Fullerton : Woman Unexpectedly Finds She’s in Picture

Robert L. Bean managed to keep the secret from his wife. So did their nine children.

So when Alma Hall Bean was lured to attend a Chamber of Commerce dinner this week under the pretense that her husband was to accept an award, she didn’t expect to receive an award herself.

Bean, a legal secretary in her husband’s law office, was named Fullerton’s Woman of the Year.

“The day before, my husband asked me to go to this award ceremony and bring the camera along to take his picture. So I’m just sitting there waiting to take his picture,” Bean said Thursday.

The surprise worked, her husband said. “She was happy. She just started to come down from floating around,” he said.

Robert E. Root, a real estate broker and former city mayor, was named Fullerton’s Man of the Year. Both Bean and Norman have a lengthy list of community services, said Sherry Norman, chamber spokeswoman.

Bean’s nomination by her nine children was “all kept hush-hush,” Norman said. Five of her children and three of her 13 grandchildren waited outside the Del Rey Restaurant Tuesday before surprising Bean during the presentation, Norman said.

The winners, selected from 60 nominees, were chosen by a committee of former winners, Norman said.