Roland "Honk" Clifford Eastman

Roland "Honk" Clifford Eastman, 88, died peacefully at home in McCloud, California in the early hours of Tuesday, February 14th, 2023. He was born November 6, 1934, in Iron Mountain, Michigan, to parents of English and Swiss descent. Roland was the middle child of Claude and Ialeen Eastman. When Roland was six years old, the family came west to San Diego, CA, before finally settling for good in Siskiyou County.

During his teenage years he worked and learned the Stone Masonry craft from his father. After high School Roland went to work for the McCloud Mill but was soon after drafted to serve in the Korean War as medical personnel. After 2 years of service he was able to come back home to his job in McCloud and work his way up to Millwright.

Roland met his wife Barbara and her son, Wayne, while on a visit to San Francisco, and they were married May 4th, 1964. In the style of pioneers, Roland acquired a raw piece of land down Squaw Valley road in McCloud, with hopes of building his own homestead. Over the next five years Roland and Barbara developed the property, which included building a road in, clearing the land, building their masonry block house, and even crafting a custom well-drilling machine to drill the well.

In 1971 they had their second child, Brenda. Because of changing times, the Mill in McCloud eventually shut down so Roland turned to his Stone Masonry craft for employment. He quickly became the go-to guy for block foundations and artistically crafted stone hearths as well as a significant improvements around the Hearst Castle property in McCloud, CA.

Crafty, creative, handy, and never afraid of hard work, Roland instilled a strong work ethic to his two children encouraging them to tackle various projects around the house. With varied hobbies including gold mining, lapidary work, water-color painting, photography, playing guitar, taking road trips, and refurbishing cars with his brother Ken, Roland loved to stay active. He was never one to stay idle, and one of his oft-repeated quotes was, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

Bazinga. And just as he did everything in life, Roland will sleep well, and he will be missed.

Roland is survived by wife, Barbara, son, Wayne and his wife Deanna, granddaughter Scarlett, daughter Brenda and husband Nikolas. As well as older sister Corinne and youngest brother Ken.