Sister of Charles Pollock, who was found dead Dec. 23, says he wasn't homeless

The man who died under the staircase of a downtown building in late December was a talented artist who struggled with alcoholism most of his life, his sister said.

Charles Pollock, 52, was discovered under a staircase in the LanMart Building by a PG&E employee who was reading meters on Dec. 23. Pollock apparently had gone there to escape the rain, and find shelter. Low temperatures had been in the mid-40s and it had been raining in the days leading up to Dec. 23.

News reports last week identified Pollock as homeless after the Sonoma County Coroner's office listed him as a transient. But his sister disagreed.

"He was not homeless," said Kitty Pollock, 61, of Lake County. "He had a family who loved and cared about him."

Kitty Pollock said her brother had stayed with her off and on since his marriage broke up many years ago.

"He was sometimes homeless," she said, "he did live that life off and on, but he always had my home to come to."

Kitty Pollock lived in Petaluma for 13 years before moving to the town of Nice in Lake County nine months ago.

Charles Pollock was a talented artist and glass blower, she said. His artistic signature was a red rose and an Indian feather because of the family's Cherokee Indian and German heritage, she said.

In December, Kitty Pollock said she got into an argument with her brother because he had been drinking. Later, her brother said wanted to go to Petaluma to visit friends.

She never saw him again, and after she didn't hear from him, she filed a missing person's report. She said she was upset with the coroner's office for not contacting her promptly when her brother's body was brought to the morgue. "His identification had my address and phone number," she said. "They should have called me."

Pollock said doctors believe her brother died of pneumonia. She thinks he picked up a form of the illness and became weak and "just wanted to lay down somewhere." She said doctors told her that persons with the kind of pneumonia her brother had die within 24 to 48 hours if they are untreated.

Kitty Pollock said she and her siblings grew up in Monterey County. Charles Pollock is also survived by two other sisters, Debbie DeWitt of Castroville and Liz Tipton of Idaho, and his mother, Gerda Wright of Monterey.

(Contact Chris Samson at chris.samson@arguscourier.com)

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