Woman’s Club re-elects Ford president

Peggy Ford hosted a dinner May 11 to celebrate her birthday and the installation of officers of the Laguna Beach Woman’s Club.

Ford headed the slate, her third term as club president. Most of the 2005-06 board members re-upped.

“You have been an outstanding president, and we are so glad you are willing to continue for another year,” re-installed First Vice President Lee Winocur Field said.

The board presented Ford with a $313 check to be donated to the clubhouse refurbishing fund in her name. The accompanying card read: “For someone very special.”

“That’s me,” Ford said.

Audrey Prosser offered to match all donations at the installation dinner, up to $1,000. She’ll have to come up with a tad over $500.

The exterior of the clubhouse at 286 St. Ann’s Drive was recently painted outside, but the board wants to do some needed maintenance and to gussie up the interior with new paint and a new floor. The clubhouse is available for rent to charitable, non-profit organizations at a reduced rate.

Ford said she would like to see the club become more of a meeting place for members ? a place they could just drop in and maybe get a cup of tea or coffee, a glass of wine and bit of conversation, if desired.

This coming year, Winocur Field will embark on a new club program to expand the membership: “Girls to Grandmas” focus groups will be formed.

Also installed for 2006-07: Nadine Nordstrom, second vice president, membership; Chris Loidolt, treasurer; Anne Wood and Bette Anderson, splitting the job of recording secretary; Karin Godfrey, corresponding secretary; chairs Gayle Waite, Newsletter/PR; Marsha Bode, yearbook; Sara Riahi, international; and Veronica Nice, past president. Members at large are Sande St. John, chair of the Women’s Resource Center; Anne Johnson, rental liaison; and new member Renae Hinchey, general manager of the Laguna Beach County Water District.

Volunteers are sought for parliamentarian and Dean of Chairs. The Hospitality Chair is also open, but the club by-laws don’t require one.

About 35 members attended the dinner and sang “Happy Birthday” to Ford and Fran Foster, whose birthday was May 10.

Dinner was catered by Sue Chick, former owner of “a la carte.” She got a standing ovation when she was coaxed out to the kitchen. Hors d’oeuvres included baked brie and to-die-for shrimp marinated in tequila. The entrée was chicken and pasta.

Entertainment was provided by Bev Hine; her daughter, Lisa Morrice; and pianist Jeffrey Briar, whose repertoire includes songs ranging from Gershwin to Joplin and some real oldies, such as “Deep Purple,” when it was a song, not the name of a rock group.

Briar performs concerts at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Laguna Beach on Cypress Drive and also conducts yoga classes on the beach. He and Morrice have been performing together for years.

“We do concerts on the great Jewish composers of Broadway in synagogues, retirement communities, clubs and civic organizations in South County,” Morrice said.

The club membership reads like a “Who’s Who” in Laguna Beach, including six women who have served as mayors: Kathleen Blackburn, Ann Christoph, Toni Iseman, Cheryl Kinsman, Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider and Phyllis Sweeney. The roster also includes City Clerk Martha Anderson, City Treasurer Laura Parisi, Police Capt. Danell Adams, Art-a-Fair founder Iris Adam, Planning Commission Chair Linda Dietrich, Councilwoman Jane Egly and school board member Betsy Jenkins.

Also: Arts Commissioner Pat Kollenda, Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn. and Laguna Beach Friends of the Library President Martha Lydick; Festival of Arts President Anita Mangels; “Lagunatics” founder Bree Burgess Rosen; Laguna Canyon Foundation President Carolyn Wood; Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. President Pauline Walpin; and clinical psychologist, therapist and author Marion Jacobs, exulting in a super Kirkus review of her recently published book, “Take Charge Living.”

The club motto is “To Our Club ? Loyalty; To Our Community ? Wise Service.”

Annual dues are $35 when the new club year begins in June.

For more information about the club and its programs, e-mail woman’sclub [email protected] or call (949) 497-1200 and leave a message. For rental information, visit www.laguna beach.com/womansclub or call either the clubhouse telephone number or Nicola Peterson at (949) 246-4915.

MOM CELEBRATES

Chris Loidolt may not have been celebrating a birthday at the installation dinner, but she was celebrating.

Her youngest son, Bryce, has been awarded a National Security Education Program David Boren Scholarship. The 21-year-old will spend his junior college year at The American University in Cairo. He is fluent in Arabic, which is the foreign language he chose for his international studies major.

He will go to Washington, D.C., for the presentation of the $20,000 scholarship and orientation May 30 and 31. Mom will be there to see it.

“As part of the scholarship program, Bryce will work for the U.S. Government for a year after graduation, which he wanted to do anyway,” Loidolt said. “What’s neat is that he applies [for a job] with credit for service.”

She credits community service as a Laguna Beach High School student and as a member of the Methodist Church Youth Group and a year of AP classes at Andover for instilling an interest in international relations in her son.

TURNER MEMORIAL SERVICE

A memorial service for Kathryn “K” Turner will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Laguna Presbyterian Church.

Turner, who faced a debilitating disease and its inevitable consequences with the same grace she faced all of life’s challenges, died April 22, succumbing to ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). She was 70.

Education was the keystone of her life, for herself and for others. She served on the Laguna Board of Education for 12 years.

Laguna Beach Unified School District Superintendent Theresa Daem said Turner’s memory will be cherished for her commitment to children, her fervor for providing them with quality education and a willingness to keep an open mind.