Meet Your New Neighbors

In 2010 Greg Harvey and Victoria Randall purchased their mountain home to be used for vacations and, eventually, retirement. They found the area through a friend of Victoria’s. This last August they both finally retired and made the move from Atascadero, in San Luis Obispo county, and became permanent residents of Bear Valley Springs. They say they are still getting used to retirement and their new location.

Greg said that they met while riding the bus to Cal Poly. Victoria is a top notch administrator and worked at Cal Poly in administration for 24 years. She also spent 7 years as an administrative assistant in the city manager’s office.

Greg spent 12 years as a communications aid for San Luis Obispo county dealing with radio communications for the sheriff and fire departments. However, that was his second career. He had spent a total of 20 years in the US Navy including his active and reserve years. Much of that time he was based in San Diego.

While Greg and Victoria had friends in this area, their families are spread all over the country. Greg has 2 sons, one in San Diego and one in Atascadero. Victoria has 3 sons in Iowa and Washington. Their ages range from 29 to 37. There are also eight grandchildren with another on the way and 3 great grandchildren.

They love to travel, camp and play chess. Greg is a home gardener and plays guitar and harmonica. Victoria likes to sew and is an avid reader. She also plays the piano, does some composing and is now looking for a keyboard. When I asked where they would like to go next, they said they would like to take a Royal Viking cruise.

I don’t think they will have any trouble adjusting to retirement.

Welcome to Tehachapi Greg and Victoria.

When I asked Greg O’Brien what brought him to Tehachapi, he said “My wonderful new bride Lorrie”. Greg and Lorrie met on eHarmony and Lorrie had only been on the site for one day before she caught Greg’s attention. Lorrie was living in Tehachapi, Calif. and Greg in Wausau, Wisc.

Ultimately Lorrie rented out her home here and moved to Wisconsin where they married. After a year they moved back to Tehachapi and Lorrie resumed her cleaning business, Four Seasons Custom Cleaning, a professional cleaning service specializing in businesses and churches.

Greg had been a school bus driver in Wisconsin so it was natural that he went to work driving a bus for the Mojave Unified School District while he is completing the requirements for becoming a correctional officer. He is also very active as a Tiger Cub Scout leader. Greg has a most unusual hobby. He has spent over 15 years being a professional clown going by the name of “Mr. Giggles”. He won his first trophy at the Mountain Festival Parade in August.

Lorrie likes arts and crafts but Greg says her main hobby is her 10 grandchildren. She has 5 children ranging in age from 40 to 16. Her son Charles and his family are in Tehachapi where he works for the California Department of Corrections, Brandi is in the Pacific Northwest, Krystal is in Oregon, Cory is in Afghanistan and Sadie is in Idaho. Greg has a daughter, Jessica, and a grandson in Phoenix. His daughter Candice went on eHarmony to prove that it didn’t work and has now moved to be closer to the boyfriend she met there. We had a good chuckle over that. The rest of Greg’s family, two brothers and a sister, are still in Wisconsin.

A big welcome and welcome back to Greg and Lorrie and I know Tehachapi will be seeing more of “Mr. Giggles”.

Welcome!

If you have moved to the Greater Tehachapi Area within the last six months and would like to know more about your new community, call 661-822-8188. We will be happy to make an appointment for a hostess to come by and give you lots of helpful information, some valuable coupons, gifts and much more. Many families and individuals who come to the area are pleasantly surprised with the amount of knowledge they gather about their new home. Publishing your welcome article is completely voluntary and is not a requirement of being welcomed.