Top, James Calkins, Yvonne Sorensen Vefik and Edwin Sorensen at Yvonne?s wedding. Below, Edwin Sorensen at work on a gazebo and a chicken coop. A licensed contractor, he?s seeking an opportunity to bid on any kind of work to help area families who need building help of any kind.
This week Yvonne Sorenson Vefik writes a valentine to her dad. We invite you to write about how your family is coping in these tough times. Write to Editor@MountainEnterprise.com (Subject: Economy).
By Yvonne Sorensen Vefik
Longtime mountain resident Edwin Sorensen has felt the sting of the weakened economy in his own business, Sorensen Construction.
Ed moved to Frazier Park with his wife and two children from Simi Valley in the early 1970s. I’m his daughter, and I remember those days on the mountain when he was a successful contractor. He built dozens of homes and owned several local businesses including Judy’s Mini Storage and Western Village Motel.
I grew up there and raised my son James Calkins in the Mountain Communities too.
I remember fun times on the mountain, including the Bicentennial, July 4, 1976. We all dressed up like revolutionary soldiers and walked up and down the streets of Lake of the Woods, ringing an old bell attached to my dad’s truck. People came out of their houses and saluted the flag.
My mom and brother were extras in The Waltons television show that filmed in Cuddy Valley and on Mount Pinos. The Waltons was the story of a seventeen-year-old boy who wants to be a writer, growing up during the Depression in a large and loving family. The cast was even in the mountain’s Fiesta Days Parade one year back in the 1970s.
When the housing boom was at its high point in the 1990s, Ed left the hill to start a window installation company in Santa Clarita that began to thrive.
He did this for over ten years with gross sales of over a million dollars one year in the good times, when suddenly— as the housing bubble burst—business just stopped.
“A couple of years ago, the phone just stopped ringing,” Ed said. “I needed to keep working, so I built a small home to sell in Frazier Park. Then the local home prices plunged, so I had to move into it.”
In order to survive in this struggling economy, Ed is willing to do almost any kind of work. He currently runs a small ad in The Mountain Enterprise: “Licensed Contractor Will Work For $100 A Day.” [see page 22]. Sorensen will help you on any project you need. He’ll make gazebos, decks and chicken coops, help you on your basement projects, fences or anything you have.
Yvonne Sorensen Vefik was raised on the mountain, and her son James Calkins grew up here too. James’ wedding announcement appeared in The Mountain Enterprise, as did Yvonne’s when she married Dennis Vefik. They now live in Sacramento. She is working on a Christian “end-times” novel that will be in publication this spring.
This is part of the February 13, 2009 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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