David & Toni Weitzel

Dave was born in Lakewood, Ohio in 1935, the only child of parents also born in Ohio and who were also only children.  His father was a banker for Central National Bank, an officer in charge of check distributions.  His mother worked for Western Union until Dave was born and then stayed home to take care of Dave.  Dave went to High School in Bay Village, a suburb of Cleveland (notable as the place where the Sam Shepard murder occurred). Dave played football and baseball in high school and was a pretty good pitcher until he hurt his arm during his junior year (granddaughter Leandra is following in his footsteps, but I’m getting ahead of myself).  After graduation, he went to Ohio University where he earned a degree in Economics and Commerce and where he was also involved in ROTC.  He came out of the ROTC program as a Lieutenant in the Army and went to Fort Richardson, Alaska after five months at the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland as a bank examiner.
It was in Alaska that he met Toni and was smitten.  He and a buddy had encouraged a friend named Ed to ask a girl he’d met at work out for a night at the country club in Anchorage (seems Ed was shy and needed encouragement).  Dave had not met Toni at that point, but it seems that he ended up monopolizing her on the dance floor and so began their courtship. Toni was born at Fort Clayton in the Panama Canal Zone (her father was in the army and as a typical army brat, she saw a lot of the world growing up).  Toni was the oldest of 5 children with two younger sisters and two younger brothers.  Her mother stayed at home – home including such faraway places as Costa Rica, Argentina, Puerto Rico, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, New York, and Washington State where she went to high school in Kennewick.  She started junior college there before her dad was transferred to Alaska to Fort Richardson.  Her father was originally from Boston and was raised in Saint Louis, Missouri and her mom was born in New York, also to a military family. Back in Alaska, Dave and Toni dated about 8 or 9 months before marrying in 1959 (Dave was getting out of the army and Toni’s dad still had a year of service left in Alaska so Dave decided they should get married before Toni and family moved somewhere else and he would have to track her down again).  So they had a military wedding and were married in the chapel at Fort Richardson with the reception in the Officers Club.  They then departed on the Al-Can Highway for their honeymoon, arriving at Fort Lewis where Dave mustered out.  They then drove to Ohio to meet Dave’s parents and Dave resumed his employment with the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland in 1960.  Their only daughter Tammi was born in 1962.  Dave went on to get his master’s from Case Western Reserve in 1965 in Management before doing Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers, where he did his thesis on a cashless society.  While in Ohio, Toni worked for G.E. in the accounting department and also as an interpreter (she had learned French, Spanish, German, and Italian during her travels as an army brat).  After leaving G.E., she worked for G.M. until Tammy was born at which time she stayed home till Tammi was in high school.  It was then she went to work for Polskyes Department store as a buyer, a job she really loved. Dave remained with the Federal Bank until 1974 doing stints as a bank examiner, an operations officer, finance officer and Assistant General Auditor before going into commercial banking as the Audit Director at National City Bank in Cleveland where he stayed until 1986.  In 1987 Dave, Toni, and Tammi moved to Camarillo, California when Dave took a position with Ventura County National Bank in Oxnard as Audit Director.  The bank was sold in ’94 and he went to First Los Angeles Bank in Century City.  When shortly afterward, First Los Angeles Bank was also sold, he left and came to Mid State Bank as Audit Director in 1994.  They leased property in Pismo for 6 months before buying and finally settling at Blacklake in August of 1995.  Dave finally retired from banking in 2001.  Toni started her business before leaving Ohio but it really developed when they moved to Camarillo and it continues now as The Best of Everything here in Nipomo.  Dave was active in banking organizations while Toni became involved in Civic activities such as the Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club (where she was a charter member and chapter president in Camarillo), and Ventura County Professional Women.  Since moving to Blacklake and retiring, Dave has served on the Fairways board, has been Chief Financial Officer for Blacklake Village and is currently the President of the Village Council.  Toni is past president of the Chamber of Commerce in Nipomo and is active in chartering a Nipomo Lions club. Among their interests and activities are RV’ing and camping and in past years, that included boating and some water skiing.  They have also played tennis, bowled, and played bridge.  Dave also built his own TV, stereo, and other Heathkit items along the way.  His father was an avid golfer and tried to get Dave interested as a teenager, but Dave didn’t seriously take up golf until retiring.  He also did some fishing in the Great Lakes, Alaska, and here in California and some bird hunting in earlier days until Toni complained about him leaving the birds on her teacart. They have always had pets, including dogs and ferrets and currently are parents to two amazing cats, Gainesborough and Gatsby.   And their pride and joy are their two granddaughters, Victoria (13) and Leandra (9 going on 18).  The whole family (Dave, Toni, daughter Tammy and husband Peter, along with Victoria and Leandra) recently returned from a trip to celebrate Victoria’s birthday in Hawaii. I don’t believe Dave and Toni have ever met a stranger – they are both very social and outgoing.