TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

He was known for his honesty and intelligence, his loyalty to family and friends, and his ability to bring disparate groups together to reach a common goal.

Darrel Hildebrand, one of Kern County's most highly respected planning officials, died early Thursday morning of complications from H1N1 swine flu.

He was just 56.

Hildebrand, a Kern County native and the longtime assistant director of Kern Council of Governments, started experiencing flu symptoms about three weeks ago, friends said. When his lung capacity fell dramatically, he drove himself to the hospital where he spent 18 days in intensive care.

His two grown children, Darren, 26, and Kelly, 24, were there with him to the end, said Darrel's brother Larry Hildebrand, from his home in Arizona.

Hildebrand is the 11th Kern County resident to die of complications associated with the flu pandemic, though the designation remains unofficial until the Kern County Department of Public Health can confirm the H1N1 connection.

Born in Taft, Hildebrand moved to Bakersfield halfway through his sixth-grade year. He graduated from South High in 1971 and went on to earn a degree in political science as part of Cal State Bakersfield's second graduating class, his brother said.

He later earned a master's degree in business administration at CSUB.

Though his marriage would later end in divorce, Darrel cherished his two children and loved to plan camping and fishing trips around them and their golden retriever, Pete.

"Darrel was extremely honest and hard-working, a straight-shooter," Larry Hildebrand said. "He was very bright."

And he carried an unbending loyalty to those he loved.

"He was always an adult," remembered lifelong friend Chuck Seaton, a Bakersfield guitarist and songwriter and a member of Big House and other bands.

"Both our moms were divorced. He was like my big brother," Seaton said. "He was always a straight-A student. Real smart. Real disciplined."

Seaton and Hildebrand were in their first rock band together way back in junior high. They called the group Blue Max.

"He always supported me as a musician," Seaton said. "He would tell me he could live out his musical fantasies through me."

Kern Council of Governments Director Ron Brummett said the atmosphere at the Bakersfield office on Thursday was gloomy as longtime colleagues and friends of Hildebrand reeled from the news of his death.

Hildebrand had led the agency's Kern Regional Blueprint, a gargantuan, three-year effort to create a vision of what Kern County and the rest of the valley will look like in 2050.

"He had to be open to the ideas of others," Brummett said. "He understood the public was who we work for."

Hildebrand's down-to-earth practicality was the perfect counterweight to Brummett's vision, the director explained.

"He was my balance. I called him my backstop," Brummett added.

"People may have disagreed with Darrel, but they always respected him."