Bill and Beth Chaney arrived in Tehachapi in September from Clovis, Calif. where they had lived for ten years. Bill said there are things about Clovis they will miss like being able to walk to Old Town Clovis from their house but moving to Tehachapi was a compromise. He wanted to move to Texas and she wanted to be closer to grandchildren. The grandchildren won.

Bill and Beth are both pastors of the Foursquare Church. Bill supervises 160 pastors located from Frazier Park to the Oregon border, as well as Nevada and Utah. Beth is in charge of pastoral licensing. Prior to moving to Clovis, they had been pastors in Fresno for 10 years and in Eureka for 10 years. This has been their ministry for a total of 38 years. Their focus now is working with dying parishes and helping to revive them.

Bill was born and raised in Texas. His parents and his sister are still there. Beth was born in Arcadia, Calif. She has four brothers and one now lives in Texas. It was when she moved to Texas that she met Bill. Beth said that at one time she worked as a banker. Eventually they moved back to California. Beth's mother was here and she took care of her mother for 12 years. Their son Derek lives in Bakersfield along with their two grandchildren.

Now in their new home, they look forward to playing golf, a sport they both love. They look forward to possibly adding a horse or two to the household which will keep their six-year-old German shepherd Belle happy and occupied.

Welcome to Tehachapi Bill and Beth. Happy trails!

When I asked hypnotherapist Ilah Brock what brought her to Tehachapi, her reply was "pickleball," a court game loosely related to tennis that has taken California by storm in recent years. While living in Encino, she struck up an online friendship with Tehachapi resident Paul Marshall who has a business called Pickleball 5150. She said they are like brother and sister and she is currently working as his assistant while planning to establish her own hypnosis practice here.

Ilah was born near Azusa, Calif. She grew up in the LA area, spending 18 years in Long Beach, a couple of years in West Los Angeles and then Encino. She has three children: a son, two daughters and a "granddog." After raising her family, she went to school to be certified as a sign language interpreter and in 2011 went to law school with the goal of being able to help the deaf.

Then in 2016 while working as a property manager, Ilah was struck with a fever that just would not go away. Soon she was aware that food didn't taste quite right and eventually she couldn't taste anything nor could she smell anything. She googled the condition and found it had a name "anosmia," the inability to taste or smell. The fever had fried both her sense of smell and taste. She said she kept trying foods, certain that if she just kept trying, she would one day taste something. She gained weight until she was nearly 250 pounds.

Ilah heard about hypnosis and decided to try it. She started with a simple test. She said that since she was little she had always been terrible about making her bed every day. The test was so successful that she has not missed a day since. Then it was time to work on weight loss. She said she went from a size 24 to a size 10 and it was then she knew she needed to become a hypnotherapist. She gave up property management and enrolled at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute (HMI) in Tarzana, Calif., an accredited school with a 50 year history, and received her certification as a hypnotherapist. She now holds certifications in weight loss, smoking cessation, sports performance, motivation, anger, and stress, among other areas. She still travels to Tarzana three days a week as a tutor at HMI. Her services are currently available locally through Holistic Hearts in Old Town, Tehachapi.

Ilah is also a coach for Law of Attraction, a process which uses the power of the mind to translate thoughts and turn them into reality.

Ilah said she still likes to cook and has had a catering kitchen wherever she has lived. She also likes to make jewelry. And then there is pickleball.

Welcome Ilah. Tehachapi is delighted you decided to move here.

If you have moved to Tehachapi within the last six months, Hilltop Welcoming Service has a bag of information about the Greater Tehachapi area, its activities, events, government and facilities. There are always a few coupons and gifts, as well. It is a great way to learn about your new community. Being part of this column is strictly optional. If you would like a visit from the Welcome Hostess contact our office at (661) 822-8188.