Jay Calhoun

58, Bakersfield

Jay Calhoun had a passion for building houses. Framing. Plastering. Landscaping.

“He loved it all,” said Lynn Campbell, his older sister. She recalled how Calhoun gained interest in home building from their father, J. C., a building contractor. For years, the two built homes in Bakersfield.

Calhoun died of COVID- 19 on Sept. 9 at Memorial Hospital in Bakersfield — the same hospital where he’d been born 58 earlier.

The Central Valley was home to Calhoun much of his life, but he spent a few years in the Bay Area building homes.

Campbell remembers how Calhoun loved adventures and the outdoors.

Once, Campbell said, he and friends rode jet skis from a Southern California dock all the way to Catalina Island.

“We talked about that for years,” she said.

During the winter, Calhoun would spend weekends skiing in Mammoth and Big Bear.

He also loved to play practical jokes, Campbell said.

Once, he signed autographs when he was mistaken for then Los Angeles Raiders quarterback Jay Schroeder. Another time, when Campbell’s son was young and sitting on a teeter- totter, Calhoun saw an opportunity to have a bit of fun.

“And here comes Jay, running fast and he jumps on the other end,” she laughed. “My son bounced up in the air. He was safe, but that’s what Jay loved to do … he joked around.”

Some of these memories were shared at a graveside service in Bakersfield for Calhoun shortly after his death.

“Really, he lived life to the fullest,” Campbell said.