County Movers, Shakers Join Thanksgiving Rites

When you aim that last, gasping dribble of aerosol whipped cream at your third helping of pumpkin pie today, retired Air Force Gen. Curtis E. LeMay will probably be popping a bite of bourbon-laced mincemeat in his mouth or taking a hard puff on his pipe.

And while you’re playing cards with family or friends, Thomas Kemp--brother of presidential hopeful Jack Kemp--might just be sprawled on his living room floor, helping his son-in-law win a Scrabble battle with his mother-in-law.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. A pre-holiday survey of some of Orange County’s movers and shakers revealed that on Thanksgiving Day they follow much the same agenda that everyone else follows: Unite the family for turkey and the trimmings, watch football and indulge in the simple pleasure of talking to each other.

For your holiday enjoyment, then, a glimpse of your on-the-move neighbors’ Thanksgiving celebrations:

Virginia Knott Bender, co-owner of Knott’s Berry Farm: “We’ll be in Palm Desert this year, having dinner with our dear friends Lon and Mary Ann Wells and my sister Marion Montapert and her husband Tony. We’ll go to their club. When mother and dad were alive, we always worked on Thanksgiving, so we had our celebration the day before. We’ll be doing that this year, too. All of our family will gather in the Knott’s Berry Farm Steak House for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner--turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, biscuits, boysenberry jam. We’re going to celebrate the day after Thanksgiving, too. We’re having friends over that we know will be in the desert--Mary and Jim Roosevelt and others. We’ll have chicken crepes and some side dishes as well as pumpkin, mincemeat and pecan pie.”

Bob Fluor, vice president corporate relations, the Fluor Corp.: “Martha and I will get out the old red holiday table cover and have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with the family--our five children, my mother, Lillian, Martha’s mother, Jackie, and some special guests. Martha will be the turkey-and-dressing lady. Mother will bring her green beans almondine, made the way she’s always made them with hollandaise sauce. I always have two helpings. We’ll all watch football, engage in family chitchat. Take lots of pictures. This year it’s important for us to have a traditional dinner. We have a guest coming from London. I’ll carve.”

Roberta Jenkins, real estate developer and co-founder of the Educational Foundation for Black Americans: “I’m going to be cooking dinner for 40 family and friends. Since (husband) Matt and I spend Christmas away (from their Fullerton home) skiing, Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday of the year for us. My son, Dexter, will be home from college, and we’ll have nieces, nephews and friends over. Since we go all out for Thanksgiving, I’ll have to start cooking (two days ahead). I plan to have turkey, roast pork, sweet potatoes and greens. I think it’s the best day of the year.”

Ruth Ann Moriarty, daughter of Segerstrom family matriarch, Ruth Segerstrom: “We usually have the family over to our house in Santa Ana for Thanksgiving. But this year mother said it was just too much work for me. So she’s taking us all--me, my husband, Eugene, my brother, Henry, and his wife, Renee, and all of our children and grandchildren--to the new Ambrosia Restaurant in Costa Mesa. We’ll meet at the restaurant and just visit. That’s it! We’re just a normal family. Mother loves to have us all together. She’s very family oriented.”

Helen LeMay, wife of retired Gen. Curtis E. LeMay: “We’ll be in Irvine visiting our daughter, Jane, and her husband, Dr. James Lodge. I’ll bring the homemade pies--squeeze them tight to get all the calories out. I’m making a butter pecan and mincemeat with bourbon. Curtis says we don’t dare ever invite anyone from Alcoholics Anonymous to my dinners. I put so much alcohol into my cooking! Sherry in the gravy, bourbon in the pies. After dinner we’ll just talk. That’s really all we want to do, since we never get to see each other. We’re all so busy. The general will have little bites of each pie. He’s trying to reduce. But I think all of those little bites add up to just as many calories, don’t you? He’ll also enjoy his pipe after dinner.”

Angela Cammacho, president of the Garden Grove chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens: “We’re all going to my mother’s house--Flora Villa--in Laguna Hills for a family Thanksgiving dinner--my brother, three sisters and the in-laws. There will be 14 grandchildren and a great-grandchild. We’ll have a big buffet with a big turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes. We’re hoping it will be a sunny day so that we can sit outside. Otherwise, we’ll have to take turns sitting at the table. We always give grace before we eat, but then someone will stop in the middle of the meal and say what ever they’re thankful for--a grandchild or getting into college. Thanksgiving usually falls on my mother’s birthday, which puts extra pressure on us. We’re going to give her a set of diamond earrings this year. She’ll be jazzed. She’ll be 63.”

Thomas A. Fuentes, Orange County Republican chairman: “My wife, Jolene, and I will be visiting her family in the Riverside area. And because we have a 16-month-old girl, it will be a cameo appearance. Jolene will bring her famous cold pea salad. It’s tasty. Has cheese in it and other good things. We’ll begin with Mass in the morning. It really is a day of prayer, of Thanksgiving. I’m not a football fan. I think we’ve moved from being a nation that is prayerful on Thanksgiving to a nation that has turned to football cathedrals. I think that could use some refocus.”

