Featured Members
Last Updated: 04/26/19

 

 
Lydia Harnois
 

She’s b-a-a-a-c-k!  Lydia Harnois has returned to TCI after a  two-year hiatus from the club in which she golfed here, there and everywhere but mostly at Redhawk, where she plays with the Ladyhawks.
 

A native of Chicago, Lydia Harnois worked 25 years as an electronics technician for a telecommunications company in Temecula.   She loves to dance and enjoys all sports. 

Lydia’s mother-in-law encouraged her to get into golf, and her husband Martin has been her mentor and biggest supporter.  Her favorite golf memory was shooting 92, her lowest score yet, and she’s still waiting for her first hole-in-one.

 



Ashley Tang


Ashley Tang, a new TCI Golf Shop assistant who intends to join our league, loves the game of golf, largely because it makes her and others better persons.  Golf humbles and encourages players to enjoy and be considerate of each other, she explains.  It also is an activity she hopes to do with her husband when he has more time from work.

Golf, however, is not Ashley’s first sport.  Swimming, snowboarding, squash and badminton and just some of the more active sports Ashley pursued while growing up in a small Korean town and studying physical education in Korea and Colorado Springs, where her husband was stationed with the U.S. Air Force. In fact, Ashley started golfing only 4 1/2 years ago and already has graduated from Professional Golfers Career College on Ynez Road. 


Physical Education has been been a big part of Ashley’s life. She obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in P.E. in Korea, where she also taught sports.  During her seven years in Colorado Springs, she earned a master’s degree and was a professor’s assistant in health promotion.  After her 16 months at the golf college, she says, “I’m done with education!” 


Ashley plays with Legends Ladies Women’s Golf Club and volunteers with the LPGA and PGA whenever she can -- all while still raising two sons, ages 6 and 12.  She looks forward to getting involved with TCIWGC, too.   Meantime, she lives with her husband and children near Redhawk and takes brief visits each year to Korea to see her parents and siblings.  Fortunately, her parents are retired, enabling them to visit her in Temecula more often.



Karen Hayes

 


Karen Hayes, who boasts a 20 index after learning to golf at El Camino Country Club seven years ago, moved to Temecula last April and looks forward to getting know more TCI members.
 

A native of DeForest, Wisconsin, Karen is an inpatient medical coder with five children -- all of them with names beginning with “K.”  Yes, her husband is a “K,” too.  Karen and Kevin have nine grandchildren from 5 months to 8 years old. 


For eight years the Hayes family lived in Oceanside, where they moved from Cleveland, Ohio.  While in Cleveland, Karen worked for Cleveland Clinic Hospital.


Her most memorable golf experience was breaking 100.  “I never thought that day would come,” she said.


Besides golf, Karen enjoys crafts and games of any kind.  She plays cribbage with a group on Mondays. 


Theresa Bartol
 

When Theresa Bartol moved to Temeku Hills in 2017, her new neighbor Lynette Netherland wasted no time recruiting her to local golf clubs, including ours.  Now she belongs not only to TCI, but also to Legends and Dos Logos.  That’s a lot of golf!
 

Theresa obviously loves the outdoors and sports, including boating, water skiing, kayaking, off-roading, hiking and camping.  Having a mobile home on the Colorado river in Blythe offers easy access to her favorite activities.  She also enjoys gardening and crafting.


But there’s another side to Theresa.  For 25 years, she taught special education in San Bernardino County.  Most of her students, who ranged from preschool to sixth grade, had autism. 


Theresa came from a large family in Upland, California.  After marrying Rich 39 years ago, she moved to Chino, then Ontario and then back to Chino, where they raised two sons, Chad and Kyle.  Those sons now have four children with one on the way.  Her Temecula home is strategically located between her children’s families.


As the daughter of golfers, Theresa took golf lessons 30 years ago, but she only got serious about it the last 10 years.  “I am looking forward to golfing and meeting everyone” at TCI, she said, noting that her “awesome neighbor speaks so highly of each and every one of you.”


