CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Eugene Owen “Gene” Crovo, 91, of Clearlake Oaks, passed away Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019. He went peacefully with his family by his side.

Gene was born on Dec. 11, 1927, in Winchester, Massachusetts, to Angelo Joseph Crovo and Mildred Child Gurney Crovo.

Gene’s family moved to Woburn, Massachusetts when he was a young child to a home on the hill overlooking Horn Pond and Mount Towanda.

Gene graduated from Woburn High School, then entered the U.S. Army. During his years of service, he was stationed at Fort Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska with the Army Corp of Engineers and repaired the vehicles that traveled the Alaska-Canadian Highway. Gene was honorably discharged in 1947, having provided service “honest and faithful.”

Upon his return to Massachusetts, Gene went into a landscaping construction business with his father in Reading, Massachusetts. He also worked as an auto mechanic in the evenings and during the off season.

Gene met his sweetheart, Muriel Mossman Arthur, when her car broke down, and after he made a quick repair, they decided that they would get a cup of coffee and a dessert together.

After Gene was accepted in the United Airlines aircraft mechanics program, Muriel and Gene were married on Oct. 6, 1956, and moved to Montara, California.

While Gene’s career as a master mechanic with United Airlines advanced over the next decade, he also started a landscaping business and began to develop his entrepreneurial plans to launch a landscape construction company. He soon moved to Santa Rosa with his family and dedicated all his efforts to his rapidly growing landscape construction company.

His firm soon became one of the premier commercial landscaping businesses in the greater Santa Rosa market.

Over the next 30 years Gene received many awards and honors for his landscaping displays at the annual county fair, and much recognition for his work on commercial buildings and residential home developments.

Although he led his organization and crews for 30 years, he never surrendered the job of chief mechanic. He was a hydraulic equipment expert, skilled welder, and could repair anything including tractors, dozers, tree movers, backhoes, and dump trucks. Gene’s knowledge of trees, plants, shrubs, irrigation, and his ability to cut complex grades by sight alone were legendary.

During his career, he considered himself privileged to work with the developers and builders, and to have earned the opportunity they provided to demonstrate his beautiful work. He loved to tell stories of his many long-term loyal relationships and the interesting characters he worked with over the years.

Eugene “Gene” Crovo, dad / grandpa / great grandpa was gifted at making much more than beautiful landscapes … his children and grandchildren learned from him a love of the outdoors, the value of a tireless work ethic, the importance of honesty and making a commitment to a job well done. We will miss you, Dad – Grandpa – Great Grandpa!

Gene had many hobbies and avocations. He was a road warrior and loved his long-drives listening to country music with his wife and co-pilot, Muriel. They traveled to their desert home near Palm Springs even into their 90s making all their familiar stops along the way; made six trips up the ALCAN to Alaska and traveled to Colorado and Oregon.

Gene loved working with his best friend, Art David, building the David family’s cabin in the Sierra Nevada mountains. June Lake held a special place in his heart.

Gene doted over his horses, Barbie and Gidget. He built his own homes in Montara, Sebastopol, Clearlake Oaks, and Morongo Valley. He enjoyed building model ship replicas of the boats he saw in the Maine and Massachusetts harbors as a young man.

Most of all he loved to spend time with his wife Muriel, his sisters, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Survivors include his wife of 63 years; two stepsons, and a daughter; a sister in California; a sister in Massachusetts; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his mother, Mildred Crovo; his father, Angelo Crovo; sister, Genevieve Gelles; and his beloved twin daughters, Cheryl and Sandra, who after birth were tragically lost. We are certain that Gene is now in their warm and welcoming embrace.

A funeral service will be held at the Chapel at Golden Gate National Cemetery, 1300 Sneath Lane in San Bruno on Thursday, Aug. 29, at 1 p.m.