Tehachapi Oldtimers Reunion: Laughter and memories in the park

It was a beautiful sunny day at Phil Marx Central Park on Aug. 7 when hundreds of people gathered to reminisce and renew old acquaintances at the annual Tehachapi Oldtimers Reunion.

While no one took an exact head count on Sunday, there were more than 475 RSVPs to the Tehachapi Oldtimers Reunion Committee, and the event was very well-attended.

People came from throughout California and even other states to revisit their former town and their neighbors and friends from years gone by.

If you grow up in

Tehachapi, it’s easy to assume that most towns have a similar day to honor longtime residents, but actually few towns have anything like it. This is an unusual event that shows how Tehachapi has a strong sense of community.

The yearly celebration was started in 1959 by Herb and Ola Mae Force as a way of honoring longtime Tehachapi residents who had lived in Tehachapi for 40 years or more. That first year, anyone who had lived in Tehachapi in 1919 or before was given a free lunch.

This year, anyone who lived in Tehachapi prior to 1982 was given a free meal catered by Coconut Joe’s in Bakersfield. Those who moved to town later, or younger family members of older residents were still welcome to attend, they just had to pay $15 for their meal.

The two most senior people in attendance were the same as last year: Del Troy, 96, and the Rev. Lewis Wakeland, 93. Del was one of the founders of the Tehachapi Heritage League, as well as the Tehachapi Mountain Quilters group. She has been a longtime community volunteer and is a dear friend of mine — Del used to drive me to Heritage League events when I was only 11 years old, and we have been friends ever since.

The Rev. Wakeland was the longtime minister of the oldest Protestant church in Tehachapi, now known as the Tehachapi Community Church. The church building, on the corner of Green and E streets, was built in 1928 and survived the 1952 Tehachapi Earthquake with very little damage. Rev. Wakeland and his late wife Mary Lou arrived in Tehachapi in the late 1960s and raised their family here while Lew served as pastor.

While a number of people came from other states to attend Sunday’s gathering, Steve and Lora Minton came all the way from Georgia to reconnect with friends at the little mountain town where they both grew up. Steve was a former manager of the Tehachapi Valley Recreation and Park District, which puts on the Oldtimers Reunion each year, and for years was the manager of the city of Tehachapi and was later with the Tehachapi Unified School District. Lora was a longtime counselor with the TUSD.

Brenda Cavazos of the TVRPD was the organizer of last week’s Tehachapi Oldtimer’s Reunion and Mike Davies was the emcee. Invaluable help was provided by members of all three THS football teams: the frosh/soph team set up tables and chairs, varsity members served meals and jayvees did the cleanup. The boys were very courteous and helpful, and were a testament to the quality of Tehachapi young people. The Warrior Booster Club ran the drinks booth.

As in years past, the music was provided by Lil N Tertainment. Sponsors included the city of Tehachapi, Waste Management, Albertsons, Save Mart, Linda Clough, Lance Patton, Scott’s Auto Body and M & M Sports.

Each year I look forward to the annual Tehachapi Oldtimers Reunion because I enjoy it so much. There are so many people from Tehachapi that there isn’t time to visit with all these friends and neighbors – I see people that I recognize and want to connect with, but the event is over before I’ve had a chance to visit them all. So I look forward to the next year, on the first Sunday in August, when there will be another great gathering of those who remember the Tehachapi of earlier times.

Have a good week.