Community Spotlight: Clovis Rodeo Grand Marshalls, Judy Hedrick and Susan Frantzich

Contributed Clovis Rodeo

(Clovis, CA) - The Clovis Rodeo Association honors lifelong friends and rodeo volunteers, Judy Hedrick and Susan Frantzich as Grand Marshals of the 109th Clovis Rodeo set to take place April 26-30.

These well-known Clovis cowgirls will be responsible for leading off the annual rodeo parade on Saturday, April 29; a parade they have both been responsible for coordinating and building for more than 60 combined years of service.

Born in Sanger, Judy (Spears) Hedrick has participated in the rodeo parade in some way since the age of 9 years old.

Whether horseback as a mounted entry with her family, or as a Clovis Rodeo Queen candidate, she's been a participant and/or parade organizer for 48 years.

Her son Brett (Hedrick) likes to say his mom was "country when country wasn't cool," helping her sons with their 4-H and FFA animals at the fair, working the family cattle ranch with her husband Bill, or raising race horses at their ranch in the Sanger river bottom, she's been dedicated to agriculture, her family and her community her whole life.

Judy graduated from Clovis High School in 1960 and was one of the first women to take

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“Dr. Nader was responsible for the engineering design which simply and cost-effectively connected Route 168 with the Northeast [Clovis] community, which Fareed and his wife called home for 38 years,” Patterson said.

Most notably, the interchange design did not an Ag class at the school. She was an active 4-H member and also showed horses. She married Bill in 1961 and they had three sons Brett, Ross and Todd.

In 1977 she and Bill moved to the foothills east of Clovis where they continue to ranch. Today they are partners in the cattle business with their grandsons Blake and Tanner.

Born in Visalia, Susan (Ford) Frantich moved to Clovis in 1960 when her father Gene Ford built Frontier Chevrolet. She started at Clovis High School as a freshman and hit the ground running by joining a cappella choir, swim team and student government.

Susan participated in her first rodeo parade as a Clovis High School letter girl and has been a part of the tradition ever since.

She graduated from Clovis High in 1964 and attended both Fresno City and Fresno State College.

An active volunteer in her community while she and her husband Ben raised their children Heather and Chad on a ranch east of Clovis; she joined the Clovis Veterans District Board in 1984 and was a 4-H Club Leader, Clovis Hospital Guild member and school volunteer.

She is also a licensed real estate agent and worked actively until 1995.

It was in the eighties that Susan started require drastic changes to the neighborhoods near the interchange and helped to maintain the steady flow of traffic.

Dr. Nader was the second Chairman of the CSUF Department of Geomatics and was awarded Instructor of the Year in Surveying in 1991.

He was a committed educator who is remembered fondly by his students. He and his wife were often honored with wedding invitations, birth announcements, and helping her longtime friend Judy, whom she affectionately calls "Dude," with organizing the Clovis Rodeo Parade and helping at the grounds. updates on their achievements.

In 1996 Susan was elected Secretary of the Clovis Rodeo Board of Directors where she served for 26 years.

She spends her retirement now loving her five grand children Nial, McKenzie, Caden, Gunnar and Gage while spending time on the family's foothill ranch. Both Judy and Susan are following in the footsteps of some other Grand Marshals in their families.

“Fareed’s students became our extended family,” Rosemarie Bezerra-Nader said at the luncheon, “We enjoyed hosting star-gazing potlucks and graduation parties at our home for students, their families, and engineering faculty. We always looked forward to reconnecting with former students at more than 35 annual geomatics conferences and award banquets.”

“The Assembly recognizes the many accomplishments throughout Dr.Nader’s Life. He was not only known for his successful academic career, but for his love of his community and his family.,” Patterson added, “This dedication seeks to honor the life of an educator, a husband, a brother, and a friend who made a lasting impact on the lives of all who knew him. He was a well-respected member of the Clovis community and his legacy will live on with those who loved him, and in the Dr. Fareed W. Nader Memorial Interchange on Route 168.” of volunteers who are dedicated to continuing the rodeo tradition in our community. But, Association volunteers aren’t the only ones who come out to help on work days.

Judy's husband, Bill, was Grand Marshal in 2010 and Susan's father, Gene Ford, was honored in 1988.

Judy and Susan will each be presented with the Grand Marshal's traditional cowboy hat and belt buckle during a reception in their honor the last week of April.

Watch for them leading off the Clovis Rodeo Parade that begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 29.

The 109th Clovis Rodeo runs April 26-30. Ticket prices range from $20.00 to $35.00. Visit www.ClovisRodeo.com and get your tickets now.

“You know, one year I had Louis Sarantos and my daughter Bailee cleaning the concrete bathrooms.

Bailee was about 10 years old, and Louis owned the 500 club but it didn’t matter–they were there washing away together,” Dunbar said.

This year, among the dozen or so non-Association volunteers in attendance at the first work day were CAL FIRE Battalion Chief Matt Hill and new City Councilman, former Clovis Police Chief Matt Basgall.

Ron Dunbar is the current Clovis Rodeo

Association President, and there are 17 Rodeo Association Directors, each of whom are in charge of a team of Members dedicated to one or more jobs on the Clovis Rodeo Grounds.

Each person who volunteers consistently has carved out a place for themselves at the Clovis Rodeo, and are trusted with one of the many moving parts that keeps the show running every year.

Association Director Clancy Wardle told the story of his introduction to the Clovis rodeo: “Mark Thompson is the one that got me involved in the rodeo in 1994, and Joe Biloba is actually the one I got started with, working the back parking lot.”

Wardle added, “I love the sport of rodeo, I love the tradition of it all, and I love seeing all the guys, and you know, I don’t necessarily talk to them all the time but I see them at the work days and we’ve become good friends over the years.”

Overall, Wardle says that it’s really about making sure the tradition of rodeo in Clovis stays strong, and being a part of all the excitement.

Somebody who was raking leaves on a work day also helps to organize the Rodeo Parade. Somebody who helps to handle security during the show, also keeps an eye out for maintenance issues.

There are people from all vocations and professions, manual or technical or otherwise, lending a hand every year to the effort of putting on a good old-fashioned rodeo for the people of Clovis.

“A guy like Clancy might not see the whole rodeo,” Dunbar said, “or I don’t think he sees much of it. A lot of folks here… don’t really care about the rodeo.”

“Or, not that they don’t care but they don’t care to watch it,” he clarified, “they just want to be a part of selling soda pop, sandwiches, selling beer, selling merchandise, I mean they just want to be a part of it– and we’re so fortunate because if every volunteer wanted to see the rodeo we’d be in trouble.” Dunbar finished that statement laughing.

And it’s more than a volunteer job, it’s a group of folks who care about rodeo and about one another.

“We serve breakfast in the morning and a great lunch at the end of the day and I think a lot of these guys and gals just like getting together to work and have some fun,” Dunbar said, “and I don’t have any brothers but this is a big group of brothers and sisters I have out here.”

Clovis Rodeo work days will continue through March and April, right up until the show starts, and clean-up lasts for several days after the show is over.