Friends and family paid respects at funerals in Bakersfield August 19 and 20 to two Kern County men killed in a plane crash.
Long-time sheriff’s reservist Ray Mallory was buried at Hillcrest Cemetery as pilots from the sheriff’s aerosquadron flew overhead in tribute.
Mallory had been a member of the Kern County Search and Rescue Team since 1955. He was born in Long Beach in 1938 and was a longtime Kern County resident.
Mallory was a legend in the field of Search and Rescue within Kern County. He has not only been captain of the unit for over 20 years, but he has been responsible for training most of the Search and Rescue members and units involved in rescues on the river. Ray was also a reserve deputy for over 20-years and has been a part-time deputy with Kernville substation for the last several years.
He was survived by his wife, Gloria, of Bakersfield; daughter Frances of Onyx; his mother, Frances Mallory of Kernville; and a brother, Bud Mallory of Onyx.
More than 600 people, including many local law enforcement officers, attended funeral services for Lansing L. “Lanny” Warren, a member of the Kern County Sheriff’s Aerosquadron, at Hillcrest Mortuary Chapel. Sheriff Larry Kleier and Harold Musick officiated. The Kern County Sheriff’s Honor Guard served as casketbearers.
Warren was born in Bakersfield and was a member of the Kern County Sheriff’s Reserve; Search and Rescue, the Elks in Wofford Heights and the Moose Lodge in Lake Isabella. He was all that was needed. Lanny was the ultimate search and rescue member. He know the Kernville area like the back of his hand. He had worked areas where the victims would be holed up. He went the extra distance to do the job right.
He was survived by his wife, Barbara, of Wofford Heights; daughter Shawn of Bakersfield; his mother, Edna Warren of Bakersfield; and a stepson, Matthew Luke of Wofford Heights.
Mallory and Warren were helping search for a lost pilot when their single-engine plane crashed in hilly terrain north of Kernville in Tulare County.
A third man, John VanRenssealaer of Wofford Heights, suffered head and chest injuries in the crash.