The coronavirus pandemic, protests over the police killing of George Floyd, the Blue Ridge fire, lockdowns, and the closing of schools rocked the Chino Valley and the rest of the nation during this extraordinary year.
The devastation was matched by the goodness of residents who helped school children cope with social isolation, collected food and items for those hit hardest by the pandemic, and rallied around frontline healthcare workers.
Barely had the year begun when the coronavirus pandemic originating in Wuhan, China spread across the globe resulting in 334,000 deaths in the United States by the end of the year.
There were 11 deaths in Chino Hills and 70 in Chino, with 26 of those at the California Institution for Men in Chino and one at the California Institution for Women.
August 25, 1929 - December 6, 2020
Jim Nyenhuis took his final ride through heavens gates on December 6, 2020 at the age of 91. He was born the youngest of 15 children to Inze and Immigje Nijenhuis on August 25, 1929 in Heerenveen, Holland. He grew up riding horses and working on the family dairy farm. He immigrated to southern California in 1947 and milked cows by hand for work. He married the love of his life, Annie Hettinga on September 16, 1953. They soon started their own dairy business in Lynwood California and in 1957 moved their dairy operation to Chino California, retiring in 2017. Dairying was something he was born to do and it became his life long passion.