Meet Your New Neighbors

Sally and Ricky Barker moved to their mountain top home in Bear Valley at the end of May to basically, "get out of Bakersfield." Over the years, the valley pollution had taken a toll on Ricky's health and they felt there was too much violence there as well. They wanted to raise their four boys in the beauty and clean air of the mountains.

After having spent 16 years in the oil fields of the Central Valley, Ricky has started a new business washing and detailing cars in Bear Valley.

"He loves it," says Sally. "He is a neat-freak and loves to clean."

He was born in Dallas, Texas but was adopted by his grandfather at the age of three and moved to Taft where he grew up.

Sally was born in Bakersfield and has four brothers and a sister. She has been a Highway Patrol officer for 15 years in Bakersfield and is currently hoping to get a transfer to a station closer to home. She loves to hike and got into photography about a year ago. She and Ricky are looking forward to being able to take their boys hiking when they get a bit older.

The couple's four boys range in age from three- to eight-years-old. Eight-year-old Jaycob is into all kinds of sports including football. Five-year-old Noah is just starting to get into sports this year. Four-year-old J.D. and three-year-old Johnny are currently happy following their big brothers around.

Keeping an eye on the family are Ruger and Gunner, two huge Canis Panther dogs. The Canis Panther is considered the ultimate pet protector. Related to Great Danes and Dobermans, they are sensitive, loving and great with children. According to Sally, they are also sometimes used to hunt bear.

To Ricky, Sally and boys, Welcome to Tehachapi!

For Daphne and Vinod Sherring it is, "Welcome back." Vinod is an engineer with Lockheed Martin and four years ago they transferred to North Carolina. This year Vinod was transferred back and is assigned to Edwards Air Force Base. They could not imagine living anywhere other than Tehachapi. They found a house that they loved and then found that it was unavailable. They bought another home nearby and settled in. Then they found out that the original house was going to be available after all so they put their house on the market. Evidently, the stars were aligned, because their house sold immediately and Daphne got her dream house.

Daphne was born in Texas. She has two brothers and two sisters. Other than one sister who lives in Mississippi, they are all still in Texas. She joined the military out of school and spent seven years in the Air Force. During that time, she was stationed overseas with the Desert Storm operation.

Vinod was born in India. His parents were educators and his grandparents were missionaries. He was sent to college in the United States along with his brother and sister to Southwestern University in Winfield, Kansas. His sister currently lives in Los Angeles. He has a daughter, Kama, who lives in Arizona and will be visiting Tehachapi soon.

When I asked Daphne how they met, she said, "he ran into my car." About three months later they met again at a Greek Festival in Fort Worth, Texas and about three months later they were married on the beach in Santa Monica since Vinod was then working for Lockheed.

Vinod likes to hike and to build computers. "He's a geek," admits Daphne. She likes to garden and decorate houses and has made a good start on their Bear Valley home. She also likes to walk and bike. They currently are parents to a large cat family. Gilmore, Dozer, Mr. Deeds, Nitro, Chewbacca, Snowy, Jingles, Lightning and Romeo share their home. "We're foster failures," Daphne admits. Daphne was a pet sitter when she last lived here; however, she has gone back to school and hopes to soon become a Realtor in Tehachapi.

Welcome back to Tehachapi Daphne and Vinod. I know we will be hearing more from you.

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.