Betty Kemp, wife of Beatrice Cos. senior vice president, Thomas P. Kemp: “I’ll be cooking the turkey, making corn bread stuffing, candied yams and my traditional molded fruit salad with nuts. My mother, Fern Benson, will make her delicious pecan pie. We’ll buy the rest. Tom will carve the turkey. We’ll start the day by going to church with all of our children and their children and then come back for a big breakfast. I’ve bought toys for the little ones to keep them busy. We’ll watch football, chat and eat about 4. My mom is big on games. She’ll probably play Scrabble with the kids. Our son-in-law, Rob, usually wins, but mom’s always right up there.”

Keith Clark, music director of Pacific Symphony: “My family and I will be be flying up to Palo Alto Thursday for Thanksgiving dinner with my parents. It’s a big family reunion, and usually 12 of us show up. It’ll be a traditional American Thanksgiving with turkey, along with some Scandinavian foods. Unfortunately, I along with wife (Doris) and two children (7-year-old son Soren and 3-year-old daughter Ashley), will have to rush back home to Fullerton because the Pacific Symphony has a concert Friday featuring Henry Mancini at the Performing Arts Center.”

Maria Rosa Lopez, co-coordinator with her husband, Nativo Lopez, of the Orange County chapter of the Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, a Santa Ana-based immigrants’ rights group: “We’ll go over to the home of my husband’s mother in Alta Loma, then we go to visit my aunt in Hacienda Heights. We’ll also visit a couple members of the board of directors (of the Hermandad). You have to say, ‘Hello,’ and eat some turkey or tamales. We’ll talk about the future of the Hermanda and immigration issues. It’s like at Thanksgiving we have to give thanks for what we’ve done and look forward to what has to be done. We have to give each other the best of our power.”

Rams Running Back Eric Dickerson: He will report to work as usual at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, for a team meeting at Rams Park in Anaheim, then practice in shoulder pads and shorts from 11:30 to 1:30, said Rams spokesman Pete Donovan. Thursdays are typically one of the harder practices during the week, and Thanksgiving should be no exception, Donovan said. “The only concession (Coach John) Robinson made is to start practice earlier and eliminate lunch. They all have a bigger meal to go to later on.” Dickerson will dine Thanksgiving evening with Rams owner Georgia Frontiere at her home in Bel Air, Donovan said.

Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates: Thanksgiving is “a very easy day. We all go to my mother-in-law’s house for dinner. We sit around with each other and enjoy a lot of food and enjoy the ballgames.” About 20 members of the family will “gather around noon and slowly nibble our way through trays and trays of appetizers.” Dinner at his mother-in-law’s Capistrano Beach house--a 28-year-tradition--is served at 5 p.m. “This Thanksgiving will be particularly special because our two children (away at college) will be coming home for Thanksgiving dinner for the first time.”

California Angels Pitcher Don Sutton: Even though Thanksgiving Day falls in the off-season, Sutton will probably stick to his strict diet, said wife Patti. “He really follows the Robert Haas book ‘Eat to Win.’ I think it’s really helped to prolong his career because he eats well and works out . . . (but) he doesn’t get to see his family too often, so he may chuck all his dieting and live it up for the day.” The family will spend Thanksgiving with Don’s brother in Birmingham, Ala. Don spent the week before the holiday hunting deer with his brother and fishing with his father. Patti planned to fly to Alabama Wednesday with their two children, Daron and Staci.

Sunly Ping Winkles, second vice president of the Cambodian Family, a Santa Ana-based support group for Cambodian refugees: “The Cambodian community usually doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but I’m married to an American so we’ll have turkey, baked beans and potatoes at my mother in law’s--Jean Rifle--in Orange with my husband’s three brothers. We were married in October of 1984, and this will be my third Thanksgiving. I lost all family in the Cambodian war in the late ‘70s. I know that Thanksgiving is an occasion when you give food to the poor, and it makes me think of the people on the Thai border who are so hungry right now--even 10 years after the war. That really hurts me a lot.”

Grace Emery, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Orange County: “I’m going down to Escondido to pick up my 92-year-old mother (Mabel Emery) and 87-year-old aunt (Agnes Comer), and bring them back to spend Thanksgiving with me in my Santa Ana apartment. They’re lovely ladies, and it’s a great treat for me. Thursday morning, I’ll get up early and start preparing bone stuffed duck, puree of chestnuts and brussel sprouts. I love to cook--and it’s a marvelous change for me (from being an attorney).”

James Roosevelt, former U.S. congressman and eldest son of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “For years my wife Mary and I have spent Thanksgiving in Acapulco. But this year we’re going to Palm Springs. Mostly because we didn’t want to make the effort. It will just be the family--our son Delano, 27--we call him Del for short--and his friend, and our daughter Becky, 15. We’ll dine at a hotel there and have a visit with my brother Elliott.

“My fondest Thanksgiving memories with mother and father were when we visited Warm Springs, the place father went for his polio. We would preside over the Thanksgiving dinner that was held for patients and staff. Father and I would have a friendly competition to see who could serve the most people. We’d each have a turkey at our end of the table. He always won. But I discovered he won because he gave such thin pieces he could cut them more quickly!

“We have so much to be thankful for . . . a wonderful family. So many interesting things in our lives. This is a time to remember.”

Times staff writers Ted Appel, Doug Brown and Meg Sullivan contributed to this article.