Longtime resident George Yablonsky says, "Life is what you make of it. If you want to live in heaven, live like you're in heaven." Peter Day, Lucerne Valley Leader
By Peter Day
Staff Writer
George Yablonsky is one of the few individuals to build this town — literally.
A builder by trade and avocation, Yablonsky is the one responsible for making the Lions Club shooting range what it is today. It was his idea to bring back the Christmas tree atop Strawberry Peak every December. And recently Yablonsky spearheaded the drive to get new hardware for the Miller family to put numerous U.S. Flags on telephone poles on the Fourth of July and other national holidays.
If there's one person to get-er-done, it's George Yablonsky.
When wife Betty Murie met Yablonsky in 1983, he was extremely involved with horses and ETI Corral 70. The day before a gymkhana, he would take his tractor over to the arena to level the surface for the riders.
But that was just the beginning.
"He would set his alarm clock during the night to get up and go change the Rainbirds to water down the area to get ready for the club's monthly event," Murie says.
Yablonsky, a resident of Lucerne Valley since the early 1970s, was selected by the Lucerne Valley Chamber of Commerce and others to serve as Grand Marshal of the 2016 Fourth of July Parade. The parade starts at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 4, beginning at Trade Post Road and Highway 18 and traveling east.
Yablonsky grew up in Long Beach. In 1958, when he was 20, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He was recruited for airborne training, and the 120-pounder jumped out of airplanes.
"I really enjoyed it."
After serving in the military for two years, he moved back to his hometown, got married, and the couple had three sons. He moved to Lake Arrowhead and built cabins and houses, and after a divorce got married for a second time.
One cold, wintry, foggy day he and his wife went for a drive down the backside of the mountain, past Silverwood Lake, down Main Street in Hesperia, to Bear Valley Road and kept driving — to Lucerne Valley.
"We got out here and it was blue sky."
He stopped in a local real estate office and asked the woman to "show me something." He ended up buy a house on a five-acre parcel for $37,000.
"That was a lot of money back then," Yablonsky remembers.
He continued to commute to Lake Arrowhead in his 1941 Chevy panel truck until one wet, mountain morning his trusty, old vehicle couldn't make it up. So he bought a new pickup truck.
Another marriage hit a snag, so the couple split up and he bought a new house on Trade Post Road. One day after leaving his home, the woodburning stove ignited a fire.
"It burned the house down."
Luckily his son wasn't home, and "my dog got out." But, he says, "I lost everything."
So he rented a house in town for $100 a month, got married again — and then divorced after a year. That's when, in 1982, Yablonsky found a new passion — horses. Soon after he met Murie.
"She had never ridden a horse," he says.
He got her involved in his riding club and the couple would participate in trail riding events, some as far as Big Bear. Yablonsky continued helping with gymkhanas and even served as club president for several terms.
"He was always interested in the kids and their horses," Murie says. "Every child got a big thumbs up for George."
Bringing back the Christmas tree that welcomes drivers to Lucerne Valley during the holidays was his idea.
"The Christmas tree got put back up on Strawberry Peak, thanks to George," Murie says. "He made the tree, hiked the hill, ran wire to the closest house, now owned by Mr. Beers."
He's still involved with the tree project but lets the young ones climb under the direction of David Rader and other volunteers.
Yablonsky joined the Lions Club in the late 1980s. He had a passion for getting the shooting range going. Today, the range provides for a rare location for learning how to handle and shoot a gun. Recently Yablonsky was awarded the prestigious Melvin Jones Award for his service to the club.
But George Yablonsky does even more for Lucerne Valley.
As an active member of the Desert Crossroads Garden Club he has received several awards for his contributions. He has served as a Lions Club representative to the Lucerne Valley Chamber of Commerce, and for many years has marked the parade line up area on Trade Post Road.
"I didn't do it for at-a-boys or money," he says. "I did it because it had to be done."
"I'm very proud to be his wife," Murie adds.
Yablonsky's contributions even go beyond the U.S.
For many years, he and his wife owned a piece of property in San Felipe, Baja California. Besides building his own home, Yablonsky, who is on a fixed income, helped others in need. While Betty, a highly respected artist, was holding art classes, he became involved in a nearby community center.
Following a Lions Club example, he helped orchestrate something special to the Mexican youth and their parents. One year, he and other volunteers would purchase eyeglasses and the next they would help fund dental care.
"I was very proud of doing that, and they're still doing it to this day."
Yablonsky has had several challenges in his life, but he believes happiness is a decision, and he always soldiers on.
"Life is what you make of it," he says. "If you want to live in heaven, live like you're in heaven."
But there is something else that drives the energizer bunny that is George Yablonsky.
"My dad died on Guam in 1941 during World War II," he says. "I never knew my dad. I figure I want to live my life like he would be proud of me."
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George Yablonsky
Lucerne Valley Lions Club
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