Courtesy of the Coate family archives Guest columnist Frank Coate is pictured here, right with his father, John Coate. [Note: Today’s column was written by Frank Coate, Bill Coate’s nephew and author of “The Coate Closet.”] • • • He crouched in the brush and remained as still as humanly possible on that hot summer day. Although his heart was racing, somehow he managed to control his breathing. He had never fired a gun or pulled the trigger on a crossbow, let alone throw a spe

As we at The Madera Tribune prepare for our final Special Section of the year, a magazine called “2025 Year in Review,” it made me review my own personal year and what happened during this year that I want to remember. It’s been a quick year. It seems like it was only about four months long, but here we are at almost the end of 2025.  This year I lost a very dear member of my family, the wife of one of my cousins. Glenda died suddenly just a couple of weeks before our family

For The Madera Tribune Madera’s Christian Johnson stands with his grandfather, Dave Brown, after setting a World Record for running an ultra marathon in seven continents in seven days. Christian Johnson thought of an idea a year ago, and two weeks ago, he finally accomplished it — run a 50 K (ultra marathon) in seven continents in seven days.  In the process, Johnson set a pair of World Records. He is the fastest male to run an ultra marathon on all seven continents and the f

For The Madera Tribune George Washington Mordecai. Every year in November my mind is filled with memories of the Mordecai family. This is when the descendants of George Washington Mordecai gather at Refuge, the ranch he founded in 1868. It is impossible to think about them without remembering that day almost 40 years ago when I led my sixth grade class down the winding dirt road leading from the highway to the Mordecai Ranch to visit the grave of Mr. Mordecai. There were abou

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, a special day set aside for recognizing and giving thanks for all the many good things in our lives. It is by far my favorite holiday of the year. I have many fond memories of Thanksgiving Days during my life. As I was growing up in central Florida, my family always spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt Sybil and Uncle John’s house in Dade City, which was about 40 miles from where we lived. Aunt Sybil was one of my grandmother’s four sisters. Her husband

For The Madera Tribune Madera High School BSU students display a Ruby Bridges-themed banner as they lead Madison Elementary students, who follow with flags, during the 2024 Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. Hundreds of Madera Unified students of all grade levels and staff participated in the Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day on Friday.  Now in its fourth year, the event honors civil rights icon Ruby Bridges, who in 1960 became one of the first Black children to integrate an all-

Our national government and corporate titans rob the poor to feed the rich. We vote for politicians who fail us. Working-class Americans feel left behind.  We struggle to recover from a worldwide pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, shuttered small businesses, and divided communities with anger and distrust. Small men threaten war. Gun violence headlines our newspapers. Racism infects hearts and minds. Snake oil salesmen take advantage of religious believe

The holiday seasons are upon us now. We just passed the fun Halloween time, and then November brings the season of harvest and thankfulness. Thanksgiving reminds us to show our gratitude for all our blessings, which are many. December brings the countdown to the celebration of the day we know as Christmas. According to an old poem written in the late 1800s by Christina Rossetti, “Love came down at Christmas.” It was Jesus who taught us to love each other. In fact, he commande