Carl Gene Felkins' Obituary
Carl Gene Felkins
7/17/1939 —-— 8/19/2025
Carl Gene Felkins reluctantly came to rest on August 19, 2025. He passed peacefully in his sleep after a long fight; hand in hand with one of his daughters in his final hours. We all know how that man could fight. In his final days, weeks, and months he was in the company of family that loved even his most jagged bits so wholly they will keep putting each foot forward- even while their whole worlds crumble beneath them, in his loss.
Before sunrise and beyond sunset, Carl Gene was a man that knew no bounds. He never knew when to quit. He gave, and gave, and gave, and sometimes it was easy to forget he was giving- his one-of-a-kind, bejeweled and fiery strings of mixed up curse words, the fire and fight he brought alongside the gifts- sometimes obscured it.
Carl Gene was fire. He would do anything for the ones he loved. He did do anything for the ones he loved. Sometimes he did everything for the ones he loved. In the most impossible of circumstances, he was a mad (and I do mean mad!) genius that would find some way to make the impossible happen. That man was magic and grit and the bravest of heart- even when you couldn’t see that part.
His entire life was a fabric of 20 hour days in the servitude of others. The hours that man put in- to his family, to his neighbors, to any little kid that wanted to swing a baseball bat, in the from-the-ground-up erecting of hospitals and buildings across California, to the people of Rio Linda and his sports community…the list is exhausting. The way he made every minute matter- he was a mathematician and magician and a time lord and a tyrant. When it’s all on one man to get it done- the weight of that, just consider. He could be a mean motherfucker. That was the only way he could survive. He was shiny, that man. He could drawl out words equally as sweet as mean. He will always be a treasure.
In his last years he grew softer, and in that, he grew stronger. He found words about feelings and found love in softer tones and learned, finally, how to let go. He sat back and story-talked. He got to watch from the stands. His heart swelled with pride for his grandchildren. He reunited with his first love/last love and leaves behind a wife that braved the day to day to day weight of watching cancer try to rock a man that just refused to quit. Carl Gene was not known for his patience. One might call him stubborn. In the end, he won his standoff with cancer. Because cancer didn’t take him. He learned to let go. He finally let the dogs in the house, let them lie at the foot of his bed. He accepted that everything isn’t always up to him and he found peace.
He rests in the glow of awe and admiration. Gratitude and maybe most importantly, forgiveness.
Every time he kept stepping he forged a legend. One foot in front of the other. That man was made of stardust. Now, in the ether and the sparkle of the sky, he’s still heckling and coaching and shining. His strength and resilience will live on forever in the stories and the footsteps of all of us still stepping.
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A remembrance will be held Monday 9/22/2025. Further details forthcoming.
For those that will not be able to attend, please help us hold him in gratitude and acceptance and prayer.
Carl was a man bigger than life itself. Save the date for a larger celebration of life on Friday 7/17/2026
Please help us recount his antics by sharing memories, pictures, or quips you have about him here and/or with https://[email protected]
Rest easy, dad. You earned this sleep.
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