Category Archives: Death Notice

Pat Hurlocker

Patrick Wendell Hurlocker — Class of 1949

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 Pat Hurlocker, class of 1949, passed away on Mar. 28, 2023. He had just turned 92 on St, Patrick’s Day. Pat had been married 72 years to Val (Pipkin) Hurlocker, class of 1950. He had seven children, fifteen grandchildren and nine Great grandchildren.

Pat was born in Beltrami County, Minnesota to Harold and Isabell Hurlocker on March 17, 1931. He had one brother and five sisters, most of them attended Trona High School. Holly (Hurlocker) Farrah was in the class of 1951, Kathleen (Hurlocker) Roche (1935-2014) was in the class of 1953, Paul Hurlocker (1938-2001) was in the class of 1957, Sally Hurlocker (1940-1998) was in the class of 1958, and Alicia (Hurlocker) Philpot was in the class of 1959.

Paul played football, basketball, and track in high school. He was a class representative, the varsity club treasurer, and a member of the physics club.

He will be missed by his wife, his family, and his friends.

John Deyoung 1962

John DeYoung (1944-2023) – Class of 1962

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John, class of 1962, died February 6, 2023, at home.  He had Leukemia.  He lived in Brentwood California with his wife Jean DeYoung.  He was 78 years old.  

If more information becomes available, I will post it.

John had four sisters, Dorothy DeYoung) Farrah (1932-1992), class of 1950; Carolyn (DeYoung) Morse (1940-2021) class of 1959; Paula (DeYoung) Wong, class of 1964, and Roberta (DeYoung) Adams, class of 1967. John also had a cousin, Linda (DeYoung) Bishop, class of 1959 who is also a THS alumnus.

John DeYoung
Betty Jo Wellbaum

Betty Jo (Wellbaum) Cross (1936-2022) – Class of 1954

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There is a notice at https://obituaries.tridentsociety.com/obituaries/rancho-mirage-ca/betty-cross-10953218 that Betty Joe passed away in the last 365 days. There isn’t any additional information about her passing, but I received an email from one of her classmates telling me she passed away on October 3, 2022.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.tridentsociety.com/location/palm-desert-ca for the Cross family.

Betty Jo’s twin sister, Ada Rae (Wellbaum) Bancroft passed away in 2017.

David Barrett

David Allan Barrett — Class of 1968

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David Barrett passed away on December 23, 2022. He was the oldest son of Fred and Rose Barrett. He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother Raymond Barrett (1952-2017), class of 1970 and his sister, Nancy (Barrett) Harris class of 1977. He is survived by his sister, Donna Barrett class of 1973 and his stepmother, Lois (McGill) Barrett class of 1955.

Graveside services will be held Saturday January 21 at 11 A.M. at the Searles Valley Cemetery. Followed by a private burial, then a “Celebration of Life” at the Trona Elks Lodge.

In lieu of flowers the family request donations to be made to either the Trona Senior Center or the Trona Community Chest. These donations can be mailed to the Trona Community Chest P.O. Box 413 Trona, CA 93592 or funds can be accepted at Desert Valley Credit Union.

https://www.ridgecrestca.com/obituaries/david-allan-barrett/article_18c107a8-9056-11ed-be5b-abb165ff2893.html

Donna Rich

Donna (Rich) Phillips — Class of 1963

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Donna Rich
Donna (Rich) Phillips

Donna passed away on December 22, 2022. I will post more information when it becomes available. She is the younger sister of Doris Rich class of 1953, and Buddy Rich class of 1955. Her cousin was Roy Wheeler class of 1960. Her brother-in-law was Bill Fuller class of 1951. Bill Fuller’s cousin was Harvey Crandall class of 1957.

Obituary

Donna Jane Phillips the daughter of John and Inez Rich was born January 5, 1946, in Trona, California, and departed this life on December 22, 2022, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma at the age of 76 years, 11 months and 17 days.

Donna loved her family.  She enjoyed the outdoors whether she was working in her garden, taking care of her horses, or just enjoying some time fishing.  She loved to cook, especially for her family.  Her grandkids made her the most happy.  Donna touched many lives over the years and will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother John Buddy Rich; her sister Doris Fuller and her grandson Chase Cape.

She is survived by a loving family which includes her children Paul Phillips of Bakersfield, CA, Angie Sweeten and husband Craig of Durant, Chris Cape of Tahlequah, Janez Worster and husband Rich of Arizona and Jody Lynn Dallis of Tahlequah; 9 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.  Several nieces, nephews, friends and other relatives also survive her.

https://obituaries.tahlequahdailypress.com/obituary/donna-phillips-1086889283

https://tahlequah.hartfuneralhome.net/obituary/Donna-Phillips

Bobbie Marie (Halstead) Jones — Class of 1961

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I still remember the day that Bobbie Halstead walked into our 3rd grade class as a new student. It was around 1952 or 1953. The Halstead family had just moved to Trona from Porterville. I had never heard of Porterville before and had no idea where it was. She was assigned the desk next to mine. We were friends ever since. I didn’t keep up with Bobbie’s life so I can’t tell you much about it. I chatted with her on the computer quite a bit she started complaining about memory problems and just sort of disappeared from Facebook. The last time I saw her was at the last class reunion that I attended. It was a very sad moment yesterday when I heard that she had passed away. She died on July 10, 2022.

Bobbie was born in Porterville January 24, 1943 to James and Irene Halstead. Bobbie came to Trona with her three brothers, Frank, Jack and Richard and a younger sister Linda. Frank was in the class of 1954 and Jack and Richard were in the class of 1956. Jack passed away in 2003. Linda was in the class of 1962

We would like to express our sincerest condolences to Bob and to all of Bobbie’s family.

Bruce Bernhardi

Bruce Bernhardi – Class of 1955

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Bruce was born as John Bruce Bernhardi to John and Margaret Bernhardi om August 5, 1937. If he had lived until his birthday he would have been 85 years old.

In high school he was in the band for 4 years, a varsity club member for 3 years, a member of the Telescope staff in his junior year, played football for 3 years, played basketball for 3 years, baseball for 3 years and was on the track team for 4 years. He wore jersey number 22 for basketball and football. I wonder when he found time to study.

After high school he attended Northern Arizona University where he played football from 1955 to 1958. In 2008 Bruce was inducted into Northern Arizona University’s Hall of Fame.

Stating in 1965 Bruce worked as a football coach at Sherman E. Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest, C.A

Bruce’s brother, Lee, was in the class of 1958 and his sister, Marcia, was in the class of 1960. Their father, John, worked in AP&CC’s village maintenance.

You can read Bruce’s obituary here:

https://news-ridgecrest.com/bruce-bernhardi-a-lifetime-of-inspiration-and-a-lifetime-of-legacy/

https://news-ridgecrest.com/john-bruce-bernhardi/

https://www.ridgecrestca.com/sports/bruce-bernhardi-a-lifetime-of-inspiration-and-lasting-legacy/article_cce4cfb4-134a-11ed-ac51-5ff4037bd063.html

Dick Sims

Richard “Dick” Sims — Class of 1965

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The following is from the Searles Valley Slate April-June 2022:

Dick and his wife, Cindy, became members of the SVHS after moving to Trona upon their retirement. Both Dick and Cindy were substitute docents at the Old Guest House Museum. They were also part of the group that organized the Trona Centennial in 2014.

Dick was the editor of the Searles Valley Slate for several years, always filling it with interesting and entertaining articles. He designed the logo of the newsletter that we still use today.

We of the Searles Valley Historical Society send our deepest sympathy to Dick’s Family. He will be missed very much.