Meet Your New Neighbors

After 24 years in Santa Clarita, in a house that overlooked Saugus High School, Robin and Kathe Rich purchased a home in Bear Valley with room for horses. They had always wanted to be able to have their horse at home and now they have room to add more horses if they desire. The Santa Clarita area grew too much said Kathe and they found Tehachapi a beautiful peaceful place to live.

Fortunately, Robin does not do a daily commute to work. He is the Facilities Manager of the West Los Angeles veterans Administration facility and is there most of the week. He grew up in West Los Angeles and Kathe says he still loves riding a motorcycle.

Kathe was raised in Cleveland, Ohio and came to California in the 1970s. She is a critical care nurse and a clinical nurse educator working most recently with Henry Mayo Hospital in Santa Clarita. At one time she also worked at the Kaiser Permanente Sunset Hospital but the majority of her career was spent at Providence St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank. She worked at St. Joe's for 23 years.

Robin and Kathe met in West Los Angeles through friends and when they married, they lived in Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley. They have two grown daughters. One still lives in Van Nuys and is married to a man who does what Kathe calls "fancy fencing" having recently completed a job for LeBron James. Another daughter lives in New Zealand where she surfs and teaches yoga.

It wasn't until they moved to Santa Clarita and gave their daughters riding lessons that Kathe got interested in riding. The girls were into competing in three day equestrian events or barrel racing so Kathe had to try it, too. Soon she was hooked. Her specialty became dressage and she competed for many years. Kathe said that Robin enjoys riding horses as well but he is a trail rider and likes wandering out on his own. Right now they have one horse, a Swedish warmblood mare named Charizma although there may be another horse or two in their future.

Welcome to Tehachapi Robin and Kathe. You chose a great place for your equestrian activities.

It was their mutual love of horses that prompted William Wimberly and Diane Lakin to look for a house in Bear Valley Springs. The couple are retired and were living in Laguna Woods in Orange County when they began their search. William said that they searched for two years to find the right house on the flat. Even though they were hampered by medical problems, they made the move.

William said that they had both had horses at one time and it was at an equestrian event that they met. Diane knew the Kern County area well as she had been raised in Exeter and Shafter. Her dad was a rodeo cowboy, a team roper and barrel racer. His best friend was the famous "Slim" Pickens who was once a rodeo clown and Diane always called him her nanny. Also at one time she owned property in Walker Basin.

William was born in Arkansas and was raised on a farm near Heber Springs. He went to school in Little Rock, graduated from the University of Arkansas and got his Master's Degree from the Keller School of Management. He said he has held many jobs over the years. He was a notary, a substitute teacher, was in real estate and even worked on the space shuttle "return to flight" following the Challenger disaster in 1986.

Their constant companion is a 12-pound Chihuahua mix named Sandy. Sandy belonged to Diane's mother and the little dog used to travel with her as her service dog. He is a trained signal dog and he came to Diane when her mother was killed in an accident. However, according to William, the dog has two complete personalities. William sometimes calls him "Taz" or "devil dog" but said he loves him just the same. He adds that with all their medical problems, he sometimes wonders who rescued who.

Although neither of them can ride any more, they are delighted to be in a community with so many horses and horse people. Welcome to Tehachapi William, Diane and Taz.

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.