Category Archives: Alumni

Jess D

Jess Dominguez

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Update: Jess passed away March 29, 2023. The following was put together in 2014:

No, Jess didn’t die. Unfortunately that is how most of my fellow alumni make it to these pages. Maybe this will be a new trend for me, creating posts about living people.

I’ve been wanting to write something about Jess for a long time, ever since he sent me the short book he put together about living on Mojave Street. I put it off and then almost forgot but then yesterday Linda Monroe reminded me about what a great story Jess would make. I guess that is the problem. I’m not sure I can do his story justice. I’m going to do my best and come back and revise it when the mood strikes me.

Jess graduated from Trona High School in 1959. His accomplishments make me feel very humble about my own life.

The information attached to the video above and the video say it better than I ever could:

An instructor of life modeling and 3-D design at SDSU for more than 25 years, Jess Dominguez’s work can be seen all over campus.

The War Memorial at Aztec Green, the statue of President Black near the Old Quad and a relief at the Lipinsky Tower are all his creations. He is volunteering his time and talent for the Coryell bust project.

“I want to keep doing things for the university as long as I can contribute,” he said, “and this one is very special.”

Last year, Dominguez sculpted a bust of football coach Don Coryell. (http://universe.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscen…)

Dominguez said sculpture is intended to be more representational than literal. It should capture a subject’s essence more than a literal likeness that, for example, a figure in a wax museum might represent.

“It’s not supposed to look like a death mask, it’s supposed to look like a sculpture with tool marks and imperfections,” he said.

Before Dominguez casts a final version of a sculpture he tries to have family members or someone close to the subject approve the work.

Jess Dominguez  Jess has come a long way from that house that was on the other side of the tracks on Mojave Street where his family once lived. When I talked to Jess he reminded me of the salted jelly candy that my dad would bring home from work. I didn’t know it but Jess told me that AP&CC would give the candy to the workers. He said that some of the men in the plant would throw their candy over the fence to the kids that were playing on Mojave Street. If I had known that I might have gotten to know Jess much sooner. I loved that salty candy.

Actually I was forbidden by my mother to visit Mojave Street. At that time racism still had a strong hold on the minds of many Americans, including my mother. It wasn’t so much racism as a lack of understanding.

Jess’s book about Trona tells about how his father would find remnants of grain in boxcars that they would sweep up and use as feed for their chickens and how his mother would pass food through a hole in the plant fence so her husband could have a warm lunch at work. Or maybe that was from when we talked?

He also gives credit to his art teacher Lois Pratt for encouraging him to continue with his art. Jess is making a bronze plaque now for the Centennial which will incorporate high points in Trona, like Austin Hall and Valley Wells.

I didn’t know Jess very well. The Dominguez that I knew and that I looked up to at the time was Jess’s older brother, Ernesto. Ernesto was one of my brother’s best friends and since I always looked up to my older brother he and and all his friends were heros in my eyes.

I reserve the right to come back and revise this as I feel the need and I can truly say I’m sorry for postponing writing this for so long.

For more about Jess read:

Professor Emeritus Creates Bronze Bust of Legendary Coach

Marian (Steger) Micallef – Class of 1951

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Marian (Steger) Micallef passed away in her residence on January 9, 2014. Marian is survived by her four children, Debbie Neumann, Kevin Micallef, Mark Micallef and Sharon Eaton. She also had five beautiful grandchildren and one great grandson. Marian was preceded in death by her husband Jack, who passed in 2007. Together they enjoyed 50 years of marriage, retirement, traveling and most of all golfing. She was a loving wife and mother. She will be missed. For service information please go to: www.murrietavalleyfuneralhome.com

Published in Press-Enterprise on Jan. 14, 2014

Marian was the homecoming queen in her senior year. Looking at her senior picture I can see why.

Gerald Birdwell

Gerald Birdwell – Class of 1960

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Gerald Birdwell (class of ’60) died Jan 13, 2014 after an illness of several months. No details are available at this point as to services. Bob Birdwell (THS ’64) called to notify friends.

[edited 16 Jan 2024]

Jerry was born on 10 Feb 1942 in Long Beach, CA to Dayton and Dorothy Birdwell.
Jerry spent some years in the full-time ministry and attended a special school for Jehovah’s Witnesses for those in full-time service. He was a Jehovah’s Witness for 51 years.
His hobbies were country music and computers. He loved to travel. I his later years, he took up barbecuing.
He was preceded in death by his parents Dayton and Dorothy Birdwell.
Jerry is survived by his wife Penny Birdwell of Ridgecrest, CA, stepson Jeff Teal of Grand Rapids, MI, sister Aleta Brown of Trona, CA, brothers Robert Birdwell of Ridgecrest and Michael Birdwell of Trona, brother-in-law Harold Brown of Trona, sister-in-law Melody Birdwelll of Ridgecrest and a host of nieces and nephews to the third generation.

