Planada- One Year Later –

Community Recovering from Devastating Floods

The community of Planada in Merced County one year after the entire town was flooded by January 2023 rains. Photo: Steve Newvine

When driving through the streets in Planada, Merced County, in January 2024, it’s clear the community is on the mend.

One year ago, the community was coping with floodwater when heavy rains made life difficult for everyone.

Within hours of the disaster, help was on the way. Residents were evacuated to shelters. The Sheriff’s Department set up roadblocks to protect the abandoned homes from looters.

Shortly after the rains ended, residents could return to their homes. Emergency food and water supplies were brought in. Right away, volunteers began jumping in to offer their time.

Photos from the early aftermath of the floods in Planada. Photos: Steve Newvine

Early pictures taken about a week after the floods showed streets lined with debris.

Large trailers from such organizations as Salvation Army and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association set up in the center of town.

A trailer with dozens of washers and dryers was moved in so that residents could catch up on laundry. Daily food distribution followed.

One year later, the debris is gone, the relief organizations have long since moved on to the next critical area of need, and Planada is slowly moving on with what looks like normal.

“I’d guess we are at about seventy-five percent back,” one resident told me as he looked through his neighborhood in mid-January.

The U S Post Office in Planada closed immediately after the floods, and as of January 2024, remained closed. Photo: Steve Newvine

Many of the businesses that were damaged during the 2023 flooding are back up and running.

One notable exception is the U S Post Office that closed after the floods, and as of this writing, is still not open to serve residents.

Some wondered how an agency of the federal government could not find a solution to reopen a post office, even if in temporary quarters.

“We’ve had to go to Merced to pick up our mail,” one resident said.

Inquiries as to the reopening of the post office were being referred by the Town to the postmaster’s office in Merced.

Calls to that office get a recorded message that encourages the caller to remain on the line.

After a two-to-three minute wait, a busy signal is heard over the line.

On our visit in mid-January, contractors were working on painting parts of the post office building. A contractor pointed out how the gutters and drainage system had to be replaced as well.

“More than one contractor, and a landlord from outside the area,” is how one resident described the likely reasons why it has taken more than a year to get the post office building back into shape.

Scenes from the community of Planada one year after the floods of January 2023. Photo compilation: Steve Newvine

On January ninth, the Merced County Board of Supervisors heard a presentation on how a twenty-million dollar state and federal aid allocation will be distributed to help homeowners and business operators recoup some of their out-of-pocket expenses related to the flood aftermath.

According to the presentation, about forty-percent of the money will go toward home repair.

Direct assistance programs for residents will consume a little over twenty-percent.

The rest will go to business support services with about ten-percent of the total going to administration of the money.

It is money that has been promised since the early weeks after the flooding.

There were hearings to find out what the people of Planada wanted as priorities. There was also some frustration over early scenarios about how the money should be spent.

The real test may come as the community sees the government aid come into the area.

The County of Merced will work with community organizations in February on outreach to residents and business owners.

They will explain the aid package and offer help on how to apply. Applications will be accepted beginning March 11 and be closed by April 20.

Today, the streets of Planada show little sign of the horrific damage done by the January 2023 flooding.

Most homes look like they did before the storms. Signs promoting candidates in the upcoming County Supervisor race dot some of the lawns.

It’s been a year of ups and downs as the community rebuilds.

A year ago, the sounds of debris removal trucks and building repair power tools permeated the town in the weeks following the storm.

Today, those sounds are mostly gone; replaced by a weary silence as residents wait on promised financial help.

There is hope however that the wait will soon be over for the reopening of the town’s post office.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His new book, Beaten Paths and Back Roads is available for sale at the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop or online at BEATEN PATHS AND BACK ROADS (lulu.com)

The website Planada20M.com has been set up for residents and businesses impacted by the floods to view the application process for relief.

The Turkey Bird and a Future President-

Merwin Amerine’s Contribution to Ronald Reagan’s Legacy

One of President Reagan’s White House Turkey Pardoning Ceremonies. The annual event connects the former President to a Central Valley turkey farmer. Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

There is a colorful sidebar to our Central Valley history that combines elements of aviation, turkeys, and Ronald Reagan.  

The story of Stanislaus County turkey farmer Mervin Amerine is one of bravery, business savvy, and preparation meeting opportunity.

He was a World War II bomber pilot who served proudly in the Pacific. He headed the crew that took photographs of Hiroshima before and after the atomic bombing.

He piloted the B-29 Superfortress bomber.

Merwin and Nancy Amerine are believed to be at President Reagan’s left in this photo from the 1983 Turkey Pardoning Ceremony. Merwin served as a pilot in WW II and then built up a successful turkey farm operation following the war. Photo: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library archive.

Following his military service Merwin, who preferred to be called Merv, was a successful turkey farmer and a staunch promoter of the birds he bred at Amerine Turkey Breeding Farms in Oakdale.

Merv also loved flying and is credited with using planes to deliver newly hatched turkeys to farmers around the country.

He used a converted World War II DC 3 airplane to deliver the young birds (also known as poults).

At one time, he was credited with flying forty-eight thousand live birds all over the country at one time.

Bill Mattos heads the California Poultry Industry Federation trade association and he spoke highly of the contributions Merv (who passed in 2008) made to the turkey industry in California.

He told an interviewer, “Merv had a flair for marketing, and he understood the industry.” 

Merv’s marketing savvy found another use for his piloting skills and his turkey transport aircraft.

In 1966 during Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for California Governor, the candidate hated to fly. Yet, Reagan knew that to take his campaign all over the massive state, he’d have to find a way.

The Oakdale turkey farmer was an early supporter of Reagan’s candidacy.

He is credited with helping to ease the candidate’s worries about flying.

Promising the campaign he would convert one of his planes from carrying turkeys to carrying the candidate and his team, Merv got the go-ahead.  

Soon, the turkey transport was named “Turkey Bird” and it took Reagan to every corner of the state.

That first flight carried the future Governor to Angels Camp in Calaveras County.

The Turkey Bird display at the Castle Air Museum indoor exhibit area. Photo: Steve Newvine

The rest, to borrow the cliché, is history.

Ronald Reagan served two terms as governor and two terms as President of the United States.  

The actor-turned-governor and eventually President would get over his fear of flying thanks to Merwin and those early flights aboard the Turkey Bird.

The former President did not forget Merv’s role in the 1966 campaign. He said of the Oakdale turkey farmer, “Merv had done more to ease my concerns about flying than anyone else.”   

In 1983, the President and Mrs. Reagan invited Merv and his wife Nancy to the White House for the annual White House Turkey Pardoning ceremony.

A Washington Post story references how the President spent time with the Amerines reminiscing about those California campaign flights aboard the Turkey Bird.

The Castle Air Museum in Atwater, California. Photo: Steve Newvine

We know a little bit more about the Turkey Bird and Merv Amerine thanks to a display in the indoor exhibit space at the Castle Air Museum. 

It’s interesting to note that in addition to the Turkey Bird exhibit, the Museum is also home to the Douglas VC-93 Presidential Aircraft.

The plane was Air Force One during part of President Reagan’s time in office.

The next time you or someone you know take in the tour of Air Force One at the Castle Air Museum, consider spending a few extra minutes to see the display about the Turkey Bird and how it helped elect Ronald Reagan to the governor’s office in California.  

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He is grateful to Castle Air Museum, the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for their archive of photos and narrative in preparing this column. Photographs of Merv and Nancy Amerine’s 1983 White House visit are hard to track and we hope our efforts have paid off.

His new book Beaten Paths & Back Roads is available at Lulu.com or at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop or online at BEATEN PATHS AND BACK ROADS (lulu.com)

The Best of 2023-

Looking back on memorable columns in 2023

(Left) Flood damage in Planada. (Right) Muralist Martin Figueroa working on his project in Merced. Photos: Steve Newvine

Peering through the archive of my twice-monthly columns in the past year reminds me of how much change our community went through in 2023.

The year was barely new when in January heavy rain caused considerable flooding throughout the county. Especially hard-hit was the community of Planada where every house had water damage.

I visited the community, talked with residents, and shared the stories that offered some rays of hope in two columns about the restoration. Residents were beaten down by the heavy rain, but optimistic about assurances that help was on the way.

That help came in the form of a host of community service and non-profit organizations setting up relief services in the center of town. Pallets of bottled water, trailers with full-sized washers and dryers, and daily drive-through meal pick-up sites were just some of the ways these agencies offered to help.

Government dollars were promised and by the end of the year, some concerns were raised about how this financial help will get to where it is needed efficiently.

It is a story that is still evolving.

By early summer, mural artists were busy creating public art on the walls beneath overpasses on all the Highway 99 exits passing through the City of Merced.

I spoke to an artist named Martin who works a regular job by day and pursues his passion for commercial art in his off-hours.  

Martin applied to Cal-Trans for the grant money to paint his mural. The work honors his three children and their sense of optimism and opportunity.

(Left) Parker’s Hardware closes on 18th Street in Merced after six decades of operation. (Right) The Merced Fire Department displayed the pumper Old Betsy at an exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum. Photos: Steve Newvine

By mid-summer, customers said goodbye to the staff at Parker’s Hardware store in downtown Merced.

The store was an institution in the City with one of the best testimonials coming from a comment found on social media: “If you can’t find it anywhere else, you can find it at Parkers.”

After six decades on 18th Street in the City, the Parker family closed up shop. As for reasons why, some point to the competition from big box home improvement centers; a store employee told me there just wasn’t enough interest in the next generation of the family to continue.

