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Introduction
GEM-O-RAMA
Trona in 1915
Trona in 1920
Trona in 1948
Valley Sites
The Trona Plant
The Schools
Trona Alumni
Trona Contacts
Map
Stevens in Trona
S. W. Austin
Trona Area
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Organizations
The Capital
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Personal Pages
Trona RR
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Trona Money
The Book Store
Museums
Miscellaneous
For Sale in Trona

Obituaries

Although he was from a small town in the Mojave Desert, Rupert Beall Blackmun was to develop a network of friends and family across the world. Rupert died from a stroke following emergency open heart surgery in San Diego. He was 79 years old. He was born in Lone Pine, California at the base of Mt. Whitney, the first child of Lynn and Alene Blackmun. At the age of four, he moved with his family to Westend, a small chemical company town near Trona, California, the gateway to Death Valley. As a child growing up in the desert and mountains, he had many colorful adventures. After graduating from Trona High School, Rupert briefly attended the University of Arkansas. In 1950, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, and the following year he married Barbara Winston, a recent UCLA graduate who had come to teach in the Trona school. After his Honorable Discharge in 1953, he completed a Masters Degree in Industrial Arts and Education at San Jose State University. In 1958, he accepted a teaching position at Riverside City College, where he became Chairman of the Vocational Division. He was very active in the Calvary Presbyterian Church, and he enjoyed the "Y's Men" and Indian Guides with his two sons. In 1964, he was asked by the University of Southern California to join a team of five technical educators in establishing the international Malawi Polytechnic College in Blantyre, Malawi, Central Africa. His family accompanied him and assisted in this project, and they returned to the United States in 1969. In 1970, Rupert joined the Industrial Studies Department at San Diego State University as an Assistant Professor, and the Blackmuns moved to La Mesa. As part of his teaching, he trained Peace Corps volunteers, and lived in Mashaad, Iran for a time in 1973. In 1980, he elected to work with the Telemedia Corporation as a contract instructor for the Royal Saudi Navy. He was stationed at Dammam, Saudi Arabia, teaching naval cadets how to maintain and repair diesel and gas turbine marine engines. These overseas assignments allowed him to visit friends and relations, both new and old, in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
 
Rupert's support and encouragement helped his wife Barbara to complete her Ph.D. in Art History at UCLA. He traveled with her to international conferences, took leadership positions in the African Arts Committee of the San Diego Museum of Art, and served as president of the San Diego Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America. Rupert was an active member of many civic organizations and church groups. As a board member and president of the La Mesa Lions Club, he was named the 2004 Melvin Jones Fellow by the Lions Clubs International Foundation, for his "dedicated humanitarian services". His neighbors once gave him the title of "The Mayor" of his block. His welcoming smile and infectious enthusiasm will be sorely missed in his community. In addition to his wife, Dr. Barbara Blackmun, Rupert is survived by his sister, Lynette Petersen, his daughter, Dr. Monica Visona and her husband Dr. Paolo Visona of Lexington, KY; his son William Blackmun and his wife Sandra Blackmun of Spring Valley; his son Lt. Col. Karl Blackmun and his wife Marcia Blackmun of Temecula, his "almost daughter", Julie Carroll of Escondido and her husband Thomas Carroll, his niece Karlyn Carpenter, and his nephew, Theodore Petersen. He leaves eight grandchildren: Marian and Mark Visona, Laura Kelly, and Ross, Christen, Danni, Samuel, and Joseph Blackmun. Rupert's extended family can be found around the world, from California to Arkansas and Minnesota, from Mexico to Scotland, France, Egypt, Italy, and Iran. His memory will live on in his relatives and in his many, many friends. A Memorial Celebration will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, February 18th, at the Trinity Presbyterian Church, 3902 Kenwood Drive, Spring Valley 91977. Private Internment will be at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. Please sign the guest book at obituaries.uniontrib.com
Published in the San Diego Union-Tribune on 2/6/2008

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Contact:  Ron Long  Cell# 928-232-0575 

Published in the Times-Herald from 2/2/2007 - 2/3/2007

Jesse Lee Moses, age 43, of Coatesville, PA, formerly of New Jersey and California, died on Wednesday, February 4, 2004 at home.  He was born in Houston, Texas and was a son of Jesse Leroy Moses and the late Ruby (Lemons) Moses. He was the step-son of Vada (Brown) Moses of Trona, California.

