FRANK THAYER

Frank is the oldest member of our club at 89! He grew up in Pasadena, California.

Out of high-school he went straight into the Air Force. This was in 1944, during WWII. He trained as a pilot and was stationed in England. He flew 17 missions.

One of his worst experiences was losing 3 engines over Berlin! He was the co-pilot but took over piloting when the pilot couldn’t control the plane. He managed to fly from Berlin, across Germany and landed in Holland, all on one engine.

After that feat of piloting he was given his own crew. After the war he became a carpenter, then a licensed contractor and eventually had his own house building company.

He lived in Pasadena and later moved to Costa Mesa. Frank took up tennis after he couldn’t see the golf balls to well. He was 75. He has 5 children, all living in Orange County.

Beside tennis , Frank is very interested in astronomy.

Gary was born in Park Rapids, Minnesota, growing up on his grandparent’s lake resort and and writing poems and short stories early on.

Many strange and unique experiences happened to him at that lake resort which formed the basis for his current published YA mystery series.

He graduated from a high school in Mpls., served in the US Navy and moved out west and graduated from Brigham Young U. in Utah with a degree in Social Science.

With no formal training in writing or music and just a love for story telling, he continues to write books, short stories and songs today.

He has played tennis since high school and loves the sport and especially enjoys playing with the Tustin Tennis Club.

His wife is from Lima, Peru and she is bi-lingual, they manage apartments in Brea and and between the two of them, have six children and eleven grandchildren.

His third book, Pickerel Lake 2 was just published and you can check it out on his web site at: Author Gary

CHRIS ANDRES

Chris was born in Essex, England near the end of WWII. Her memories of the war years include a land mine shattering the glass in her home and the bombing of her school.

After the war, Chris took piano lessons and learned to play the violin and recorder at school. At age 11 she won a music scholarship for promising young musicians to the Royal Academy of London where she studied piano and violin. When she was 14 she played in a quartet with Jacqueline du Pre, who later became one of the world’s most famous cellists.

Chris traveled to Berlin with a youth orchestra during the food airlift…Berlin was cut off by the communists. Crossing over at Check Point Charley Chris got lost in East Berlin. The kind people who helped her get back into West Berlin by train were not allowed there themselves.

At eighteen Chris was accepted as a student at the Royal Academy where she earned a music degree. She met and played with some famous musicians including Yehudi Menuhin, violin, Sir John Barbirolli, conductor, and Ravi Shankar, sitar. As if that wasn’t enough excitement for her, she was also in a movie about musicians, tried gliding and took sailing lessons.

After teaching music in Essex for two years, Chris emigrated to the USA in 1967 to teach music in a private school in Sherman Oaks, where most of the students were children of the movie industry…She experienced culture shock! Maids, chauffeurs actors, directors. She met her husband, Dante, at a dance in 1967 and they married in June 1968. They had two daughters and moved to Tustin in 1972.

Chris joined the Tustin Tennis Club about 30 years ago and played for the Tustin Acers for many years. She was captain twice and co-captain three times. She was on the team in 1992 when they won first place, and again this year when the team went undefeated to win the championship.

She has held positions as Membership, Secretary, Publicity, Tournament Director, Getaways, Newsletter, and has been Vice-President for 6 years. With all these responsibilities she still managed to win many Club tournaments.

Her hobbies, besides tennis, are gardening, ping-pong, and playing the violin. Last year she played in the Chapman Chamber Orchestra. One of her favorite things is to travel to other countries, especially to England and Ireland where her two sisters and brother live.

Her vision for the TTC is to add a walking group, a ping-pong group and travel group.

Although she does not look like the typical tennis player with her bright pink hair, multiple piercings and tattoos, she does a pretty good job racking up the wins on the tennis court.

She taught herself how to play and has been playing for 17 years. She has a identical twin sister who lives in Alabama and plays as well.

When she competes against her twin, its like playing herself.