Upon closing up on that final day, the Parker family could look back on a successful local business that helped homeowners, contractors, and just about anyone else who would stop in to find what they needed for various projects.

The Merced Fire Department marked a milestone in 2023:

One hundred fifty years of continuous service to the community.

To celebrate the occasion, the Department brought out a restored pumper acquired in 1874.

The pumper named Old Betsy was the star of the show at an exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum.

The Fire Department hopes Old Betsy will rest on a permanent display at City Hall in the future.

(Left) The site where the Billy Graham Crusade in Modesto was held in 1948. (Right) One of the few remaining Dust Bowl travelers shared his story about a childhood journey from Arkansas. Photos: Steve Newvine

Along the way, the Our Community Story column marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Central Valley Billy Graham Crusade with a look at how part of the money raised from that Modesto event was invested in helping the less fortunate and how that initial investment continues to reap dividends.

We met a man who made the trip west from Arkansas to the Central Valley as part of the Dust Bowl exodus in the 1930s.

Charlie was just a baby when his parents loaded up the family vehicle with everything they had, and left the ruins of the Dust Bowl for a land that promised nothing more than an opportunity for a better life.  

The move paid off for Charlie.

In many ways, these stories showed how hard work and a strong belief in doing the right thing paid off for the people we met in our community.

From the Planada residents who faced rebuilding their damaged homes to the proud display of a retired fire tanker and everything in between, it was a year of resilience.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His new book Beaten Paths & Back Roads is available at Lulu.com or at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop or online at BEATEN PATHS AND BACK ROADS (lulu.com)

Entering Elvis’ Building-

Recalling 3 Visits to Graceland 4 Decades Ago

In front of Graceland, the home of the King of Rock-and-Roll Elvis Presley. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

When my book Rocket Reporter was released earlier this year, I promised an Elvis Presley story for “later this summer”.  

Well, as we wind down the year, here’s that summer story. What can I say? It’s been a busy year.  

There is a timely “hook” to this story. December 3 marks the 55th anniversary of the Elvis Comeback Special.

That 1968 television show on NBC was the first small-screen appearance of Presley in seven years. It transformed Elvis from a poor-quality movie-making machine to a dynamic stage performer. Sadly, that transformation lasted only a few years before prescription drugs and a less-than-healthy lifestyle would take his life in 1977.

That program made an impact on a young grade school boy who watched with his parents on that cold December evening.

I became an Elvis fan that night. Little did I know I would connect to his legacy in my adult life on three occasions.

Rocket Reporter is a memoir of my two years working as a television news reporter in Huntsville, Alabama back in 1980-1982.  

I visited Graceland three times during the two years I worked in Huntsville, Alabama (1980-1982). Memphis was about four hours away from Huntsville. Elvis had passed just a few years prior to this time. As a fan, I knew how important the singer was to the South.

I could not squander the opportunity.

In the years leading up to the spring of 1981, fans were allowed to walk onto the grounds of the mansion.

We could see the gravesites of Elvis and some family members. We did not know it then, but paid tours inside the house were just a year away.

That first visit was personal, but as a local television news reporter, I saw an opportunity to return to Memphis and do some stories for the sweeps period when stations were rated on how many viewers tuned in.

I proposed a three-part series on Elvis for the November ratings period.

My photographer and I would shoot and report the story during the August commemoration of Presley’s death.

We pick up the next part of the story with this excerpt from Rocket Reporter:

Fans were lined along the extended driveway from Elvis Presley Boulevard on up to the front of the mansion. People were everywhere. Across the street was a strip mall retail center with every store selling souvenirs of Memphis, Elvis, and Graceland.

   One of the advantages of being a television reporting team was the privilege to head to the front of the line. With camera and microphone in tow, my photographer Bill and I made our way to the guard gate shack. From there, we were escorted through a line of more visitors to the right side of the mansion.

   Back in 1981, the interior of the mansion was not open to the public. Visitors were directed along the right side of the property to where Elvis’ grave marker, along with the markers for his mother, father, twin brother (who died at birth), and grandmother were located.

   We had plenty of things to shoot on the grounds.

   We interviewed some of the visitors waiting their turn to enter the area where the grave markers were. I did a couple of stand-ups where the reporter talked on camera from the scene of a story. 

   One of the stand-ups was for the fourth-anniversary story. Another stand-up would be used in the three-part series to air later in the fall. We then went back out onto Elvis Presley Boulevard where I did another stand-up.  

The TV Guide advertisement promoting The Elvis Influence series of special reports that aired on station WAAY-TV in 1981. Newvine Personal Collection

There’s plenty more to share about the time we shot the Elvis story in Memphis. Included in the extensive chapter about Elvis in Rocket Reporter, is the story behind my chance encounter with Sam Phillips, the man who first recorded Elvis in the Sun Records studio in the mid-fifties.

I interviewed Phillips and asked him about that often quoted comment he made back in the fifties about finding a white artist who sounded like a black rhythm-and-blues singer.

He confirmed his comments and elaborated on exactly what he meant.

Our television story on the fourth anniversary of Elvis’ death aired the next night on the six o’clock news. The three-part special report called, The Elvis Influence aired over three nights in November. 

   I would visit Graceland one more time just one year later in the weeks before leaving the station. That story is in the book as well.

 Telling a small part of the story of Elvis Presley remains one of my personal career highlights from over forty years ago. It was topped, or maybe tied with the other big story I was privileged to report back then: the first three launches of the space shuttle program.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Rocket Reporter is available online at lulu.com

Steve is indebted to the late Twila Stout, a local woman whom he met on a couple of occasions while speaking about his books before local civic groups. Twila was a fan of his books and a true community steward.

Lights, Camera, Castle

1957 Natalie Wood Movie Filmed at the Air Base

Natalie Wood stayed in Merced County for a few weeks in early 1957 filming the movie Bombers B-52 on location at Castle Air Force Base in Atwater. Photo: Castle Air Museum 

Hollywood came to Merced County in early 1957. It arrived in the form of movie star Natalie Wood and a film about military air power.

Over the recent Veterans Day holiday, a Hollywood movie starring Natalie Wood was played on the big screen at the Merced Theatre. The film, while not a blockbuster or even a critic’s choice, has a distinction we can hold close for generations.

Parts of the movie, titled Bombers B-52, were filmed at the Base in early 1957. Most of the scenes depict the large landing strip that is still in use by private and public sector customers who use the former base in a reimagined role as an industrial business park.

Natalie Wood and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. share an embrace for the movie Bombers B-52 on location at Castle Air Force Base. Photo: Warner Brothers trailer. 

The storied history behind the fences of the former Castle Air Force Base in Atwater continues to be gathered and documented for future generations.

The Base closed as part of a Clinton-era realignment effort in the 1990s, but the Castle Air Museum holds many of the documents and items that fill the background about World War II and Cold War-era military air power.

The Castle Air Museum has an exhibit on the filming of Bombers B-52 in its indoor exhibit building. Visitors can see photographs the Air Force took while the crew and stars were in sight.  

Visitors can even see two military uniforms and a red dress worn by the actors in a display case.

Natalie Wood danced with local teens at a fund raiser event for polio during her time filming the movie Bombers B-52 on location at Castle Air Force Base. Photo: Castle Air Museum exhibit. Photo: Warner Brothers Archives. Research done by Rick Marshall with help from Allen Thompson.

The movie was directed by Gordon Douglas whose credits include movies with the likes of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lewis, and even Laurel and Hardy.

The screenwriter was Irving Wallace who would go on to write several novels and the non-fiction The People’s Almanac.

Natalie Wood, fresh off her role with the late James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, was the star of the picture. Her father was played by Karl Malden who we best remember from the television series The Streets of San Francisco.

Natalie’s character has a love interest played by then forty-year-old Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. who would later star in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and eventually on The FBI (the version that aired in the 1960s and 70s, not to be confused with the franchise currently on CBS).

But it’s not these stars who local audiences filed into the Merced Theatre to see on Veterans Day.

As far as Merced audiences were concerned, the star of this movie was Castle Air Force Base.

In this photo, Natalie poses in a Ford Thunderbird with the movie slate below the car door. Photo: Castle Air Museum.

While the love story between Wood and Zimbalist was intended to keep moviegoers entertained, the military side of the story involved the B-52 Stratofortress. This was a new bomber the Strategic Air Command wanted to introduce to America and the rest of the Cold War world.  

There are plenty of references to how this bomber is the biggest, most powerful conventional weapon in the world.

“The film tells that story real well,” says Castle Air Museum Executive Director Joe Pruzzo.

There’s no doubt some local folks still remember the film from when it was first released or some who were connected to the rollout of the Stratofortress.

On the Internet Movie Data Base website (IMDB.com) there is a comment posted from someone who was stationed at Castle in the late fifties. This person (no name was included in the post) stated he has photographs of Natalie Wood posing with some of his squadron mates.

Quoting from that post, “The high point was the low altitude flyover of a flight of B-52s. The segment where the landing gear is jammed was done in our maintenance hanger with the bomber on jacks with wheel well doors open.” 

"(left) Natalie Wood and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.  (right) Director Gordon Douglas and Karl Malden. Photos from the Castle Air Museum exhibit.

Some of the narrative in the Castle Air Museum exhibit tells of how Natalie attended a March of Dimes fundraiser dance with over two hundred people from the Teen Agers Against Polio organization. The narrative says the actress stayed at the Hotel Tioga. More than one hundred movie production workers were assigned to the movie.  