 

Donna Gardino



She treks miles at a time -- in Nepal, Tibet, France, Switzerland, Africa, Alaska and even southern California.  She also skis like a demon down rocky slopes and through powder.  And she camps out in Joshua Tree the coldest time of the year.  Yet Donna Gardino has discovered she loves golf, too.  The outdoors and challenge get her going.
  

Donna is married to Diane Cole’s mountain-climbing brother Bill, whom she met while working in construction, maintenance and planning for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.  In late 2017, Donna retired as executive director of the Fairbanks Metropolitan Area Transportation System.  Meantime, she and Bill then bought a second home in Idyllwild in order the escape the darkest, coldest part of the Fairbanks winter. “I am not one that enjoys hot weather,” she noted. 


 As a member of the National Ski Patrol and a volunteer Outdoor Emergency Care and Tobaggan instructor, Donna always is eager to get back to the frigid slopes.  This volunteer alpine and nordic patroller also is secretary of the Fairbanks Ski Patrol.


A native of Chicago, Donna is a twin from a family of nine children and many nieces and nephews.  She married Bill at Thornton Winery in 2006, and although they have no children, two sled dogs were part of their family for over a dozen years.   Unsurprisingly, she fanatically follows the Chicago Cubs and Bears.


Donna took a golf course in college (she has a master’s degree in business administration) and played with friends while working for US West in Denver.  In fact, she parred the first hole she ever played. “Lucky,”  she said.  When Donna moved to Delta, Alaska, in 1993,, she was 100 miles from the nearest course and didn’t get back into the sport until two years ago.  She now sometimes golfs on the northernmost golf course in North America -- where the fireweed in the rough is hip high.


Sandy Barletta

 

 

Sandy Barletta, who will golf with TCI at least part of the year, has lived throughout the country, beginning with Bossier City, Louisiana, and moving as a child to Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  She now lives most of the year in Las Vegas, where she is active in three golf clubs.  So active, in fact, that she could show a thing or two to us at TCI!

 

After her husband Ralph, an avid golfer himself, encouraged Sandy to get into the game, she joined her first ladies group in Boulder City, Nevada, about eight years ago.  Before long, she also was competing on teams and helping with administration at Chimera Women’s Golf Association and DragonRidge Country Club in Henderson. Her most exciting moment was breaking 80 at Chimera in the WSNGA Senior Amateur last  May. 

Sandy is not only vice president at Chimera, she handles publishing duties at all three of her current clubs!

It should be no surprise that Sandy has taken on so much responsibility as a golfer. The 1983 graduate of Rutgers spent 30 years in the computer industry, beginning as a systems engineer for IBM.  For most of her career, she developed software for startups on the East Coast and Bay Area.

Ralph and Sandy, who met in high school, have been married 35 years.  They have a daughter just finishing a masters in education who hopes to teach sixth grade soon, and they share their home with two large dogs, Zeke and Gladys.  Before moving to the Las Vegas area 12 years ago,  the Barlettas live 10 years in an Rafael.  They bought a vacation home in Temecula in 2016.

Besides golf, Sandy enjoys reading, traveling, wine tasting, playing with her dogs and hanging out with friends.  Not a bad fit for TCI, eh?


Janey Denny


Janey Denny, 
also a Ladyhawk, came just one foot shy of a hole-in-one on  Redhawk's hold #12.  At TCI, we're expecting even greater things from this fun lady, who dressed as a T-Rex at Redhawk's recent PJ play day.

Jane was born in Pontiac and raised in Orchard Lake, Michigan. Before moving to Redhawk in 1993, she and her husband Art, a retiree of  Whirlpool/Maytag, lived in Fountain Hills, Arizona, for 14 years, when Jane sold RV's in Phoenix. Their famiy includes two daughters: Brooke, a middle school teacher, and Ariel, a supervisor for CARD who works with autistic children (it's time to meet Theresa Bartol, Janey).

Although Jane began golfing in Arizona, she quit while raising her daughters.  A lover of the outdoors, she jumped right back into it at Redhawk.  She also spends her time walking, playing cards, gambling, drinking wine, going to the beach and shopping.  Of course all this involves friend time.
 

