James “Jim” H. Teague

Jim was born in Gilroy, CA to Robert (Bob) T. Teague and Maryl (Bratton) Teague, the second of two sons of an early California pioneering family. In 1951, the family moved to Mojave. Jim graduated as class President in the first full four-year graduating class of 1960 of Mojave High School and then graduated with his AA Degree from College of Sequoias in Visalia, CA in early 1963. He was drafted into the Army in 1964 and served honorably as a Medical Corpsman in Vietnam with the 616th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) in 1966 and then began a career in Finance in the San Francisco Bay Area. He returned to Tehachapi in 1968 to operate and manage Bob's NAPA Auto Parts and was a founding member of the Tehachapi Community Theatre. He met Pamela Hopkins, the daughter of Roy (Hoppy) and Carol Hopkins and they were married in 1972. Jim soon returned to San Francisco State University to receive his Master Degree in Theater Arts in 1975. Summers were spent with his wife touring with The American Repertory Theater in Europe (ARTE) for two summers of productions. When they learned Pam was pregnant, he took the position as Stage Manager for the Scottish Rite Auditorium in San Francisco. They moved to Oregon where he headed the video training production facility of Techtronic's Inc. in Beaverton, OR, and where Alexander Teague was born in January, 1976. They soon returned to Tehachapi, where he bought back into Bob's Automotive Service and Auto Parts. Jason T. Teague came into the world in October, 1977 at the Tehachapi Hospital. Both boys were active in local soccer and sports and went through the Tehachapi Unified School District. He later married Barbara Jansen, a well-respected local High School teacher and divorced to remain life-long friends.

Jim was very active in the early local Tehachapi Community Theater Group and the business community of the Downtown Businessmen's Association, an early part of the Tehachapi Chamber of Commerce, where he also served through the chairs to become President of that organization. He was also active in the Veteran of Foreign Wars and the American Legion posts. He was elected to serve with the Tehachapi Resource Conservation District for many years. He sold his business to retire, but soon returned to Chapman University to renew his teaching credentials and ended up with a Master's Degree in Education. He then taught the next decade at Tehachapi High School and then in the Bakersfield City School District. He retired in 2009 again and began a part-time career in writing and of publishing his works of fiction. Jim is survived by his two sons and six wonderful grandchildren.