She was photographed dancing with Buddy Obenoskey, a Merced High School teen in 1957. By all accounts, she enjoyed the dance and was gracious to servicemen at Castle.

While the movie fan magazines may have had Natalie Wood on their covers in early 1957, Life Magazine was consumed with the story of the around-the-world flight with no landing for refueling. That flight began at Castle Air Force Base. To read more about it, go to: The Week Merced County Made the Cover of Life Magazine — Merced County Events

It’s interesting to note the film came out in 1957, the same year Castle Air Force Base made the cover of Life magazine. In January, three aircraft left Castle for a first-of-its-kind around-the-world flight with no landings for refueling.

Operation Power Flite (the Air Force used this spelling for naming the mission) tested the US's ability to refuel military aircraft from the air. That type of refueling was not done back in the fifties; Operation Power Flite proved it could be done.

1957 was a big year for Castle Air Force Base. The year began with an accomplishment that made the cover of Life magazine. It ended with the release of the movie Bombers B-52 which showcased Castle on the cinema screen.

The airmen of Castle were right in the middle of it all.  

Steve Newvine lives in Merced

You can read the column he wrote about Operation Power Flite by clicking on this link. The Week Merced County Made the Cover of Life Magazine — Merced County Events

His latest book is Beaten Paths and Back Roads, and is available at BEATEN PATHS AND BACK ROADS (lulu.com)or at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.  

Castle Air Museum: https://www.castleairmuseum.org/

’48 Modesto Crusade Still Reaping Benefits-

75th Anniversary of Billy Graham's Visit to the Central Valley

A poster promoting the Modesto revival meeting with Billy Graham. (right) The intersection of LaLoma Street and Burney Avenue in Modesto where the 1948 revival meetings were held.

October 24, 1948, was a Sunday. A large canvas tent set up in a rural Modesto field was about to be filled with over two thousand people.

For the next two weeks, that tent would fill up every night with more people coming out to hear a special young man speak.

They were there to see a Southern Baptist minister who would preach the Bible by night, and work with his close associates by day to write the rules for a newly formed evangelical organization.

The evangelist was Billy Graham and he was on the precipice of becoming a world-known religious leader. Eleven US presidents would call upon him for spiritual comfort. More than a billion people would hear him preach.

The seventy-fifth anniversary of what became known as the Modesto Crusade was recently noted with little to no fanfare anywhere.

But what took place there three-quarters of a century ago was truly remarkable. 

The Crusade ran for two weeks with an estimated twenty-eight thousand people taking part. It was important to the Graham ministry on three fronts: national prominence, the Modesto Manifesto, and the Modesto Gospel Mission.

Pictures from the actual Modesto Crusade are hard to come by. Here is a promotional photo from the Los Angeles Crusade that followed several months after the Modesto stop. Photo: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

National prominence

The event was an important step that would propel the organization into the national scene. The two-week Modesto Crusade was among the last Graham would lead before heading to Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Crusade in 1949 would run for eight weeks and bring his preaching to over three hundred thousand people. After the success of the Southern California crusade, the stage was set for a worldwide public ministry.

Modesto Manifesto

A key accomplishment from the Modesto Crusade is what Graham and three of his associates worked on during the day throughout the duration of the event.

Working from the former Rock Motel on the old Highway 99 in Modesto, the team wrote a set of four principles they would call the Modesto Manifesto.

The principles spelled out in the Modesto Manifesto are:

• Accountability-transparency in reporting finances and Crusade attendance

• Purity-specifically addressing sexual immorality. This led to a directive that no one working for the Graham organization be allowed to have a closed-door meeting with someone from the opposite sex.

• Integrity-no criticism of local churches or local pastors

• Humility-no seeking out “exaggerated publicity” for the crusade events

A key player in writing the Modesto Manifesto was Billy Graham’s close friend Cliff Barrows.

Barrows grew up in nearby Ceres, Stanislaus County. He went to work with Graham when the preacher hired him to fill a music minister post prior to a revival meeting in North Carolina.    

Barrows suggested the Modesto stop hoping that his connections with local churches would make a Central Valley crusade successful. As part of Graham's inner circle, he took part in those daily sessions where the core principles were discussed.

Barrows coined the term Modesto Manifesto.

Two of the early locations of the Modesto Gospel Mission. (lower left) The organization is now on Yosemite Avenue in the City. (lower right) An early sign for the Mission. Archive photos: Modesto Gospel Mission archives. 

Modesto Gospel Mission

A continuing example of what made the 1948 Modesto Crusade a success is what was done with excess funds raised from the nightly offerings attendees gave.

With an estimated five thousand dollars from excess offerings from the Crusades, local pastors started the Modesto Gospel Mission.

“There was homelessness in 1948 just like we have now seventy-five years later,” said Modesto Gospel Mission Chief Executive Officer Jason Conway. “Back then, it was more transitory with men coming into Modesto riding in on a boxcar of a train.”

Jason said in the early years, the Mission’s primary work was that of a soup kitchen. “Most of the visitors would get a meal and then move on. Some might stay a day or two, and then they would be on their way.”

That 1948 model has changed a lot. Today, the Mission annually serves nearly a quarter-million meals, shelters about eighteen hundred men, and does the same for over two hundred women and children.

“Today, residency is the focus on most of Modesto’s homeless,” Jason said. “Our clients come here with the intention of staying in the area. That wasn’t the case in 1948.”

This cross sign has been in front of the Modesto Gospel Mission in many of the locations where the organization has been housed. It is now attached to the main building at 1400 Yosemite Avenue in the City.  

This effort was made possible because a group of Central Valley pastors invited Billy Graham to bring his revival meetings to Modesto some seventy-five years ago.

There’s no memorial to the Central Valley’s role in the development of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Organization.

While one can find a bronze rendering of the American Graffiti era honoring native son George Lucas, no such memorial exists for that extraordinary two weeks back in October and early November in 1948 when the Modesto Crusade captured the attention of thousands.

But there is what can be considered a memorial to the Billy Graham visit in the work of the Modesto Gospel Mission.

Founded right after the Graham visit, the organization marks a seventieth-fifth year of service along with the Modesto Crusade.

The Mission feeds the hungry, houses the homeless, and helps families throughout the city.

From that five-thousand-dollar investment in human service made possible by the 1948 Modesto Crusade, a living tribute to the work of Billy Graham continues to reap dividends to countless numbers of people who over the years have needed a handout and possibly a hand up in turning their lives around.

It is the living testament to the Manifesto tenet dealing with working with local churches.

It is the true memorial to a historic event in the Central Valley.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He is available for public speaking events at service clubs and other organizations to discuss his new book Beaten Paths and Back Roads.

The book is available for purchase at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop or online at BEATEN PATHS AND BACK ROADS (lulu.com)

For more information on the Modesto Gospel Mission, go to MyMission.org

How they Put Out the Fire 150 Years Ago

Courthouse Museum Helps Merced Fire Department Celebrate Anniversary

Old Betsy, the first piece of firefighting equipment acquired by the Merced Fire Department in 1974. Photo: Steve Newvine

Imagine it is 1874 and a downtown Merced building is on fire.

Someone runs to the nearby Merced Fire House. An alarm is sounded. Volunteer firemen rush to get the gear they need. The station’s pumper, Old Betsy is hauled to the scene of the blaze.

That pumper had been in service in Stockton for more than a decade before being sold to the Merced Fire Department in 1874. The fire department was established one year earlier in 1873.

The organization is celebrating a One hundred fiftieth anniversary this year.

Old Betsy is still here, though long retired.

Vintage firefighting equipment that was part of the opening ceremony for the exhibit titled: 150 Years Later: Old Betsy’s Legacy Continued. Photo: Steve Newvine

For a few decades, Old Betsy was one of the focal points at the Merced County Courthouse Museum.

On loan from the Fire Department, the vintage pumper gave Museum visitors something to admire about the past, something to compare with today’s modern firefighting equipment, and something to look at with a sense of pride.

At a ceremony on October 12 in front of the old Courthouse, the Museum launched the exhibit titled: 150 Years Later: Old Betsy’s Legacy Continued.

Three rooms in the upper level of the Museum have been dedicated to showcasing the development of the city fire department.

Old photographs have been reproduced showing Old Betsy and other pieces of the firefighting arsenal in action.

Memorable fire events such as the destruction of a lumberyard in 1951 are captured in the displays.

That particular blaze could be seen as far south as Fresno and as far north as Modesto according to accounts in the exhibit.

Old Betsy was used in firematics-type competitions and demonstrations up until a crack formed on the pumper’s frame. Photo: Merced County Courthouse Museum exhibit 150 Years Later: Old Betsy’s Legacy Continued.

Old Betsy was already in use by the Stockton department when Merced acquired it one year after forming the fire department.

"It was the first fire engine of the Merced City Fire Department,” Museum Director Sarah Lim said as she wrote about how the engine was built in Rhode Island. “It was shipped around Cape Horn and purchased by Merced from Stockton Eureka Engine Company No. 2 in 1874.”

On the City of Merced website’s fire department history section, the narrative states the name Old Betsy was given by the publisher of the Merced Express local newspaper.

The fire engine was used for over three decades. 

Members of the Merced Fire Department engage in a bucket brigade competition as part of the opening ceremony for the exhibit. Photo: Steve Newvine

While Old Betsy was removed from firefighting service as more efficient equipment came online, it was used in fire department competitions and public events.

A crack in the wood frame of the pumper forced a retirement from these activities.

“It is a fantastic representation of the Merced Fire Department,” Fire Chief Derek Parker said. “Old Betsy will return to the firehouse for continued maintenance.”