 

Linda Daviess



Linda Daviess
, another Ladyhawk, moved to Temecula in 2001, also from Mission Viejo.  But this former interventional/cardiology technologist was raised in the United Kingdom.
 

Linda’s neighbor Judy Fletcher, also from the health-care industry with ties to the United Kingdom (well, Canada, anyway), recruited her to Redhawk.  “She encouraged me and helped me a great deal,” Linda noted, adding that her most memorable golfing experience was getting an eagle (OMG!) on the 14th hold at Redhawk.  


Linda and her husband have two daughters and a dog.  In addition to sports, which she enjoys a great deal, she loves to cook.
 

Pam Smith



You might call her Granny Smith, given the fact that she was raised in Wenatches, Washington, the Apple Capitol of the World! We cannot confirm, however, that Pam Smith is truly a granny.
  You’ll have to ask her that one for yourself.


Pam retired to Temecula in 2012 from Mission Viejo, where she raised her family, consisting of daughter Crystal, who works in Manhattan, New York; and son Kyle, who lives in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  She worked for Albertson’s Grocery for 32 years.  


Pam began golfing with the Ladyhawks, who “are so much fun!”  Her most memorable golfing experience was hitting her drive into the water on Hole 3 at Redhawk.  “Good roll that day.”   


Besides golf, Pam enjoys her pets and gardening.  Once we get to know her, we’ll see if we can’t dig up some more details to share.


Gabrielle Gibson



Gabrielle Gibson, or GG as she is known to friends and family, is a new TCI pro who grew up in Temecula but played golf for the University of Wyoiming, where she earned bachelors and masters degrees in communication.  It's all part of an LPGA dream that began in her early teens, when her dad got her hooked on the game.  

This friendly, upbeat young woman considers herself self-taught because she never had a swing coach.  She took lessons from teaching pros here and there, but most of her instruction came from her dad and watching Golf Channel.

An only child, GG remains extremely close to oher parents, big supporters of her dream to make it onto the LPGA tour someday.  They plan to help her travel around the country as a professional golfer during retirement.

Golfing for UW, GG played all across sthe country, an experience that introduced her to her absolute favorite course, Entrada at Snow Canyon in St. George, Utah.  One of her most memorable golf experiences was winning her first college tournament.  Another occurred her senior year, when she led UW's women's team to its first tournament win in a decade.

GG, who introduced herself to TCI ladies in a Beat the Pro play day September 27, 2018, is interested in joining our club.
 



 


 

Profiles on Record
(Note the dates these were written; details may need updating)

 

 

Pat Bailey is a member of the Colony Women’s Golf, and is one of the group of Colony ladies that decided to join Temecula Creek. She comes to TCI already knowing a number of people as she and her husband, Dave, have played here over the years. She likes the idea of playing TCI, getting to know the other members, and golfing on Thursday, a fitting balance to playing Tuesday at the Colony.

"No" is a difficult word for Pat to say. She enjoys being involved, and spent several years on the board at the Colony. In 2011, she was treasurer. For two years, she was tournament chair, and before that handicap chair for two years.

Pat and her husband retired to Murrieta from Downey, where they lived for over 25 years. Dave worked as an electrician for the Downey School District. Pat spent 18 years at Specialty Valve and Fitting. She started there "temporarily" to help out with a peak workload, and ended up working in all aspects of bookkeeping, payables, receivables, and ultimately as office manager.
 
The Baileys have two grown children: Brian and Cheryl. Brian and his wife live in Mission Viejo and have three grown children. Brian is vice president of Vortex, Inc. The firm installs and repairs business doors. Cheryl lives in Bell Gardens and is in the home health-care business.

While computer games have their allure for Pat, she still has time to knit baby hats as a charitable activity. She has enjoyed knitting, crocheting, and counted cross-stitch embroidery over the years, although they don’t fit well in her "retired person" schedule! -BT

 

 

Marsha Baum was a tomboy who loved to play outside as a kid, and she hasn't changed much as an adult. She has water skiied and played softball and tennis.  She can bomb that golf ball over 200 yards, often even into the fairway.  However, her greatest strength is coming through in a pinch as a partner, and she does especially well when her ball's in trouble.