Mr. Moses was a facility manager for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He was formerly the general foreman of the Facilities Department of Fort Dix Federal Correctional Facility in New Jersey. Most recently, he was the facility manager for the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, NY.

He served in the U.S. Navy for 10 years. Mr. Moses enjoyed boating, saltwater fishing and motorcycling. Surviving in addition to his father and step mother are: companion - Christine (Turek) Harris of Coatesville, Pennsylvania; two sons - Tobias and Matthew Moses of California; one daughter -Destiny Moses of Iowa; two step sisters - Katie Kidder of California and Sherry Scott of Alabama; one granddaughter - Symphony Moses of Maxwell, Iowa. In addition to his mother, he was preceded in death by one step brother, Leroy Moses.

101 YEARS IN PRISON FOR NICHOLS MURDER - Wednesday, May 11, 2005

COURT HOUSE - Calling Daniel Lee Nichols dangerous and beyond rehabilitation, Judge Donald Hopwood sentenced the defendant to 99 years in prison for his first degree murder conviction last January for the strangulation death of his mother, Dixie Nichols. He also added two years for unrelated weapons charges, for a total of 101 years.

"The defendant is a dangerous person," Judge Hopwood stated Monday afternoon during the lengthy sentencing process in the emotionally charged courtroom. After listening to arguments from Prosecutor Richard Payne, Defense Attorney Abigail Sheldon and the defendant himself, the Judge explained his reasoning before passing sentence. "He has made no expressions of remorse," said Judge Hopwood, citing the fact that Nichols not only strangled his mother, but left her dead body on the ground and walked away, only to go out for a burger and coke within hours of her murder. "I find this to be an astonishing lack of feeling," he told the courtroom.

Prosecutor Richard Payne originally asked the court for a sentence of 99 years, 60 years served before he could be considered for parole and two sentences of two years each for two weapons charges that Nichols had plead guilty for almost two years ago. "It shocks the conscience of the average person," Payne told the judge when asking for the harsh sentence, citing the numerous previous assaults, the gruesome nature of the murder and Nichols previous failures to stay out of trouble with the law. "He can not be rehabilitated," he told the court. "He used his bare hands to kill his mother."

Defense Attorney Abigail Sheldon asked for a less harsh sentence, pleading that Nichols never had a chance to be rehabilitated and was not generally a violent person. While acknowledging that Dixie was a beloved person in the community, she said that "something went wrong in his family," and that Nichols was by and large a peaceful person. "The court would not regret giving him that chance," she said.

The judge then gave Nichols a chance to speak on his own behalf. Nichols said his constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness had been violated by the state over the years, that his parents owed him money and were in cahoots with authorities from D.A., the FBI and more, while once referring to his mother as "Mrs. Nichols."

He did acknowledge that he had caused his family grief, but went to great lengths to blame his mother for her own death. "What happened with my mother was extremely tragic," he told the judge, but claimed his trial for her murder was distorted and the evidence and testimony was taken out of context. "She was the initial aggressor in our confrontation there," he said.

The closest he came to an apology occurred when he told the court, "I don't want to make this anymore difficult for my family than it already is."

His attempts to remove himself from culpability in the crime fell on deaf ears. "I can believe nothing he says," Judge Hopwood stated before sentencing.

He then handed down the 99 year sentence, "The maximum term I can do," he said then added "None of that suspended."

He also stipulated that Nichols can not be considered for parole until he has served a minimum of 50 years in prison because it was the only way to protect Nichols family, friends and former friends. "He could kill again," he stated.

Judge Hopwood, who retired after the Nichols trial last January, but reentered the courtroom to close out this case, stated that only once before had he ever placed such a restriction on a defendant's parole.

By Lee Revis
Editor, Valdez Star

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