Hod Welden celebrates 94th birthday,

One of Tehachapi’s most remarkable people passed a milestone last week when Hod Welden celebrated his 94th birthday in Stallion Springs. Hod is a tall, tough, good-looking horseman who started one of Tehachapi’s oldest business, Tehachapi Hay Company, back in 1966.

Hod’s birthday was celebrated by a surprise birthday parade, the kind that arose from pandemic quarantining and social distancing. About 40 trucks came by Hod’s house, with members of the 5150 club and Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Hod was delighted with the surprise and the company, for he remains an active and robust man with a keen mind.

Hod was born on April 29, 1927 to Howard and Linea Anna Welden, and he and his brother Garwood were raised in the small town of Titusville, Penn. The Weldens lived and worked on a big dairy farm, where Howard was a gardener for the wealthy family that owned the dairy. “We raised most of our own food, and from the time my brother and I were 5 or 6 years old, we would be working in the garden,” Hod recalls, “We’d do weeding and pick vegetables in the morning, and then we could go play in the afternoon. I really had a won- derful childhood. We didn’t have many material possessions but we were happy.”

Hod took an early and lifelong interest in horses, and he would help out at nearby stables, cleaning stalls, brushing horses, whatever he could do in exchange for the chance to ride. When he was only 12 years old, he was put in charge of taking care of the horses, so he would go early in the morning before school and do the feeding and come back in the afternoon to do more work.

World War II was nearing a conclusion in 1945, but Hod went into the Marine Corps and spent a year in the service. Hod ended up in Southern California in 1947, and took a truck driving job with a company called Calcor, hauling materials for steel buildings and aircraft. Hod is what the oldtimers call “a tall drink of water,” rawboned with big hands, and at 190 pounds, he boxed as a heavyweight in Golden Gloves amateur boxing competition. He trained at the famed Main Street Gym in Downtown Los Angeles.

In 1951, Hod married Kay Appleberry and they moved to the city of San Fernando so that Hod could have a horse — and he hasn’t been without a horse (or sometimes many horses) since then. Hod and Kay had two sons, Kenny and Cody, and they later moved to Tehachapi in 1966.

Hod didn’t have a job, but he did own a 1 and 1/2-ton bobtail truck, and a friend in Agua Dulce told Hod that he needed some oat hay. In those days, James Franklin was raising grain hay out on Dennison Road and storing the hay in the old Sullivan barn, which was located on Dennison Road across from the new high school (it was dismantled several years ago). Hod went out and introduced himself to James, who became a lifelong friend, and made arrangements to get a load of the hay at a price of $26 a ton, which worked out to about $1.60 a bale. Hod delivered it to his friend in Agua Dulce, and a neighbor saw it and wanted some so Hod delivered another load, and soon he was in business as the Tehachapi Hay Company.

When James Franklin ran out of hay, Hod went out to Cummings Valley were Bill Porter was raising about 160 acres of alfalfa. “I told Bill that I didn’t have any money, but if you’ll trust me for a load of hay, I’ll pay you back when I come for the next load,” Hod said. The arrangement worked fine, and before too long Hod had made enough money that he could pay for the hay up front. Hod was mostly hauling hay from Tehachapi to other areas — there weren’t too many people with horses in the Tehachapi area, and those that did bought their hay locally themselves. When he had sold all of Porter’s alfalfa for the year, Hod started making friends with alfalfa ranchers in the Lancaster area, paying about $30 a ton for number 1 alfalfa hay.

In 1971, tragedy struck Hod’s life when his wife Kay suffered a stroke at their Tehachapi home and died shortly afterwards at the hospital. Hod helped cope with his loss by working, hauling hay five or six days a week and doing paperwork on his days off. “My Dad has always worked harder than any man I ever saw,” his son Cody says, “He has always stayed busy.” Kenny and Cody grew up helping their Dad in the hay business, and Cody also started working in construction when he was just 14. Grief struck Hod again when Kenny died in a car accident in 1977 when he was only 23 years old — the driver fell asleep and the car crashed, killing two of the three occupants.

Hod kept up his hay business as the years rolled by, and to diversify his income, Hod and Cody built a set of apartments in the Golden Hills area. When they were getting the carpet to put in the apartments, Hod went into Designers Interiors and was smitten by Jane Gibbons, the owner. She remembers that he came in to her shop in work clothes — a red flannel shirt, jeans with one leg tucked into his pants and a floppy hat, and said “Ma’am, I have a powerful hankerin’ to take you out to dinner if you ain’t taken” She said yes, and they’ve been happily married for about 30 years.

“Life has for the most part been a wonderful adventure and I have been truly blessed by so many wonderful people,” Hod has said to me.

Hod loves his family, his life and his home in Tehachapi Mountains. He bears a resemblance to actor Clint Eastwood, and has been asked for his autograph more than once as a result, but Hod is no actor — he is thoroughly genuine, honest and kind, and he is as good a man as has ever lived in the Tehachapi Mountains. Hod has been my friend since I was little kid, and I love and respect him dearly.

Have a good week.