Penngrove family's final farewell after fishing trip tragedy

There were days, after Joelle Bautista was told that her husband was last seen fleeing the sinking ship with a life jacket in his arms, that she half expected him to call or walk through the door of their Penngrove home.

But after three months and no word from Russell Bautista, his wife of 18 years has conceded she will never see him alive again.

"We have to accept at some point what's happened," she said.

On Friday, she, the couple's two children, Maxwell and Renee, and other family and friends will gather at St. Eugene's Cathedral in Santa Rosa to pay tribute to Russ Bautista, one of seven Bay Area men whose fates are unknown following a July 3 boating disaster off the Mexican coast.

Bautista, a retired Pacific Bell worker, was with 27 men who chartered a boat for what was supposed to be a week of fishing tied to the Fourth of July weekend. Instead, frivolity turned to tragedy when the 105-foot Erik capsized in a fierce nighttime storm and within minutes sank in the Sea of Cortez.

For families of the missing - who also include Shawn Chaddock of Petaluma - knowing when to say goodbye is a personal and painful decision.

Even now, days before her husband's service, Joelle said she still can't bring herself to throw away his toothbrush, or spend time in the shop adjacent to their home where he stored his fishing gear. His voice still greets callers who phone the couple's home and get voice mail.

"It is so hard to let go," Joelle, 57, said over coffee recently in Santa Rosa.

A phlebotomist for Blood Centers of the Pacific, she wore scrubs and sunglasses pushed back in her brown hair. To cope these past months, she stays busy "until I drop."

Planning her husband's service also has occupied her time. She had to submit an affidavit to a Sonoma County judge attesting to the presumed circumstances of his demise before the state would officially declare him deceased.

The families of about half of the missing fishermen have held memorial services for their loved ones. One has yet to be held for Chaddock, a 49-year-old auto mechanic.

For survivors of the boat disaster, including four men from Sonoma County, the events of that night still trail them. Most of the men spent a harrowing night and much of the following day bobbing in the ocean while clinging to life vests or floating ice chests before their rescue.

Dennis DeLuca, a Sebastopol construction and engineering manager for AT&T, said he still awakes almost every night, haunted by the sight of the boat and its illuminated deck being sucked down into the void as men all around him screamed in terror.

"It's like I still can't believe that happened to us," he said.

The men only had seconds to flee the boat after it began to capsize. Witnesses reported seeing Bautista rushing out of his cabin dressed only in his underwear and carrying a life vest on one shoulder.

Despite his passion for fishing and having a pool at his Penngrove home, Bautista did not know how to swim. But his friends said he was a stickler about safety.

"The rule on Russ's boat was you don't leave the dock without wearing a life jacket," said Jim Miller, a neighbor of Bautista's who also was on the ill-fated fishing expedition.

Miller, a retired electrical superintendent, was labeled a hero after he cut away two large life rings as the ship slipped beneath the ocean's surface.

He's finally able to sleep through the night. But on occasion, he notices the lights are still on at the Bautista home well after midnight, in what he interprets as a sign of Joelle's struggle.

Miller and his wife, Doreen, have helped Joelle with home improvement projects and other needs. "It sort of helps us out too, just knowing we are doing something," he said.

The families of the missing fishermen have organized a fund-raising effort called Find Our Fathers with the goal of locating the Erik, which has not been found despite searches by U.S. and Mexican authorities, and a private team.

The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing to investigate the incident, in conjunction with the Mexican Navy and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Joelle said she understands why some families of the missing men are anxious to find the sunken ship. But she said she does not share that desire.

"My kids are I are comfortable that Russ has found his final resting place at sea because he loved it so much," she said.

Friday's service, which is open to the public, is at 10 a.m. at St. Eugene's.

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