George Loring Thurlow Jr., Succumbed To Cancer

George Loring Thurlow Jr., 81, succumbed to cancer at his winter home in Visalia, Calif., on March 17, 2006. He was born in Skowhegan, Maine, in 1925. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served during Word War II aboard the Destroyer Escort currier DE700.

In 1948 he married Marian Gorman and graduated from Yale University. He went on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1951. He worked in the legal department of the Automobile Club of Southern California and eventually headed their traffic Department.

In 1960, he moved to Visalia to join the Tulare County District Attorney’s office as deputy prosecutor. After two years in that office he opened his own law practice.

In 1965, when arsenic was found in the Allensworth water supply, he helped form the Mutual Water Company. Then he and his sons helped dig the community’s new water well.

There will be a memorial service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Visalia on Friday, March 31, 2006 at 11 a.m.

Black History Month

To celebrate Black History Month the Friends of Allensworth and California State Parks will host two open house events at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. The events will be held on Saturday, February 11th and Saturday, February 25th from 10 am until 4 pm.

Former Allensworth Resident Evacuated During Hurricane Katrina

Dorothy Wells has a heart condition that put her in the hospital the day Hurricane Katrina flattened New Orleans. She was transferred to another hospital to have a pacemaker installed and two days later Hurricane Rita hit. Wells and her son Troy Loville were trapped in McComb, Mississippi for 13 days without water or electricity.

Rev. Larry Dodson and the New Life Community Church of Tulare sponsored the successful evacuation of Wells, her son, and 11 other people to the Tulare area. Wells and her son now live in an apartment in Tulare. The apartment manger donated a table and a refrigerator. Love INC. donated two beds and had the electricity turned on.

Dorothy Wells lived in Allensworth from 1995 to 2002. In 1999 she was appointed to the board of directors for the Allensworth Community Services District. She does not plan to return to Mississippi but wants to go to work in Tulare, but that could be challenging because her weaken heart has caused her breathing to become labored.

If you would like to make a donation to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina who now live in Tulare, call New Life Community Church Outreach office at (559) 684-1912. Or mail donations to:

New Life Community Church
Outreach Offices
145 North "N" St. Suite B
Tulare, CA 93274