Charter champion
Faure recalls showing at first fair in 1948
For decades, Joe Faure has dedicated his energy to the legacy and the livelihood of Porterville. He has done so through his activities as father, husband, Navy veteran, mayor, city council member, and an esteemed and active pillar of his community.
But before all of those things, at age 12, he raised a polled Hereford that won Grand Champion steer at the first Porterville Fair 70 years ago.
It was an experience that would unlock many doors for Faure and cultivate the traits and interests that would shape a lifetime of service and dedication.
“I like to attribute a lot of what I’ve done up through my present life to that day,” said Faure. “I learned competition, I learned sportsmanship, and I learned you don’t always win.”
The year was 1948, and Porterville did not have a fairgrounds. The first Tulare County Junior Livestock Show and Community Fair was held instead on the campus of Porterville High School, in an area in the center of campus known then as the parade grounds because of the school’s very active cadet corps.
“They had two-by-sixes wired to the trees, and that was how we tied up our animals,” said Faure.
They fair’s rabbit and chicken exhibit was housed in the boys’ gymnasium at the same time a basketball tournament was taking place, so every time teams came in to change and shower they had to close the exhibit for privacy.
It was Faure’s first fair as well, and he didn’t think much after his steer won first prize — he thought he was done showing for judges, and was busy doing what most 12-year-old boys would be doing in his shoes.
“I was out goofing around and someone said, ‘Joey come on! You’ve got to go in again, now you’re showing for breed champion,” he said.
He got his 4-H hat back on, grabbed his steer, and proceeded to show for the judges again, this time winning breed champion.
He left the show area and starting “goofing around” again, only to be called in yet again to show for Grand Champion.
“I didn’t know we were going for the whole enchilada,” he said. Prepared or not, the moment came, and young Faure’s first fair experience resulted in a Grand Champion trophy.
Only his trophy wasn’t really a trophy at all, but a metal sculpture depicting a cowboy standing next to his trusty horse by renowned western artist Till Goodan.
The next day was the auction, and Faure’s steer was purchased by two Porterville businessmen: Oren Sheela, who ran a GMC dealership where Centennial Park sits now, and Rolla Bishop, who raised hogs and operated a meat factory where Monache High School is currently located.
“They paid 44 cents a pound for my steer, which was all the money in the world to me because market price at the time was 22 cents a pound,” said Faure. “I was in hog heaven, no pun intended.”
But Faure soon learned that fame is fleeting when, at the 1949 fair, he asked Sheela if he wanted to buy his steer that year.
“He asked me where I placed that year and I told him third in my class, and he said, ‘Well, not this year,’” he recalled. “Back then a lot of it was about the notoriety, and I understood that.”
Undeterred, Faure went on to raise two Grand Champion lambs and became involved in FFA at Porterville High School. He worked his way from chapter president to regional president and eventually was named state president in 1955.
He attended four national FFA conventions and was selected as one of four FFA state presidents to go to Great Britain as part of a foreign exchange program. The group traveled to England on the famous ocean liner RMS Queen Mary and returned home on the RMS Queen Elizabeth.
“They sent four Future Farmers over and eight young farmers [from Great Britain] came over here,” said Faure. “I used to joke that it took eight of them to replace four of us.”
For two and a half months Faure traveled around to different farms in England and was shown what agriculture was like in their area, changing locations every three or four days.
But the highlight of the tour for Faure came when the group went to a royal flower show sponsored by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Faure and his friend were standing near a rope line at the event when the Queen noticed their FFA jackets.
“She stopped and talked to us, asking what our jackets represented, and my friend turned around and I explained the logo on the back of his jacket,” said Faure. “She must have talked with us for three or four minutes, and people around us were saying, ‘What are you Yanks doing talking to the Queen Mother?’”
Upon his return, Faure traveled up and down California making presentations to FFA groups about his experiences abroad. He later graduated from Fresno State in 1956 with a degree in political science and went on to serve 23 years in the Navy, first as a commissioned officer and later for the Naval Academy as a Blue Gold Officer recruiting candidates at 12 local high schools.
In later years, Faure served his community as part of the city planning commission, hospital board, fair board, city council, and even served a term as mayor of Porterville. He has been involved for many years with Rotary in Porterville and the Jaycees and remains very active in his church.
Faure credits his involvement as a young man in the fair, 4-H, and FFA with giving him key skills that he would go on to use in decades of serving his country and his community.
“That’s where it all started for me. Being out in the public and speaking in public, learning about parliamentary procedure in FFA, and community involvement,” he said. “I strongly encourage young people to get involved in their community, and start at an early age because high school affords a lot of opportunities.”
At 82, Faure is sharper and livelier than many men half his age, and doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.
“I’ve always been active, and I have to be active. I think in some ways that’s the reason I stay young. I consider myself a young person,” he said.