Several Krauter families came to Arvin from Kansas in the early 1900’s My grandparents’ first home was the original post office in Arvin. My father was born in Arvin and grew up there and later became the postmaster of the Arvin Post Office. After he was released from the Army he moved my mother and I back to his home town. I was three years old at the time.
I have many memories of Arvin: Haven Drive Grammar School, the swimming pool at the DiGiorgio Park, the Rancho Theater, picking cotton (for fun!) with Sharon Statler, bicycling with Sandra Drake, living on Plum Tree Drive where so many of our neighbors had children in Arvin High, Frances Sellers, Pamela Porterfield, Sharon McElhoe, Sharon Smothermon, Kathy Taylor, Janice Brown, Barbara Holder…..just to name a few.
After graduating from Arvin High I went on to Bakersfield College, graduated, married and moved to the Silicon Valley. Years later I returned to Bakersfield to open a swimming pool business on the corner of 23rd and “M” Streets. My business and marriage did not survive the crunch of the late 70’s and early 80’s when the bottom dropped out of the second home loan market and I moved to Clovis, California. In 2003 I returned to Bakersfield to care for my ailing parents. It felt good to be near family and friends from years gone by. The Krauter cousins still meet for lunch on a regular basis.
In 2006 I renewed an acquaintance with a Arvin High schoolmate. We were at Arvin High during our Freshman and Sophomore years and hadn’t seen each other since we were sophomores. Bill Stevens and I were married on July 31, 2006 and have recently purchased a home in Bear Valley Springs outside Tehachapi. I retired from bookkeeping in September, 2006 and Bill will retire in June, 2007 and we are looking forward to moving to BVS permanently in July, 2007. Incidentally, the front corner of our property in BVS overlooks Arvin in the valley below. I feel I have come full circle and definitely have returned to my roots. Looking forward to attending my first class reunion and renewing more acquaintances from the Arvin era.