This athletic California girl grew up in Torrence, but she wasn't even out of her teens before she married Tim Baum, a veteran from Pennsylvania.  The fact that he was someone else's date when she first met him is another story.  He was smitten by her Ursula Andress looks when he saw her emerge from the water in a bathing suit, and he had to have her!

Marsha and Tim have lived in Redlands, Las Vegas, Ohio and Canyon Country when Tim worked as a certified public accountant for TRW.  Marsha also worked several years as an accountant, beginning with Babcock & Associates in Torrence.  The Baums have two daughters -- Kim and Trisha -- and four grandchildren.  They bought a second home in Havasu, Arizona, where their family spent many holidays  on their pontoon boat until downsizing and selling it all last year.

Before retiring, Tim worked as chief financial officer for a company in Saudi Arabia, leaving Marsha on her own for months at a time to choose a new house in Temecula near their teacher daughter Kim and her two daughters.  That's when Marsha got involved with a group of gung-ho golfing women in Temecula, and now she is up to ears as president of TCI.  Once Tim quit contracting, he got involved with the Inland Valley Men's Golf Club and a Monday men's group, and now the couple spends most of their recreational time apart on various golf courses. Oh, yes, they travel together to Europe and Florida pretty regularly, too.

Ask who Marsha's twin is at TCI, and she'll point to Cheryl Durrant, who is was the same age when she got married and is the same age now, decades older than either of them appears. (updated January 2017)

 

Rebecca Bolander, an outgoing go-getter raised in Chino Hills, gave birth to twin girls at age 19 and went on to become a successful businesswoman. Meantime, she added a son to the family.  Her children -- and five granddaughters, ages 2 to 12 -- now are scattered from Riverside to Ontario to Rancho Cucamonga.  

Introduced to direct advertising just out of high school, Rebecca bought the company at 21 and ran it for six years before selling and moving into the packaging industry.  From age 26 to 44, she was outside sales representative for a company that sold corregated, in-the-box protective packaging.  Now, after establishing Bolander Distribution seven years ago, she provides dashboard wipes to express car washes across the country.

A big bonus of her business routine is that Rebecca works from home and controls her own schedule.  She works out daily, hikes when she wants and participates at poker tournaments around the West.  All of which exposes her to an active social life.

And then there's golf, which she got involved with at sales meetings.  Probably her favorite course at the moment in Journey nextdoor, but she undoutedly will develop greater affection for TCI, her first women's league.

Rebecca lived in Rancho Cucamonga and Eastvale/Corona before recently moving to Temecula.  She now is single, dating and open to a new relationship. (2018)

 
  

Jan Bolinger has lived in Murrieta for about 1 1/2 years and said she has been looking for a women’s golf group and a charitable organization where she can volunteer. We’re glad she found our club, through the good word from Dianna Frank, another new member!

Jan and Mike have been retired about nine years. Jan spent 37 years in the dental profession. Mike drove truck for Lucky and Albertson’s markets. She has also worked as a volunteer at a pediatric cancer center in Irvine.

She has golfed for many years with an informal group that played once a week at a variety of courses throughout Orange County.  Among her other interests are following all her grandchildren in their sports. In fact, she has one granddaughter that graduated from UNLV in nursing on a softball scholarship. The Bolingers also like to follow professional sports: The ANGELS, NFL and college football.

Jan and her husband, Mike, came to our valley from Orange County, where both graduated from Anaheim High School. They lived in Buena Park; in fact, in the same house for 42 years.
 
They have two sons and one daughter, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. They enjoy traveling. Recently, they took a month in Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Austria, where they rented a car and drove from village to village. (BT 2010?)


