My name is Mary Behrens. I am Forrest Seagrave’s mother. Forrest was born in San Francisco on Dec. 27, 1979. In Oct. of 1980, when Forrest was ten months old, we moved to Lake County. We lived in Lakeport most of the first few years. Then, in 1985 when Forrest was five years old, we moved to Kelseyville. Forrest lived in Kelseyville for the rest of his life. His life ended on Jan. 18, 2013 when, less than one month after his 33rd birthday, a man came into Mt. Konocti Gas & Mart where Forrest worked and shot him in commission of a robbery. From the time that the man walked into the store Forrest had only about one hour left to live.
I, Forrest’s brothers and sisters, and many of his friends would like to have the name of Douglas Rd. changed to Forrest’s Rd. For anyone who may not know it Douglas Rd. is the little street in Kelseyville that runs along the side of Mt. Konocti Gas & Mart between Live Oak Dr. and Main St. I have spoken to quite a few people trying to ascertain why that street was named Douglas Rd., but no one seems to know. Even some who lived here at the time do not know why or for whom Douglas Rd. was so named.
Most people in Kelseyville do know Forrest. To some of you Forrest probably wasn’t very important. He wasn’t a doctor or a lawyer or a politician. He wasn’t rich so he didn’t contribute monetarily to a park or an environmental cause or a civic project. But he did, just by being who he was and where many people came to know him, contribute to the betterment of life in Kelseyville. He was a prototype, perhaps, of the type of person we want in Kelseyville and an image of what we would like Kelseyville to be.
When Forrest was very young he had severe hearing problems. As a result he had to have a series of tubes in his ears. Even later, when he could hear better, he had to have speech therapy because he could not talk normally. When he was just in first grade one of his teachers told me that some of the other children would pick on him or try to get him into fights, but Forrest would just walk away. In third grade a teacher held him back a year because, according to her, Forrest wasn’t “socialized” well enough.
And yet, over the course of the years, Forrest made friends — many friends, actually. A couple of other mothers told me that their children never got into trouble when they were with Forrest. If a group of kids that he was with talked about doing something wrong, Forrest would say no and leave to do something else. I don’t know if he actually tried to talk them out of it first, but any of the kids that did what they had been talking about got into trouble, even ending up in juvenile hall. Any that went with Forrest did not.
When Forrest grew up he started working. His longest job was his last one at Store 24 in Kelseyville, which became Mt. Konocti Gas & Mart. He worked there slightly over six years. Forrest was not overly ambitious. He was content and, I think, happy with what he had. He was actually quite proud of having worked there for six years. I think that he would, possibly, have continued to work there as long as they would let him.
A lot of people have said that they liked going into the store when Forrest was working because he was always so pleasant and helpful. If someone was upset or not feeling well Forrest would listen to them and, maybe, talk to them a bit and they always left feeling a little better. I have even been told that, on occasion, someone would come into the store asking if they could have some food even though they had no money. Forrest would not give anything away for free because it belonged to the store. But he would take money out of his own pocket and give it to them so that they could buy the food.
Forrest probably knew most of the people in Kelseyville and a lot of others throughout the county. He grew up here and lived all but the first year of his life here. Most of the people that he went to school with still live either in Kelseyville or somewhere else in the county. Some have their own businesses, some work for others as he did, a couple work for the county, and a few are even teachers. A lot of other people got to know Forrest because they would stop by the store for gas or something else on their way home from work. Others stopped to buy propane which Forrest would get for them. A lot of the high school students knew Forrest because they would stop at the store after school. Quite often fire department and sheriff’s personnel would stop to buy something or just to check in.
The point of all this is that Forrest knew a lot of people in the area. It is not just those that he grew up and went to school with. He knew a lot of their parents and most of their children. You may be able to find somewhere who Douglas Rd. was name for and why. But I could not find one person who knows. Not even people who were here at the time know. But people will know who Forrest‘s Rd. Is named after and why. If their children ask, they will be able to answer. If newcomers ask, they will be able to answer. If visitors ask, they will be able to answer.
And it is not just because people will know who the street is named after that it should be changed. Forrest had a Facebook page and he and his sister set up a page for me also although I never used it. After Forrest died I looked on his page to see if any of those people knew that he was gone. I had no idea how many people he knew either “virtually” or in reality. There were even quite a few “posts” from out of the area.
The biggest surprise for me was when I, for the first time, looked at both my own page and at Forrest’s “memorial” page. There were comments from some people who had just been visiting or driving through Lake County and had stopped by the store when they were here. The gist of what they said was that it was so pleasant being served by Forrest and what a nice place this must be if we have people like him here. Even months later, when the person who (allegedly) shot him was indicted in federal court in San Francisco, I got a couple of “posts” from people who live in San Francisco. They had, apparently, read somewhere about what had happened to Forrest and said that they remembered him from when they had passed through Kelseyville the previous year.
Finally, Douglas Rd. should be changed to Forrest‘s Rd. because Forrest did contribute positively to the community of Kelseyville in particular and Lake County in general. Even when he was just a kid himself he kept some other kids out of trouble or out of more trouble. When he was older, people, both from in and out of the area, had a good impression of the place because of meeting and spending just a little time with Forrest. He did not contribute a building or a park or anything like that. But Forrest did contribute to a positive ambience for Kelseyville. Forrest’s brother Nick told me that Forrest’s co-worker told Nick that Forrest saved his life.
People in support of the name change to Forrest’s Rd. can write letters addressed to their supervisor at Lake County Board of Supervisors 255 N. Forbes St #109 Lakeport, CA 95453 or you can e-mail your supervisor with a cc to District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown. If you are from out of the area you can write or e-mail District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown. We also will be collecting signatures in support of the street name change.
Ultimately we, Forrest’s friends and family, are asking people in support of changing the road name to Forrest’s Rd. to attend the Public Hearing, July 21 at 9 a.m. in the Lake County Board of Supervisors Chamber’s at 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
For updates on the latest happenings and to let it be known that you will be attending the public hearing please visit Public Hearing for Forrest’s Rd. Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/398548193664147/
