I grew up in Monrovia. Went to Wild Rose, Clifton and graduated MHS in 1970. Both of my children, along with my father, aunt Virginia Bower (Rose Queen 1949(, and mother-in-law all graduated from MHS. I’ve always loved cars, and shortly after graduation, along with Ed Frederickson, built a VW Drag race car that went on to set a national record in its class. I even found my late wife of 44 years, Marian, when she was dating a guy in my pit crew at Winter Nationals in Pomona. We married in 1976.
After working at several shops and services stations, I eventually moved on to work for the next 40+ years at Sierra Autocars, and I retired as its VP of Operations when it sold in 2021.
My community service began by getting involved with MYBL where I was granted the privilege of serving as President of the Board from 1989 – 1992. We had to navigate the closing of Wyland Way fields and the negotiations of replacement fields at Santa Fe School. I was awarded the league’s first Hall of Fame award in 2015. I went on to serve as the Chairperson of the Community Services Commission for several years. This led to me being selected as the first President of the Board of the Boys & Girls Club of the Foothills where we oversaw the remodeling of the old VFW build and getting the Club off to a strong start that carries on today.
I also became involved in a ministry that built homes for the very poor in the Colonia’s on the outskirts of Tijuana, Mexico. In 20 years, I helped build over 220 homes – at no cost to the families.
Now that I’m retired, I get to focus on my family and my various hobbies – building furniture, metal working, photography, SCUBA diving and astronomy.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
My late wife Marian worked in HR for CalTech until Pancreatic cancer took her life. My daughter Tamie is married and has two children. They live outside of Sacramento. My son Paul lives in Glendora and co-owns a business they started in Monrovia, Imagen Agency. He also has two children.
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
Cars, my many hobbies.
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
Jake;s, hands down. They even named a menu item for my late wife – Marian’s Waffle.
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
All my life.
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
The list of interesting people is long but I’ll just list Lathrop Hoffman.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
We made several SCUBA diving trips to Hawaii and would love to make one more trip.
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
News, whatever is on streaming, and Marvel Movies.
Q: What advice would you give to people?
It never matters what you said to someone. The only thing that matters is what they think you said.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
More camping.
Q: What is your go to band when you can’t decide what to listen to?
The Doors.
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
Sierra Autocars, Inc.
Q: If you could choose anyone that is alive today and not a relative, with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? And where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
That’s a really long list but maybe Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Q: What is your favorite thing about Monrovia or something unique about our community that you like?
Our community has so many things that make us great, especially our city employees, but more parks would be nice.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
Still retired and alive.
Q: Even for friends or family, what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
I crewed for the Young Americans musical group on tour.
Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
The most beautiful place was 80’ under the sea, watching and filming the Mantas in Hawaii or Yosemite, but watching the full eclipse in Oregon was fantastic.
Q: What is your favorite month? Favorite holiday? And what is the best single day on the calendar?
Favorite month? The next one.
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
That’s not for me to decide.
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
My grandkids.
Q: What is one or two of your favorite smells?
I love the smell of bacon frying in the mountains.
Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
Love, security and family.
