WALTER TURVILLE

I attended Power from 1st grade through part of my Freshman year. After my parents divorced, my brother (Dan), my two sisters (Laura & Earla), and I moved to Fairfield in 1973 with our Mother, Bertie, and finished high school there. I attended college at Montana Tech in Butte, MT and received a BS in Petroleum Engineering in 1980. Following graduation, I went to work for Getty Oil Company as a production engineer in Ventura, CA. Texaco bought Getty in 1984 and then when the oil price dropped in 1986, I made a career change by moving from engineering into property taxes. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001 and in 2002, I moved to Bakersfield, CA and continued working in Chevron's Property Tax Department, handling complex properties such as oil fields, power plants and cogeneration plants. Near the end of 2006 I transferred to Houston, TX and began working the property taxes for refineries, terminals, pipelines and oil fields. Along the way, I managed to get married in 1983 (to Janet Arsena), had two children (Heston and Kagney), inherited a stepdaughter (Hayward), divorced in 2002, remarried in 2004 (to Synthia Medina) and inherited a stepson (Johnathan). My Father, David, passed away in 1986 from cancer and other illnesses resulting from his naval military service in the South Pacific during the nuclear bomb testing exercises. My Mother, Bertie, is going strong and living in Fairfield.

I left before I got old enough to get into too much trouble, but I do remember the fun we had whenever we came to town. Basically, we were a bunch of hoodlums when our parents weren't looking. Good times. I'm glad nobody got hurt... too much.

I remember playing football in the middle of winter with just Joey Schmidt and myself... He'd be my receiver and I was the quarterback pretending to outwit the NFL defenses in the middle of a blizzard. I remember Jim Keil and I fighting like dogs over some foul committed on the basketball courts and then being best buds on the school bus ride home. Oh, and raiding gardens at night with Jeff Ewert. Loved those green peas. Picking teams in the playground and picking my Aunt Kay before most of the boys. Not because she was my Aunt, but because she was better than most of them. Painting the school bell olive green... Jeff, did we really do that? Being tackled by Jody Keil on the snow covered playgound and having my hair nearly pulled out... we were such pests. Being tackled by Brad Schaefer on the snow covered playground and thinking my life was going to end... we were such pests. Talking Donny Laubach off a roof one night. God bless him. Racing Phil Beerman and Kenny Schmidt home from Augusta after a softball game and too much time at the Buckhorn Bar in Augusta. Whew, we made it... Phil and Kenny almost didn't though... Goofing off outside the gym during A-Squad basketball games...Oh, Mercy me!!! :) Driving over to see my cousin Darci and running into all my old Power buddies. Also, I remember I really enjoyed my Freshman football and basketball experiences. It was a pleasure to compete with the Power athletes. It would have been interesting to see what might have happened if my brother and I had stayed and played a few more years. Speaking of football, something that really sticks out in my mind was how funny Bruce Gunderson was on the football bus rides home. He always had us laughing, even Coach Williams (though he tried not to show it). I also remember the celebration after Power won the Division Football championship my freshman year in 1973. For many of us, it was our first experience celebrating with the whole school. But mostly I remember Tim Brunner taking care of me after this freshman had one too many beers. I'm not sure I ever told him thanks for that. Thanks Tim. Good times and Great Memories! :)