Top March of Dimes Volunteers Honored

The Orange County chapter of the March of Dimes honored seven volunteers in an awards dinner aboard the Pacific Hornblower yacht.

The honorees are John Grenier, of San Juan Capistrano, Outstanding Fund-Raising Volunteer; Shannon Wolff, Mater Dei High School student, Outstanding Youth Volunteer; Jodi Lenoker, of Orange, Outstanding Community Services Volunteer; Mary Forenza of Corona del Mar, the Grace O’Brien, Memorial Award for Outstanding Volunteerism.

Also, Peggy Muirhead of Yorba Linda, the Arthur McKenzie, Memorial Award for Overall Service to the March of Dimes; Ruth Ko of Irvine, Volunteer of the Year, and David Harris, 13, of Van Nuys, the John Finger Memorial Award for Top Walker in WalkAmerica 1989, raising $6,010.

Grenier, incoming chairman of the Orange County chapter, announced at the ceremony that the March of Dimes will have “Healthier Babies” as its new campaign.

Newport Beach resident Marian Perrin, a member of the Costa Mesa-Newport Harbor Lioness Club, has been designated a Melvin Jones Fellow by Lions Clubs international Foundation in recognition of her humanitarian work and commitment to serving the world community.

Julie Joosten, 9, Jason Farr, 11, and James McChesney, all of Mission Viejo, and Dawn Brown, 10, of Orange; Jennifer Bodnar, 12, of Santa Ana, and Tony Iannone, 12, of Fullerton will compete Feb. 10 in Reseda in the regional semifinals of the Elks Annual Hoop Shoot Contest.

The six, who had to make at least 18 baskets out of the 25 that they were required to shoot, outlasted 44 other contestants at Century High School in Santa Ana.

Last year, more than 3 million youngsters entered the contest.

Shari D. Rhynee of Anaheim, starting center for the Canyon High School girls varsity basketball team, and Georgi Berry of Tustin, a Foothill High School senior and a Senior Girl Scout, have been chosen to compete in the Feb. 11 Orange County Miss TEEN Pageant at the Buena Park Hotel and Convention Center. They were selected on the basis of volunteer work in their schools and communities.

Melvin M. Bowman, who started as a Huntington Beach city lifeguard in 1954 and worked up to become director of the Community Services Department, has retired after 35 years of service. Only 53 years old, the Huntington Beach resident started working while a student at Huntington Beach High School.

San Juan Capistrano fifth-grader Staci Henderson and sixth-graders Gabriel Knoy and Deisha Vasquez will represent the Capistrano Unified School District at the Feb. 1 Orange County Spelling Bee. They were winners of the district’s spelling bee that involved 18 elementary schools.

Janie Walker, a Costa Mesa mother of three and a bloodhound handler for the police, has been named Reserve Officer of the Year by the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Her accomplishments include 220 hours of training as an observer in the department’s helicopter and serving as adviser to the police Explorer Post for the past seven years.

Walker paid her expenses to New Mexico and Tennessee for the combined two weeks of training for police bloodhound work. She has 1,000 hours in training with bloodhounds.

Twelve instrumental music students from Irvine’s Rancho San Joaquin Intermediate School were named to the All-Southern California Junior High School Honor Orchestra.

Ron Smart, band and orchestra director at Rancho San Joaquin, said it was unusual to have that many students named from one school. “I was blessed with a great amount of talent this year,” he said.

They are: Mary Ho, flute; Max Chen, violin; Elizabeth Johnson, violin; Nancy Kao, violin; Frank Ong, violin; Jennifer Sun, violin; Edward V. Wu, violin; Kelly Li, viola; Sharlene Wang, viola; Christine Inloes, cello; Jeannette Lin, cello, and Edward C. Lu, first chair of the cello section.

They will perform with the full orchestra in a free concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at Santa Ana High School.

Submit items to Three Cheers. The Times, c/o Herbert J. Vida, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626.