Chief Parker says the department is in the planning stages of preparing a secured display for Old Betsy.

Eventually, it will be on display at Merced City Hall. 

If that continued maintenance is finished in 2024, it may be ready for another welcoming party exactly one-hundred-fifty years after first being brought to the City to help protect the property and people of Merced.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His new book Beaten Paths & Back Roads is available at Lulu.com or at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.

Steve thanks the Atwater Rotary Club and the Merced Women’s Club for hosting him for talks about his new book.

The exhibit 150 Years Later: Old Betsy’s Legacy Continued will be featured at the Courthouse Museum throughout the fall.

Preview of Beaten Paths & Back Roads

New book explores “the other California”

Beaten Paths & Back Roads is available on line at Lulu.com. Locally, the book will be available for sale at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.

My new book is called Beaten Paths & Back Roads.

It contains more than forty stories about places and people all over California with a focus on locations off the so-called beaten path.

In many ways, this is a sequel to the 2017 book California Back Roads. There are just too many stories to write about in just one book.

Here’s a preview

The California Gold Rush was sparked by the discovery of nuggets in the Sacramento Valley. It put California on the radar of the nation.

When gold was discovered at John Sutter’s mill near Coloma in El Dorado County, California in 1848 (the actual year, not 1849 as legend states) the gold rush was on. Soon, the region would fill with prospectors, wannabee gold seekers, and a myriad of service providers.

As news spread of the discovery, thousands of prospective gold miners traveled by sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding area. The non-native population of the region exploded from fewer than one-thousand in 1847 to well over one-hundred thousand by 1850.

Resting on a customized park bench as the base of two of the many trees inside Calaveras Big Tree State Park.

Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

While the rush peaked in 1852, some people who look at the era estimate that over two-billion dollars of gold was found during that short period of time.

The rush was effectively over within a few years, but left behind is a beautiful part of the California landscape that visitors now enjoy.

The scenery is spectacular, to coin a word often used by the late California Gold television show host Huell Howser. The region lies north of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Mountains.

Calaveras Big Tree State Park is a free venue that offers small and medium scale hiking paths among the Sequoia trees.

The trees are the stars of the show. Looking up in some spaces, it is hard to see the tops of the majestic towers of nature.

There are a couple of fallen trees that have been left for visitors to view up close. You get a real idea as to how big these big trees are.

My wife and I posed for a photo in front of the Empire State Tree. As we are transplants from upstate New York, the symbolism of standing next to a tree named for our native state really hit home.

The park had a gift shop that had just the right number of taxidermy wild animals to impress the visitor.

My suggestion is to save the gift shop visit until the very end.

Otherwise, you might be on the lookout for an angry wildcat or wolf just like the ones preserved for posterity in the gift shop.

There’s too much to document in these pages, but permit me to share three venues that have provided natural beauty, with a link to the state’s motion picture history, with a little Broadway thrown in.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Beaten Paths and Back Roads is available now on Lulu.com.

After October 5, copies will be available for sale at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop.

Steve is launching the new book at a meeting of the Merced Women’s Club on October 3.

A Secret Mission and a Monument to Bravery-

Finding a Memorial to an Army World War II Battalion

My dad Ed Newvine stands next to military banners honoring family members who served in the military. Chester T. Dean is memorialized with a banner honoring his service in World War II .

Over the past ten years, I have been on a mission to learn as much as I can about my great uncle Army Corporal Chester T. Dean.

Chet was killed in a training accident in Wales on June 8, 1944, just two days after D-Day.

In this space, I have shared new-found pictures, newspaper clippings, and the text of an Army Adjunct General’s letter written to the widow in response to her inquiry asking for more information on how Chet died.

The letter confirmed the worse, but went on to praise Chet as a soldier, leader, and friend to his platoon partners. This past summer, a new search started.

Taking the exact wording from what was inscribed on his headstone a new journey for more information started. What has been found is information that Chet and his battalion worked on a secret Army mission.

There’s even a memorial to that company on the grounds of a former training camp in Arizona.

Corporal Chester Dean and the headstone in the Port Leyden Cemetery.. Photos: Find a Grave.com

Chet served with the 748th Tank Battalion, Medium. They were also known at the time as the Rhinos. On August 20, 1942, they were activated from Camp Rucker in Alabama.

Eight months later on April 15, 1943, they were sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for training.

Five days later on April 20, they were reorganized as a special battalion ready for a top secret Army mission. The secret mission was all about a powerful lighting device that would be attached to tanks.

The group was trained on and equipped with special CDL spotlights. CDL stands for Canal Defense Light. CDL was a powerful searchlight mounted on a tank that was intended to be used during night-time attacks to disorientate enemy troops.

The Rhinos would be sent to Camp Bouse, Arizona where they would be attached to the 9th Armored Tank Group. Rhinos landed at Glasgow, Scotland on in early April of 1944, and then proceeded to South Wales.

The Rhinos landed in Normandy on Utah Beach on June 6th, 1944, D-Day.

Corporal Dean trained with the soldiers and remained in Wales, presumably to train with more troops that would be deployed sometime after D-Day.

Two days after D-Day, Corporal Dean was killed in a training accident in Wales.

All three locations where Chet trained: Camp Rucker, Fort Knox, and Camp Bouse are confirmed in a newspaper clipping found several years ago when I started looking for more information about my great uncle’s service.

American military history has been compiled on-line in a number of websites and databases.

I learned most of this new information for a Google search that took me to the Historical Marker Database (https://www.hmdb.org).

According to the website Veterans.ND.org, over nine-thousand troops spent time at Camp Bouse.

All were sworn to secrecy about the projects. Solders could not transfer out of the camp and their movements were restricted.

Historical marker honoring the 748th Tank Battalion, also known as the Rhinos. My great-uncle Chester Dean served with the 748th. He died in a training accident two days after D-Day in Wales where the unit prepared for deployments in the European theater. Flanking the photo are Hank Leintz and his wife Leota. Hank served in the 748th Tank Battalion. Photo: hmdb.org

The internet search took me to a stone marker and bronze plaque honoring the 748th Tank Battalion.

The monument is on the site of Camp Bouse Desert Training Center in south western Arizona.

According to the website DesertTrainingCenter.com, Camp Bouse was established in 1943 expressly for the secret CDL training. It closed when the soldiers left for Europe in the spring of 1944.

The inscription on the monument can be found at https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=92814

The man in the photo is Henry “Hank” Leintz who served in the 748th.

Hank’s son Jon was instrumental in getting the monument placed through the group E. Clampus Vitus. Hank passed in 2017.

Like many of our brave men and women who died while wearing the uniform of our armed forces, Chet Dean’s story has not been completely told.

Left: plaque marking the Bouse WW II Desert Training Camp where my great-uncle Chester T. Dean and his unit trained on the Canal Defense Light tank project. Right: Unidentified soldiers from the 399th Engineer Battalion who also trained at that location. Photos: deserttrainingcenter.com

Little by little, new information is being uncovered. We know now that the secret mission, the Canal Defense Light was found not to be as effective as the Army hoped.

That did not stop the 748th from completing the mission to win the war in Europe.

The soldiers of the 748th Tank Battalion made it to Omaha Beach, and would remain in France through the end of the war. The memorial at the site of the former Camp Bouse stands, along with several other monuments as a tribute to all the soldiers who passed through that aptly titled Desert Training Camp for that short time during the critical days of the war.

Chet Dean was there too. He paid the ultimate price.

-Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He is indebted to four groups:

Citizens of Bouse, Lost Dutchman Chapter 5917, Billy Holcomb chapter 1069, John P. Squibob Chapter 1853, and E. Clampus Vitus for making this and other monuments at Camp Bouse possible.

Steve will launch his newest book Beaten Paths and Back Roads at the October 3 meeting of the Merced Women’s Club.

His California books are available at the Merced County Courthouse Museum or online at Lulu.com

The Virtue of Work-

Labor Day Holiday a Reminder of the Value of Doing Well at Work

A successful participant in a skills training initiative is honored by Merced County WorkNet. Photo: Merced County Workforce Investment Board

I'll never forget a Friday before Labor Day when I got a call from one of the program managers at Merced County WorkNet.

He was asking if I could attend a completion ceremony that afternoon.
The event was set up to award certificates of completion for a skills training program I played a small role in putting together.

WorkNet is the agency that helps employees upgrade their skills while helping employers by providing better trained workers.

It is the public facing arm of the Workforce Investment Board. These boards direct the expenditure of state and federal tax dollars earmarked for job training.

The Friday before Labor Day was one of the quietest work days of the year for me. Most of the company leadership was already starting their three-day weekend.

But I was in the office, and told WorkNet program manager I would be there for the ceremony.

Earlier in that summer, we were able to secure skill training resources from my company with resources that WorkNet received from the Obama-era American Resource Recovery Act (ARRA).

By leveraging these resources, training was provided that targeted older youth (defined as ages 16-22). WorkNet had the infrastructure to provide program. My company had the specialized job training skills ready to teach.

As a result of this collaboration, about thirty older youth got specialized training in energy efficiency alongside job readiness training in soft skills.

Completion of the program helped these young people prepare for careers in such fields as heating and air conditioning service repair.

Through an on-the-job training incentive, some of the class members got jobs in the field upon completion of the program.

The job skills program was recognized by my employer with a community service award in 2016. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

Several months later, the program was nominated for a community service award sponsored by the company.

In the late spring of 2016, I received word that the program would be recognized at a ceremony to be held in San Francisco.

