New Golden West Foundation Leader Says ‘Job Is the Highlight of My Life’

Newport Beach resident Glenda Blackburn, former executive director of the American Cancer Society in Long Beach, has been named executive director of the Golden West College Foundation.

“This job is the highlight of my life,” said Blackburn, who received her associate of arts degree from Golden West College in Huntington Beach and later a bachelor’s degree from UC Irvine. “I have always wanted to be in an academic setting.”

The foundation oversees $400,000 in endowments for scholarships and support programs and services to enhance educational excellence.

David Warsaw, founder of Irvine-based Sports Specialties who 55 years ago started selling sports souvenirs and novelty items, donated $1 million to create the Anne and David Warsaw Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

University president Moshe Many said “innovation and entrepreneurial management is essential for Israel’s economic success,” and pointed to Warsaw’s career as an example.

La Habran Antonio Valle, president of the La Habra City School District Board of Education and president of La Habra Neighborhood Housing Services, was designated a “Point of Light” by President Bush.

A Bush aide said Valle was selected for his community work and is the 17th of 1,000 volunteers to be selected every day from throughout the country.

The President used the “thousand points of light” during his election campaign to demonstrate the need for citizens to volunteer their time to help others. Valle is a special-education teacher at Sonora High School in the Fullerton Union High School District.

Anaheim residents Bertha, 87, and Murray Durlester, 92, will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on Christmas Day. They were married in New York City in 1919.

Murray, known as an impeccable dresser, retired at age 77 as an embroidery salesman in New York’s garment district..

The couple have two children, Claire Goldberg of Long Beach and Gene Durlester of Brooklyn, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

The Golden West College student newspaper and its magazine won 11 awards, including four first-place honors at the Journalism Assn. of Community Colleges’ competition.

The Western Sun, the student newspaper, won first place for general excellence and front page layout and the magazine won first place in news features and critical review.

Student Jon Langston won first place for his feature, which profiled redevelopment in downtown Huntington Beach.

Santa Ana’s Taft Elementary School PTA raised $15,000 through its recent jog-a-thon, which had students run a regular track while hearing-impaired students jogged on a specially prepared track to raise donations from sponsors.

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