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People & Profiles - page 4

Local people, notable figures, family histories and profiles.

Marvalene Hughes: The President Who Changed Stanislaus State

Sequoia Lake along Crowell Road on the Stanislaus State campus in Turlock.
Sequoia Lake on the Stanislaus State campus, November 2018. Photo: Cameron11598 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0.

Marvalene Hughes helped reshape Stanislaus State’s Turlock campus, including its lakes. She later became president of Dillard University in New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina struck just weeks into her tenure. Hughes led Stanislaus State from 1994 to 2005, becoming its first woman and first African American president. When she died on January 3, 2026, at 88, the university remembered its longest-serving president through buildings and water features, but also through conversations students and colleagues had… Keep Reading

Colin Kaepernick’s Turlock Years: Schools, Sports and Family

Colin Kaepernick at the ACLU Biennial Awards Ceremony on July 24, 2026.
Colin Kaepernick at the ACLU Biennial Awards Ceremony, July 24, 2026. AsaQuathern / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0. Cropped.

Before Colin Kaepernick was a 49ers quarterback, he was a Dutcher Elementary student writing to his future self. He wanted to play professional football for San Francisco or Green Bay. Years later, a reporter interviewed him at his parents’ Turlock home after the 49ers drafted him. That childhood letter is one of the familiar parts of his local story. Less familiar are the hundred recruiting DVDs his family mailed, the baseball team that drafted him… Keep Reading

Sandra Tovar Medeiros: The Teacher Behind the School’s Name

Aerial view of Turlock with neighborhoods and surrounding agricultural land.
Turlock from above, September 2014. Photo: formulanone / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped.

Sandra Tovar Medeiros taught children to read. Years after her death, a school bearing her name gave one young student an ambition of her own: to come back and teach there. In 2026, that student stood before the school’s twentieth-anniversary gathering as a first-grade teacher. The Teacher Behind the Name Medeiros was born September 5, 1959, and died August 1, 1998, of cancer. The district’s school accountability report preserves those dates and remembers her enthusiasm… Keep Reading

The Crowells: Farms, a School Fountain and Turlock’s Complicated History

Historic aerial photograph of downtown Turlock, with the railway, streets, buildings and surrounding fields in 1936.
Turlock in 1936, from a San Francisco Examiner advertising folio. San Francisco Examiner folio / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain. Cropped.

In June 1927, Turlock students presented a new fountain to school trustee Arthur Crowell. The faculty supplied water lilies and goldfish. The family’s history includes farming, Swedish settlement, schools and irrigation, as well as a record of racial exclusion. Two Brothers Start Again in Turlock George H. Tinkham’s 1921 county history describes brothers Charles C. and Arthur G. Crowell leaving the Hanford area after a fire damaged the family’s cheese business. They bought land in… Keep Reading

The Bonanders: Cars, Community and a Turlock Courtship

Main Street in downtown Turlock, California.
Main Street in downtown Turlock, August 2008. Photo: Intothewoods29 / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain. Cropped.

The Bonander name is easy to spot on a car lot. One of its less obvious places in Turlock history is a dentist’s office—where a young man met the woman he would marry, connecting the Bonanders, Woods Furniture and a longtime mayor’s family in one ordinary appointment. A Postwar Business—And a Name That Changed Bonander’s truck business dates its service to the Valley to 1946. A reproduced dealership history describes Emory Bonander returning from World… Keep Reading

Mary Stuart Rogers: The Name Behind Turlock Scholarships and a Modesto Stage

Exterior of the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto, March 2012.
Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto, March 2012. Photo: OsotedeMonte / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0. Cropped and resized.

A student sorting out financial aid in Turlock and a concertgoer finding a seat in Modesto may pass the same name without knowing the connection. Mary Stuart Rogers’ foundation turned a share of the Carnation fortune into scholarships, classrooms and a theater, continuing her work after her death. Stanislaus State’s Mary Stuart Rogers Building makes her name familiar in Turlock. The campus became an important part of a philanthropic network based in Modesto and reaching… Keep Reading

Turlock Veteran Honored with Quilt of Valor

in People & Profiles

Last month, Ralph and Wallean Biederman welcomed family and friends into their Turlock home for what they thought was a regular gathering. Little did they know that it was a surprise party, kept under wraps with the help of the Veterans Of Foreign Wars Turlock Post 5059, to present Ralph with a unique gift.

It was a large, red, white and blue quilt, stitched by family friend Becky Kelley. Representatives from the Turlock VFW draped it around Ralph, making him an official recipient of the Quilt of Valor.

Continue reading on Turlock Journal

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’57 Chevy Bel Air

in People & Profiles

Chris Quintiliani grew up loving old cars and taking on the challenge of restoring and giving them a chance to flex their muscles once again on the road.

He and his friend Rick Moore have a YouTube channel called The Montana Barn Find. One of the videos features a 1957 Chevy Bel Air that took over 30 years to finally acquire. Quintiliani’s dad knew the car was on a Montana farm and tried to buy it. Finally, after persistence and patience, the owner relented and agreed to sell them the car. The men named the car and later their YouTube channel, “The Montana Barn Find.”

Continue reading on Cody Enterprise

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Wins Gold, Silver Medals at First Jujitsu Tournament

in People & Profiles/Business & Economy

If you’re a part of the Bay Area’s thriving jujitsu scene, there’s a chance the founder of Facebook will pin you to the floor.

Mark Zuckerberg competed in his first jujitsu tournament Saturday in Woodside, walking away with gold and silver medals for the local Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu team, with which he trains. He shared news of the win with his 11.3 million Instagram followers, posting photos of him posing with his coaches, grappling with opponents and pensively strolling onto a mat.

Continue reading on SFGATE

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Turlock Native Captures Eyes and Ears of American Idol Judges

in People & Profiles

A Turlock native’s journey to become the next American Idol came to an end, but despite that, it’s a journey she’ll always cherish.

After flying to Nashville, Sarah Snyder sang her own song for judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. She nailed the audition and made her way to Hollywood Week.

Continue reading on ABC10

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