My wife accompanied me to the ceremony. Our daughter who lived in San Francisco was also able to attend the event.

Awards were presented in such categories as safety and diversity. In the community service category, the program that helped Merced County workers improve their job readiness skills was recognized.

Most of my colleagues were based in San Francisco so they assembled in the company auditorium along with other work teams and families. I could hear our team cheering when I was called up to accept the recognition.

It was a special day, but not as special as that particular Friday before Labor Day a decade ago when I was asked to come by the local WorkNet office for the completion ceremony of the job training program.

Attending that ceremony helped me see the real value of these programs.

I saw satisfying looks on the faces of the participants, proud smiles from family and friends, and a sense of purpose from the WorkNet staff.

It made we feel good knowing that my company played a role in making it possible.

From about that time going forward, I stopped looking at Labor Day as just a signal that summer was over

The holiday now became associated with the virtue of honorable work. It is a time to be grateful for the job and to work diligently to improve skills that add value to the workplace.

The words on my arms in this art presentation from about a decade ago still holds true. A job is a blessing. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

A few years later at a conference of Workforce Investment Boards, I met an artist who was asking attendees to allow him to paint our forearms with a few words about how we feel about the virtue of work.

He took my picture and included it in his project called “Dear World”.

My key words were: A job is a blessing.

Now three years into retirement, I feel the same way about the virtue of work now as I did back when that photograph was taken.

The virtue of work coming into clearer focus on this Labor Day.

-Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His new book is titled Beaten Paths & Back Roads.

It will be formally released on October 3 at the fall meeting of the Merced Women’s Club. He will talk to the group about the project, and the book will be available for sale at that time.

Two of his books: California Back Roads and Can Do Californians, are available at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop or online at Lulu.com

Columbia Takes You Back-

Historic State Park Lives On as a Gold Rush Community

A team of horses drawing an authentic stagecoach is ready to take another group of visitors on a historic ride through Columbia, California. Photo: Steve Newvine

Let the next five minutes take you back to 1849. Gold has been discovered at Sutter’s Mill in the Sierra Mountains.

Tens of thousands of wannabe millionaires storm the region. Gold rush towns such as Hornitos in Merced County pop up. In Columbia in Tuolumne County California the rush came.

But long after the prospectors left, this little town was not forgotten. A trip to Columbia can take you back to the Gold Rush days because the town never let go of its history. According to a historical plaque placed by the State Park Commission, Columbia never became a ghost town.

A worker helps visitors pan for gold at the prospector’s shop in the Columbia Historic State Park. Photo: Steve Newvine

More than five-thousand people lived there in the Gold Rush era. Today, the population stands at just over two-thousand.

Many of the buildings that made up what is now known as Columbia Historic State Park are still standing and still in use. Gold is no longer the big business.

Tourism is the draw now with an estimated impact of nearly a quarter billion dollars of annual spending from travelers according to the Visit Tuolumne County 2021 Annual Report (visittuolumne.com).

On a warm sunny day in August, my wife and I took in the village as part of a one-day getaway.

Upon parking the car, we were in the historic confines in a matter of minutes.

We watched a pair of blacksmiths pound out customized horseshoes for paying customers. We picked up some chocolate treats from the candy shop. We saw how traditional candles are made at a shop that sells nothing but candles.

We bought lunch at a sit-down saloon with sarsaparilla available upon request.

Sarsaparilla was a favored non-alcoholic drink from the Gold Rush era. Fortunately for me on that sunny weekday in that authentic western saloon, other beverages were served as well.

Our day was topped off with the Sierra Repertory Theatre’s presentation of Jersey Boys, the one-time Broadway musical staged during the summer season with professional actors and professional stage personnel.

While the show was great, experiencing it inside the historic Fallon House was a capper to a refreshing day of old and new.

The Fallon House in Columbia Historic State Park hosts selected productions of the Sierra Repertory Theatre. Photo: Steve Newvine

The Columbia Historic State Park was created in 1945. It was established by the state to preserve the historic buildings.

Some eight decades later, it remains very much like it was back in the Gold Rush era.

The region around Columbia was known as the southern mines as it lies well south of Sutter’s Mill where the first discovery of gold took place. For people living in the Merced and Atwater side of the County, you can get there within an hour and a half.

My wife and I have used Columbia as a convenient one-day event destination for out-of-town visitors.

It is another side to California that sometimes gets lost in the common misconceptions of the state being only about San Francisco or Los Angeles.

There’s a lot of history up there, and thankfully a lot of it has stayed in place ready to be rediscovered.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced

Two of his books: California Back Roads and Can Do Californians, are available at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop or online at Lulu.com

An “Arkie’s” Journey to California

Ceres Man Shares His Family’s Trek During the Dust Bowl

Charlie Brown from his post at the pro shop at St. Stanislaus Golf Course. Photo: Steve Newvine

It’s amazing what you can learn about people when you take the time to get to know them.

I met Charlie at the pro shop at a golf course one summer afternoon several years ago. He was on duty that day. In succeeding years, Charlie and I became friends over a cup of coffee midway through my weekly round of golf.

Through the weekly coffee breaks I learned that among other things, Charlie and his family were part of the Dust Bowl influx of people who left the Midwest and southern United States for the promise of a better life in California.

The Dust Bowl refers to a series of severe dust storms that swept across Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Texas in the 1930s. Photo: State of California Capitol Museum (capitolmuseum.ca.gov)

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s, brought drought and discomfort for many living in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Texas. According to the State of California Capitol Museum, where an exhibit was staged in 2014, more than three hundred thousand people packed up their belongings and drove to California during the Dust Bowl years.

According to the Oklahoma Historical Society website, the use of abbreviated terms to indicate state origins is long in practice, and "Okie" is no exception. "Arkie" for Arkansas and "Tex" for Texas are well known and accepted.

Charlie doesn’t remember the trip as he was only six months old when his family made the move from Arkansas.

“My parents, siblings, and even the family German Sheppard made the trip here in 1934,” said Charlie.

“We brought along the family dog with us,” Charlie recalls. “That dog would sit behind the front bumper of the family Model T, right in front of the radiator.”

According to the story Charlie’s parents told him about the trip, the German Sheppard would sit right behind the bumper throughout the journey.

There was enough space between the bumper and the radiator for the dog. There was no room in the car as it was filled with all the family’s possessions.

“When we’d stop for a break, my dad would tell the dog to get up,” he remembers. “The dog would wander around, do his business, and then get back into his spot before we’d all load up in the car.”

Charlie’s work ethic was forged in part by the journey his family made from Arkansas to California in 1934 during the Dust Bowl. Photo: Steve Newvine

Charlie’s family found a new life in the Central Valley. Charlie would work at a number of jobs, primarily in agriculture, throughout his life.

He and his wife owned a fast-food and ice cream franchise for a few years in Ceres, Stanislaus County.

He continues to work, now as a part timer in the golf course pro shop.

Without really putting a finger on the key to his success at work, anyone talking to him can tell you his secret is a strong work ethic.

He’s on the job early, keeps busy when he’s not checking in golfers, and is a reliable team player. “Staying active is my key to a long life,” Charlie says.

It’s been a long journey from Arkansas as a baby, making his way to California during the Dust Bowl, and building a meaningful life in the Central Valley.

He may have started his life as an Arkie, or citizen of Arkansas.

But he’s happy to call California his home and to call himself a Californian.

It’s amazing what you can learn about people when you take the time to get to know them.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

In October, he will publish a sequel to his 2016 book California Back Roads.

His California books are available at Lulu.com, or at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.

Memorial to a Leader-

UC Merced’s First Chancellor Served Seven Years

The stone marker with a brass plaque naming the Quad at UC Merced after the institution’s first Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey. Photo: Steve Newvine

Once the summer break comes to an end, a flood of college students will return to the two campuses in Merced.

There’s a new main entrance at Merced College; the result of a construction project that finished just days before the May commencement.

At the University of California at Merced, there’s nothing new for returning students to see upon their return.

But many will pass by a four-by-four-foot rock at the north side of the campus quad.

The plaque embedded in that rock is not new, but the person whose name is printed on the bronze is worth remembering once again.

The plaque honors Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, the first Chancellor of the institution.

She was named to the post in 1999, years before construction began and six years before students started their first classes.

As the first chancellor of UC Merced from 1999 to 2006, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey has been cited as the driving force behind the creation of the university. Photo: UC Merced

My connection to Chancellor Tomlinson-Keasey began at a reception in Fresno, where I lived back in 2004.

She attended a reception for business leaders that UC Merced held at a community room in Grizzlies Stadium.

The purpose of the reception was to introduce the reality of a new institution of higher learning to the Fresno business community.

I found her to be gracious, beaming with pride, and intent on telling the story of the effort to start UC Merced.

It was only after I moved to Merced two years after that first meeting with her that I began to appreciate that effort to locate the university to our community.

In 2006, I made it my first priority to schedule a meeting with Dr. Tomlinson-Keasey once I settled in as CEO of the Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce.

We had a productive visit. I shared my thoughts about the future of our community. She shared her deep appreciation for what the community did to get the campus built.

Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey leads students to the first commencement on the UC Merced campus in 2007. Photo: UC Merced

Thanks to an exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum celebrating the tenth year of the campus in the early twenty-teens, details of that effort to create UC Merced came into focus for me.

The exhibit shared icons from the groundbreaking, campus artifacts, and lots of pictures showing community members rallying for support to have the school built here.

