Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Sorted by date Results 26 - 47 of 47
This is the 14th article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. Tracey Keefe (née Alexander) was born and grew up in Massachusetts. Her parents owned and operated a small school bus company. "They were really awesome people," Tracey said. "Their doing that business, particularly in the winter, taught me a lot about determination and fortitude, about doing the right thing every day." Tracey attended grade school and high school in a town...
This is the 13th article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. "For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men." Pericles (c. 600 B.C.) Jason Everett George was born in Bakersfield on Nov. 3, 1971, the son of Hugh and Candace Mason (Jason's biological father was Clyde George). "JG"...
WARNING: This article contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised. This is the 12th article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. Part I of Sergeant Morris' remarkable story ended in the spring of 1965, with Tom, stationed at Na Trang Air Base as part of the 1st Marine Division, having completed more than half of his one-year tour of Vietnam. Then came that most horrible and unforgettable day-May 28, 1965. An urgent call came in...
This is the 11th article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. Tom Morris came into the world on March 13, 1943-born during a blackout in the middle of World War II. As he recalled, "Everything was blacked out due to the military aircraft companies (Douglas Aircraft Company, North American Aviation, etc.) and naval ports in the area. I should add that I was the first male baby born at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica." Tom's mother was a...
This is the 10th article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. Once again, we begin at the beginning: Doug McHenry was born in Chicago on October 5, 1947, at about noon. His mother liked to tease him that she missed Sunday dinner because of his birth! Doug was an only child. While the family lived in Gary, Indiana until 1960, Doug's father worked in construction in Chicago, helping to build tall commercial buildings and churches. As Doug...
This is the ninth article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. Lew was born in the little town of Crosbyton, Texas, on August 3, 1935. He was the oldest of three boys, the youngest brother dying in a tragic accident in 1939. As Lew recalled: "This was during the Great Depression and nobody really had anything. My father took any job that he could-he shoveled coal out of a coal car at a railroad station; he drove a truck; he picked grapes...
Both of the U.S. Army veterans addressed in this article-the eighth in a continuing series about local military veterans and their great service to our country-saw combat in Western Europe in the final phases of World War II. Both men, now deceased, took part in major action during the unexpected German counteroffensive through the Ardennes forest in December 1944, what is called in popular parlance the "Battle of the Bulge." Barely 18 years old, Henry Martinez joined the U.S. Army in June...
This is the seventh article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. John and his twin brother were born on April 17, 1942 in Suffolk, Virginia. His family soon moved to Newport News, Virginia, where his father worked at the famous Newport News shipyard and, in the early 1950s, became one of the first African-American police officers to serve with the Newport News Police Department. As John recalled, "Newport News is a military community and I...
This is the sixth article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. As always we begin at the beginning: Marsha was born in 1946 in a little town in Ohio. Her father, a former Marine who had served in the Pacific theater in World War II, passed away at the age of 34 (like many Marines, he had contracted malaria during the war, and that had contributed to his tragic, early death). Marsha was only 10 at the time and her mother, a stay-at-home...
This is the fifth article in a continuing series about local military veterans and their service to our great country. As always we begin at the beginning: Dave was born on April 7, 1931 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sadly, his father "disappeared" when Dave was a small child: "To this day, I still stay in touch with my father's family, but he passed away in his 50s a long time ago." Dave's mother never remarried but went to night school and became a bookkeeper. Dave attended public schools in India...
Born in Independence, Iowa on June 20, 1934, Daryl Black was the oldest of three children in his family. As he fondly recalls, "Mom always said I was born first so I could take care of [my parents'] two younger daughters." Daryl's father was a machinist with John Deere. In 1951, the family moved to Waterloo, Iowa, where he completed high school, graduating in 1953. He had played football in high school, and, growing up with a fascination for trains like so many young boys, also found employment...
Born in Stoughton, Wisconsin, just months before the United States entered World War II, Alex Athans and his eight siblings (Alex was No. 6) were first generation Americans whose parents had emigrated from Greece in the early 20th Century. In 1915, Alex's mother had crossed the Atlantic on a vessel that stopped to pick up survivors of the RMS Lusitania, torpedoed and sunk in 18 minutes by a German U-boat. Alex's parents settled in Chicago, and it was there that they met (both parents would live...
