Virgil Rush:
CLASS OF 1962
Montclair High SchoolClass of 1962
Montclair, CA
Ganesha High SchoolClass of 1969
Pomona, CA
Pomona High SchoolClass of 1963
Pomona, KS
Sacred Heart SchoolClass of 1958
Pomona, CA
Kauffman Elementary SchoolClass of 1950
Pomona, CA
Virgil's Story
Soon after graduating from MHS, I went to work for Thunderbird Electronics, it was located on Mission Blvd, by Lloyd's Agitatior Shop. I was making $1.00 an hour. I traded the 1954 Chevy in for a 1959 Chevy Impala. First thing I did was lower that car all the way around.
I did not have that car 2 months. Took my girl (Irene, who I would marry 2 1/2 years later) to the Valley Drive Inn. After the movie we were driving east bound on Holt at about 30mph. Before I could cross Campus Ave. on a green light a drunk driver named Carrington, who was driving west bound on Holt turned left in my path. Both cars were totaled.
I hit her head on. She turned my world what little I had, upside down. Ontario Police tried their best to make me at fault. Irene was in the hospital for a week. I got a few stitches in my head. Carrington got a broken leg. I could not understand how, if I'm going straight and the other guy turns in my path, the police would try to find me at fault. The other guy was drunk, I could smell alcohol on her. ***what ever***
Well as quick as the accident happened it took a little while longer but it went away. Never to hear anything further about it.
Anyways I got laid off from Thunderbird due to lack of work. I went to work for California Brass in Chino, for $1.25 an hour. After two years there, I was making a whopping $1.35 an hour and now I am ready to take myself on a wife.
Irene was working at the time making about $1.25 an hour.
On Friday, the 13th, of November, 1964, Irene and I got married. I can't say it was a large wedding, but I can say it was expensive. After we both said, "I do". I think I had about $4.00 in my pocket. Enough to buy Irene and her friend Judy Rojas from Pomona (the witness) and me a taco and a medium soft drink. The rest went in the gas tank. There was no party after the wedding. No photos, no rice thrown.
We were just glad we had each other and we did not care what anybody thought or cared to listen to anyone who thought we needed to hear their opinion. We got a lot of that.
We moved to a small apartment in south Ontario for $48.00 a month. We lived there for two years.
In 1966, our first Child (daughter) was born. She would become a high school math teacher.
In 1966, I went to work for Abex Corp, in Pomona. The job was hot; dirty and a lot of heavy lifting. We made brake shoes for the rail road. A good job for any young man. I think I was making about $2.50 an hour to start.
In 1967, our second daughter was born. She would become a Fire Inspector for the City of Los Angeles Fire Department. That same year we bought a 1964 Chevy, Impala SS, that I lowered all the way around. Irene hated that car.
In 1968, we purchased our first home for $10,000 in South Pomona. Payments were $90.00 a month. I thought i was going to lose everything. That same year our first son was born. He would become a Crew Chief for a jet engine repair company.
In 1968, Irene got a job working for General Electric, in Ontario. The same year I bought my first Harley Davidson. A 1948, pan head with a suicide clutch. crazy crazy
In 1970, we sold the Pomona house and purchased a house in Montclair, near the high school.
In 1971, our second son was born. He would become a Correctional Officer for the California Department of Corrections.
It's funny how things happen...Expand for more
. How we evolve into who we are. Life can be unfair, the world can be unkind, I know. Life can throw you curve ball. A perfect stranger can come into your life for just a moment and by the time that stranger leaves, you may have been profoundly impacted in ways you may not understand, until years later.
I love my wife, I love my children and home. However, I had a special love for lowered cars and custom harleys. If that is a violation, throw a rock at me.
One day in the early 1970's, I was driving my lowered 1964 chevy, through Pomona and got pulled over by a Pomona Police Officer. Before this moment I had no need for the police. It's not that I was living on the wrong side of the law. I was a working man, busy raising a family. Doing all the things that a husband and father does. I just did not have time for the police and their negative, superior attitude.
The officer said my car was too low to the ground. I disagreed. The officer proceeded to measure the height of my car. He learned my car was not too low. I watched this officer, the way he talked to me, his demeanor his choice of words. There was something different about this officer. I wondered where did he come from. I had never been treated with any respect by a police officer. In thoes days, when an officer saw me, in their eyes I was a criminal. They did not know me. I'm standing there. I start to look all around for the cameras. I'm thinking, I'm on Candid Camera. I don't know what to think. I don't know why, but I remember telling this officer, if I where to be a police officer I would want to be on just like him. The officr looked at me for a second, as though I said something wrong. I felt a little tension but it quickly went away, he handed me my license. He got in his black and white patrol car and left. I never saw this officer again.
little over a year later, I went on a police ride-along with Montclair Police Department. I think the officer's name was Thompson, what a guy...
The next thing I know I'm back in school attending Chaffey College in pursuit of my Associate Arts Degree.
In 1975, I became a Reserve Police Officer with Upland Police Department.
1976, I was hired with the Upland Police, as a Police Officer and later promoted to Detective.
1976, we sold the Montclair house and purchased a new house in Rancho Cucamonga. That same year Irene enrolled in Chaffey College to obtain her Assoiate Arts Degree.
In 1983, Irene was hired with the California Department of Corrections.
By 1993, all the kids were either off to college; married or obaining a carrier.
1994 we sold our house and bought a new home in Nuevo, ca.
Irene and I are certified scuba dirvers. We have spent many of our vacations in the Cayman Islands, scuba diving everyday and eating their food which is just like ours here. We love to hang out with what I call regular people, people who have nothing to prove.
In 2004, we sold the Nuevo house and bought a new house in Apple Valley.
In 2005, I retired from the Police Department. After three months of riding the hell out of my harley, I went back to work. Too much time on my hands.
Monday through Friday, I am a supervisor at SCLA airport in Victorville. On the weekends I work for the Town of Apple Valley, I supervise people who want to do community service rather than sit in jail.
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