Marcel "Kelo" John Tiquet

Marcel John "Kelo" Tiquet, of Plymouth, passed away at his home on Friday, September 14, 2018, with family by his side. He was 92. Marcel was born in Jackson, CA, on November 29, 1925 to Joseph Romeyer and Hortense Paindavoine Tiquet. He grew up in Jackson and Fiddletown. The youngest of the three Tiquet boys, he had a newspaper route and worked as a caddy for the Jackson golf course as a boy. Marcel’s family moved to Fiddletown when he was eleven, and as a teen he was known for fixing cars and racing through the streets of town. He also worked with Jimmy Chow one summer helping him put on roofing. He attended Sutter Creek High School, then fibbed about his age to get a driver's license so he and another Fiddletown friend could drive to Oakland to work in the shipyards. Thinking he was already 18, the U.S. Army drafted Marcel in early 1943. He trained with the 2nd Armored Division for Africa before being reassigned to the Americal Division (23rd Infantry) and sent to the Pacific, training for jungle warfare on board the ship. He was on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Bougainville, where he was wounded across the chest, from which he rapidly recovered. Next he was wounded seriously by a bayonet to his lower spine and subsequently sent home. He spent a year in Army hospitals in Los Angeles and San Francisco, being told at the age of 18 that he would never walk again. He proved them wrong as he would over and again throughout his life. He married his soul mate, Lola Mae Holland, on December 24, 1944 in Carson City, NV. The couple lived in Fiddletown before coming to live in Shenandoah Valley to help out Simone V. Shaw at her Casino Mine Ranch in September 1945. Marcel worked for Wetzel-Oviatt Lumber company in Omo Ranch and El Dorado Hills, CA. He operated the Letourneau, unloading logging trucks, and later as the mill's electrician. He retired after 36 years and opened his own auto repair shop for a short time. He was most recently Ranch Foreman for The Casino Mine Ranch Winery and was honored to have a red wine blend named for him. He loved to go woodcutting and would be found cutting/splitting wood most every chance he got right up until August of this year. He also enjoyed fishing and tinkering around the ranch, always working on something. He was known on the ranch for his ability to do anything, his variety of gates and latches, and his metal sculptures. He enjoyed talking with his children and grandchildren, always with lots of “advice” to help them start and complete whatever projects they had in mind. He always greeted them with a kiss and enjoyed witty exchanges in conversations. He was a wealth of knowledge and the last of a dying breed. He will be deeply missed by his daughters Evie (Don) Ghormley, of Drytown, and Carol (Carnez) Nelson, of Ione, and his son John (Dorothy) Tiquet of Fiddletown; his grandsons Donald (Kathy) Ghormley of Plymouth, David (Kathy) Ghormley of Sutter Creek, Michael (Robyn) Nelson of Indiana, Robert (Helen) Nelson of Texas, Patrick (Andria) Tiquet of Angels Camp, and John (Heather) Tiquet of Arizona, as well as his granddaughters Kathy (Rick) Rios of Mokelumne Hill, and Melissa (RJ) Brooks of Volcano; sister-in-law Barbara Holland Nicholson of Plymouth, and 19 great-grandchildren as well as a wealth of nieces, nephews, and friends. He was preceded in death by his wife, Lola Mae Holland, in 2013 and his brothers Joseph Tiquet in 1990 and Abel Tiquet in March of 2018. Services will be privately held. Donations in his memory may be made to Hospice.