My best friend and dear husband, Harold, died January 25, 2018. He fought a 14 year battle with cancer. He was born March 7, 1935, to parents Leo and Rachel Standridge Council in Rolff, OK. His parents moved to Fillmore, CA in 1947. He attended schools in Stratford, OK and Fillmore. His parents, a baby daughter, Cathy Lynn, and both brothers, Joe and Glen and Glen’s wife Priscilla, preceded him in death.
He was never afraid of hard work. He drove his own dump truck, bought a gas station in Fillmore on what is now highway 126, and worked in the oil fields on Torrey Mountain and on the oil platforms off the coast near Ventura and Santa Barbara. In 1960 he went to work for the State of California doing soil sampling for the freeways that were being built. This took him all over the state so he moved his family to Sacramento and moved back to Fillmore in 1964. After retiring from the State of California he started his own company drilling water wells.
He and his family enjoyed camping and boating with friends and family. He also enjoyed his motorcycles and salt and fresh water fishing. They raised their kids in the countryside near Piru, also raising animals and having pool parties for friends and family. He purchased more land next door and raised 5 acres of oranges.
After retiring in the 1990s he remarried. He and his present wife, Jean, enjoyed traveling to Canada. Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean, the East coast from Quebec to the tip of Florida, as well as Australia, China and some European countries as well as cruising and river cruising. In between they found lighthouses to visit and climb. Nothing fazed this man as he would buy land or houses, machinery or some other piece of equipment where ever he was. If need be he’d even drive it home.
He leaves behind his wife Jean, daughter Lynda (James) Frerichs, Michael (Barbara) and Richard as well as stepchildren Bob (Cindy) Peak, Greg (Mona) Peak, Julie (Stuart) Wright and Charlie Peak and Chuck, his partner. He has 3 grandchildren, Steven Council, Nathan (Charlene) Frerichs and Shawnie Frerichs and 9 great grandchildren and 1 great, great granddaughter, so far, as well as step grandchildren and great grandchildren.
It goes without saying he has left some of world’s the best friends behind. You are too numerous to name but each and every one of you know who you are. This gentle man may just be the last of the “water witchers!” We all WILL MISS him so much!
A gathering to celebrate his life will be held on March 3rd from 12 noon to 3p.m. at the Poinsettia Pavilion, at 3451 Foothill Road, Ventura, CA, 93003 (805-648-1143).