By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
YACHATS – Yes, it can appear trivial. Even Marty Woodruff agrees.
But not when you learn about her past two years. After that, please be on the lookout for her cat, Charles.
Most of all, Woodruff says, relish the community where you live.
Let’s start at the beginning.
Marty and Nathan Woodruff married in 2006, moved from California to Yachats in 2012, before going back a year later for schooling for their three children, Addy, 15, Jacob, 14, and Liam, 13. The family returned to Yachats in 2019, a place they love, with their cat, Charles.
Nathan worked as a truck driver; Marty at Pacific Sourdough Bakery in Waldport
In 2021 Nathan was diagnosed with colon cancer. The kids went to live with Marty’s parents near Modesto, Calif. while Nathan underwent treatment in Corvallis.
“That’s how Charles comes into play,” Marty says. “With the kids gone he was our comfort.”
In 2022 doctors declared Nathan cancer free.
But during surgery last October to repair radiation damage, doctors discovered more cancer and in January advised it was no longer treatable.
Weeks later Marty donated a kidney at the University of San Francisco, a gift and process that allowed her ailing brother to receive a kidney from another, matching donor.
“It was such an incredible experience,” she says. “I’m doing great and my brother is doing well.”
Nathan C. Woodruff, 47, died May 24 at their home up the Yachats River, but not before the couple was able to renew their marriage vows.
Twelve days later 5-year-old Charles disappeared.
“There is no sign of him anywhere up here,” Marty Woodruff says. “To have Charles gone too is just horrible.”
Marty Woodruff put up posters around town offering a $200 reward and posted about her loss on Facebook.
A woman who lives on West First Street saw on her door’s Ring camera a distinctive “tuxedo” cat that looked very much like Charles. Another woman saw a tuxedo cat drinking from her birdbath and let Woodruff use a trap to see if he could be lured into it. Out of the blue another cat lover added $800 to Woodruff’s reward.
Still nothing.
Woodruff hopes that someone in Yachats has Charles and may not be aware of her search. She also wants to find him before moving back to California in late July.
“I feel he’s down there somewhere,” she says. “He’s very distinctive. I could see very clearly on the (Ring) camera that it’s him. I just hope someone took him in.”
In the meantime, Woodruff wants the Yachats and Waldport communities to know of the support and love she received during her husband’s long battle with cancer and the during her search for Charles.
“There’s so much love in both of these communities,” she said. “People need to know and understand that.”
“… life has been both sad but beautiful,” Woodruff wrote in an email asking YachatsNews to help spread the word about Charles and her appreciation for the community. “I need to find my boy … but more than that, people need to be reminded about what a special place this truly is. No matter how ‘trivial’ the circumstances.”
