Meet Your New Neighbors

Kris and Randy Gruben moved to Tehachapi from Mission Viejo primarily to be near family. Their son, Josh, recently moved here with his family and I had“welcomed” them in April. The Grubens brought with them a very large white Labradoodle appropriately named “Mr. Big” who greeted me at the front gate, escorted me into the house and was then ushered back to the yard.

The couple had lived in Orange County for ten years but now is looking forward to the changing seasons and the beauty of the mountains. Before moving to Mission Viejo, they spent four years in Santa Fe caring for Kris’ parents. Her mom and dad had both been military and had settled in New Mexico for retirement.

Kris is retired from thirty years as a compliance officer in the financial industry. She worked for Pacific Investment Management Corporation and has also been a compliance consultant. She was brought up in San Diego and has a sister who currently lives in Idaho. Much of her free time is spent quilting, working in mixed media fiber arts such as beading and felting, gardening and reading.

Randy was brought up in Joliette, Illinois, and still has a sister in Hinsdale. After moving to California, Randy worked in sales and marketing for Pepsi before spending twenty years with Budweiser in San Diego. His retirement job for the last seven years had been as a bus driver in Mission Viejo. He says he might consider doing that again but he has lots of work he wants to do on the new house first and is also hoping to find time to improve his golf game.

Together the Grubens have five children (Scott, Eric, Josh, Katie and Erica) and fifteen grandchildren. All of them live in Southern California which makes for a huge party when they are all together. Two of their grandchildren are in college and two are currently backpacking the world, first in South America and now in Thailand. Kris and Randy are looking forward to a June trip to Korea for the wedding of another grandson. It sounds like they will have a very busy summer. Welcome to Tehachapi, Kris and Randy.

At first glance, it might seem that Jon Michael Rodgers is out of his element in Tehachapi but he seems to be settling in amazingly well. He was born and raised in Huntington Beach and has been surfing since he was eight years old. He loves the beach and told me his favorite surfing spot was near Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard. He had become more and more disenchanted with Huntington Beach and the city’s “bad attitudes” that have increased since the 1986 riots. Jon is an only child and his mother lives in Bear Valley. It was only natural that he felt it was time to live closer to her.

Jon has been deaf since a fever took his hearing when he was nine months old. He was sent for treatment to the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles. His disability does not seem to have slowed him down one bit. He is a certified surfing instructor for the deaf and has been designing surfboards for twelve years. He drives around town in a car which proudly displays a sign that says “Jon Michael Rodgers, Surfer”. He is active with the group called GOO which is an acronym for “Get Oil Out”, a movement to keep oil off the beaches. He mentioned that one of the best ways to take off beach tar is with Melaleuca Tea Tree Oil, a good thing to remember when you go to the beach anywhere in California.

One of his most indelible childhood memories was meeting Walt Disney. He remembers that he was quite agitated but when Mr. Disney put his hand on Jon’s knee, he calmed right down. He claims he will never forget that moment. He also told me about a Coo-Coo clock he liked to watch that drove everyone crazy but him, a real advantage to not being able to hear it.

Aside from surfing, Jon likes arts and crafts and repairing things. His roommate is a Parakeet named “Tweety” who, according to Jon, is at least five years old. Since moving to Tehachapi, he has also joined the Valley Bible Deaf Church. He loves meeting new people and going to new places and a chance to learn something new. Welcome, Jon, and “Happy Exploring” around Tehachapi.