Marines Will Honor Conrad, Haden

Last year actor Robert Conrad visited the Marines in Beirut and contributed $25,000 to the special scholarship fund set aside for the children of servicemen killed in Beirut.

That’s why he’ll receive the Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful) Award April 20 at the fourth annual Los Angeles Marine Scholarship Ball at the Airport Hilton.

The same evening Pat Haden, the former Los Angeles Rams quarterback turned lawyer, gets the John Wooden Sportsman Award. Remember, he led the Trojans to three Rose Bowls and two national championships.

Fred W. O’Green, chairman and chief executive officer of Litton Industries, is the general chairman. The chief military guest of honor will be the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. John K. Davis.

The ball is one of four such balls across the nation. Proceeds benefit students via scholarships granted to applicants whose yearly family income is less than $25,000. Last year $331,000 was awarded. With $300,000 received in late 1983 and 1984, the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation will grant scholarships to the six children of the Army men killed in Lebanon, to the 16 children of the Navy men killed and to the 93 sons and daughters of Marines who gave their lives. Each is assured an annuity education policy upon his 18th birthday.

“Hear Is a Dream Come True” is the theme for the Guild of HEAR Center luncheon Tuesday at the Huntington-Sheraton in Pasadena. Proceeds will be used to identify hearing problems at the earliest age.

Harriet Doerr, winner of the American Book Award for her first novel, “Stones for Ibarra,” speaks Wednesday at the annual dinner of the Friends of the San Marino Public Library, following in the footsteps of previous speakers--Will Durant, Ray Bradbury, Joseph Wambaugh and Jessamyn West.

She’ll be doing a lot of autographing, too.

Keeping Up: The Right Rev. Robert C. Rusack, Episcopal bishop of the Los Angeles diocese, turned the first spade of dirt at Campbell Hall School to break ground for the major classroom/gym/performing arts complex. . . .

The Los Angeles Children’s Museum has named 11 new trustees: Sue Antebi, Robert Apodaca, Penny Ashkenazy, Ruth Bloom, Jon Lappen, William G. Luddy, Peter Morton, Lani Sakoda, Bruce Silverman, Nancy Spelke and Jo Usher (that’s Harry’s wife). . . .

That most marvelous of all children’s stories, “The Velveteen Rabbit,” is the charming choice of the Nine O’clock Players of the Assistance League of Southern California for their musical, which continues on Saturdays and Sundays through next Sunday. Cast members include Michelle Engemann, Bobby Gay, Claire Dunkel and Susan Rudy. . . .

USC alumni of the ‘40s will get together March 30 at the Anaheim Marriott. They’ll dance to the Society for the Preservation of Big Bands. Mmes. Arthur Guy Jr. (Jackie Comerford) and Walter Pusch (Betty Jo LeSieur) are taking reservations. . . .

Rachel and Charles Druten in South Pasadena greeted 200 guests at the reception in honor of sculptor Lewis Cohen, among them artist Roger Medearis and his wife, Betty, and Tatjana Bryant and her mother, the Baroness Chiari, visiting from Germany. . . .

David Jones, Roddy McDowall and Michael Murtaugh, the newly selected chairmen of the Music Center Civic Committee, hosted a friendly gathering in The Founders of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Robert Fryer, artistic director of Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre, and cast members of “Noises Off” mingled. . . .

For their commitment to the criminal justice system and the reform of marijuana laws in California, Mr. and Mrs. Howard L. Weitzman were feted by the California National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). . . .

And high-jumping: “Puttin’ on the Ritz” is exactly what the National Charity League Los Angeles Founder’s Chapter and the Junior Charity League had in mind for the Holly Mitchell Presents luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire. It was pretty ritzy, according to Mrs. Dwight Lindholm, chairman, and for good causes--the league’s Teacher Center at 5000 Hollywood Blvd. and a reading and writing center on the USC campus. . . .

The South Bay Hospital Auxiliary sponsored its Shamrock Ball Saturday at the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo to support the medical library. Mr. and Mrs. Foster A. Day are honorary chairmen.