Angels Camp, CA…Barden Stevenot was born in San Francisco on August 27, 1936. He was raised primarily in Angels Camp, which was the ancestral home of several generations of his family, some of whom arrived in the early days of the gold rush. He attended Angels Camp grammar school and Bret Harte high school where he graduated in 1954. He received a degree in cultural anthropology from Sacramento State College and served in the Navy as an officer in Explosive Ordnance Disposal. He returned from service in 1964 and pursued a diverse career in business . Notable projects were initial development of Kirkwood ski area, where he served as vice president and general manager; Carson Hill Gold Mining Corporation, where he served as president and a member of the board during its development in the 1980s; Stevenot Winery, founded in 1970s, a precursor to the wine industry in Calaveras County; Greenhorn Creek golf course and community, which he initiated in the early 1990s and pursued as Managing General Partner until its completion.

When asked what was his greatest pleasure and achievement, he often said it was the livelihoods and families supported by his efforts in the businesses noted above. The friendships made from his earliest grammar school days on through his last years were his most valuable treasures.

He loved his community, the beauty of the Sierra foothills and most of all the magnificent Sierra Nevada Mountains where he spent many days of his youth, and enjoyed a lifelong pursuit of trout with a fly rod. He loved America, it’s energy, its diversity and its sweeping beauty, and the bravery that it’s people show in setting an example of, and fighting for, freedom around the world.

He had one adopted country that he loved in this latter life, New Zealand. He spent 14 years traveling and living there for some months each year. There he made wonderful friends, fished for great trout, and enjoyed the stunning scenery and remarkable resemblance of its pastoral life to the beloved California of his youth.

He is survived by his beloved wife Annie Stevenot, and numerous cousins, from both the Stevenot and Rolleri sides of his family. He is the last of the line of Barden’s that set foot in America in 1636, fought in the Revolutionary war and fought for the North in the Civil War.