Published The News Review, Ridgecrest, CA 22 Jan 2014

Find a Grave

Shirley (Thurston) Griffin – Class of 1959

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Shirley (Thurston) Griffin class of 1959 passed away on Jan 5, 2014. Shirley was called to Heaven after a long battle with lymphoma.  She was born in Trona on Oct 23 1940 and attended school until she was in high school when her parents, Vernon (Ming or Salty) and Mickey sent her to a Christian boarding school.  After she was married her family resided in Trona or Ridgecrest on and off through the years.

Shirley Irene Thurston was born on October 23, 1940 in Trona, California to Vernon Samuel and Mickey (Mescal) Eunice Thurston.

Shirley showed her leadership and faith in God at an early age.  She was the first Christian in her family and began attending the Foursquare Church in Trona, by herself at age 12.  Through her example, her parents and sister came to know Christ.

She attended elementary school in Trona, the Seventh Day Adventist Jr. High in Ridgecrest, then Trona High School through her sophomore high school year.  Shirley then attended a Christian boarding school in Clovis, California; West Coast Bible School, where she graduated High School in 1958.

Shirley was active in the community and in her school.  She enjoyed Swimming, Basketball, Choir, Track/field and was an accomplished pianist.

She met Jerry Leroy Griffin at their church and then married this man who was to be the love of her life on January 1, 1962 at age 20 in the Church of God in Ridgecrest.

Shirley and Jerry pastored several small Church of God congregations in Victorville, California; Oroville, California; Yreka, California, Metlakatla, Alaska; Mount Pleasant, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; Westwood, California; Yuma, Arizona; ending their pastorate positions at Woodburn, Oregon.  In Westwood, she was only a few hours from receiving her solo pilot’s license to fly an airplane.  What a shame she wasn’t able to finish that great adventure.  During a visit to Alaska in 2010, one of the members of the small Metlakatla, Alaska church remembered her.  They spent over an hour reminiscing over old times and the fact that Jerry and Shirley facilitated the purchase of the land where the current church still worships.

Shirley had an independent spirit all throughout her life.  Starting as a child, she hiked all over the desert surrounding Trona.  She made many trips with friends, family and on her own.  She hiked the Sierra Mountains for two weeks by herself and traveled to China alone with a tour group and managed to ditch them along the way to see the sites she was interested in.  She took thousands of pictures from all over the world, documenting her life of amazing adventures.

At the time of her death she was attending Capital Christian Center in Sacramento, CA.  Shirley had an amazing capacity to love that was evident to all who met her.  She immediately accepted and loved every inherited grandchild when her sons remarried.  She was always careful to keep family close with her children’s respective spouses.   Shirley’s pure demonstration of love touched the hearts of all who knew her.  She finished the race of life with confidence and love for Jesus Christ, thankful for the saving grace of her Lord.

She is survived by her sister, Carol Dian (Dee) Burdine, daughter Janice, sons Vernon and Jerry, 11 grandchildren, 8 great grandchildren, 5 nieces, 1 nephew, 17 great nieces and nephews and 2 great great nephews along with infinite extended family and friends.

The Cave In at Pioneer Point

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Lee Shimmin,Leroy Reece, Gilmore, and Richard (Larsen) Orr were involved in building a cave. It started on a sand dune on the lake side of the highway going from Trona to Valley Wells east of Pioneer Point. We had an iron pipe some 2×4’s stretched between the sides of sand and holly bushes holding up the pipe, then we placed cardboard on top with sand thrown on top to hold the cardboard down tight so it would not be blown away. Gilmore, Reece and Orr went in and I followed into the room we built inside. Richard Orr went out the tunnel entrance and I followed him. He got out but I did not and the pipe hit my head and I was covered with sand as the cave collapsed. Lucky for me my head was out enough to breathe. But, the steel pipe and sands weight pinned me so I could not move.

Richard went out to get help and contacted a graveyard [shift] foreman at the Point and my mother Mary Shimmin. She came ASAP with a shovel and tried to leverage the pipe off the shovel to no avail. The pipe was raised above my head and slipped, only to land on my shoulder and severed a nerve that paralyzed my arm. There were no bones broken, however my arm was limp. I could only move my fingers and could not write. I was in the hospital near Austin Square and my roommates included Walter Austin who taught me my multiplication tables and coached me to move my arm to no avail. My concerned parents took me to Los Angles near MacArthur Park where a neurologist examined me and put me into an “Airplane Splint”. The splint lasted into the summer of sixth grade when after swimming and doing physical therapy I recovered. They had to pump sand from my lungs and try all kinds of modern techniques during the recovery time. The splint was used in polio patients for their recoveries.

Well, needless to say I survived due to Richard Orr.

The story above is told by Lee Shimmins, class of 1957, in an email to my brother, Joel, who I had written to find out what he could tell me about this story. Lee says he was in the 6th grade at the time and was the school superintendent’s son. Counting backwards this incident must have happened about 1951.