Nancy Conte recruited Karen Brauer to our ranks from Golf Club of Rancho California, a club she joined five years ago with our former member Teresa Browne, whose sons went to Murrieta Valley High School with her two daughters.  The two used to joke about how they were going to beat "Madge and Barb" on the golf course. Q-Tips -- skinny ladies with white perms -- was another term this jokester used to refer to older women golfers.


Karen grew up in a the tiny town of Moosup, Connecticult, where 2,500 or so residents never locked their doors and survived with only one traffic light, which blinked yellow.  Her father was the chairman of the Board of Education there, and Karen enjoyed a childhood of outdoor freedom as a tomboy. 

The family moved to Anaheim when Karen was 16, and within a year she struck up a romance with 25-year-old Michael Brauer, whom she eventually married.  They lived on the Corona side of Riverside for 13 years and spent 16 years in Murrieta before moving to Menifee two years ago and buying a golf car that resembles a Lincoln Continental.  Karen also enjoys camping and off-roading in the desert, spending two weeks a year in Maui and playing cards with her mother's friends.

The Brauers' daughters benefited from Karen's role as a full-time mom.  One now works for a retailer in Burbank; the other is a second lieutenant in the Air Force receiving medical training at Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland.  Karen's husband services machines used for blood analysis at hospitals throughout southern California.  

 

Karen has thrown down the gauntlet to all of us little old ladies, so it's our obligation to show her just how tough it is to beat Madge and Barb. (2018)

Karen Brunetti, who retired from Harrah's Entertainment after 26 years, moved to our area from Phoenix, where she lived for about 10 years.  Before that, she called Reno home.


In May 2007, Karen learned she had Stage IV breast 
cancer that had metastisized to her liver and bones. It spread to her brain some time in 2008, requiring tumor removal surgery in September 2009.  She also had radiation and chemotherapy treatments.  When a A PetScan indicated her cancer was in remission late that year, she said: "I know those little buggers are dormant, but they are asleep now and not bugging me. HOORAY! YIPPEE! Everyone of you has helped me fight this fight! I thank all of my angels".

Since then, Karen married Jill Barrett and has enjoyed life as a traveler, sports fan, golfer, wine-taster and cook, especially of Italian cuisine.  She experienced a setback in the form of a stroke last year, but this fighter is back on the golf course and sipping porno martinis (vodka with onions, olives and lots of olive juice) at every opportunity. (updated Janaury 2017)
  


Pat Byron
 
has been a pillar of the Temecula Creek Women’s Golf Club since shortly after moving to Murrieta in February, 1990.  She has served in virtually every position on the Board.  This year [2009] she is Treasurer, but she has served three times as President. She has also been Tournament Director, Team Captain, Ringer, and Hole in One Chairman.

Pat has also been a pillar in her husband Joe’s construction business.  She said he could never hire anyone else, because no employee would get up at midnight to write a letter that needed to be done. Prior to working for Joe, Pat worked at the Gas Company.

Joe was a general contractor.  His firm built churches, schools, rectories, and other institutional buildings.  The new church in San Juan Capistrano is among their credits.

Pat was born of English, Irish, and Cherokee parents in Oklahoma, and moved to Los Angeles when she was one month old.  However, she was the only family member to speak “Okie.” Joe was born in Chicago.  His father migrated from Ireland, and his mother was also of Irish descent.  There’s a lot of Irish in the Byron household! 

They met through Pat’s god mother, who was supposed to marry Joe, but they broke off their engagement.  Sometime later, Pat, who was supposed to be in the wedding party, started dating Joe.  More than 50 years later, their marriage was still going strong.


Pat and Joe lived in Inglewood and Whittier, where they raised their family of four children.  
Pat’s god mother and her husband became god parents to the Byrons’ oldest son, Joe. 


In Pat enjoys golf, reading, and traveling. In addition to visiting their daughter in Australia, the Byrons have traveled on riverboat from Amsterdam to Budapest.  Pat also goes to the gym regularly to stay fit.  


 

Patti Carnes

After moving the family to Texas four years ago, Patti's husband Craig has now been promoted to president of Candlelamp, a company headquartered in Corona which produces and sells chafing dish fuels and flameless candles. So the couple bought a second home in Temecula, where Patti plans to golf with TCI one or more times a month.
 
