POLLOCK PINES, Calif. — Junella May Welch built a world of her own in the forested hills of Pollock Pines, transforming her property into an artistic sanctuary filled with handcrafted statues, carefully tended trees and memorials to the dogs that shared her life.
For 26 years, the home she designed with her husband, Kimo Welch, was the center of her world. It was more than a residence. It was a personal wonderland, shaped by an artistic imagination and a lifetime of experiences that began with a childhood marked by hardship.
Welch died Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, at 1:59 p.m. She was 90.
Her obituary was published Oct. 29 by Cherokee Memorial Park & Funeral Home on Legacy.com. The remembrance, written by her son, offers a deeply personal account of a woman whose life included extraordinary challenges, professional support for her husband, artistic accomplishments and unexpected romance in her later years.
A childhood marked by hardship
Born Feb. 13, 1936, Welch experienced circumstances as a young girl that would leave lasting impressions.
According to her son’s account, she was 12 when her mother abandoned her and her younger brother, Larry, and baby sister, whom the family called Siss. Her father had been drafted into military service, leaving the three children without parental care.
The siblings were forced to live in an old railroad boxcar before being moved among different homes over the following years.
Her son recalled hearing the stories during conversations with his mother on the back deck of her home.
Those early experiences became part of the story behind the woman she eventually became.
Her artistic abilities, inherited from her father, who was a building contractor in Stockton, California, found expression throughout her home and property. She made nearly every corner of her surroundings an opportunity for creativity.
The family describes a woman who did not simply decorate her property but continually designed, shaped and transformed it.
A life devoted to family and a scientific career
Welch met Kimo Welch while they were both living in an orphanage during World War II. Their relationship eventually developed into a marriage and family that included two sons and a daughter.
Kimo went on to establish himself as an authority in vacuum technology, working at the Stanford Linear Accelerator and Brookhaven National Laboratory.
His professional work required considerable dedication, and Junella played an important supporting role.
Her son recalled that she regularly rose at 4 a.m. to help her husband with a book he was writing about the industry. The publication eventually became a widely recognized reference in the field, according to the family.
Her contribution was not necessarily measured by a professional title. Instead, it was reflected in the hours she devoted to supporting her husband’s work and the life they built together.
Building a home in the Pollock Pines forest
After retiring, Junella and Kimo chose Pollock Pines as the place to begin their next chapter.
Approximately 26 years ago, they designed and built a home deep among the trees, surrounded by towering pines and cedars.
The couple spent their retirement years together in the forest, sharing their home with several small dogs.
Their property became an extension of Junella’s artistic personality. She worked with concrete to create dolls and animal figures, filling the yard with sculptures and other handmade pieces.
She also cultivated dogwood trees, carefully shaping and transplanting them throughout the property.
The collection of concrete figures held a particularly personal meaning.
As a child in the orphanage, Junella remembered watching other girls receive dolls while she went without one. In adulthood, she created a world filled with the figures and artistic objects she had once been denied.
Her son described the property as her “wonder land.”
It was a place where personal history, artistic expression and the natural surroundings came together.
Finding companionship and romance later in life
Kimo died in 2015, leaving Junella alone in the home they had created together.
She continued living there, surrounded by the trees, sculptures and memories of their life.
With help from her daughter, Teri, Junella eventually joined Facebook. Through the social media platform, she met a man named Carl, who developed a romantic interest in her and purchased a home a few miles away.
The two spent approximately five years together as companions.
Eventually, Carl, who was 97, moved to Washington with his three sons.
Her son’s obituary included a simple observation about the relationship that captured the unexpected possibilities of later life:
“But there is romance at all ages.”
It was a reminder that companionship and affection do not necessarily end with retirement, widowhood or advancing age.
Passing along a lifetime of memories
During her final years, Welch began preparing for the eventual transfer of responsibility for the home she had occupied for more than two decades.
She asked her older son to come live with her so she could teach him how to care for the property, maintain the artwork and preserve the surroundings she had spent years creating.
The instruction was about more than maintaining a house.
It was an opportunity to pass along the details of a life expressed through thousands of small creative decisions.
Her property also contained memorial stones for the dogs she had loved throughout the years.
Her final dog, a puppy named Baby, became the subject of one last important decision.
About a week before her death, Junella arranged for Baby to go live with her brother, Larry Bowers, and his own little dog.
According to her son, she was delighted that the arrangement worked out. Knowing her puppy had a home where it would be cared for brought her happiness during her final days.
A final chapter shared by mother and son
Her older son stayed by her side day and night during her final months.
The time together provided an opportunity for conversations, memories and the exchange of perspectives between a mother and son.
He described their final days as peaceful, saying they did not argue but instead discussed matters and respected one another’s viewpoints.
His account of her final moments is among the most personal passages in the obituary.
He recalled that his mother said she was ready to go and thanked him for being there and for his patience.
Junella May Welch died Oct. 25, 2026, at the age of 90.
Her story began with a childhood in which security and family were uncertain. It ended in the forested home she had helped create, surrounded by the artistic work that reflected her imagination and the memories of those she loved.
For the family she leaves behind, her legacy is found not only in the home, the sculptures or the trees she planted, but also in the resilience that carried her through a difficult beginning and the relationships she continued to build throughout her life.