We still have a number of individuals in the community right now who were either part of that initiative, or who remember just how far-reaching it was at the time.

In 2022, committee member Roger Wood shared his reflections of that time during an interview on the weekly public affairs radio program Community Conversations.

“There was a real sense of coming together for a common purpose,” I recall Roger telling me on that program. "I was proud to be part of it.”

The plaque imbedded in stone naming this part of the UC Merced campus the Carol Tomlinson-Keasey Quad. The plaque reads: In honor of UC Merced’s founding chancellor for her visionary leadership and tireless determination to launch the 10th campus of the University of California. Photo: Steve Newvine

The Merced Community, especially those who were part of the committee that helped get the Board of Regents to approve locating the campus here, remembers the work of the founding Chancellor.

But others, who knew her from her days teaching psychology at UC Davis also held her in high regard.

In the tribute section of her obituary, Tomlinson-Keasey was recalled as a teacher many would want to emulate.

One student expressed respect for her teaching style and was grateful for being one of her students.

Carol Tomlinson Keasey saw the effort to start UC Merced right through the first year of classes.

Those later years were tough as she battled cancer. She would soon announce her retirement and fought her disease for another three years. She died from complications related to cancer in 2009.

I recall the first commencement at UC Merced in 2006. While the campus had only been open one year, a handful of students who completed their coursework would be receiving diplomas that day.

I attended because I was invited and because I knew that many years from that day I could tell my grandchildren that I was there for the very first commencement at the campus.

The ceremony was held in a small auditorium on campus, but the sense of pride could have filled the entire Central Valley.

The students were smiling in their caps and gowns. The faculty, administration, and other staff were gleaming with satisfaction.

Dr. Tomlinson-Keasey had the biggest smile, the most touching speech, and a sense of grace. Her work was done.

The Carol Tomlinson Keasey Quad at UC Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

So now, with a group of returning students as well as incoming freshmen and transfers, another year of hope and promise awaits at UC Merced and other colleges and universities.

Hopefully, some of those students will take some time on one of those busy class days to read the words on that plaque on the north side of the quad named after the founding Chancellor.

“Visionary leadership and tireless determination “ are some of the words appearing in the tarnishing bronze.

Those are two phrases help define success in life.

Both phrases defined Carol Tomlinson-Keasey Both phrases are words to live by.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His California books are available at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Courthouse or online at Lulu.com

A Painting Passion for Merced-

Local Artist Completes Underpass Mural at Highway 99

Martin Figueroa with his pallet and brush working on the Canal Street underpass mural in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

At his regular job, Martin Figueroa is a supervisor for an industrial insulation company.

But in his free time, he is an artist. His paintings have adorned public areas of local businesses.

But recently, his painting canvass was a concrete wall beneath highway 99 along Canal Street in Merced.

The mural Martin created can be found at the Canal Street underpass of highway 99 in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

Martin earned the opportunity to paint a mural on that wall. He’s one of eight artists awarded grant dollars to create murals on underpass walls up and down the highway 99 corridor in the section that passes through the City of Merced.

“Caltrans and the City of Merced asked for proposals,” Martin said. “I gave them five, and they picked one.”

Artists were sought to engage with ideas for public art along the underpass walls.

Martin presented a portfolio of his work, a biography, and his ideas on what he could do for the space.

“It was my first large scale mural done just by myself,” he said of this early summer project.

Martin is applying what would be one of the final touches to his mural project; the final strokes in honor of his children. Photo: Steve Newvine

Martin says a friend encouraged him to submit a proposal when the solicitation was announced in May.

There were no parameters as to what he could propose, although the City of Merced and Caltrans had the final say before awarding the project to him.

This box full of spray paint cans is used by Martin as he creates his mural beneath the highway 99 overpass at Canal Street. Photo: Steve Newvine

His tools include several canisters of colorful spray paint, and some regular paint that comes in a can.

When I caught up with him near the end of his project, he was applying black paint to the figures of three individuals who appear at the bottom right of the mural.

“These are my kids,” he said proudly. “I’m really doing this for them.”

Martin enjoyed working on this new piece of public art in the City of Merced. He grew up in the City, rode bikes all over the many neighborhoods, and skated at the local parks.

Applying paint with brush. Martin hopes this project will lead to more opportunities to work as an artist. Photo: Steve Newvine

He says he was not bothered by the many cars, walkers, and bicyclists who passed by him while he was working on the project.

The noise above from the 99 highway did not seem to bother him at all either.

“No worries,” he shrugged when he was reminded of the hundreds of motor vehicles speeding along above him while he worked.

His only mild concern is how long his original artwork will last before graffiti rears a destructive force.

“I hope it doesn’t happen,” he says. “But I’m sure it will.”

Martin’s mural is called “Chase Your Dreams”, and depicts a galaxy of stars in the deep recesses of space. Photo: Steve Newvine

His three kids, ages ten, nine, and six along with his wife are supportive of his art. They encourage him to keep pursuing his passion.

So far, only his youngest has expressed interest in art.

Martin hopes that the youngster’s interest will grow over the years.
Helping young people to pursue their passion is why he is dedicated to this particular project.

“I hope all of these murals inspire the youth and others around town,” he said. He titled his mural “Chase Your Dreams” and from the story behind what it took to get him to this showcase art project, the title seems to fit the artist.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced

Two of his books: California Back Roads and Can Do Californians are available for purchase at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop or at Lulu.com

Cooling Off on the Coast-

Within a few hours, you can be at the ocean

An art instructor assists student artists in painting the Pacific coastline at Pacifica south of San Francisco. Photo: Steve Newvine

It’s been a selling point for the Central Valley for years: live here and you’re only a couple of hours from the ocean.

There’s more than eight-hundred miles of Pacific Ocean coastline in California. I’m been fortunate to have spent time at five locations along this span.

My first view of the Pacific was from a car crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. I had only been in the state a few weeks when a friend decided to take me on a poor man’s tour of the state.

That day included lunch at a Sausalito restaurant, a drive to a residential neighborhood where we thought exteriors from the Robin Williams movie Mrs. Doubtfire were filmed, and a drive-by past the Transamerica building.

All of it was exciting, although too brief to appreciate the beauty of the ocean and the thrilling prospects of the city by the Bay. In subsequent visits for work and pleasure, I had the opportunity to visit Alcatraz, see Major League Baseball games for both the Giants and the A’s, go on a scavenger hunt at the Oakland Zoo, and stay at the Fairmount Hotel where Tony Bennett first sang his signature song I Left My Heart in San Francisco.

The Bay Area of California opened up so many opportunities for me in the thirteen years I worked for a company whose home base was in San Francisco. For most of that period of time, work required me to travel there at least once a month.

A daughter lived in the Bay Area throughout those years, and she still does.

What I enjoyed most about those trips to San Francisco were the occasional lunches she and I would have in a little pocket park just off Market Street. Both of us were on tight schedules, so the time was precious and we made the most of it.

The Pacific Ocean is part of the view from one of the holes at Pacific Grove Golf Course. Photo: Steve Newvine

About an hour south of San Francisco, the Monterey area brings back a lot of fond memories on a number of levels.

The public beaches speak for themselves with the din of ocean waves washing up on shore.

There is something ephemeral about the nightly sunsets as I take in the limited time I have before the sun disappears from view.

Nearby in the pier region of Monterey, Cannery Row captures some of the imagery from John Steinbeck’s novels. I lost myself for what must have been the better part of an afternoon browsing in an antique store in Cannery Row. Surely other visitors to this or other stores in that neighborhood have done the same.

The Monterey Peninsula may be best-known for the Seventeen Mile Drive, the roadway that circles this patch of California.

Pebble Beach tops the list of world-renown courses on the Peninsula. While I have been on the grounds of Pebble Beach, I haven’t had the pleasure of playing a round on this iconic course. However, I have played the one course many of the locals play.

Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links is unique for a number of reasons. The front nine holes are in a residential section of the City of Pacific Grove.

The back nine holes are along the coastline of the ocean. The front nine plays very much like a public course with the added benefit of deer near many of the greens.

You’ll see deer on the back nine as well, but the ocean view is the attraction here.

Throughout the back nine, here are areas of plant life that are marked with signs asking that golfers not tread into the vegetation due to the protective status.

A lost golf ball in these areas remains lost. The price is also a distinction. Green fees at Pebble Beach top over six-hundred dollars before cart and caddie fees. Green fees at Pacific Grove run in the fifty-dollar range with some breaks for twilight and junior players.

Pacific Grove is the poor man’s Pebble Beach. While not speaking for all golfers, my view of golf courses centers on how I feel about being on the landscape.

The views are important, but the people I meet, their stories from their experiences, the unique weather features such as ocean breezes or even an unexpected rain shower, are among the characteristics of a California coast golf outing.

That’s me taking a run on the Pismo shoreline years before I became serious about running. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

About an hour north of Los Angeles, Pismo Beach is churning out California Dreamin’ memories.

The beach town holds a distinction of being the second venue where I experienced the Pacific Ocean. My wife and I were in the area returning from a trip to Solvang in the Santa Ynez Valley.

We got off the highway 101 freeway and made our way to highway 1, better known as the Pacific Coast Highway.

As you probably know, the Pacific Coast Highway runs north and south along most of the California coastline. It shares the name with portions of other highways and is known as State Route One.

The logo for the tourism agency for Pismo Beach. Image from ExperiencePismoBeach.com

We were not sure where the beach entrance was, but we saw a cluster of cars at a public park.

