Burton Walter Stevens Obituary (1954 - 2019)

The last crazy, cantankerous, old miner has left his prospecting to the next generation and gone to what we hope is a better place. All of his addictions (drinking, drugs and smoking) and pain (from pins in his neck and hip plus collapsed lungs are gone forever. As he always said, "T'aint seen nothing yet". Burton Walter Stevens, also known as "Miner Bud", has died at the cabin on Sliger Mine Road, Greenwood, CA. He was born 09 November 1954 in Sioux City, IA., the youngest child of four of James Howard Stevens and Shirley Elaine (Parsley) Stevens. Bud was named after both of his grandfathers: Burton James Stevens and Walter Corbett Parsley. In early 1959 the family moved from Sioux City to Salix, IA. They moved to Lodi, CA, in 1966, where Bud attended grade school. In 1969, they moved to Clyde, CA, where he attended junior high school and high school. His parents divorced in 1971 prompting another move to Colorado Springs, CO, where he graduated high school at the age of 17. He and his mother returned to the Sioux City area after his graduation due to his maternal grandfather's illness and subsequent death. Bud worked at the local truck stops and for local farmers. In 1974, Bud moved to San Diego County, CA, where he joined the US Navy. He was briefly married that same year and remained single to his dying day. Bud moved to Georgetown, CA in the late 1970's and remained there in the one job that always gave him the most satisfaction---prospecting for gold and other precious metals. He lived on the banks of the American River most of his adult life, by choice, as his outlook on society had become rather jaded. He was a mechanic: working on anything that had a motor, until arthritis in his hands slowed him down. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, parents, older brother, James Howard Stevens in 2014, and sister closest to him in age, Rita Colleen Stevens in 2003. He is survived by: his older sister, Shirley [Darrell] Hickert; and close friends and caregivers: Ryan and Rachel Baxley and their children; other relatives and friends. He will be missed by all who knew and loved him. May he rest in peace. Foothill Cremation, 3094 Cedar Ravine Rd., Placerville, CA 95667, is in charge of arrangements.