A few days ago Ernie Kraut wrote a note asking about this incident that how this post came about . After being reminded that it was Lee, Ernie wrote: “We were in the 5th grade I think and in the temporary buildings at school. Lee had his arm on a support that held his forearm and bicep up in the air even with his shoulder and the elbow at a right angles.” LeRoy Reece told Joel that he also ran to the Point and brought back help. I’m not sure who Gilmore is but there was a Sue Gilmore who is now Sue Halstead. She was in Lee’s 1957 class.

Digging caves was a common thing for Trona kids to do at that time. It probably started with the the first kids in the valley and probably still goes on today.

Paul Mock, class of 1958, also dug a cave during this same time period in the lot behind our house. Perhaps he was inspired by Lee’s cave and the self confidence that he could build a safer cave that would not cave in. Mr. Mock took one look at it, and made Paul fill the hole in but promised to help build another one that was properly braced so it couldn’t collapse and he did follow through on his promise and the cave was built. It lasted several years. Someday I’ll write a post about the secret cave that went back deep into the mountain of the Point of Rocks (Ali Baba’s cave).

Paul Arthur Bengtson – Class of 1969

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Paul Bengtson

Paul Bengtson

April 11, 1951 – April 13, 2012  Paul Arthur Bengtson, beloved father, brother, grandpa, uncle and friend, passed from this life on April 13, 2012, in Edmond, Oklahoma, at the age of 61. He was born in Trona, CA April 11, 1951, and was a graduate of Bakersfield HS in 1969. He came to OKC in 1970 and was a member of Ambucks, NRA, and Eagle Scouts. He was very dedicated to his life work and passion of auto mechanics, so much so that almost everyone who knew him took their car to him. He owned Sharpe Automotive for 40 years and was an instructor at Norman Technical College. He was commonly known around town as Tall Paul. He made each of his family and friends feel as though they were his favorite. He is survived by Donene Bengtson, his wife of 34 years; his daughter, Melinda Chada and her husband Evan; his son, Paul Ryan Bengtson; his granddaughters, Gracelyn Rylee and Markey Genice Bengtson; his grandson, Colton Coy Bengtson; his two brothers, Eric (Kathy) Bengtson and Allen (Susie) Bengtson; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Franklin Niles and Naomi Inez Bengtson. Memorial Services will be held 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at Vondel Smith Mortuary North Colonial Chapel.

Published in The Oklahoman on Apr. 15, 2012

Jimmy Ewing

Jimmy Ewing – Class of 1953

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Jim Ewing, class of 1953, passed away in March of 2012. In looking for information about Jim’s death I learned that in 1940 Jim’s grandfather, James Ewing, was the fire chief in Trona and that Jim’s father, Arthur, died in Trona in 1951 at the age of 38.

My brother Joel told me that Arthur was and electrician for AP&CC and while he was working inside a product elevator someone turned it on. If I remember correctly it took several days work to recover the body. “Lock-out, Tag-out” seems so obvious now and I am sure it has saved a lot of lives. Still I remember a similar accident occurring at Kaiser Steel where the lock was cut and the tag removed. I was told by someone who worked there in the 70s that Kaiser Steel averaged an on the job death a week.

The following is an email from Jim’s daughter, Tami, to George Sherman:

“My dad had some health issues but was very diligent about seeing his doctor and taking his medications and was living happily in San Diego. My husband and I visited every other weekend as he was yearning to spend more and more time with family as he was getting along in years. I mention that as there was no outward indication of any serious health issues.

Sunday, March 4th, I received a call from my dad letting me know he had been admitted to Scripps hospital in San Diego. He took a bad fall in his condo, (evidently from ‘blacking out’) and broke 4 ribs. My dad fought to recover from his injuries, for awhile, but doctors informed me they were more concerned about his other ‘health issues’ than they were his ribs. He had liver disease and while admitted, hospital doctors learned he was having heart trouble (which explained why he had the black out). As each day passed, he got progressively worse and the rib injuries were extremely painful for him.

I spent day and night at his hospital bedside until he was finally to weak to fight, He passed away peacefully on March 21, 2012, I held his hand, prayed with him, and we watched the sun setting over the San Diego Bay as he took his last breath.

Sorry to ramble, I loved my dad very much and it gives me some comfort to share a little with his friends. My dad loved his friends very much, especially those he kept in contact with from Trona. I know because a) he told me so and b) he always talked about them. *smile*

Tami”

David (Harral) Fuller – Class of 1960

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David (Harral) Fuller and his brother Richard went by the name of “Harral” when they were in high school but their real name was Fuller. After high school they went back to using their real name. David was born on September 7, 1942 and died on October 23, 2013. The last address I had for him was Los Molinos, CA but apparently he had moved to Louisiana. Linda Monroe said he had lung cancer but did not know if this was the cause of death or not. The arrangements were handled by Leitz-Eagan Funeral Home, 4747 Veterans Blvd, Metairie, LA 70006. David’s brother, Richard, died in 1995 and is buried in Trona.