The turnout was indeed terrific for our fifth and final Tehachapi rally, with attendance conservatively amounting to about 750 rallygoers, more than a few of them coming from Bakersfield, Mojave, Rosamond and other communities near Tehachapi. The rally took place Friday, October 30, from 3 to 6 p.m. at our usual location (Tucker Rd. and Valley Blvd.). While many of the folks were attending their third, fourth or even fifth rally, we did have an exciting newcomer this time – war hero and P...
U.S. Navy veteran Jed Hannan was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in November 1943. This, of course, was in the middle of World War II. Jed's father was an aviation machinist's mate in the Navy at Jacksonville Naval Air Station (NAS), where he rebuilt engines on PBY flying boats. Raised in New Jersey and the oldest of six children, Jed graduated from high school in June 1961. The day after graduation, he and a friend began a most ambitious road trip inspired by President John F. Kennedy. Wanting...
Meet the author, internationally acclaimed World War II author Dr. Craig Luther at a book signing on Sunday, November 15, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Triassic Vineyards, 24627 Cummings Valley Road, Tehachapi. Dr. Luther is a former Fulbright Scholar (Bonn, West Germany). He completed his Ph.D. in Modern European History at UC Santa Barbara in 1987. He was employed as a military historian by the U.S. Air Force for 27 years (16 at McClellan AFB, outside Sacramento, then 11 years at Edwards AFB)....
On Saturday, October 17, we conducted our fourth Re-Elect President Trump rally in Tehachapi since late July. There were only about 500 folks in attendance (our last rally in late September drew close to 1,000), due in part to competing Trump rallies taking place in Bakersfield at the same time. All of our participating "Trump Troops" were excited to be among like-minded spirits and fully engaged in supporting the president's re-election. There were smiling, joyful faces everywhere, among a...
On Friday, September 25, supporters of President Trump's re-election conducted the third rally in Tehachapi since late July. As the election has heated up, so has interest in our rallies: the July rally attracting 200 plus folks, the August rally 400 to 500, and at the recent September rally 800 to 1000. Rally-goer Wilbur W. Wells was quoted in the Tehachapi News observing, "There were literally hundreds of American flags present, and not a single one was burned or disrespected. Instead, people...
The Tehachapi Unified School District (TUSD) hosted its annual district level Oral Language Festival (competition) at the district office on Thursday, Dec. 5. The event kicked off just after 6 p.m. at the district office's board room, located at 300 S. Robinson St. The participants were 19 students - all 4th and 5th graders from Golden Hills, Cummings Valley and Tompkins elementary schools - who had successfully cleared the first stage of the competition by winning the individual elementary...
Ed Miller, well known to the vehicle repair shops in Tehachapi, is the new owner of the NAPA Auto Parts Store (dba Kern Auto Parts, Inc.,) located at 20633 South Street. Ed grew up in Lake Isabella and still resides there; he is married and a father of six. Ed's personal history with NAPA Auto Parts is one of years of hard work and dedication, which were eventually rewarded with remarkable success. He began at the bottom, employed as a delivery driver at the age of 23. Over the years, he worked...
Gianni Carpani may be among Tehachapi's rather large group of "mature" citizens, but he remains one of our town's most celebrated athletes with decades of impressive accomplishments as both a runner and a cyclist. The youngest of four brothers, Gianni was born in Italy in the late 1940s. Like most European males, as a child and young man he enjoyed playing soccer and later also took up cycling. He participated in cycling competitions in Italy, exhibiting a natural ability for the sport;...
Tuesday, Sept. 17 was a significant day for the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District (TVHD) in its ongoing efforts to repurpose the former (now vacant) hospital located at 115 West E. Street. At its monthly board of directors meeting, the district board, led by board President Mike Nixon, outlined its strategic plans for the old hospital, a concrete building comprising some 17,000 square feet and used since the early 1950s as an acute care hospital. The board of directors had recently conducted...
Saturday, Sept. 7, Tehachapi's own Have a Heart Humane Society sponsored its fifth annual Gone to the Dogs 5K Fun Run and Pet Fest. The event was held at Meadowbrook Park and also included games for children, a petting zoo, free animal microchipping, food and craft vendors, and animal adoptions. According to Have a Heart President, Carol Larimore, the event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the humane society's spay and neuter services. At precisely noon, dozens of painted lady...
