The Spirit of Easter : Benevolent Weather Helps Residents Enjoy the Holiday--Traditionally or Otherwise

Spurred outdoors by high temperatures and clear skies, Ventura County residents thronged campgrounds, picnic areas and other hot spots over the Easter weekend.

The pursuit of pleasure wasn’t the only thing on county residents’ minds, however. Many opted for more traditional methods of celebrating the holiday, leading to standing-room-only crowds at many local churches and bustling dining rooms at restaurants.

The Easter spirit was present at the Zoe Christian Center in Oxnard, where staff and volunteers served turkey, ham, yams, potatoes, salad and dessert to more than 150 homeless, poor and elderly people, Zoe volunteer Katherine Holman said.

As usual, the center staff was assisted by volunteers, including a small contingent from Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks.

Richard Lebby of Newbury Park said he brought his family --wife Anita, daughter Ilisa and son Ian--to the shelter because it was a way to help the community and at the same time create a bond between Jews and Christians.

Lebby and his family were celebrating Passover, an eight-day Jewish holiday that commemorates the Jewish exodus from Egypt, by helping clean the shelter’s kitchen as the meal ended.

“It’s nice that the two holidays go hand in hand this year,” Libby said as a group of Zoe residents prayed in Spanish. “This is really the way it should be, people helping people.”

At the San Buenaventura Mission in Ventura, all five Masses were standing-room-only, Monsignor Patrick J. O’Brien said.

“We just don’t have enough room for everyone,” O’Brien said.

A full house on Easter is normal at the church, O’Brien said, suggesting that the summer-like weather actually encouraged people to attend church. “It was a beautiful day and that does bring people out. All five of our services were spilling out into the garden,” he said.

While local beaches were not nearly as swamped as in years past, workers at the Lake Casitas Boat Rental dock said the temperatures in the 80s made Easter Sunday a busy day.

“We’re real busy, and all our boats are out,” dock manager Randy King said. “There’s a lot more people barbecuing than fishing, though.”

In fact, nearly every picnic table seemed covered with the fixings of a major Easter feast.

Members of the Solis and Ramos families of Ventura claimed a picnic spot early Sunday morning, making 1992 the 25th year that they had celebrated Easter Sunday with a barbecue by the lake.

While many of the large contingent monitored the barbecue grills, a group of youngsters took turns trying to smash open a pinata that dangled on ropes from a pair of trees.

“This is our tradition, this is how we celebrate Easter,” Peter Solis said as he applauded a successful hit on the pinata.

County campgrounds also were popular over the weekend. Most of the spaces in Los Padres National Forest were filled by Friday afternoon, said forest service spokesman Earl Clayton.

The holiday weekend turned tragic for the Tucker family of Ojai, who spent Sunday rummaging through the burnt remains of their 100-year-old farmhouse east of Ojai. The home was destroyed in a fire early that morning.

“My father collected most anything,” Laura Whitaker said as she sifted through a charred pile of collectibles including stamps, coins and baseball cards, all of which were ruined by smoke, fire and water.

Family members were thankful that neither Gary nor Patricia Tucker were injured in the blaze.

The couple were awakened by smoke and flames just after 12:40 a.m., son Richard Tucker said. Gary Tucker, clad only in his underwear, used an extension ladder to rescue his nightgown-clad wife from the second story of the home just before it collapsed, Richard Tucker said.

There was no time for the pair to remove anything from the home, Whitaker said. “So today they have no house and no clothes,” she said.

“This is tough, real tough,” Richard Tucker said as he watched a trio of family friends combing a pile of charred debris for coins, most of which had melted into large globs of silver and copper. “You always imagine selling old family houses someday, but you don’t expect them to end up burning down,” he said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation Sunday.