Former Bakersfield College professor and current congressman Bill Thomas accepted the honors of having the newly remodeled Bakersfield College Planetarium dedicated in his honor Nov. 2. Over 200 members of his family, friends and local dignitaries joined the festivities.
The dedication included the presence of his daughter Amelia Minaberrigarai, son-in-law Dominique and his grandchildren Sebastian and William.
Thomas, who is a very strong force on the floor of Congress and is normally a very outspoken man at any event, blended in with the crowd as he sat quietly in an outdoor canopy set up for the event. His speech, one of his shortest in decades, ended by him accepting the dedication of William M. Thomas Planetarium saying, “I don’t deserve the honor, but I’m certainly not going to turn it down.”
While Thomas ended the event on a low-key note, BC President William Andrews started the dedication with a lot of excitement talking about how the 43-year-old planetarium was long overdue for remodeling and an upgrade of equipment. Andrews said, “It is a different world,” referring to how the new technology will open up new worlds to those who will use it.
Andrews went on to refresh everyone’s memory of how Thomas was once Professor Thomas and how he did not forget Bakersfield College. Thomas went to Washington, D.C., in 1979 keeping his district at heart by securing government grants. Thomas also secured $1 million for the remodeling of the planetarium thru bill HR3061.
The entire remodeling and equipment upgrade was nearly $4 million, making it one of the best college planetariums.
BC astronomy Professor Nick Strobel said, “We have bragging rights” during his introduction of Thomas. Other introduction speakers included Kern County Board of Trustees President Dennis Beebe and Kern Community College District Chancellor Sandra Serrano.
Serrano, while talking about Thomas’ accomplishments as a professor and congressman, said, “He has remained solidly rooted in his community” and was quick to point out how he was a very deep concern and interest in the family unit. Thomas was born in Wallace, Idaho, and then moved to Southern California with his parents where he got his associate’s degree in Santa Ana College. He transferred to San Francisco State University to get his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science. Once, as he drove to Bakersfield, he noticed that the city of then-75,000 had a community college with a stadium of 21,000. As Thomas put it, “There is something right about this place.”