Meet your new neighbors

John and Lynn Rastaetter had lived in Ojai, California, for 27 years. However, the beautiful little resort town near Ventura was becoming too crowded and too expensive. They had looked for a place to retire for five years before finally deciding on Tehachapi where they loved the seasonal weather changes and the open spaces. However, it wasn’t until this year when Lynn decided it was time to retire from her 26 year position of Administrative Assistant for the well-known Ojai Presbyterian Church that they put their house on the market. As luck would have it, the house sold in two weeks sending the couple scrambling for a place to live. Needless to say, they are here and glad to be here.

This was John’s second or maybe third retirement. Due to utility reregulation, he originally retired at the age of 48 after spending 17 years as a draftsman in the engineering department of Southern California Edison. It was during that time 20 years ago that he first found Tehachapi when Edison had a booth at Mountain Festival. After Edison he spent 6 years in office management for a drilling company in Ventura. When they wanted him to transfer to Long Beach, he moved on to an architectural firm where he stayed until his final retirement.

John was born in New York but raised in Azusa, California, with a brother and two sisters. He loves hiking and long distance walking. He walks about four miles a day and has walked the LA Marathon twice. He once climbed Mount Whitney in 18 hours. NOTE: Needless to say, I was impressed.

Lynn was born in Riverside and raised with two sisters but it wasn’t until the family moved to Covina that she met John. They celebrated their 46th Wedding Anniversary this year. Now retired, she expects to spend more time on scrapbooking and other crafts. She and John have two sons who live in Ventura. They also have two grandsons aged 21 and two. The elder is a senior at Alaska State University where he is working on a degree in documentary film production.

Welcome to Tehachapi, Lynn and John!

At the beginning of June, Ron and Alberta Woods arrived in Tehachapi from Colorado Springs with their two small dogs, Garrett and Max. They had been in Colorado for many years where Ron worked for Budget Rental Car at Colorado Springs Airport. It was Alberta’s brother and nephew who live here in Tehachapi that convinced them to make the move back to California.

Ron was born in Denver, Colorado, and Alberta was born in Brooklyn, New York, but they met in Cypress, California, through a “Parents Without Partners” group. Alberta had two daughters and Ron had three sons and a daughter. They married in 1977 and now have 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

As a young man, Ron was in the Navy and was a radar operator on the USS Jenkins, a sub-chaser based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He told me that his great uncle had been the chaplain on the USS Arizona at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War II. Over the years Ron has worked as a carpenter, been in RV construction, worked on the docks of San Pedro and sold life insurance but no matter where he lived or worked, Ron has always been a prospector at heart. He was president of the Colorado Springs chapter of GPAA (Gold Prospectors Association of America), a group he helped organize 10 years ago and hopes to be active in the local Bakersfield chapter.

Alberta’s work background is just as varied as Ron’s. She grew up playing the piano and was accepted to Julliard in New York but had to turn it down. She taught piano and told me that she even played in a Hollywood bar. While working at Paramount Studios, she once had the opportunity to have lunch with Elvis Presley. She spent eight years in real estate and , with Ron, started California Mining and Manufacturing Company. They mined turquoise at Joshua Tree in the high desert and made Indian jewelry. During the 11 years that they lived in Las Vegas, Nevada, Alberta worked at both the Bonanza and Showboat casino gift shops. She said that she is now content to read and crochet.

Tehachapi may be just the place for this couple to finally settle down.

Welcome, Ron and Alberta.