May 8, 1945 – June 9, 2023
Val Howland Hanchett was born May 8, 1945 and died on June 9, 2023. He was 78 years old.
He was born in Everett, Washington on VE (Victory in Europe) Day while his dad was still engaged in the conflict in the Pacific.
Growing up in a newspaper family, Val would find himself helping from the age of 10 when his family moved to Woodland, Washington. His parents, Ross and Bonny, had purchased the Lewis River News and that is where Val got his first taste of the “back shop,” and hot metal printing. He learned how to operate the large sheet fed press and by the time he was a teenager, he was setting type on the Mergenthaler Linotype. Val was among the last of the printers to know the craft well, perfecting his printing and graphic arts skills from the time of hot metal through the transition to cold type.
After owning and operating the paper in Woodland, the family, which now included two sisters and a baby brother, moved to Lower Lake, CA where Ross and Bonny had purchased the Clear Lake Observer. Val began 30 years of helping to develop one of the best weekly papers in Northern California. He toiled many hours alongside his Dad putting the paper out every week. After a transition to offset printing, the grind lifted but it was still difficult.
As he worked at the Observer, he attended Lower Lake High School where he graduated in 1963. Several of his friends entered the printing trade as well, learning their craft while working at the Observer. The Observer was truly a “family,” newspaper with two and sometimes three of Val’s sisters working there along with younger brother Jon who was a photographer and pressman.
Val married young to Sandy Jones. They had daughter Lisa in 1964. After divorcing Val continued working at the Observer and met his second wife Franki Lininger who worked with him there. They had two children: Ross and Janelle.
Val was a stickler about the look of the paper; he knew typefaces like the back of his hand and after transitioning to offset he was soon publishing newspapers with full color photo features on page one, a difficult accomplishment in those days. He was a talented and creative man.
The Observer was the first to print the popular skateboard magazine Thrasher. Val used his graphics expertise to produce fine images and establish the concept for the still existing magazine. Val and his partners established a wine country magazine called The Wine Country Review; he was also a founder and board member for the Clear Lake National Bank.
The Observer sold in 1987 and the Hanchett family eventually came into possession of the Cloverdale Reveille newspaper. By then Val had moved to Santa Rosa but was soon working as publisher at the Reveille alongside his then widowed mom and his younger sisters, once again. Soon his current wife, Neena Tripathi, was at his side and the couple worked to produce another fine weekly paper until its sale in 2013.
During his time growing up in Lake County the family owned a home on Clear Lake in the Jago Bay area. Val had fond memories of swimming and diving off the community pier there on his few days off in the summer. He remained very fond of Lake County and retained many friendships there.
Val was a bright and complicated man. He had challenges but overcame them. In his later life he was a mentor to fellow members of his AA Fellowship offering important support and advice. His sense of humor was legendary and he was never above self-deprecation. He was close to his sisters and forever grieved the loss of his younger brother Jon who died at the age of 46. His children remember him as a dad who loved them and did his best to be there for them.
Val leaves his loving wife, Neena of Cloverdale and three children, Lisa Davey-Bates and her husband, Perry Bates of Ukiah; Ross Hanchett and his wife, Sara Katey Hanchett, of Lincoln; and Janelle MacDonald and her husband Charles MacDonald in the Netherlands. He is survived by his sisters: Mary Stowell of San Diego; Roberta Lyons of Lower Lake; and Kathryn McKaig of San Jose. He will be missed by six grandchildren: Lauren Young and Lindsay King, John, Lucy and Oliver Hanchett, and Ava, Charles, Georgia, and Arlo MacDonald. He also leaves four great-grandchildren. His two nieces and a nephew will miss him as will his cousins in Washington and Idaho and his many good friends all over Northern California. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ross and Bonny Hanchett and his younger brother Jon.
The family is planning an open house in remembrance of Val’s life to be held in Cloverdale on August 20, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Fire Creek Lodge at Clover Springs, 210 Red Mountain Dr. All of Val’s family and friends are welcome.
