Meet Your New Neighbors

Nearly two years ago, Beverly and Oleg Ross sold their Highland Park home to a member of The Red Hot Chili Peppers performing group and moved to Palmdale. It was to be their retirement house. However, they were not happy with the area and Oleg’s allergies were bad so they began to look at another move. Their daughter, Deborah, suggested that they might like Tehachapi so they came for a visit and really liked the area, its natural surroundings and the fact that it had so many churches. They are both very active in their full gospel church.

Before retirement, Oleg had worked for the City of Los Angeles Library in Eagle Rock. He has always loved books and claims to have nearly 250 boxes of them. One room of their new house will be a library. He was born in Lithuania and eventually worked his way to Germany before coming to the United States in 1950, sponsored by the First Presbyterian Church in San Bernardino, CA. He is multi-lingual and as a result of his travels, speaks Lithuanian, Russian, German and Spanish. Once they get settled, he hopes to pursue the outdoor activities that he loves like canoeing, archery, hiking and shooting.

Beverly was born in Houston, Texas, but claims that her grandfather came from Sweden. She moved to California at the age of 13. When she married Oleg, she was the mother of four girls. She told me that he raised her daughters and calls them his “five girls”. The oldest is Paula; Deborah lives in Palmdale and has five children; Annette lives in Forestville, California; and Donna has a master’s degree in psychology and lives in Los Angeles. The girls kept her pretty busy but she said that she did work for Volkswagen in Pasadena, CA for a while. Beverly claims that her “hobbies” are shopping and cooking, but she also has a collection of mission tiles that she proudly displays and is almost complete.

Oleg and Beverly love to eat out and are sampling the restaurants around Tehachapi. They claim that their current favorite is The Village Grill for breakfast.

The Ross’ share their house with a fifteen year old cat named Minkie who was conspicuously absent during my visit. No matter! I welcome him anyway and “Welcome to Tehachapi”, Oleg and Beverly.

For Mary Dimond moving to Tehachapi was coming back to her roots. She was brought up here. However, for the last five years she and her husband, Mark, lived and worked in San Antonio, Texas. She says that she really liked the people there but the weather and the roads were bad and, “People just don’t know how to drive”. However, Texas does have good barbecue.

Mark hails from Manhattan Beach and is retired from Sysco Foods. Mary will soon be retiring as a manager at Medtronics . They are one of the major manufacturers of insulin pumps in the country and Mary has been with them for the last ten years. Before moving to Texas, they had a home in Valencia, CA which they rented when she transferred to Texas. Mary came to Tehachapi at the age of five. Mary said that at one time she ran the cable office here. Her children were also brought up in Tehachapi. Since Mary’s mother also still lives here, when it came time to think about a place to retire, the area was a natural. However, until she actually retires, Mary continues to work from her Tehachapi home via computer.

Between the two of them, the couple has three daughters and ten grandchildren. The grandchildren are evenly divided – five boys and five girls. Connie, the oldest daughter, lives in Lancaster, CA. Erica, the middle daughter, lives in California City, CA and Cheree , the youngest, lives in Bakersfield, CA. They are not often in the same place at the same time but Mary said that they all were able to get together last year at her mother’s home. Sadly for Mary and her husband, Cheree and her family will soon be moving to Orlando, FL.

Now that she is retiring, Mary is looking forward to spending more time at her hobby which is quilting. Her mother also makes quilts so they can look forward to spending some quality time doing what they both love.

Welcome back to Tehachapi Mary and Mark and “Happy Retirement”.

I want to take this opportunity to tell you that I think I have the best job in the world. I enjoy talking about our great town and love visiting with people. If you or anyone you know are new to Tehachapi and would like to learn more about your new hometown, please be sure to contact me at (661) 822-8188. ~ Pat Doody, Welcome Hostess