Buck Shaffer Community Clock unveiled

Thousands of community members gathered at the plaza at Centennial Park at noon Saturday with one thing in mind — to see the unveiling of the city’s new Buck Shaffer Community Clock.

“A year ago, I was standing here looking at a vacant piece of land, saying ‘The clock will be here,’” Felipe Martinez, a City Council member who is also on the committee that spearheaded the project, said. “Porterville is a community that gives and gives. Buck Shaffer’s soul is here. It’s an amazing feat to come together and do this.”

The 18-foot tall, four-dial Howard post clock stood, completely covered with a black drape, on Main Street and Cleveland Avenue in Centennial Park.

With the Porterville High School Orange Blossoms standing to one side, and Peggy Shaffer, Buck Shaffer’s widow, and members of the Time Marches On Committee surrounding the base of the clock, community members joined in for the countdown.

As they counted down to one, the committee members pulled the drape off as the Fabulous Studio Band played a jazz version of John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

People clapped, whistled, shouted and wiped away at tears as they saw the clock — and an added bonus for the first time — a miniature sculpture of Buck Shaffer holding a baton and directing music stood on top.

“He would be so proud of this clock,” Shaffer’s widow said. “It is so beautiful.”

Porterville High band director Jim Kusserow called the clock a beautiful centerpiece to the park.

“Just seeing it, I could barely swallow. It meant a lot that this committee has done so much. To see it is to know that the Buck Shaffer can-do attitude is alive and well,” Kusserow said. “I knew about the vision Buck had of the clock but to accomplish it in one year is nothing short of amazing. And that little secret statue was very cool. I learned about that statue about 10 minutes before they unveiled it.”

Keeping the statue a secret from the town was difficult, Robert Roman, head of the Time Marches On Committee, said. He admitted that tears flowed down his face when he saw the clock.

Adela Alba, whose daughter Natalie was a drummer in the band several years ago, said she was touched.

“Buck Shaffer meant a lot to us. He did a lot of things in the community. He did a lot for the kids,” Alba said. “He was truly an icon. It is hard not to start crying.”

Fiola Dearden called the statue the perfect finishing touch. She also admitted to getting teary-eyed when she saw the Porterville High Orange Blossoms salute the statue.

“The clock — I love it. It’s absolutely beautiful and with that Buck statue on top, it is the topper of the tops,” Dearden said. “I bet Buck Shaffer is up there tapping his foot and playing his saxophone.”

Porterville Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer Donnette Silva-Carter called Saturday a “wonderful day in Porterville.”

“Downtown is the heart of Porterville and Buck Shaffer was one of our hearts,” Silva-Carter said. “This clock is very special to Porterville.”
A number of current and former band directors were present for the ceremony.

“I can’t tell you how much the unveiling means,” Dale Anderson, former Monache High band director, said. “I thought as I watched, that’s the most beautiful statue in the community.”

Buck Shaffer’s son, Bill, and granddaughter, Lucy, also attended the festivities in the afternoon.

“When I saw the clock, I didn’t know my dad would be on top of it,” Bill Shaffer said. “It was wonderful that the community would do this.”

After Frank “Buck” Shaffer died, Bill Shaffer said he found pictures of town clocks among his father’s belongings but prior to that was not aware of his father’s dream for a city clock.

“This is really cool,” Lucy Shaffer, 14, said. “I can come here some day with my own children and show them the clock and tell them that’s my grandfather. It’s very nice, very beautiful.”

Skip Shaffer, in New Jersey, said he was touched by the clock. He said he looked at the photographs that were e-mailed to him after the clock’s unveiling, and was impressed.

“I’m very pleased of the kind gesture of the Time Marches On Committee for remembering my dad with this wonderful monument,” he said by telephone. “The likeness of the image of my father is very realistic and no doubt will bring pleasure to many, many citizens and visitors to Porterville for generations to come.”

-- Contact Esther Avila at 784,5000, Ext. 1047, or eavila@portervillerecorder.com.