Three Cheers . . . : At Age 100, Laguna Hills Woman Still Flying Away to Visit New Worlds

After her 100th birthday party last week at Laguna Hills’ Palm Terrace, Dora Swalla had to pack for a vacation to Hawaii with her family. The trip was a continuation of her worldwide travels, much of it because of her work as a charter member of the Soroptimist Club and founder of the Laguna Hills chapter.

“There isn’t much I haven’t seen, though there’s plenty left I’d like to do,” the former educator and businesswoman said. “I’ve been to Europe, Africa, Asia and China (but) I haven’t been to South America yet.”

A nephew, Charles (Chuck) Showalter, 67, a Leisure World resident, is writing a book about her eventful life.

Charles (Chuck) Bennett, of Huntington Harbour, sent $1,000 to the Huntington Beach Paramedic Fund because paramedics saved his life after a heart attack. He was declared clinically dead, but has regained his strength.

When Marine 1st Lt. Michael Alan Frese, 24, of La Palma was presented his wings in a ceremony at Kingsville, Tex., it prompted a family gathering that included his parents, Linda and Hank Frese, his sister and her fiance.

His sister, Janelle Frese, took the gold wings from Kami Michalk, the new pilot’s fiancee, and pinned them on his uniform during the impressive formal winging ceremony.

The elder Frese is retired as a lieutenant colonel from the Marine Corps Reserve.

“Dolphins of the Orange Coast,” a 23-minute documentary examining DDT contamination of the mammal that was produced by George Gumbrecht, Orange Coast College telemedia director, received the highest possible rating from the respected publication, “Science Books and Films.”

Featuring Dennis Kelly, OCC marine biology professor, the video earlier won “Best of Orange

County Cable Award” from the Orange County Cable Assn. “The sequence of events leading to this discovery,” wrote Cal State Fullerton professor Michael H. Horn in a review, “followed by informed speculation on the cause and effects of the contamination, is the focus of this . . . unbiased film.”

Tustin fourth-grader Donald Steen’s poster entitled “Bicycle Safety--Be a Pro” was selected as the top entry in the recent Tustin Police Officers’ Assn.’s annual bicycle safety poster contest. His prize is a new bicycle.

George Key, 91, who has lived all his years in Placentia, had a nice way of explaining how he and others helped carve Placentia out of orange groves.

“We called ourselves pie makers,” he recalled at a Senior Achievers luncheon, explaining “no one person made the pie. It took a lot of dedicated people.”

And he added: “You ask who made the pie? We all made the pie.”

Key is the last survivor of the pie makers.

Tustin presented a beautification award, along with a plaque and a five-gallon camellia plant, the city’s official flower, to the Tustin War Memorial Board for the renovation and visual upgrading of the war memorial building at 1st Street and Prospect Avenue.

Dannette Nusbaum, Laguna Niguel seventh-grader, was named the California winner in the 1987 “Quality Comes in Writing” national essay contest that attracted an estimated 20,000 entries. One of 10 children in her family, Dannette was awarded a Roadmaster bicycle. She earlier was one of the winners of the “Goodwill Games--Moscow ‘86” art competition. Her portrayal of California living was on display in Moscow during the Goodwill Games.