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Above: My great grandfather, Victor Kerrebrock (left), and grandfather, Don Kerrebrock (right).

My great-grandfather on my mother’s side, Victor Kerrebrock, immigrated here from Belgium when he was 4 years old in 1899. After holding many different jobs in his late teens and early twenties – air man at a car shop, dairy worker, logger, rail yard worker – he finally settled in as a gardener at the Los Angeles home of an early and successful vineyard and winery owner. He eventually worked his way into Beverly Hills and took care of 10-12 estates at a time, mostly by himself. He worked for a few well-known figures over the years including Spencer Tracy, whose son even came to one of my grandfather’s birthday parties. Victor stayed busy even through the depression and worked six days a week until he was 85 years old. He died 3 years later in 1982, leaving behind two sons, one of which is my mother’s father, Don Kerrebrock.

Don grew up helping his dad on Saturdays and through the summer’s. He didn’t like it much though because while his friends were off playing, he was working. He remembers vividly his dad dropping him off at big estate with the manual push mower, remember there was no power equipment in those days, and him setting his Pepsi down under a tree on the far end. Every time he would make a pass there and back with his mower, he would stop and take a sip of that Pepsi. When WWII came around, Don and his buddies figured they would be drafted anyways so they decided to go down and sign up for the National Guard. They happened to be closed that day but the Marines were open so they said “What the heck?” Don fought for 2 years in Okinawa and upon his return, used the GI Bill to attend Cal Poly Pomona and received a degree in Horticulture. After working for a few different landscape contractors, Don was doing a job at UCLA and fell smitten with the campus. He decided to inquire about a job there and was hired on the spot. Don spent the next 33 years as a member of the groundscrew at UCLA and retired as the Senior Superintendent of the entire grounds after the 1984 Olympics.

My father, Tom Scarlett, grew up working in his families rental yards in Hollywood, Acme Rents and Jack Rents. He attended Loyola Marymount University on a baseball scholarship and was a four year starting pitcher. He is still in the record books for career wins and career ERA. After college, he figured he would join the family rental business, but his mother had other plans for him and wanted him to carve his own way. He ended up in Ventura working for a local construction company. One of his first jobs was building the parking garage at the end of C Street where he can remember hauling 90lb bags of cement, one on each shoulder, up the stairs. With construction work being so up and down, Tom decided he needed to make some extra money and placed an ad for yard cleanups in the Penny Saver. It was then, in the late 70’s that Scarlett Landscape was born. A part-time venture with full-time hours, my father continued to work construction Tues-Fri for the next 25 years. Scarlett’s Landscape became his sole occupation when he retired from the laborer’s union in 1999.

For me, my childhood was much like my grandfather Don’s. I would help my dad work on Saturdays and through the summer as far back as I can remember. He used to pay me $5 just to go with him, even if I couldn’t help much. As the years progressed, I was actually able to help out a lot to the point where he could send me on my own to do small jobs, rototilling someone’s garden or raking up someone’s leaves. This worked out great as I became older because I always had spending money. I was able to follow in my grandfather Don’s footsteps once again as I attended UCLA for my undergrad studies. I continued to work summers and weekends all the way through my years at UCLA. After college I though I would try and put my degree to use in the real world. I worked for awhile as a groundwater sampling tech for an environmental company and later as a manager at wholesale mortgage company. After my company went bust, I decided to move back to Ventura to be close to my family and work for my father for the time being as I sorted things out. After about six months working for my father, I realized that this was where I was meant to be. We formed a partnership and reorganized the company into Scarlett’s Landscape, Inc in June of 2008. The last year and half have been challenging and exciting.  I can’t say enough how proud I am to be a 4th generation landscaper and how much I wish my great-grandfather could see me now.

Below: My dad, Tom Scarlett (left), and I (Jeremy Scarlett, right).