In 2009, Patti began a five year relationship with TCI that put her into positions as team captain and president.

She is originally from Alburquerque but spent several years in Tracy, California, before moving to Temecula in 2009.  The former middle school teacher also has created teaching products and trained teachers toward achieving California's education standars.  She and Craig have two children, Chad and Tania, as well as one grandson and another grandchild on the way. (2018)


Perla Clark, a trained nurse originally from the Philippines, Perla now lives most of the year on a golf course in Skegness, Lincolnshire County, England, and spends winter months in Temecula valley when staying with relatives in the United States. When in England, Perla manages a dozen apartments that she owns and works part-time in the dental surgery office that her late husband, Julian, started and her son, James, also a dental surgeon, now operates. 

Earlier in her career, Perla specialized in child psychology and served as a head sister (nurse) in the Philippines and in several supervisory roles for the National Health Hospital in England. 

Golf is a big part of Perla's life. In England, Perla has been club champion at Seacroft Golf Club and on the top golf team in the county several years. She also has taken international awards with her 8 handicap (now up to 11) there, and in Temecula, she has won the President's Cup at Temeku Hills Women's Golf Club. She and her late husband used to golf a lot at Redhawk and Temecula Creek, too.

Perla's parents and siblings -- all golfers -- immigrated to California over 20 years ago, and she has been visiting off and on since then. Her plan is to obtain dual citizenship and retire here, and to keep golfing as much possible. DC  

 
Angie Coates
Does anyone remember the song, “Thanks for Christmas” sung by the Lennon sisters on the Lawrence Welk show?  That was written by Angie’s father. Angie’s dad was in the service and served at Fort Knox as the orchestra leader.  It was here that he met Angie’s mom, who worked as a civilian.  Although he made a number of musical connections, had a band, and played the trumpet, after the war, he opted for a good career with Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in California in order to raise his family.  His father had moved with Firestone when the Company opened a plant in Los Angeles.

Angie was born and raised in Lynwood along with her brother.  While attending Lynwood High School, she met Randy Coates, who went to a competing high school.  The rest is history!

Angie went to college, and then worked at Firestone Tire & Rubber Company until the plant was closed.  There she joined a company golf league.  She’s been playing ever since.

Randy was completing his student teaching and planned to coach high school sports.  At the time, he was working at a gas station.  He was robbed and shot, incurring spinal chord damage that would forever change the course of his life.  He worked for a number of years for the City of Downey Parks and Recreation before retiring in 1989. 

If you notice that Angie has a limp, there’s a reason.  The Coates had another traumatic life changing event.  Angie and Randy had taken Angie’s aunt and uncle to the Palm Springs Tramway.  When they discovered it was out of order, they began the descent in their car.  The car, evidently overheated, lost power, leaving them no way of stopping, other than to side swipe a rock.  This caused the car to flip over several times.  The others were not as severely injured as Angie, who was pinned under the car and suffered many broken bones as well as a severe burn on her arm which resulted in lasting nerve damage.  She had a long and painful recuperation.

Despite these life changing events, the Coates have enjoyed raising their two sons. Andy (28) is a history teacher and baseball coach at Rancho Verdes High School in Moreno Valley.  Evan (26) is an Assistant Manager of a Big 5 Sporting Goods in Chula Vista.  Both visit frequently, usually, as Angie says, with laundry in tow.
 
 
Angie has been a member of Temecula Creek Women’s Club since 2001, but she has been active in a number of women’s groups throughout the Temecula Valley since moving here in 1989.  She has a large circle of friends through all her golf associations, and enjoys doing things with them…unless there’s an Angels game playing.  Then you’ll know where to find her ... BT July 2006

Diane Cole,
a member of Temecula Creek Women’s Golf Club since 2004, moved to California from outside Park City, Utah. She learned of Temecula through her parents, who moved to the area in 1985, and through her in-laws, who golfed at Temecula Creek  when it was still Rainbow Canyon.