_______________________________________
From the
Press Democrat - Santa Rosa, California
May 9, 2004 - Page B2:
LLOYD CHURCH
Lloyd T. Church, who hitchhiked from Arkansas to Petaluma in the 1930s and spent the next four decades hauling milk on the North Coast, died Thursday after a stroke. He was 95.
Church was well-known in the dairy industry, working as a driver for the Petaluma Cooperative Creamery, for himself and for Clover Milk, said his son David Church.
On his routes he picked up milk from farms on the coast and brought it to town to be shipped by train to San Francisco, David Church said.
On days off, he would load his family in a milk truck and head out for a day of abalone hunting near Fort Ross. "Mom gave him heck one time," David Church said. "I fell down a cliff and got all bruised up."
Church was born on a farm in central Arkansas in 1909. He raised animals and attended school through the eighth grade. As a young man, he yearned for a change. Partly because of allergies, he set out for the coast, landing in California.
He took a job with the Sonoma County road department and met his wife, Mabel Stornetta, while working in Petaluma. They were married shortly after and raised five children.
Church took a job with a creamery and then operated a fleet of his own trucks, which he and his wife drove. Then Church signed on with the cooperative, where he worked 30 years before going to Clover.
David Church said it made sense that his father died on the eve of the cooperative's closing in two months. "It's like the creamery shut down and he shut down," he said. "He put most of his life in that place."
In his retirement, Church enjoyed gardening and playing with grandchildren.
He had a stroke last week and died at Petaluma Care Rehabilitation Center, his son said.
Church is survived by daughters Ruth Church Rudder of Pottsville, Ark.; Darlene Schmidt of Kingston, Wash.; and Diane Jones of Windsor; and sons Donald Church of Albuquerque, N.M. and David Church of Sonoma. He had 17 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
His wife, Mabel Church, died in 1985.
A committal service will be Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Petaluma.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran Road, Petaluma 94952.
-- Paul Payne
From the
Press Democrat - Santa Rosa, California
May 9, 2004 - Page B2:
LLOYD CHURCH
Lloyd T. Church, who hitchhiked from Arkansas to Petaluma in the 1930s and spent the next four decades hauling milk on the North Coast, died Thursday after a stroke. He was 95.
Church was well-known in the dairy industry, working as a driver for the Petaluma Cooperative Creamery, for himself and for Clover Milk, said his son David Church.
On his routes he picked up milk from farms on the coast and brought it to town to be shipped by train to San Francisco, David Church said.
On days off, he would load his family in a milk truck and head out for a day of abalone hunting near Fort Ross. "Mom gave him heck one time," David Church said. "I fell down a cliff and got all bruised up."
Church was born on a farm in central Arkansas in 1909. He raised animals and attended school through the eighth grade. As a young man, he yearned for a change. Partly because of allergies, he set out for the coast, landing in California.
He took a job with the Sonoma County road department and met his wife, Mabel Stornetta, while working in Petaluma. They were married shortly after and raised five children.
Church took a job with a creamery and then operated a fleet of his own trucks, which he and his wife drove. Then Church signed on with the cooperative, where he worked 30 years before going to Clover.
David Church said it made sense that his father died on the eve of the cooperative's closing in two months. "It's like the creamery shut down and he shut down," he said. "He put most of his life in that place."
In his retirement, Church enjoyed gardening and playing with grandchildren.
He had a stroke last week and died at Petaluma Care Rehabilitation Center, his son said.
Church is survived by daughters Ruth Church Rudder of Pottsville, Ark.; Darlene Schmidt of Kingston, Wash.; and Diane Jones of Windsor; and sons Donald Church of Albuquerque, N.M. and David Church of Sonoma. He had 17 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
His wife, Mabel Church, died in 1985.
A committal service will be Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Petaluma.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran Road, Petaluma 94952.
-- Paul Payne
_______________________________________
From the
Press Democrat - Santa Rosa, California
May 9, 2004 - Page B2:
LLOYD CHURCH
Lloyd T. Church, who hitchhiked from Arkansas to Petaluma in the 1930s and spent the next four decades hauling milk on the North Coast, died Thursday after a stroke. He was 95.
Church was well-known in the dairy industry, working as a driver for the Petaluma Cooperative Creamery, for himself and for Clover Milk, said his son David Church.
On his routes he picked up milk from farms on the coast and brought it to town to be shipped by train to San Francisco, David Church said.
On days off, he would load his family in a milk truck and head out for a day of abalone hunting near Fort Ross. "Mom gave him heck one time," David Church said. "I fell down a cliff and got all bruised up."
Church was born on a farm in central Arkansas in 1909. He raised animals and attended school through the eighth grade. As a young man, he yearned for a change. Partly because of allergies, he set out for the coast, landing in California.
He took a job with the Sonoma County road department and met his wife, Mabel Stornetta, while working in Petaluma. They were married shortly after and raised five children.
Church took a job with a creamery and then operated a fleet of his own trucks, which he and his wife drove. Then Church signed on with the cooperative, where he worked 30 years before going to Clover.
David Church said it made sense that his father died on the eve of the cooperative's closing in two months. "It's like the creamery shut down and he shut down," he said. "He put most of his life in that place."
In his retirement, Church enjoyed gardening and playing with grandchildren.
He had a stroke last week and died at Petaluma Care Rehabilitation Center, his son said.
Church is survived by daughters Ruth Church Rudder of Pottsville, Ark.; Darlene Schmidt of Kingston, Wash.; and Diane Jones of Windsor; and sons Donald Church of Albuquerque, N.M. and David Church of Sonoma. He had 17 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
His wife, Mabel Church, died in 1985.
A committal service will be Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Petaluma.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran Road, Petaluma 94952.
-- Paul Payne
From the
Press Democrat - Santa Rosa, California
May 9, 2004 - Page B2:
LLOYD CHURCH
Lloyd T. Church, who hitchhiked from Arkansas to Petaluma in the 1930s and spent the next four decades hauling milk on the North Coast, died Thursday after a stroke. He was 95.
Church was well-known in the dairy industry, working as a driver for the Petaluma Cooperative Creamery, for himself and for Clover Milk, said his son David Church.
On his routes he picked up milk from farms on the coast and brought it to town to be shipped by train to San Francisco, David Church said.
On days off, he would load his family in a milk truck and head out for a day of abalone hunting near Fort Ross. "Mom gave him heck one time," David Church said. "I fell down a cliff and got all bruised up."
Church was born on a farm in central Arkansas in 1909. He raised animals and attended school through the eighth grade. As a young man, he yearned for a change. Partly because of allergies, he set out for the coast, landing in California.
He took a job with the Sonoma County road department and met his wife, Mabel Stornetta, while working in Petaluma. They were married shortly after and raised five children.
Church took a job with a creamery and then operated a fleet of his own trucks, which he and his wife drove. Then Church signed on with the cooperative, where he worked 30 years before going to Clover.
David Church said it made sense that his father died on the eve of the cooperative's closing in two months. "It's like the creamery shut down and he shut down," he said. "He put most of his life in that place."
In his retirement, Church enjoyed gardening and playing with grandchildren.
He had a stroke last week and died at Petaluma Care Rehabilitation Center, his son said.
Church is survived by daughters Ruth Church Rudder of Pottsville, Ark.; Darlene Schmidt of Kingston, Wash.; and Diane Jones of Windsor; and sons Donald Church of Albuquerque, N.M. and David Church of Sonoma. He had 17 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
His wife, Mabel Church, died in 1985.
A committal service will be Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Petaluma.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran Road, Petaluma 94952.
-- Paul Payne
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