Julie Perrochet

1957 – 2018
Whether you knew Julie for a day, a decade, or a lifetime, you knew her deep kindness,
her sense of adventure, and her core strength. Her love for her family and friends was
boundless, and will be with us always.
Julie was born in San Francisco, and remained a California girl almost all of her life.
She grew up in West Los Angeles with her parents, two brothers, and sister. Much of
her spirited nature might be traced in part to early travels with the family around the
country and beyond, on sailing trips to secluded beaches and small plane excursions to
dusty airstrips. Julie was always game for new experiences, and never failed to notice
and share the beauty around her.
Julie left Los Angeles to attend college at UC Santa Cruz, where her adventures
continued. She excelled as an ecology major, and especially enjoyed her field classes,
camping for weeks on end in the great deserts and canyons of the Southwest. She
later earned her master's degree in geography from San Jose State University. During
the summers, she took on the challenges of commercial salmon fishing in Alaska,
braving the sometimes daunting conditions with grit and cheer. All along the way, she
made lifelong friends and deepened her love of nature.
Among the friends that Julie met during this time was her best friend and the love of her
life, Don. Julie and Don together were partners in the decades-long bridge games they
would play with Don’s parents; partners in mountain backpacking trips, partners in
traditions like attending Grateful Dead concerts, and partners in everything else that
came their way.
When Julie joined the US Forest Service and was stationed at Lake Tahoe, Julie and
Don built a life together surrounded by the beauty of the majestic mountains. They
married at the edge of the lake in 1986, in an old stone lodge that had foundations as
deep and enduring as their marriage.
Julie’s elder daughter Amelia was born in 1991, and her younger daughter Riva was
born in 1995, after Julie and Don had moved north to Siskiyou County. Raising the girls
was Julie’s greatest delight. The family settled in Yreka and, while working as a forest
service fisheries biologist in the Klamath region, Julie filled the girls with all the best of
herself. As Julie supported their school sporting events, taught them cooking tips and
sign language (and so much more), the girls learned compassion and whimsy, they
shared a love of reading and card playing, and they developed enormous strength and
independence.
Everyone who knew Julie could see how she took joy not only in her family, but in
everything she did. Her passion made her a leader among her colleagues at work,
whether she was wielding a chain saw to shore up stream banks for fish habitats, or directing legal
teams on environmental issues. She also taught environmental studies at the College
of the Siskiyous, and after she retired she returned to her old workplace on a volunteer
basis to help out as a mentor and friend.
Julie never stopped learning, sharing, and caring. She was a loving companion to her
father George when he moved to be near her in Yreka. She took up duplicate bridge
(naturally taking on a leadership role even within the bridge club). She started
practicing tai chi, and even dabbled in local politics. She fit all this in with cherished
family trips to their beach house in Crescent City, river rafting and kayaking outings, big
trips to Europe and Mexico, and small trips to local fairs, concerts and museums.
Julie might be sitting quietly at home watching a tennis match or reading a book. She
might be gathering fun news articles, recipes, or trinkets to send off to her daughters and
other loved ones in the many surprise packages that showed up just because she was
thinking of someone. Or she might be cooking up some adventure for the day that
would become yet another wonderful memory for Don and the rest of her family and
friends. But no matter what she did, she did it with her whole heart. We know she
loved us always and forever, and we will do the same.