Meet Your New Neighbors

In the fall of last year, Fantan-sy Calocci (pronounced Fanta-shay) found herself making a move to Tehachapi from Inglewood, California. When her mother passed away, Fantan-sy inherited her mother’s RV which had been kept here in Tehachapi. She said that once she arrived, she decided to stay. Tehachapi had been one of her mother’s favorite vacation spots as was Wrightwood in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Fantan-sy said that years ago her mother would trailer her horses to Tehachapi in order to spend her vacations riding. She added that her grandmother, who was born in 1919, told her that she could remember a time in Tehachapi when people used to bring their horses into town and put them on the train to ship them.

Fantan-sy herself is no stranger to horses. Her father was a Native American and had been raised in Missouri. This heritage has left her with a deep love and respect for Native American cultures. She said that she grew up loving the outdoors and spent many of her days “shuttling” hay. She rode horses and barrel raced as a young girl. She is the youngest of 18 children. Her mother and grandmother came from Italy where large families were common. Her mother was one of 22 children and Fantan-sy still has one aunt who lives in Wrightwood.

Fantan-sy lived in Los Angeles for many years. She is retired from the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) where she was a bus operator. She has three grown sons. Her oldest son lives in Alaska where he works for the fire department in Seward. She also has twin boys. One is a correctional officer in Alaska and the other is in the military and stationed in Germany.

Keeping her company here in Tehachapi are her three cats. Bedacious is a tortoise dilute, Powder is a platinum mink tonkinese and Christman is a calico, and they are all very shy.

We are delighted that Fantan-sy and her feline family have decided to make Tehachapi their home. Welcome!

Scott and Lesli Smith are not really new to Tehachapi. They are returnees. They lived in Tehachapi from 1990 to 2005 when they started the Summit Christian Fellowship on Curry Street. Now they are weekenders with a condo here and visit often to play golf, visit with their children or take care of their grandchildren.

They live in Camarillo, in Ventura County, where they had been pastoring a church. They plan to eventually live in Tehachapi full time again and perhaps pastor another church here.

Lesli was born in Santa Paula, California which is also in Ventura County. She left at the age of four years old and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. She graduated from Canoga Park High School and has one sister who is still a Valley Girl and lives in Granada Hills.

Scott was born in Moscow, Idaho, where his father was going to school. He is the middle child between two sisters. His family eventually moved to Camas, near Vancouver in southern Washington.

He and Lesli met at Life Bible College which was in the Echo Park area of downtown Los Angeles at that time. Both of them were ordained in the Foursquare church in 1987. Aside from Tehachapi and Camarillo, they also pastored a church near Seattle, Washington. Scott is primary pastor and Lesli says that she is executive assistant.

They have four children, all grown. Daughter Erin lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is the mother of two of their five granddaughters and has another on the way. Their son Nathan is here in Tehachapi and is Dad to the other three granddaughters. Scott Jr. and David are their remaining sons and also live in Southern California.

Scott loves to play golf and whenever he is in Tehachapi, he is on the golf course as much as possible. Lesli says that he also loves aquariums and even has them at church. When I asked her what kind, she said “the more exotic , the better”. She said that she loves to read and crochet in her free time.

We are delighted that Scott and Lesli have returned to Tehachapi and look forward to hearing more from them in the not-too-distant future.

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.