Ruth Segerstrom Honored at Cancer Society Benefit

One of Orange County’s most private lives was highlighted Friday night when Henry T. Segerstrom led a tribute to his mother, Ruth Segerstrom, 89, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach.

“It’s hard to know how to express yourself when you talk about one you’ve loved since the day you were born,” Segerstrom told 326 guests gathered to honor the family matriarch at a benefit for the Orange County Unit of the American Cancer Society. “Mothers are wonderful people,” he said. “Mrs. Anton Henry Segerstrom, better known to all of you as Ruth, was born in Indiana, a fifth-generation Hoosier who inherited a love of the land from her great-great-grandfather. He had been given a plot of Indiana land by Andrew Jackson, President of the United States.”

She was raised in Indianapolis by her Scottish mother and English father, Segerstrom said, adding, “They taught her the strong virtues of industriousness, integrity and good will.

“During World War I, her older brother, who was in the military, brought his best friend, a master sergeant from California, home one day. It was an instant love affair.”

Ruth came to California to visit Anton Henry Segerstrom “in the very home where we still have our lunches today (the family farmhouse on Fairview Road in Costa Mesa),” the younger Segerstrom said. A year after the Armistice, the couple married in Indianapolis and returned to Santa Ana in 1920. “They rented a small apartment and began their family. Ruth Ann (Moriarty of Santa Ana) was born, and I followed 15 months later.”

While the ‘20s was a time of great prosperity in agriculture, Segerstrom said, the ‘30s “were tougher, a time when our family was drawn close together.” Ruth Segerstrom began her community volunteer work at the end of the decade. It led to her becoming a board member of Bowers Museum in Santa Ana and co-chairman of the county’s Red Cross Canteen. “She had 300 volunteers working for her seven days a week. That was her contribution to the war effort.”

Mrs. Segerstrom later was elected president of the Santa Ana Ebell Club. “Santa Ana was the social and cultural capital of the county,” Segerstrom said. She later became president of the Santa Ana Assistance League and served on the boards of the American Red Cross and the National Cancer Society.

“After my father died in 1963 (of cancer), mother became active in business. She has become an active partner (of the C. J. Segerstrom & Sons development company, owner of South Coast Plaza). And she has earned all of our respect for her intelligence and business judgment. She is remarkable . We love her and are proud of her. Thank you for the recognition you give her tonight.”

After viewing a slide presentation that chronicled her life, guests stood to give Ruth Segerstrom an ovation as she walked to the podium. Benefit chairman Jan Vitti presented her with a spring bouquet, served up on a silver platter, and then Henry, seeing that his mother was secure at the podium, left to take his seat.

“Come here, Henry!” Mrs. Segerstrom ordered, reaching to give her son a hard hug. “Have you hugged anyone today?” she asked shyly as she turned to the audience. “I want to compliment you for supporting the Cancer Society, and I’d like to emphasize that this is a family affair.”

“So I want to introduce my family,” she said, pointing out Henry’s “charming wife, Renee,” custom-gowned in silk taffeta and jet-beaded Venetian lace by New York designer Caroline Herrera. Also introduced were Henry’s children Andrea, Toren and Anton. “Anton is Henry’s youngest. He’s operating manager of South Coast Plaza’s Crystal Court. I won’t mention the address,” she said, laughing. “It might sound too commercial.” Ruth also introduced her daughter Ruth Ann and Ruth Ann’s husband, Eugene, and their children Richard, Jeanne and Donald. She also introduced her nephew Hal Segerstrom, co-managing partner with Henry of C. J. Segerstrom & Sons, and Hal’s wife, Jeanette. And after naming all of her grandchildren, their spouses and her nieces and nephews, she added: “And that’s not all. I want you to meet my escort . . . Rudy Baumfeld,” a retired architect who helped design South Coast Plaza’s original interiors.

The benefit committee decided to honor Ruth Segerstrom, Vitti said, when they learned that she had helped found the Orange County chapter of the American Cancer Society in 1947. “She’s special. And she is one who has lost someone to cancer.”

After dining on slabs of Pacific salmon, spring vegetables and chocolate silk cake, guests enjoyed a skit by comic team Skiles and Henderson and a performance by the Righteous Brothers. Both duos donated their services.

Donna Blue co-chaired the event. Also attending were Lyn Wilder, who donated his time to conduct a live auction during dinner; Orange County Unit president Steven Armentrout, chief of hematology/oncology at UCI Medical Center; his wife, Barbara, wearing a sky-blue Mary McFadden gown she would wear to her daughter’s wedding the next day; Keith and Chris Lindsay, a Newport Beach florist, who donated the decorations, and Dr. Charles Rutherford, director of the Orange Coast College Big Band, which entertained during the reception.

Anthony Vitti and Lance Blue, husbands of the chairwomen, also attended.

Estimated proceeds of $50,000 will go to local research, education, service and rehabilitation programs. Guests paid $175 each to attend.

Ballerina Cynthia Gregory was having none of the champagne poured at the Center Club after her performance at the Performing Arts Center Thursday night. “Perrier and lime,” she ordered.

“You have to take good care of yourself when you’re a dancer,” Gregory had said earlier, rushing to the reception in her honor.

Gregory’s performance, the last in her yearlong, 20th Anniversary Tour, was held as a benefit for Junior League of Orange County and Childrens Hospital in Orange. Proceeds, estimated at $30,000, were split equally between the two groups.

The 32-city tour, chaired by First Lady Nancy Reagan, had marked the first national arts project dedicated to fund raising for the prevention of drug abuse.

The benefit marked the first time a non-arts supporting group has sponsored a benefit in the Performing Arts Center, according to Center officials.

Junior Leaguers Wendy Schiff and Lorna Pizzorni were co-chairmen of the event.

At a buffet staged at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel before the performance, dancer Debbie Allen, a friend of Gregory, spoke of drugs and the arts: “Drugs are not a means of finding true artistic expression. Oh, I know people who get high and think they will be fabulous on stage or come up with some brilliant choreography or write some good music. But it’s a temporary inspiration. So anti-mind and body. A stupid thing to do.”

About 300 guests attended the pre-performance reception at the Westin. About 150 attended the reception at the Center Club, also sponsored by the league and Childrens Hospital.

Ticket prices ranged from $25 (attendance at the ballet) to $250 (the entire package). Robert Guggenheim, president of the board of the Childrens Hospital Foundation of Orange County, represented CHOC at the affair. Marcia Adler is president of Junior League.