EDITOR’S NOTE | By Bret Bradigan

FULL STREAM AHEAD

Losing a Mentor, Not the Lessons

About a four-hour drive north of Ojai, the South Fork of the Kern River tumbles through the meadows on the eastern flank of the southern Sierras like a silver-flecked necklace stringing together emeralds. As it winds through Kennedy Meadows, the river drops out of the ponderosa pine forest into the sage and piñon-pine badlands of Domeland Wilderness.

Bret Bradigan, editor & publisher, Ojai Quarterly and Ojai Monthly

Once arguably the best trout stream in southern California, heavy fires five years ago caused the stream to silt up into shallow mudfields. If you loved catching 8- to 16-inch native rainbow and brown trout until your arms ached, it was your place. It will take several above-normal wet years before it can properly begin to recover. It’ll also take me awhile to recover from a recent personal loss.

Gerald “Jerry” Kaplan passed away May 23, and the absence of his tenacious optimism will be felt by many. He believed in people, and because of that belief, opportunities were created. For me, he represented much of what makes Ojai so special.

Whether it was dreaming up the tennis marathon that raised tens of thousands of dollars for the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation, or being a founder of the Rotary Club’s key fundraiser, Taste of Ojai, there were few civic organizations that Jerry did not either sponsor, create or cheer for. His infectious entrepreneurial spirit revitalized many local efforts and organizations. It was no wonder the Rotary Club of Ojai named him a Living Treasure in 2016.

For me, the loss is deeply felt, because he was my fishing buddy. And by that I mean that we shared a range of pursuits only peripherally involved with casting a lure with a rod and reel. Crouching around a campfire, drinking good Scotch and smoking cigars, telling bad jokes and sharing stories of our childhood, grilling strip steaks with sweet onions from Jerry’s garden, the wild river’s tumbling melody in the background, were every bit as meaningful as the trout we caught. He had a rare gift for friendship. Being a good person was no abstraction to him, everything was about relationships.

Jerry should be remembered as someone whose optimism was key in creating opportunities for the youth of Ojai and beyond. Optimism is a form of moral courage. And he was brave and steady.

“We should be fighting for opportunities for other people’s children as if the future of own children depended on it,” wrote Matthew Stewart in the June issue of The Atlantic. If Jerry heard that, he’d nod his head, the fire glinting in his smiling wise eyes, and say, “Because it does.”