Jim Wearanga-spotlight

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I was born July 29th, 1944 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We lived in Michigan until 1953 and then my parents, my younger sister, Jan (who also attended Campbell High School her freshman year), and I moved to California. From there, we moved around the United States more times than I care to count. You see, my father was in management at Continental Can Company and basically we had to move every year. So ironically, the first full year I spent at the same school was my sophomore year at Campbell High School. Living just inside the 1 mile requirement to ride the bus to school, I remember walking to school with Mike Engdol and Ted Stiner down Latimer Avenue (when it was still a through street). During this time, I also worked at Henry’s Hamburgers (across the street from our High School). Remember Henry’s?

My job at Henry’s supported my love of cars and my high school hot rod. I actually bought a Model A body from Rich Salice. I’ve been involved with (you may even say “obsessed with”) cars, since the age of 15. To this day, I continue to tinker with cars. I’ve built and restored numerous hot rods and old drag race cars. I spent some time drag racing in the 60’s and 70’s.

After high school, I went to SJCC for 2 years, focused on drafting, but soon learned I could make good money taking a full time job. In hind-site, probably a mistake!

I married in 1967 and then widowed in 1984. I remarried in 1987 (rebound?), ….. which didn’t work. I then found the love of my life, Michelle, in 1994. We have been together for 28 wonderful years. With our blended family, I am blessed with 4 sons, 10 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren. Wow! Am I really that old?

I was self-employed most of my working years. I worked as a machinist, built hot rods and race cars and then ended up getting into electronics. I quickly found out that there was a lot more money in semiconductors than race cars!

Michelle and I have visited many of the states, Hawaii, Europe, and we spent a lot of time in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We had a time share there for many years, which we were “obliged” to visit yearly. Later on, we purchased a cabin at Lake Almanor. All I can say is this is our true “Happy Place”. We enjoy our walnut orchard and spending time together with “Chester”, our 200 lb. English Mastiff. He has us well trained.

After retirement in 2000, we bought 5 acres in Durham, CA (5 miles south of Chico). We planted walnut trees on the property. We built a 3100 sq. foot shop in 2003 and I decided to be the General Contractor on building our home in 2008. We officially moved from Campbell to Durham in 2010. It was quite a change of pace. Durham reminds me a lot of how Campbell was 62 years ago. People actually had time to stop and talk to you – not the hectic pace of Silicon Valley. Oh, don’t get me wrong, we made our “riches” in Silicon Valley and this I am thankful for, it was just our time to slow down and we picked the right place and time to do that. We are very happy here.

We also travel throughout the year to various car shows and drag racing functions with our nostalgic drag cars. While we still start them up and “cackle” them down the race track, they are no longer legal for racing. They still make a tremendous amount of noise. Most people have never heard 3000 horse power on Nitromethane.

At this point in my life, I am extremely happy, loved, and blessed more than I could ever hope for. As I look back on my life, I realize that our generation truly experienced the “Best of Times”.