New officers take their oaths

The clock was turned back to the 1950s for the Annual Volunteer Awards Luncheon at Verdugo Hills Hospital. “Rock Around the Clock” was the luncheon theme in the Council Room-turned-diner on June 11. And, indeed, more than 200 volunteers work around the clock to help the hospital run smoothly. Honored with a 30-year pin for service was Audrey Parmiter. Cindy Jenne was honored for her 35 years of service. Also honored for a total of 156 years of volunteerism were Dixie Austin, Jackie Genofile, Dottie Longo and Pat Rademacher. Each “Charter Volunteer” racked up 39 years of continual service.

Director of Volunteer Services Judy Hurst decked out in 1950s garb — poodle skirt and scarf — ran the show. She decorated the Verdugo Hills Hospital “diner,” organized the volunteers and their awards and even planned the menu of fried chicken, French fries, mac and cheese, sliders, soda pop, root beer floats and bubble gum. Hurst also had doo-wop music blasting to the tune of Ricky Nelson’s “Hello Mary Lou,” Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” and Little Richard’s “Tutti Fruitti.

Hurst relinquished the mic to hospital President and Chief Executive Len LaBella, who welcomed some 300 supporters, ready to rumble in their ’50s duds. A thank you to the volunteers was given by a longtime doctor associated with the hospital — Eiming Djang. He quipped that when he began at the hospital more than 30 years ago, “we didn’t even have electric beds.”

College sweethearts Chris and Charles Mason couldn’t help sharing a prop ice cream soda to honor their 42 years of marriage — many of those years dedicated to Verdugo Hills Hospital. Chris is a past president of the Women’s Council, volunteers every Tuesday and has accumulated more than 1,000 hours of service. Charles is president of the hospital board of directors. In fact, he dubbed 2011 as “Year of the Volunteer.”

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Members of Glendale Beautiful trotted out their most precious posies to decorate the Joe Bridges Clubhouse at Glenoaks Park. June 7 marked the group’s Annual Luncheon and Installation of Officers.

Soon-to-be Executive Vice President Lynda Burns started off the afternoon’s events with an inspirational message. It was followed by Park Services Manager William McKinley’s Pledge of Allegiance. Bob Yousefian, a former Glendale city councilman, was on hand for lunch and to renew his membership to Glendale Beautiful, having been on the board as a former vice president.

The program’s speaker was Glendale Assistant Public Information Officer Vicki Gardner. She spoke on “The Secret Life of Leslie Brand” — often considered the late father of Glendale. Brand and his family lived in El Miradero, now the home of Brand Library. Depicting Brand’s life is a collection of more than 200 digitized images of historic photographs and documents assembled from various items in the Glendale Public Library’s Special Collections room and Brand’s library files.

Filling out the rest of the program was the historian’s report delivered by Myra Kendall and the announcement of opportunity gift winners by Burns. A favorite was a $20 gift to the city’s upcoming “Summer Night on the Plaza” donated by Joyce Ayvazi.

But it was the installation of the board of officers for 2011-12 that was the highlight of the event. Yours truly was the installing officer. As each held a pot of late-spring flowers, the following officers were installed: President Gladys Wymore, taking over from Mary Rose Grim; Vice President Burns; Secretary and Treasurer Kendall; Auditor Jim Reichgelt; Historian Doris Twedt and Parliamentarian Karin Jonke.