Dr. Go had to engage in California WaterFix hearings to not lose his land.
Dr. Go was always a gentleman and wonderful to work with on Delta issues. We feel so honored to have received the Delta Leadership Award from him and Cathy Hemly last fall, as part of the Delta Leadership Foundation’s recognition of our work. We extend our condolences to his wife Dr. Barbara Arnold – another gracious person we feel so privileged to have worked with over the years.
Additionally, we want to extend our condolences to the McClain family. Barry McClain, who was Chair of the Courtland Fire Protection District, worked on tunnel related issues in his responses to emergency service needs forgotten about by state planning for project construction. Barry passed away from an accident in early July. While we did not know Barry, his daughter Catie worked with us as an intern about 9 years ago and was of great help to our organization. We send our prayers to Catie and her family.