By PETER DAY
Senior Reporter
With three kids aged 18, 16 and 10 and generations of roots in Lucerne Valley, Carmen Fox is invested in the town's past, present and future.
Last November, Fox, 41, was the sole candidate to file papers for the school board seat vacated by John Buchanan, who chose to not run for reelection. She was named to the seat following the election.
Fox first thought of running for a school board seat two years ago. But it wasn’t until last fall when she received a call from a friend reminding her of the closing date for filing that she actually took the plunge.
Lucerne Valley has been in Fox's blood.
“Dad was born and raised in Lucerne,” she said of her father, Byron Reed. “My dad’s a railroader. We moved with the railroad.”
Her father’s work took the family to Montana, and then Nebraska. Finally the Reeds landed in Alliance, Nebraska, where Fox graduated from high school in 1992.
But immediately after high school, she moved back to Lucerne Valley. “I’ve been here ever since.”
Three years later, in 1995, she married and then went to work for local restaurateur Shirley Altheide, current owner of Cafe 247, at Altheide’s Pop’s and Pam’s Restaurant located in front of the former Country Styles (currently Cadillac Antiques).
There, she discovered a fondness for the town and its residents.
“I love the people," she said. "Everyone’s got their own ways of doing things.”
Since 2011, Fox has worked as general manager of Center Water Co., which serves 50 residents and businesses in the heart of town. She is also the secretary for Jubilee Water and recently began acting as the clerk for the Lucerne Valley-Johnson Valley Municipal Advisory Council. Previously she worked in the children’s department at the Lucerne Valley Public Library.
Fox loves gardening, art and animals. She recently lost her 17-year-old German Shepard mix Daisy Mae. “She was an awesome dog.”
A 30-year-old appaloosa mare also recently was lost.
“She was my best friend. I’m still waiting for my heart to heal for that one.”
Today, her menagerie now consists of a pot belly pig, a veritable flock of free-range chickens, an irrepressibly friendly labrador retriever named Jane and a spunky, assertive beagle mix.
In 2008, Fox and her husband Mike Johnson moved their children to the Apple Valley Unified, where the couple thought one particular child would get scholastic help. But eventually the drive and carpooling seemed to much, and last year they moved their kids back to Lucerne Valley Unified. And they’re glad they did.
“Since we’re back we love the things going back in school.”
Fox says her 10-year-old is especially pleased with what she calls “Elective Wednesday,” where students get to follow their passions in art, gardening or other non-core classes.
“The kids are happy.”
With three school board meetings under her belt, newcomer Fox is getting a veritable course in civics with a front-row seat.
“It’s been an education for me.”
She’s been impressed with the knowledge and ability of Superintendent Suzette Davis.
“A lot of it has to do with Suzette. It seems she gets on whatever needs to be handled.”
Fox wishes more parents would come to the school board meetings.
“I just want to see positive things at our school district, where parents to to come back and not leave.”