Obituary of Alvin Jay Salter, 88
Jay Salter, a good man for the ages
– Alvin Jay Salter died peacefully on April 5, 2026, in the early morning hours of Easter Sunday. Born June 1, 1937, in Cleveland, Ohio, Jay Salter lived 88 years on this earth, and not a day went by without something good coming from it.
In some cosmic way that no doubt would have elicited a benevolent smile, it’s fitting that this practicing Buddhist passed on the day billions of Christians across the globe marked as one of rebirth and renewal. We’ll remember Jay as the good man who died on Resurrection Day.
Among Jay’s many admirable characteristics, his voracious curiosity and boundless goodwill stood out. With a towering yet humble intellect, Jay Salter could never extract enough knowledge, enough informed opinion from the person lucky enough to sit across a table and have a conversation with him. Anyone who met him couldn’t help but like him.
Jay’s world revolved around not himself, but the people around him – his family, his friends, his community, his country. Jay was all about us, everyone in his life. He had a knack for directing every conversation away from himself toward others, almost as if programmed into his DNA.
Husband, dad, brother, Army vet during the Korean War, Vietnam contractor, union organizer, prison counselor, advocate for the politically weakest among us, righteous protestor, one of the most powerful lovers of democracy anyone could know – Jay did his final protest at the No Kings III rally in Atascadero last spring, waving a sign out of his car window, Tina behind the wheel.
Too weak to march or drive, sensing his next journey might soon begin, Jay Salter used his last protest to rally the rest of us to continue the struggle. Without Jay, it’s up to us to honor that.
There will be a celebration of life for Jay Salter beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 27th, at Jay and Tina’s home, 14080 San Antonio Road, Atascadero. Friends are warmly welcome and encouraged to bring their memories of Jay to share.
Jay’s life journey started on an Ohio farm until the age of 10, then moving to Santa Barbara with his parents, two younger brothers, and grandparents. The next stop for the family was Pasadena, where he gained a blended family of another brother and four sisters.
Upon graduation from high school, Jay joined the Army, spending his military years during the Korean War in Germany. After that, he returned to California and college, then married Tina. Family in tow (Tina and two daughters), the next stop was the community of Sierra Madre, where they settled. Jay became a technical writer for the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In 1970, Jay took a job in Saigon writing a house paper for employees of Pacific Architects and Engineers. He traveled throughout Vietnam, observing the war, interviewing people, processing the truth about a war that helped inform his worldview thereafter. The experience caused him to realize first-hand the folly of war and the devastation it causes.
Jay, Tina and the girls moved to Atascadero in 1976, built a house and settled into a semi-rural life. No tech writing jobs, so he worked as a bartender and went to psych tech school.
After working at Atascadero State Hospital for a stretch, he helped psych techs organize with the Communications Workers of America. The workers won that vote, but the CWA couldn’t deliver services. Jay then led the effort to form the California Association of Psych Techs (CAPT) and decertify the CWA. During his career with CAPT, Jay was president of the ASH chapter, then statewide president, then a staff organizer and union rep for psych techs who had issues with their employment.
After retirement from CAPT, Jay became involved with the GRIP (Guiding Rage Into Power) program for inmates at Avenal State Prison. Of all the work he had done in his life, this was his most personally fulfilling.
Political activism came naturally. Jay took up the anti-Diablo cause and was arrested protesting the plant during construction. He served on David Blakely’s County Supervisor campaign committee for all his elections, and worked on supervisor campaigns for Shirley Bianchi, Jim Patterson, Eric Michielsson, Susan Funk, Bruce Gibson, Jimmy Paulding and Ellen Beraud.
Somewhere along the way, Jay discovered Buddhism. He was a founding member of the North County Branch of White Heron Sangha. When he first went to Avenal, it was to lead a Buddhist group and, when the GRIP folks were looking for someone to start their program at Avenal, they tapped Jay. He used Buddhist principles with the GRIP guys, too, as those principles aligned with their work on themselves.
Jay is survived by his wife Bettina (Tina), daughters Cathy Salter and Renata Salter, granddaughter Beth, and her husband Tim Robison.
He’s also is survived by his brother Ron Salter of West Virginia, sister Ande McCarren (John) of San Diego, sister Shari Irwin of San Mateo, and sister Mary Anne Eldreth of Jacksonville, Fla. Jay was predeceased by brother John Salter of Texas, brother Darwin Barrett of Virginia, and sister Carol Barrett of Pasadena.
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