We decided to park there, ask around, and see what would happen. We found ourselves in The Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove. Thousands of Monarch Butterflies flock to Pismo State Beach as it is considered a place that’s essential to successful migration.

From late October to February, the butterflies cluster to the Eucalyptus trees throughout the Grove.

We were overwhelmed by the hundreds upon hundreds of Monarchs that seemed to cover every inch of the Eucalyptus trees.

According to the ExperiencePismoBeach.com website, there were an estimated twenty-two thousand Monarchs in the Grove during the Spring 2022 count.

Yes, they actually do something that looks like a count of the number of butterflies.

Tracking the numbers can provide information on how the species is doing from year to year. Grade school students from several districts made their way to the Grove to take in this true marvel of nature. We just happened to stumble onto it.

Thank goodness for serendipity.

We eventually found the beach and enjoyed a great day in the southern California sun. I have been fortunate to have returned to Pismo Beach several times in the nearly two decades I have lived in California.

As breathtaking as the beach view of the ocean can be, the experience of watching hundreds of butterflies flutter among the trees in the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove is something that I will never forget.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He thanks the members of the Merced Senior Club for supporting him as he competed in the Outrun the Sun 5 K to raise money for Planada flood relief.

Participants were told that over eight-thousand dollars was raised as a result of that event.

He’s working on a new book that will be a sequel to California Back Roads. His California books are available at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop and at Lulu.com

You Can Find it at Parker’s-

Hardware store closing after six decades in downtown Merced

Parker’s Hardware on 18th Street in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

The announcement was plain and simple.

A recent social media post read that after sixty-three years, Parker’s Hardware on 18th Street in Merced was closing. Sixty-three years is a great run for any business.

For a small hardware store in this age of big box home improvement centers, six decades is nothing less than phenomenal.

One customer wrote on Facebook, “I remember going there as a little girl with my dad. He always said if you can't find it anywhere else you can find it at Parkers.”

Another person, not on social media, lamented, “You go to those big stores and you’ll spend way too much time finding what you’re looking for. It can be very frustrating.”

Inside Harry’s Hardware from the TV comedy Home Improvement. Photo: ABC

The small hardware store has been part of Americana for over two centuries. Back in the 1990s, the television comedy Home Improvement added a hardware store to the mix of humorous locations where the characters of Tim and Al could be funny.

While the show played it for laughs, Harry’s was a place where folks could gather, buy all kinds of home supplies, and get some “how-to” advice.

The local hardware store in my hometown was an associate store for the Western Auto chain.

Growing up in upstate New York, I always felt the local hardware store seemed to have it all.

The Western Auto in my hometown had bolts, nails, tools and everything in between. I got my first fishing pole, model car kits, and even home versions of TV game shows from that store.

It was the same place my dad would buy paint and window caulking for the house, or where my mom would get light bulbs and floor wax.

All of it came from the locally owned hardware store in my hometown. As a young father, I took my daughters to a locally owned hardware store. I was interested in the tools. My girls were interested in the penny gumball machine near the front of the store.

Merced Mayor Matt Serratto sees a local retailer with such longevity as Parker’s as a treasure for downtown. “Locally owned businesses are the backbone of a community,” he said.

This big sign inside Parker’s Hardware notes the business has served Merced customers for sixty-three years. Photo: Steve Newvine

Two years ago, the Mayor, County Supervisor, and State Assemblyman, drew attention to family-owned retailers by staging a raffle and hot dog roast at the store. The event was also put on to welcome back to Merced Derek Parker, whose family used to own the business.

At the time, Derek moved back to Merced from Sacramento to accept the post as the City’s Fire Chief.

At that time, the Mayor said of Parker’s, “Few things in this world are cooler than an old-fashioned hometown hardware store.”

Efforts are underway now to find the next retailer who might occupy the space where Parker’s Hardware stayed in business in downtown Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

After the store closes at the end of June, the focus will be on finding a new retailer to take over the space.

That will be a challenge as more retailers locate away from the downtown core.

But regardless of what becomes of soon-to-be former Parker’s Hardware, local customers can take some satisfaction in being part of the incredible six-decade run of this family owned business.

Local retailing has seen a lot of change in sixty-three years. To stay in that game for all those years speaks to the successful mix of giving customers what they need and keeping them coming back time after time.

To paraphrase the woman who remembers accompanying her dad to the store as a little girl, “you could find it at Parker’s.”

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His books Can Do Californians and California Back Roads are available for purchase at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop. His new book, Rocket Reporter, is available at Lulu.com

Preview of Rocket Reporter-

Rocket Reporter- Elvis, Huntsville, & the Space Shuttle Remembered. Now available at ROCKET REPORTER (lulu.com)

New Book Recalls Time Covering Space Shuttle

My new book is called Rocket Reporter- Elvis, Huntsville, and the Space Shuttle Remembered. It is about the two years I worked as a local television news reporter in Huntsville, Alabama.

The reporting assignment included the first three launches of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Huntsville was the home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The northern Alabama city was a company town that centered on the space program.

The book is also about the three visits made to Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.

I’ll share more about that part of the book later this summer. But for now, the focus is on a twenty-four year old newly married man who has taken his wife on a new journey to a seemingly foreign place.

The move from upstate New York to the heart of Dixie might be seen as an extreme culture shock. But for my wife and me, it was a new adventure. Here’s a preview:

April 1981

As the managers for the Shuttle Columbia got ready for lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, our television news department in Huntsville, Alabama was getting ready to cover the historic moment as a local news story.

Our local news department philosophy was that the network (in our case ABC News) was handling all the specifics about the lift off and mission.

As a local network affiliate, we saw our role as explaining to our viewers what contributions were being made by local employees at the Marshall Space Flight Center and any space-related subcontractors.

The press credential issued to me from the Marshall Space Flight Center permitting my crew and me entry to the NASA facility for one of the first three launches of the Shuttle Columbia. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

My job as the space beat reporter was to cover those local aspects of the bigger story. Every night leading up to the launch, I would report on some facet of the local impact of the shuttle on northern Alabama.

I would attend satellite news conferences first with the crew, and as the launch got closer, with the launch director and key members of his team. Satellite news conferences were a relatively new technology back in 1981, but that did not matter to any of us. The manager of the news conference would start the briefing.

After the launch director and members of his team spoke, the conference manager would have an engineer switch the audio to each of the NASA centers including the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Edwards Air Force Base in California, White Sands in New Mexico, and eventually to Huntsville.

We would ask our questions of the launch director or whoever was on the dais, and try to connect the answer to the local impact the space shuttle would have on viewers in our audience.

The weekend prior to the launch, I co-anchored the six PM newscast from the Marshall Space Flight Center.

But we had serious transmission problems getting the signal from Marshall to our receiver on Monte Sano Boulevard.

Most of that live reporting was lost due to those problems, but it turned out to be a good thing for the station.

After the weekend snafu, the station’s engineering department scouted out new locations on the Marshall property and performed signal tests.

They found a better location to originate our live reports for the upcoming launch. Had we not attempted the weekend live report, we might have lost an opportunity to do live reporting on the day of Columbia’s liftoff.

Much like NASA doing a shake-down test of systems prior to a launch, our station did a pre-launch shake-down of our Live Eye capability on the weekend newscast prior to the start of the mission.

The day of the launch (April 12, 1981) achieved exactly what we had hoped it would accomplish. NASA had a successful liftoff, the station delivered stories on the local efforts that helped make the mission a success, and our live signal from the Marshall Space Flight Center was clear.

Everything, to use NASA nomenclature, was nominal.

If there was such a thing as a club for journalists covering the space program, I guess I was now a member.

From Rocket Reporter- Elvis, Huntsville, and the Space Shuttle Remembered, by Steve Newvine. Available now at Lulu.com ROCKET REPORTER (lulu.com) Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He thanks the members of the Merced Senior Club for inviting him to talk about his books and his twice monthly Our Community Story column at one of the group’s meetings recently.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

He thanks the members of the Merced Senior Club for inviting him to talk about his books and his twice-monthly Our Community Story column at one of the group’s meetings recently.

Say Cheese in Hilmar-

Company’s Visitor Center Satisfies Area Children

Hilmar Cheese Visitor Center in Hilmar, Merced County. Photo: Steve Newvine

Growing up in dairy country in upstate New York, a grade school class trip to a milk processing plant was always a possibility for me. Some things never change.

Whether it’s 1968 when I was in grade school, or fifty-five years later in Hilmar. On any given school day, it is not uncommon to find a busload of school children taking the tour of Hilmar Cheese in northern Merced County.

Grade schoolers from Ceres Unified take part in a make-believe ice cream making activity at the Hilmar Farms Visitor Center. Photo: Steve Newvine

The company’s visitor center is a hit for school groups who want something close to the home, full of interesting things to see, and that ends with ice cream.

On a breezy morning in early May, grade schoolers from Ceres Unified School District, their teachers, and several parent chaperones took the free tour in Hilmar.

The easiest way to get there is to head west for five miles at the Lander Road exit from highway 99.

“They love it here,” one of the Hilmar Cheese gift shop employees said as a customer acknowledged the large crowd of youngsters.

The view overhead looking down on the Hilmar Cheese Visitor Center Gift Shop and Café. Photo: Steve Newvine

Hilmar Cheese has been part of the northern Merced community since 1984 when eleven dairy farms banded together with an idea scribbled on a napkin at a coffee shop.

The Visitor Center honors that humble beginning with displays showing how the company has grown over the past four decades. The Center welcomes children and others just about any day of the year with the exception of the major holidays.

