Remembering Chelley Kitzmiller

Tehachapi has lost one of our most influential citizens, Chelley Kitzmiller. She passed away on the morning of Sunday, November 6, 2016 after a brief battle with cancer.

Chelley was born Cheryl Jean Clarke on July 27, 1946 in Santa Monica California. Chelley met Ted Kitzmiller, her husband of 53 years, at Sunny Hills High School, when he stole a Nestle Crunch Bar from her. They were married 5 months later on September 21, 1953. In their 53 years, they rarely spent a night apart.

While living in Orange County, Chelley began her menagerie of animals. All animals that would show up at her door would be welcomed, fixed and loved. Some of Chelley's most outrageous pets were the two Spider Monkeys that she rescued and named Ethel and Fred. Chelley had a huge cage built in her very small back yard for the monkeys, yet they spent most of their time in the house, answering phones and playing with the kids.

Chelley's first job was as an Avon Lady, where she won numerous awards for her sales and the personal relationships she built with her clients. She also raised award winning African Violets. While camping in Bishop in the late 1970s, she was presented with a book called "Sweet Savage Love" by Rosemary Rogers that changed the course of her life. She began gobbling up romance novels, realizing at one point she would have to write one. She started immersing herself in the romance novel industry and became friends with the authors and eventually started doing publicity for them. She was an absolute natural and could whip out a press release with a snap of her fingers, throw together an autograph party in a day and pull off some well noted publicity stunts like "The Love Train" in 1983 where hundreds of authors boarded a train in Fullerton bound for New York for a 'Romance Writers of America' conference.

In 1985, Ted's job transferred the family to Tehachapi. Excited about having enough land for a country life, Ted and Chelley began collecting more animals, including Chelley's two beloved donkeys, Paco and Abigal, goats, chickens, geese, dogs, cats, and even a lamb that she had to rehome when it plowed through her dining room window.

When Ted lost his job in 1987, they purchased the Radio Shack Franchise store in Tehachapi on Curry Street and became business owners. After several months, the beauty parlor in the same building as the Radio Shack became vacant and Chelley decided to open a used bookstore from books she had on her shelves in her den. Her love of books and writing drove her to create a successful business called "Celebrity Books and Tea Parlor" where she would use her contacts and advertising experience to host author signings and special events. Four years later, she sold her bookstore and resumed her writing, selling the first of four novels, one anthology and numerous short stories and magazine articles which included an article in Bakersfield Life Magazine. In 2002 Chelley and her daughter Gina Christopher opened Books and Crannies next to the Kitzmiller's Radio shack and began a unique family business enterprise. This is where her love of pet rescue became her passion. Chelley began a pet rescue organization with the vision of rescuing as many homeless dogs and cats as possible and educating the public about the importance of spay and neuter, but she found the first rescue too limiting on the ideals that were most important to her.

It was 2010 when her true calling began and she formed Have a Heart Humane Society. She worked tirelessly 12 or more hours a day raising money, scheduling spay and neuter clinics and coordinating foster homes for the endless stream of animals needing help, vet care and homes. In March of 2016 her dream of an upscale resale store and adoption center became a reality when she opened Rescued Treasures, a store where the donation of quality new, used and collectible items supports spay and neuter efforts and helps fund Have A Heart's ongoing projects. Chelley's ultimate dream was to obtain a brick and mortar NO KILL animal shelter and adoption center in Tehachapi. She wrote grants and raised money and felt she was very close to realizing her dream, so much so that Chelley set aside $10,000 of Have A Heart Savings to go towards the shelter fund.

Chelley is survived by her beloved husband Ted Kitzmiller, her daughter and closest friend Gina and husband Mark Christopher of Tehachapi, son Dan Kitzmiller and his wife Nancy and two granddaughters Amber and Kinley of Susanville, brother Gerald Clarke of The Hamptons, New York and sister Barbara Dardis in Florida, dogs, cats, and many loving friends.

In lieu of flowers, the Kitzmiller family is requesting that donations be made to Have a Heart Humane Society. A special fund called "Chelley's Fund" has been established to raise funds for Chelley's dream of a NO KILL animal shelter. A celebration of her life will be held at Christian Life Assembly in Tehachapi on Saturday, November 19 at 2 p.m. We are welcoming all that knew and loved Chelley to attend. We ask everyone who will be attending the ceremony to wear either their red Have A Heart t-shirts or red in general. Please visit the Have A Heart webpage at http://www.haveahearthumanesociety.org or Facebook page for more information and to make a donation. Chelley left us, the volunteers at the rescue at dedicated to continuing her legacy and fulfilling her dream.

The Kitzmiller and Rescue Family originally wanted animals to attend the ceremony, but finding a pet friendly church is not easy. So instead they request that those who have a adopted a furry family member from Have A Heart, bring a picture with your name, the animals name and a short sentence of how Chelley and/or the rescue impacted your life. A scrapbook will be created to honor and remember her legacy.