Elizabeth Mae Dart

Elizabeth left this world at home on May 23 after a valiant struggle to overcome a broken hip she suffered in January.  Elizabeth was born on May 20, 1930 in Spiro, Oklahoma. Her family moved to central California as part of the great “Dust Bowl” migration when Liz was only a few years old and she grew up in Chowchilla, CA where she met her husband of almost 73 years, William “Bill” Dart.  Bill had returned from serving in the Navy in the Philippines during World War II Bill was a young man when her father brought Liz with him to buy milk at Bill’s father’s dairy farm in Chowchilla. Bill dated Liz and they married August 29, 1948.  Bill worked for his father on his dairy farm for several years after they married. The veterinarian for the dairy had a father-in-law with 3 farms in Tulelake and wanted someone to farm them for him.  Bill had a Navy buddy who lived in Malin and Bill had visited him and was impressed with the hunting and fishing opportunities in the area so Bill took the farming job. The Dart family, which now included son William Jr and daughter Linda, moved to Tulelake in 1955 where William Sr. farmed 3 places for Fletcher Terry. Bill bought his home place from Tex Barrett a few years later and farmed all 4 places until retirement.  Liz worked several jobs over the years, including a short stint at Tulelake Horseradish and a couple of years at the Liddell Pharmacy in the Jock’s Supermarket building.  In 1962 Bill and Liz purchased Clayton’s Department Store in Tulelake and Liz ran the store for over 20 years. Bill did gun repair in the back during hunting season. After selling Clayton’s, Elizabeth sold jewelry at Town and Country Jewelers and Weisfields in Klamath Falls until Retirement. Liz loved interacting with her friends and neighbors when she worked.  Liz and Bill always enjoyed hunting and fishing together all their married lives, and after retirement they did even more. They had a mobile home in Brookings for several years where they loved to fish for steelhead on the Chetco and Smith Rivers when the fish were running.  Later they made several summer trips to Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska to fish for salmon and halibut. Bill didn’t like to drive very much so he had Liz drive their pickup towing a 5th wheel trailer all the way to Alaska and back several times, Liz could do it all.  Bill is one of the best deer hunters in the region, and mom killed her share of bucks too, and even an Antelope when she drew a tag. Every fall hunting season we had a house full of relatives and friends who came to deer hunt with Bill and Liz.

Elizabeth leaves behind her husband Bill Sr., son Bill Jr and wife Linda Haynes Dart, Daughter Linda Dart Henry, Grandchildren Angela Piazzini, Owen Dart, and Kaylee Dart, Great Grandchildren, Wyatt and Tori Niedert, Cyrus Dart and Elianna Dart

A Graveside Memorial Service will be held at the Malin Cemetery on Tuesday June 1, 2021 at 1:00 PM, with a lunch reception to follow at the Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds.