Herbert Elefant

HERBERT ELEFANT Herbert Elefant passed away December 12, 2016. He was born in New York City on the 4th of July, 1917 and grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. Herb was one of five children, with sisters Dottie and Jean, and brothers Jack and Joe. He out-lived them all, living to be 99 years old. At age 17, Herb was the first of the Elefant siblings to head west and left Brooklyn to attend the University of Michigan. He quickly realized he couldn't afford to stay at Michigan so moved even further west to the University of California, Berkeley where he obtained a degree in optometry. In the Bay Area, he met and married his loving wife, Florence - a San Francisco girl - and had an optometry practice in downtown San Francisco. Raised a city boy from back east, he quickly adopted a Californian's passion for the outdoors and owned a horse and a sailboat in San Francisco. In 1954 he followed his brother Jack to the mountains and moved to Susanville, California to raise his family and practice optometry in a small town setting. In Susanville, Herb was able to follow his love for all things outdoors: fishing, bicycling, hunting, swimming, hiking, snow-skiing, waterskiing and traveling. He was fortunate to retire in his 50's and then never stopped being active - doing something physical pretty much every day for the next four decades of his life. He was a well-known fixture fishing on many Northern California steelhead and salmon rivers, especially the Sacramento, Trinity, Klamath and Mattole, and formed lasting friendships with his loyal fishing buddies. He and his wife Flo were also avid snow-skiers. They were icons at Mt. Rose and Slide Mountain, skiing well into their 80s. To many family and friends, Herb was most identified with his love of cycling. He wore out many tires biking all over Northern California and on great adventures all over the world. One of his most amazing travels was bicycling with "IBTS," as only the second cycling group from the west to go into China in 1981. Herb, known to many in Susanville as "Doc" was very involved in local and state politics, and was a long-time member of the Lassen County Democratic Central Committee. In Susanville he also served on the school board for many years, was active in scouting, and president of the local Lion's Club. In 2006, Herb and Flo moved to Chico, California to be closer to family. He continued to bike, and fish for many more years based in Chico. He even took a family fishing trip to the Klamath River this fall at age 99. He thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Crackerbarrel weekly discussion group of the Chico State ElderCollege/Primetimers program, and loved his regular workouts at NV Fitness (formally Fit One). He is survived by his wife Flo and his children: Steve and Peg Elefant, Rick Elefant and Diana Jacobs and Sue Elefant and her partner Michael Fromer. He is also survived by his grandchildren: Ryan and Mollie Zuehlke and Dan and Sharon Elefant. Herbert taught all those that knew him to live life to the fullest and that "every day was a good day."