Banducci: a grand old name

Pat Gracey.

I never try to improvise or add facts just to make the story better. My brother, Everett, and a young girl named Dorothy Banducci, went to first grade together in Tehachapi. They were both six years of age. That's nothing to write home about but there are facts surrounding the Banducci name that are interesting. So, I will transport the story to the Stallion Springs area, long before anyone ever thought of doing any residential communities there.

First, though, to set the scene: In the early days of St. Malachy Church, the pastor had a great deal of area to cover; hundreds of miles north to Bishop, south to San Fernando Valley and as far as east as Needles, California. Sometimes in the very beginning of the 1900s the clergy actually rode the freight trains with the engineer's permission in order to visit his parishes. They were allowed to ride in the engine with the engineer and the fireman. The name Patrick Greany has survived through the years as one of the engineers. I am not sure if the railroad company ever knew of this arrangement.

When the priest would make his rounds to Tehachapi, he had certain areas to visit, as well as the city itself. This would mean a visit to the Tejon Rancheria on the west tip ends of the Tehachapi Mountains.

The best way to get there from here was to head out to the area of Cummings Valley where the Banducci and Perrier farms nestled close to the mountains. There was a trail that went down Cedar Canyon; only passable by horseback. This would enable Father to visit the Rancheria and baptize, bless graves, perform weddings and connect with the Native Americans who lived in the village. Fort Tejon had been closed some years before but the Rancheria and its residents remained. Father Joseph Wanner is listed as pastor in 1907 and according to old time resident, Sam Iriart, the priest would ask him to drive him by horse and wagon out to the Perrier farm where he would spend the night in preparation for the trip to the Rancheria the next day. As we all know, it's a good 15 or more miles to what is now Stallion Springs and a trip by horse and wagon would take up a good part of the day.

Early the next day, Sam, Father Wanner and Mary Perrier, age 16, would travel by horseback down Cedar Canyon to the Rancheria. Mary Perrier was the daughter of Frank and Antonia Perrier; their only child.

They would return the same day and Father and Sam would spend a second night at the Perrier farm.

Then, back into town on the third day where Sam Iriart would deliver Father Wanner to his rectory on F Street in Tehachapi. The rectory consisted of a small room on the back of the first St. Malachy Church, built in 1887, containing a stove, a bed, table, bookcase and a candle for light. Sam always joked saying, "It took me three days to get that priest back home!"

As fate would have it, Mary Perrier was to marry Joe Banducci who was the son of Angelo and Jane Banducci who had come to Tehachapi with the Sasia, Antongiovanni and Bertania families. The children of these families were baptized by Father Wanner at the first Cummings Valley School. Also, my brother's first grade classmate, Dorothy Banducci (Etchecopar, Perry) would be the daughter of Mary and Joe Banducci.

Kind of a long way to connect "a grand old name" such as Banducci, but now as one travels along Banducci Road you can be happy it does not take most of a day to arrive home.