James C. Young

In April of 1939 my family of four brothers with mom and dad left Shamrock, Texas during the great dustbowl to find a better life in California. Arvin, California was the dream destination. Jobs in the agricultural fields were abundant, food was plentiful, the air was clean and the water was sparkling clean. I was eight months old on that journey that took four or five days. At night the family slept beside the car along the road and my mom would prepare food on an open fire.  

My brothers and my father found work immediately at Di Giorgio Farms and for John Kovacevich. Life was good compared to Texas! I was the youngest of eight children and was spoiled from the very beginning. Two siblings died and were buried in Shamrock Texas in the years before we left Texas and my sister that married in 1937 remained in Texas. Within a year my family was able to buy our own house at 233 Laurel Street in Arvin. 

In 1944 my dad was hired as a custodian and bus driver for Arvin Elementary School. This was a dream job for him compared to working in the fields. However mom and dad picked cotton every Saturday in the fall to make a little extra money. As a six year old I was introduced to the world of hard work, but my dad made it fun and I got to keep the little bit I made with each weighing of cotton. My mother continued to prune, thin, pick, pack, and grade all the fruits and vegetables grown in and around Arvin. She continued working in the fields and picked cotton for the last time when I was a senior in college in 1959. 

In 1944 I started to Arvin Elementary School while my four brothers were serving in the military during World War II. After the war ended three of my brothers married and moved away. My brother Wesley stayed in Arvin and worked at Arvin High School beginning in 1949 as the Arvin High School Farm Manager. That was important to me for the event that was to come. By February of 1953 my dad had saved enough money to buy a new 1953 Ford, and paid about $2500 cash! 

Then tragedy struck. In April of 1953, my first year at Arvin High School, my dad was fatally injured on a construction job at Arvin Elementary. My mom and I lived at 581 Meyer Street in a house my dad and brothers built for us, so we had no house payment. My mother could not drive, so I was able to get a drivers' license at age fourteen. I was able to work with my brother on the school farm and my mother worked as a baby sitter and continued working in the fields. We had a nice little house and a new car with no payments and that allowed us to survive together until I finished college, the first to do so in my family. 

High school years were wonderful with good grades, athletics, great friends and a job at the school. Starting in the tenth grade and working through my senior year, I swept classrooms from 6:00 am to 8:00 am each day, took classes until 3:30 pm, then played three sports, football, basketball and baseball after school. During the school year I worked 8 hours each Saturday cleaning the boys and girls gym. Then in the summers it was back in the fields. 

I was fortunate to get scholarships to pay for college. I attended USC on an excellent scholarship and had the opportunity to play football on the freshman team. But the country boy was out of his social element in 1956 and suffered a little known disease known as Valley Fever unbeknownst. I chose to come home in 1957–1958 to attend Bakersfield College. The schedule was like high school, I worked as a custodian at BC each morning and after classes played football for the BC Renegades. 

I graduated from Bakersfield College in 1958 with an Associate of Science in Mathematics, then Pasadena College with a BA in Mathematics in 1961, a Master of Science Degree in Mathematics Education from the University of Southern California in 1963. I returned to teach mathematics at Arvin High in the fall of 1963 with the encouragement and help of Ed DeMello, the school Principal and my high school counselor. While teaching mathematics and coaching football, wrestling and baseball, Dr. DeSmet, the athletic team physician encouraged me to continue my education at USC. In fact he provided the money for my doctorate studies. From 1965 to 1969 I commuted to USC and finished my Doctorate of Education in 1969. 

I moved from the classroom to administration in the Kern High School District in 1968 as Director of Instruction and Research and in 1972 joined the Kern Community College District as a Director of Planning. In 1978 I was named District Chancellor and served in that capacity for almost twenty-one years before retiring in 1999. 

Since 1999 I have been actively engaged in volunteer work at Arvin High School and in the communities of Arvin and Lamont. At Arvin High working with the Constitution Team has been a tremendous experience in which I have made many long-time friends with students on the team. Besides the Constitution Team other activities that provide fulfillment include Arvin High Alumni Association, the College Dream Fund, Treasurer of the City of Arvin, and continuing work on the cabin with close friends Meeks and Damrons.