Lydia Truhitte

Lydia was born on July 2, 1914, in Fresno, California, the second of five children born to German immigrants from Russia, August and Katherine Aschenbrener. She was taken to be with the Lord on Thursday, May 31, 2012.

Lydia grew up in Fresno and Mendota, working in the fields with her sisters during the depression. She married Frank Furlong in 1933, and worked at the National Dollar store as a sales clerk, using her week's wages to pay for one hour of flying lessons for her husband. In 1940, they purchased 85 acres of land at the southwest corner of Brawley and Shaw, where they built an airport, Furlong Field. In 1941, one week after Pearl Harbor was bombed, they were blessed with one daughter Joyce. Because of the war, they moved their planes to Texas. Later they moved to Santa Monica where Lydia became one of the famous "Rosie the Riveters" at Douglas Aircraft.

When the war was over, they moved back to Furlong Field and began teaching veterans to fly on funds provided by the GI Bill for Veterans. This required more airplanes, and thanks to pioneering female pilots such as Amelia Earhart, Lydia too learned to fly and often joined Frank on trips to the east coast and Midwest to fly new planes cross-country to Furlong Field. In order to keep her private piloting license active, she would take Joyce up in her favorite airplane, a Stinson, before taking her to school in the mornings. Lydia ran the flight office, gassed airplanes, answered phones, waited on customers, and managed to cook her special hamburgers in their airport restaurant while always maintaining her wonderful smile. On one occasion, she even served Dick Haymes and Rita Hayworth when they stopped by the airport.

In the early 1950's when the GI bill was eliminated, Lydia got a job as a bookkeeper for Arden Farms. In 1957, her husband Frank died very unexpectedly, leaving her with a 15 year-old daughter and an airport that was no longer self-supporting. In 1958, she sold the airport property and married her second husband, Ermal Truhitte, who also worked for Arden Farms. Lydia worked as a bookkeeper for their business when Ermal began delivering milk products for Knudsens. They had a very successful business and a very happy marriage for over 48 years, until Ermal died from cancer in 2006. Lydia moved in with her daughter and son-in-law for three years, until she was unable to be cared for at home.

Lydia was a wonderful loving wife to two husbands, an amazing mother, and was affectionately referred to as Gram by her grandchildren, neighbors and family friends. She was a positive person who had a smile on her face that could light up a room, but would also be there to hold your hand and provide a shoulder if you needed a good cry.

Lydia was preceded in death by her husbands, Frank Furlong and Ermal Truhitte; her sister, Bertha Heikotter; her brother, Ervin Aschenbrener; and her son-in-law, Frank Ayerza.

Lydia is survived by her sisters, Alma Prather and Cathleen Spomer; her daughter, Joyce Ayerza; grandchildren, Nancy Brown and her husband Terry, Patty Ayerza and her husband Bill Sulser, Susan Pifferini and her husband Larry, Philip Ayerza and Gabriel Ayerza; six great-grandchildren, Renee Pierce and her husband John Paul, Craig Brown, Jennifer Garcia and her husband Brian, Caela McKeever and her husband Sean, Ryan Beene, and Andrew Pifferini; five great-great grandchildren.