Who is Trevor Jarrett?

Trevor Jarrett after performing the National
Anthem, Aug. 25 at Visalia Rawhide.
Photo by Esther Avila

Last night while at a Visalia Rawhide baseball game, a former Porterville kid (who is no longer a kid) sang the National Anthem.

Sweet, little Trevor Jarrett, who I always remember as a little kid dressing up in cute red-white-and-blue outfits and singing and dancing to everything from Yankee Doodle to God Bless America. He was one of those kids I simply just loved. Back then he performed with his brother, Tyler. (Their mom, Linda, is pretty special too - love that lady.)

I remember writing about Trevor when he performed at our annual 'City of Hope Spectacular,' when he auditioned, and made it, to Star Search in Hollywood. I also wrote about his performances at the Porterville Fair, the Tulare County Fair and I was in the audience when he won an Hosscar Award for best male juvenile in 'The Music Man' at The Porterville Barn Theatre. The Hosscars are Porterville's version of the Oscars.

But as I went through some of my newspaper story archives - I found so much more - Trevor performing at the Fourth of July Firework festivities and other local street/community festivals. It was no surprise that he won first place, child division, during Porterville's version of Star Search. Unfortunately, a server crash at work in 2004 lost most of our archives - stories written prior to 2004.

One story still touches me. I wrote about his fundraising for Hurricane Katrina victims. I had the privilege of following him, and his brother, Tyler, to present buckets of money they had collected to two families displaced by the hurricane who had relocated to Porterville. I still remember watching the families cry as they accepted it and hugging the young boys. It was a very touching journalism moment for me and one I will never forget.

Trevor Jarrett performing at the 2005 Tulare County Fair
Porterville Recorder File Photo

That year - 2005 - Trevor was all set for an 'Elvis' act at the Tulare County Fair. He had the white jumpsuit and the black wig. But after the Katrina Hurricane, his heart told him he needed to do something else.

"When I heard about the hurricane, I knew I wanted to do something different. I wanted to [sing] songs that meant something to the people affected by the hurricane," Trevor had said during my interview with him in 2005. "We set a goal of raising $1,000 and I don't know if we'll get it but we're just going to keep going and collect as much as we can."

Trevor dressed in his blue-sequined vest, white shirt and black tuxedo slacks and opened with an amazing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - the dollar bills started flowing into collection buckets.

Just remembering all this makes me love that kid more. He was and remains to be, pretty amazing.

It wasn't his first benefit either - following the 2001 terrorist attacks, Trevor's Frank Sinatra 'New York New York' performance raised $5,000 which he presented to then New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

I could go on and on about Trevor Jarrett - he's just one of those kids you meet and don't forget and one I will always have a hug for - no matter how old he gets.

For fun - here are some links to just a handful of stories I've written about, or mention, him.

http://www.recorderonline.com/news/hope-10878-city-shaffer.html

http://www.recorderonline.com/news/audience-18853-city-hope.html

http://www.recorderonline.com/news/trevor-26847-hurricane-wanted.html

http://www.recorderonline.com/news/fire-20389-porterville-firefighters.html

http://www.recorderonline.com/news/best-28691-music-male.html

http://www.recorderonline.com/news/festival-12822-street-porterville.html