Lodi News Sentinel, Lodi, CA:  

Clifford G. Mettler, 72, of Lodi, California, died Friday, June 26, 2015, in Eugene, Oregon.

He was born November 10, 1942, in Lodi and enjoyed most of his days on Alpine Road, where he lived and raised his three children among the vineyards his father established. Cliff graduated Lodi High in 1960, earned his teaching degree and took his family to Alaska in 1968 to take a teaching job in Anchorage and then a one-room school house in Gustavus where he fell in love with the natural rugged beauty of the state. He returned to California in 1970, and Cliff taught and served as Assistant Principal at Alpine School, the elementary school where his children, he, and his mother before him had all attended, through 1978. He went on to earn his Masters of Education and in 1978, applied for a job in St. Mary's, Alaska, a small Eskimo village of 400 people, where he was promptly hired as School Principal.

Cliff's love of adventure and respect for education prompted him to earn a Doctorate in Education, and he spent 15 years serving as School Principal and making lifelong friendships up north. In 1993, Cliff came home to his family in Lodi and continued serving as a School Principal in Stockton Unified School and was a 10 year veteran of the Lodi Unified School District Board of Trustees, positions to which he was committed and honored. In 2004, forced by symptoms of Parkinson's disease, he retired from his career as an educator and dedicated himself to his role as a grandfather.

In every situation Cliff could be counted on to bring laughter and heart. 

He leaves behind countless individuals whose lives he touched, including those who knew him in recent years while he lived with his sons and their families in Oregon. He was preceded in death by his father, Carl B. Mettler, and wife, Barbara (Boepple) Mettler.

He is survived by his mother, Gladys (Handel) Mettler; brothers, Jim C. and Larry P. Mettler; sister, Arlene Mettler Thompson; children, Juliet Renee Mettler (Lisa Cauble), Andrew Carl Mettler (Gina Graham), and Benjamin Lee Mettler (Karen); grandchildren, Zachary Andrew Mettler and Alexandra Chance Mettler.

Graveside funeral services will be held 1:30 pm, Thursday, July 2, at Lodi Historic Cemetery, 5750 East Pine Street in Lodi. A reception will be held immediately afterward at the Mettler Family Vineyards, 7889 East Harney Lane in Lodi. Memorials may be made to the Parkinson's Institute and Clinical Center, 675 Almoner Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94085. A guest book may be signed athttp://www.lodifuneralhome.com where memories can be shared.- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lodinews/obituary.aspx?n=clifford-george-mettler&pid=175186690#sthash.nGaGXTL0.dpuf

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