Meet Your New Neighbors

Gary and Jenelle Wilcox had lived in their Bakersfield house for twenty years when they began looking for a place to retire. They loved the idea of having four seasons so Tehachapi caught their attention. In April they rented their Bakersfield house and moved into their new Tehachapi home.

Jenelle was raised in Bakersfield and although she says that she is a retired cosmetologist, she does not appear to be really retired. She is a Certified Children’s Etiquette Instructor and owner of Etiquette Essentials of Bakersfield. I honestly didn’t think anyone did that anymore and it would be great to see her expand her classes to Tehachapi. She is also a Kern County “Bloomer Girl”. The Bloomer Girls are a performing group that appears wearing a replica of the original Kern High School gym uniform. Kern High School is now Bakersfield High. Jenelle says to watch for the Bloomer Girls in this year’s Mountain Festival Parade. She is also an active Red Hat lady.

Gary was born in El Dorado, Kansas, which he says is near Wichita. He lived in Dallas and Denver and then ended up in Bakersfield. He worked in the aircraft industry before working with Mobil in Bakersfield. Currently, Gary is an engineering tech with Aera Energy.

Gary and Jenelle have been very active with the Kern County Museum and are both ambassadors. Gary is treasurer of the Kern County Historical Society and Jenelle is a past historian. Given their interest in history, it is no surprise that their passion is genealogy. Jenelle discovered that her third great grandfather was an original Texas Ranger and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto. She traveled to Clarksville in Red River County for the Texas Ranger Ceremony honoring her relative. She is a Daughter of the Republic of Texas and a Native Daughter of the Civil War. One of her current interests is genealogical DNA testing which sounded really fascinating to me.

The couple has four children, 3 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Their daughter Mardi lives in Bakersfield; Troy lives in San Francisco and is a chef specializing in organic foods; Travis lives in beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and Ashley lives in Portland, Oregon. Their current household includes a hound dog named Ty, a Chinese Crested Powder Puff (yes, that is a breed) named LiLi, and a black and white cat named Roxy. We are really excited to welcome Jenelle and Gary to Tehachapi and I know we’ll be seeing them around town.

Jay and Melinda Hernandez are actually from southeastern Virginia but when they came to California for work a year and a half ago, they ended up in Rosamond. Eventually the promise of nature and four seasons lured them to Tehachapi. It was Jay’s work in the solar industry that brought them here. He is an operations and maintenance technician with a division of Exelon in Lancaster. He says he doesn’t mind the commute.

Melinda has a degree in biology and was looking for a job in that field. In the meantime, she started volunteering at the Feline Breeding Compound in Rosamond. Before long, her knowledge and skills earned her the perfect job as zookeeper.

Jay is from the Philippines although he did spend his kindergarten year in New York City. His family permanently moved to the United States when he was nine. He has two brothers and two sisters. He and Melinda actually met in middle school. She was a swimmer and at eighteen was the swim coach for Jay’s brother and sister. She actually swam competitively for fifteen years. Melinda has two brothers. One lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado and the other in New York City.

Jay and Melinda say they don’t have too much time for hobbies but they have a small garden of squash, tomatoes and peppers in the yard. They also have a fascinating aqua-ponics project in their garage. The small herb garden is watered and fertilized from a tank of gold fish. The plants remove the fertilizer and return the water to the fish tank. I suspect that I’ve over simplified the process but hopefully you get the idea.

It is no wonder that Jay and Melinda have an animal friendly household. Carly and Sassy are their two very playful cats. They are joined by a Husky named Miko, a Lab named Bo, and a “Chiweenie” named Squirt. Their new house came with five chickens, so they almost always have fresh eggs, and now they have added 40 goldfish. It’s quite a family.

Welcome to Tehachapi to the entire Hernandez household.

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.