Preservation Group Chips In on Drive to Restore Historic Fire Pumper Truck

The Old Towne Preservation Assn., a group of Orange residents and businessmen, has become the fifth $500 contributor to the Orange Fire Department’s drive to raise $20,000 to restore a historic fire truck.

Other contributors are the Orange Fire Fighters Assn., Orange Centennial Commission, Bergen Brunswig Corp. and Cathcart Begin Associates.

The Fire Department plans to restore the 1921 La France engine for the city’s centennial celebration. Fire Chief Martel Thompson said more than half of the fund goal has been met. The pumper truck was the city’s second original piece of motorized fire apparatus.

The restoration is expected to be completed in April, when the city’s centennial celebration begins.

Santa Ana attorney Cornelius P. Brahan has been unanimously approved for membership as a fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and will become just the 60th actively practicing lawyer to hold membership in the academy in California.

Joe Martin of Irvine has been named the 1988 “Spirit of Life” award winner from the Orange County Construction Industries Alliance for the City of Hope. The award is the most prestigious honor given on behalf of the City of Hope support group. An active City of Hope supporter, Martin is president of Martin Advertising & Public Relations in Tustin.

Bobbie Zaslav of Corona del Mar has been named to coordinate the May 21 annual fund-raising black-tie dinner dance and silent auction of the Easter Seal League of Orange County. The auction is expected to raise $20,000 for the Easter Seal Society.

Jack Casperson, a 1957 graduate, has been honored as 1988 Alumnus of the Year by the Chapman College Alumni Assn. He will receive the honor Saturday at an all-alumni luncheon.

Casperson, who held varied college positions from interim basketball coach to president of the Alumni Assn., is now chairman of the college’s Hall of Fame election committee.

Casperson is assistant superintendent of the Orange County Department of Education.

Malissa Bennett, 3, of Big Bear Lake, David Whytock, 12, of Huntington Beach and Stephen A. Mistich, 34, of Mission Viejo have been named 1988 Poster Team Ambassadors by the tri-county chapter of the Leukemia Society of America.

The chapter covers Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, plus Nevada.

The three, all leukemia patients enrolled in the society’s patient aid program, will be featured on the society’s “Living Proof” poster.

They will also represent the Tustin-based chapter in various capacities throughout the year.

The California Community Foundation, which administers a charitable endowment worth nearly $80 million, has named Judy Swayne of Laguna Beach, a 30-year county resident, as program officer of the foundation’s county office.

The foundation, called the oldest and largest trust in Southern California, makes grants to nonprofit groups that meet community needs in human services, art, health care, education and community development.

Swayne is also on the board of United Way of Orange County and once led the Orange Coast League of Women Voters.

Tom Fuentes, a sixth-generation native Californian, county GOP chairman, director of communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese and board chairman of the Orange County Food Distribution Center, has been selected by the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce for its 1988 Heart Award. He will be honored at a banquet Thursday.

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