Category Archives: Death Notice

Austin Smith Class of 1948

Dr. Austin Smith–Class of 1948

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Austin Smith was born on SEP 19, 1929, in Minersville, Beaver, Utah and he passed away on AUG 8, 2022, in Fremont, Alameda, California. His parents were Othello and Addie Smith. Othello Sr. worked in Village Maintenance as a painter until AP&CC sold all the houses and laid off all the Village Maintenance workers. After that Othello became an insurance agent.

Austin Smith was the second of four Smith brothers who attended Trona High School. Austin was in the class of 1948. After high school Austin attended UCLA and then medical school to become a surgeon.

Austin’s oldest brother was Othello Smith (1927-2000) who was in the class of 1946. Othello joined the Marine Corp, so he did not graduate with his class.

Othello Smith Jr.
Othello H Smith Jr.

After being in the Marines Othello returned to Trona Othello married Viola Heseman (1927-2001) who was a member of the class of 1945. Viola taught elementary school in Trona for a few years in the 1950’s. Othello and Viola remained in Trona until their deaths. Their children also went to Trona High School.

Pauldin Smith and Norma Hall Smith
Pauldin and Norma Smith

Pauldin Leroy Smith (1931-1996) was in the class of 1949. Pauldin married Norma Hall (1931-1987) Norma was also in the class of 1949.

Pauldin Smith
Pauldin Smith
Norma Hall
Norma (Hall) Smith
Chadwick Smith 1951 Telescope
Chad Smith

Austin’s youngest brother was Chadwick E. Smith 1934-2018). Chad was in the class of 1951. You can read Chad’s obituary at: 

https://www.premierfuneral.com/obituaries/Chadwick-Smith/#!/Obituary

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