When she’s not on the tennis court she enjoys playing soccer, watching movies, going to live concerts, playing the piano and working on the Tustin Tennis Club Newsletter!

Alim is a science graduate with a long Banking career in the past. He now works as a Real Estate broker and volunteers at Hoag Hospital, Irvine. Alim is married and has 2 sons and a daughter. His eldest son Mahmood is also a member of TTC. Alim’s interests include Tennis, Photography, Travel, Music and Social Work. He started playing tennis in 1987 while working as a banker in Oman. Alim initially took lessons from the world famous Peter Burwash International (PBI) based in USA. Alim played competitive tennis till 2001. He joined TTC in 2009. In 2010, the club assigned him the responsibility of the club’s Tournament Director. He was elected as the President of the club in 2011. Alim, a proud American loves to be living in Southern California. Some of his travel expeditions can be seen at www.youtube.com/alim611

You probably have seen Marina’s ground strokes on the Court, but have you seen her brush strokes on canvas?

If you don’t see her on our courts on Saturday morning, you will probably find her down in Laguna Canyon, painting at the Laguna Art College. Marina studied art and design from childhood in Russia graduating from the Stroganofskaya Academy in Moscow, one of Europe’s famous institutions of art.  Impressionistic portraiture, figurative, still life, architectural, landscape, and plein air paintings are her specialty, but Marina points out that her defining element is probably brush stroke.

While her passion is painting, she has also worked as an industrial designer, designing various products in Russia and the U.S. (35mm cameras, automotive sport wheels, night vision optics, titanium golf clubs, etc.). Her art has been exhibited in Russia, Germany and the U.S.

In her early 20’s Marina started playing tennis on the clay courts of Russia.  She belonged to a private tennis club, where members were accorded court time based upon the amount of volunteer time they donated to the maintenance of the clay courts and other club facilities.

She enjoys playing with the TTC and the Sundowners League, where she plays as a member of the Tustin Acers.  You often see Marina on the courts with her American Eskimo dog, “Mishka”.  She met her husband Steve (also a TTC member) at a party (invited by her Tennis Club) in Moscow in 1993 and has lived in Orange County since 1996.  She proudly became a U.S. citizen in February.

Born in 1929, Rich quit school at the age of 16 and worked for navy for four years 1947-51 and took part in Korean and Vietnam wars. Later worked as construction carpenter.Rich married in 1954, which lasted 22 years. Has 3 daughters, all married and settled in life. Has 3 grand children.

Rich survived cancer in 1996 and recovered in 1 year. He played handball for 13 years. He started playing tennis in 1977 and joined Tustin Tennis Club in 1978.

Being one of the oldest members, if not the oldest, he is very appropriately holding the position of the “Historian” of the club.

Rich now lives alone in Tustin. Tennis is the greatest attraction in his life, which keeps him going. His sweet personality is a treat for the club members.

Born 03/09/26 St. Joseph, Missouri. I left St. Joseph in the middle of my senior year of High School and came to California with my mother.

I found it necessary to quit school and went to work in the aircraft industry. Upon reaching the age of eighteen I became a member of the Army Air Corp, serving in the Aleutian Islands (Shemya) till the end of the war, then in the army of occupation in Japan until completion of my tour.

In the fall of 1948 I began studies at the U of Kansas where my father was resident.  While in school  I met and married Joan Elizabeth Johnson who is the mother of our four sons and my wife of 62 years.

Upon graduating with a BS in physics we moved to California where I worked in the Aerospace Industry until I retired in 1983.  During  this time we lived in Tustin, and reared our four sons.

We now have 7 grandchildren ranging in age from 11-30yrs. I played tennis sporadically through the years almost always in the evening.   In the late eighties I could no longer play nights so I sought a day game and found the Tustin Tennis Club. Cataract surgery allowed night tennis again and I enjoyed the evening tournaments.

Recently I found playing nights difficult and four sets impossible. I am now content to play two and sometimes three sets mornings.