Masoner, Gleaton and Huchingson celebrate

Ruth Miller Masoner had her 100th pre-birthday celebration on Aug. 4 in the presence of at least 140 friends and family at the Elks Lodge in Porterville. Her actual birthday is Sept. 9.
Ruth, who has lost her hearing and who finds it difficult to speak on the phone, is none the less still the sort of person who loves to wake up each morning, her daughter, Jeanie Frame said, which she feels is why her mother has seen so many years.

“She’s very disciplined. Watches what she eats,” Frame said. “She looks to each to provide a new experience.”

Family members from 13 states turned up for Ruth’s Aug. 4 party. The only missing member, one of her great-grand daughter’s, is in the military and is currently stationed oversees.

The next day, a more intimate party held pool side in a family member’s home, saw Ruth continuing the celebration with her family, as well as saying goodbye to them. Once the festivities were over, Frame took Ruth back to Idaho. Up until the party, Ruth had been living with her granddaughter.

“She enjoyed the company,” Frame said of the party.

Ruth moved to Porterville in 1956, and began to work at various packing houses, the first being Williams Brothers Packing in Cotton Center. However, it was Lindsay Hospital where she settled in, as a diet clerk, for a 26-year career.

While there, she was recognized for her work a couple of times and still treasures one of the gifts given for her work at the hospital, a gold watch.

Masoner was a member of the Henderson Baptist church and was really involved in that, but other than that her passion was for new places. After retiring at 80, Ruth began to travel, first with the Get Abouts, a group that would tour both gambling meccas throughout Nevada, such as Las Vegas or Reno, as well as stay more local, visiting some of the reservation-owned Indian casinos in the area.

Later, she joined a group run by Brent Gill, Heritage Travel, which was devoted to sight-seeing and museum touring throughout the western United States, travelling with her good friend, Milly Ryans, Gill’s mother.

This travelling is what stands out the most to her, Frame said, adding that her mother always bought Frame and other family members souvenirs from these trips.

“She did love to travel,” Frame said. “I can always remember her going places. If they called and said do you want to go she was there.”

Frame thinks it’s her mother’s desire to have new experiences and see new things that saw her devoting such a large part of her retirement to travel.

Gleaton turns 100

It was a grand celebration for Elizabeth Bond Gleaton’s 100th birthday at the community room at the Mission Bell Mobile Home Park Saturday afternoon on Aug. 18.

More than 50 relatives and friends attended and Elizabeth sat by a flowered table and greeted and talked to everyone of them throughout the afternoon. Elizabeth graduated from the Pleasant View Grammar School in Poplar, Porterville High School and from business school in the Los Angeles area.

One of her guests was Hazel Ekman who was also 100 years old and she and Elizabeth are the last two living graduates of the class of 1930. Arvella Weaver was 100 years old and passed away a few months ago. She was in the same class of 1930.

Refreshments were served with dainty little sandwiches and an orange slush along with cookies and the birthday cake. On another table were the birthday cards and small gifts.

The Bond family was one of the first families to come to Porterville prior to the coming to the town founded by Royal Porter Putnam in 1861. The Bond, Wilcox and Templeton families all settled where Success Lake is today. They came to the area in 1857.

Elizabeth is a grand lady and loved by all and the love and affection was shown by her many relatives and friends in attendance.

Judy Sinyard and Ethel Quiram were co-chairpersons of the affair.

Huchingson turns 95

In 1917, a loaf of bread cost 9 cents, a gallon of gas cost 14 cents, the average annual income was $1,477 and the price of a new car and a new house were $400 and $3,395, respectively. Woodrow Wilson was the President and life expectancy was only 54.4 years.

1917 was also the year Lee Franklin Huchingson was born, on June 28, in Fowler, Ind., the son of Shelby and Gertrude Huchingson.

This past June, Lee was honored at a 95th birthday celebration in his Porterville home. More than 70 of Lee’s family members and friends joined him for this very special occasion.

Lee’s father worked for the Santa Fe Railroad and his work led the family to San Pablo, where they lived in a house made of two train box cars. Later, the family moved to Denair, where Mr. Huchingson graduated from high school in 1935.

As a young man, Mr. Huchingson served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, holding the rank of 1st Lieutenant. After the war, he met Nina Mae Parks of Porterville and the two were married at the Porterville Church of the Nazarene in 1946. He and his wife made their first home in Modesto, where Mr. Huchingson worked in the banking industry. They had three children.

In 1956, the family moved to Lindsay where he started his long-time career as office manager for Suntreat Growers. During his tenure at Suntreat, Mr. Huchingson signed hundreds of paychecks for employees. For many years, he also owned and operated the Lindale Water Company, providing residential water service to many local customers.

In 1969, the family moved to Porterville, where Mr. Huchingson has happily resided since. In 1979, his wife passed away and in 1982 he married Aileen Odenback, who moved from her home in Anaheim to live with him in Porterville.

In his youth, Mr. Huchingson accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and he has lived a godly life, serving as an example for many. He is a long-time member of the Porterville Church of the Nazarene where he has been a member of the Church Board and taught Sunday School to children, teenagers and adults. Through the church, he has enjoyed many wonderful friendships over the years.

Throughout his life, Mr. Huchingson has enjoyed restoring and showing antique cars. He is also a model train enthusiast, once having more than 400 feet of track set up in his yard at home, running six trains at a time. He currently enjoys caring for his loyal poodle companion, Susie.

His children are David and his wife, Melody of Porterville; Rick and his wife, Judy of Rocklin; and Carol of Hidden Valley Lake. He has four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.