The tour is free, and ends at the gift shop and café. There’s also an outdoor waterfall with a walking path to give visitors a chance to walk off any extra calories from lunch at the café.

A giant mural on the side of one of the buildings at Hilmar Cheese. (upper) The same mural in a photo taken from behind the waterfalls feature at the Visitor Center. Photos: Steve Newvine

The company says twenty-percent of all the cheese sold in the US comes from Hilmar Cheese.

In many cases, the cheese is sold under a different brand name. Cheese from Hilmar Cheese is sold in over fifty countries.

In most of the tours given by the team at Hilmar Cheese, visitors learn how cheese is made with hands-on exhibits about cows. They can see workers packaging large crates of cheese.

The visitor center includes a timeline that tells the story of how Hilmar Cheese got started back in 1984. Photo: Steve Newvine

On this particular morning in May, the children were involved in a game that simulated the ice cream making process. The youngsters were wide-eyed and anxious about the game.

That might have been the result of a subtle promise by the group leader of real ice cream for everyone at the end of the tour.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His books California Back Roads and Can-Do Californians are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at Lulu.com.

Both are also on sale right now at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop.

Steve will be the guest speaker at the Merced Senior Center morning meeting on May 12.

For more information, call the Center at (209) 385-8803 or email at tommysoto31@gmail.com

At that event, Steve will have his new book Rocket Reporter available.

The book is the true story of his two years in Huntsville, Alabama where he covered the first three launches of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Cars, Coffee, and Memories-

Monthly Car Show is a Win for Everyone

A classic car from nearly ninety years ago on display at Cars and Coffee Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

Tom Bustos remembers the day a car show provided a once-in-lifetime experience for a local woman. Back in 2022, a family cleaned up an old Dodge Dart that was exactly like the one their mom had back in her youth.

The family surprised the mom by taking her to the Cars and Conversation Merced show.

“They made sure the car was there before she arrived, Tom recalls. “She had no idea that this car was going to be part of their family that day. It was a joy to watch that reveal unfold.”

This Oldsmobile is one of many classics on display at the monthly Cars and Coffee Merced show held on the first Saturday of each month from March through October at the Merced Mall north parking lot. Photo: Steve Newvine

Personal stories like these keep Tom and his wife Emily putting on the monthly car show in the north parking lot at Merced Mall.

Cars and Coffee Merced started when Emily and Tom thought the time was right for a car show that was free, family friendly, and not too narrow in focus.

“There were a lot of shows, but they were very specific about car types or time periods,” Emily said. “We wanted a venue that was open to everyone, and any kind of car.”

From that basic concept emerged Cars and Coffee Merced. The property manager at Merced Mall offered the north parking area for displays, Merced Car Wash emerged as a partner to hold the events, and Jantz Bakery offered to provide morning coffee.

The couple use social media to let people know about upcoming car shows. Word-of-mouth has also helped spread the word.

On the first Saturday of every month beginning in March, Cars and Coffee Merced welcomes the cars, their owners, and the public for a few hours of nostalgia, reconnection, and car talk.

“We’ve been hosting Cars and Coffee in Merced since 2016,” said Tom Bustos. “We feel really blessed.”

The monthly activity provides all of the good things a car show can create and it helps community organizations along the way. The July event raises money for the Carlos Viera Foundation Race for Autism with a raffle for fireworks.

Other groups that benefit from the showcase of vintage cars include Cub Scout Pack 96 when the annual Pinewood Derby is staged on site alongside the automobile displays.

“That event includes a scavenger hunt where participants find cars with particular histories,” Tom said.

Tom and Emily Bustos along with their classic automobiles: a Maserati Granturismo and a Porsche 911. Photo: Steve Newvine

There are a lot of classic car enthusiasts in the Central Valley of California.

This monthly event provides the family friendly venue where everyone is welcome and any car can be displayed.

The Bustos get into the act with their two cars. One drives a Maserati and the other drives a Porsche. The other added bonus of Cars and Coffee Merced is the creation of new memories connecting people to a special set of wheels in their lives.

One car enthusiast shared a story about selling a classic car at a reduced price to a terminally ill friend so that the friend could enjoy it in what would be his final days.

Others can recall a specific type of car that was exactly like the car a close relative had back decades ago.

Still others just get a kick out of seeing all the cars.

A classic Chevy Corvette brightens the scenery at Cars and Coffee Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

Cars and Coffee Merced is held every first Saturday morning from March through October in the north parking area at Merced Mall.

There is no entry fee for cars and no admission charge to the public. A raffle helps generate enough money to provide some light snacks, pay for the event insurance, and purchase additional prizes.

The purpose is quite simple according to Tom: “The goal is just to bring motor enthusiasts of all kinds together.”

That goal is reached every month during car show season. Memories continue to be made month after month, wheel after wheel.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His books California Back Roads and Can-Do Californians are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at Lulu.com. Both are also on sale right now at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop.

Steve will be the guest speaker at the Merced Senior Center morning meeting on May 12.

For more information, call the Center at (209) 385-8803 or email at [tommysoto31@gmail.com][0]

[0]: mailto:tommysoto31@gmail.com

Back in the Buckaroo Saddle Again-

Classic Country Group Reunites After COVID-forced Break

The Buckaroos then with Buck Owens, and now. Photo Buck Owens Private Foundation

Over fifty years ago, Fresno musician Jim Shaw wanted to record his country band Nashville West in a new studio owned by the legendary Buck Owens in Bakersfield.

Little did he know he would meet Buck and be asked to record with him that very day. “Buck was recording and needed a piano player".

He was told there was a piano player in the building: "me.” While Owens did not know Jim, he came out of the studio to meet him and asked whether Jim could play in the session.

That session worked out, and would soon be followed by a few more before Buck asked Jim if he’d like to join the group. “By June of 1970, I was hired as a member of the Buckaroos.”

The Buckaroos with Dean Martin in a photograph from the 1970s. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos appeared on a number of TV variety shows in the seventies including the Ed Sullivan Show, and the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. Photo: Buck Owens Private Foundation

Jim has been part of the Buckaroos ever since. He played in the band during the Hee Haw TV show that Buck co-hosted with Roy Clark.

Jim was there for the road appearances, network variety shows, and in the recording studio.

He never left the group. Band members moved on over the years and were replaced by other musicians.

Jim along with Doyle Curtsinger, who joined shortly before Jim, have both remained with the band for over fifty years.

Jim Shaw in the foreground with two other members of the Buckaroos at the band’s reunion concert in March 2023. Photo: Steve Daniels.

The Central Valley’s country music heritage was on full display on the stage of the Buck Owens Crystal Palace in Bakersfield in late March.

The Buckaroos performed for the first time since COVID restrictions closed the place back in 2020.

While the Palace would reopen once restrictions were lifted, the band went into a sort of holding pattern.

Jim Shaw on the keyboards at the Buckaroos reunion shows at the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield. Photo: Steve Daniels

Buck Owens died in 2005, but the band continued performing at the Crystal Palace.

Jim has played with the Buckaroos along with serving as the managing director for the Buck Owens Private Foundation.

The Foundation runs the entertainment, publishing, and recording arms of the singer’s estate. When he signed on, he joined legendary guitarist Don Rich and bass player Doyle Holly who were stalwarts of the band. Holly left a year later to forge a solo career.

Rich died in a motorcycle accident in 1974.

Others became Buckaroos over the past five decades. So the reunion shows took on a special significance.

Vocalist and Buckaroo Kim McAbee was part of the reunion shows the band did in late March of 2023. Photo: Steve Daniels

Also on stage for the reunion was lead singer Buckaroo Kim McAbee.

On her Facebook page, she said of the reunion, “So much fun with the Buckaroos together again after three years.” Jim Shaw echoed the sentiments of Kim and others by saying the two shows at the Crystal Palace went very well. “Friday night was totally sold out and we had an enthusiastic crowd and a train-wreck-free performance.”

When he met Buck more than five decades ago Jim had no idea how his life would change.

“I moved into running Buck’s recording studio and took on other duties over the years. I’ve been a managing director of the Buck Owens Private Foundation for the past seventeen years.”

Buck Owens would perform at his Crystal Palace right up until his passing in 2005. Photo: Buck Owens Private Foundation

Jim describes recording for Buck as an experience that was at times challenging but also inspiring. “It was interesting,” he says of those years. “Buck was hard driving, a perfectionist. On the other hand, he brought out the best of us.”

The Buckaroos band was considered one of the best instrumental groups in country music. That’s due in part to that hard-driving leadership from Buck Owens and in part to the musical magic that can happen many times within a small band. Each member brings in something unique, and when the conditions are right, the results are almost magical.

The Buckaroos were co-founders of the so-called Bakersfield Sound, a distinctive style of country music that focused on a smaller number of musicians and the liberal use of electric guitars.

Buck Owens and Merle Haggard were the best-known country artists who delivered the Bakersfield Sound.

Behind those two country icons were the backup bands. Haggard had the Strangers. Owens had the Buckaroos.

“Back in our heyday, every major country artist had their own band,” Jim said. “Loretta Lynn had the Coal Miners, and Johnny Cash originally had the Tennessee Two. Now, an artist may have a band, but often the faces change, and rarely are they even named.”

It is different for the Buckaroos. They keep the flame burning. Thanks to reunion shows like the two performed in late March in Bakersfield, the Buckaroos continue to keep the Bakersfield Sound alive.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He has written several Our Community Story columns on the Bakersfield Sound and has featured Bakersfield in two of his books: Can Do Californians and California Back Roads.

Both books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Lulu.com as well as at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.