Meet Your New Neighbors

The lure of four seasons and the chance to live closer to nature was what attracted Jeremy and Mary McGill to Tehachapi. They found a house they loved in Bear Valley and moved in the August. However, getting together to work on their new house is a feat of major scheduling. Both Jeremy and Mary are firefighters. Jeremy is a Kern County fireman and is on a 48 hour shift. Mary works for the Bakersfield Fire Department and is on a 24 hour shift. They are off at the same time every fourth day and about every three months they have a few days together. It seems that work on the house may be a bit slow; however, the day I visited with the McGills, Jeremy and a friend were attempting to install a large double oven, something Mary had always wanted.

Mary was raised in Kernville in a foster home and she told me that she tries to keep contact with her foster siblings. Before becoming a firefighter, she was a cosmetologist. The drastic change of career is not so amazing when you learn that Mary loves to do anything that will take her outdoors. She runs, walks, swims and goes backpacking whenever she can.

Jeremy was raised in Bakersfield and his parents and sister still live there. He was a member of the Hot Shots for 10 years before joining the Kern County department. He loves all sports and is an avid follower of any team that comes from Boston. He even named the family cat “Fenway Park”. He plays golf when he can and plays ice hockey on a team of fellow firefighters.

“Welcome to Tehachapi” to this very active couple and we hope that your crazy work schedules won’t go on forever.

Butch and Darlene Barthel finally retired and moved to Tehachapi in April of this year. They had lived in Bakersfield for the last 28 years but when it came time to retire they wanted to move where they had friends, family, a friendly community AND good weather.

For twelve years, Butch and Darlene had owned Bakersfield Athletic Supply and Equipment or BASE, Inc. which was located in the Wild West Shopping Center. The business was known as Central Valley Athletic for the eighteen years prior to that. Even in retirement, Butch hasn’t been able to give up sports. He is currently assisting Tehachapi High Schools football coach Steve Denman organizing equipment. Darlene at one time had a legal service in Bakersfield and also owned a popular gift shop known as “17th Place Cottage” which specialized in Darlene’s own white painted “shabby style” furniture

Butch was born in San Antonio, Texas. His family came to California on vacation and stayed. He has one brother who now lives in Tennessee. Darlene was born in Long Beach, California, grew up in Costa Mesa and went to Western High School in Anaheim. That is where she met Butch. They began dating at age 15 and have now been together for 53 years. They have four grown children, two boys and two girls, as well as ten grandchildren. Daughter Robyn lives in Orange County and has three children one of which is enrolled at the Culinary Institute of New York. Myndi has three boys and lives in Long Beach. Jeffrey and Burkley both live with their families in Nairobi, Kenya. After his graduation from Pepperdine University, Jeffrey joined the United Nations World Food Project in Kenya. Eventually he opened the Nairobi Java House and now also builds cottages. Burkley went to Kenya to visit his brother around five years ago and decided to stay and raise a family. Jeffrey’s son, Lokai, has exhibited a great deal of promise as a long distance runner and is now running cross country for Tehachapi High School and living with Darlene and Butch. Darlene said that having a teenager in the house again is keeping her young but it is Butch who follows Lokai to his cross country track meets.

Darlene is busy setting up a paint studio at home to work on her unique furniture. She wants to either open her own space here or perhaps enter into a local partnership to display her furniture in a boutique type setting. I am certain we’ll be seeing Darlene’s furniture around Tehachapi very soon. Tehachapi extends a hearty welcome to Darlene, Butch and Lokai.

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.