USO Receives Heartfelt Appreciation

Some may regard the new San Diego Convention Center as solid proof that the city has outgrown its reputation as a sleepy Navy town, but the long line of white sedans with Navy plates and enlisted drivers that waited outside the center Saturday night made it clear that, wide awake or not, this city remains very much a Navy town.

An even dozen admirals, a pair of Marine Corps major generals and sufficient Navy captains to command a convoy across the seven seas joined more than 300 civilian supporters in the center’s ballroom for “Give Your Heart to the USO.” The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of United Service Organizations, the civilian-operated outfit known simply as the USO to several generations of servicemen and servicewomen. The organization invited a number of active enlisted personnel to attend.

Vice Adm. Jack Fetterman, commander of naval air forces in the Pacific and the ranking naval officer in San Diego, and Adm. Leon Edney, vice chief of naval operations, headed a list of active and retired brass that also included Marine Major Gen. John Mahoney, Marine Major Gen. Don Fulham and San Diego’s astronaut-in-residence, retired Capt. Wally Schirra.

Retired Rear Adm. Herbert Stoecklein, president of the local USO Council and gala co-chairman, said that “Give Your Heart to the USO” was the first of what the organization intends to be an annual fund-raiser. Proceeds from the inaugural benefit, expected to reach about $40,000, are earmarked for the $60,000 cost of opening and staffing the new USO facility at Lindbergh Field.

The event came a few days late to qualify for Valentine’s Day status, and the decor, which consisted of red and white carnation centerpieces and a few lacy hearts floating above the bandstand, was suitably restrained. In the immense and cavernous spaces offered by the convention center, most decor quickly becomes lost anyway, although the giant red, white and blue USO banner, borrowed from the head office in Washington, made a powerful statement.

Several guests who remembered some of the big, military-themed parties given during World War II said that the mood somehow captured the brisk and efficiently hopeful tone of that era’s entertainments.

When the Dick Braun Orchestra played “Anchors Aweigh” the gala seemed almost a revival of an earlier age in San Diego, and this impression was highlighted by the party’s location in the city’s newest public building. But event organizers said they chose the center simply because it is a neighbor of the USO on Harbor Drive.

“After putting up with the years of construction it took to put up this building, we had to come party here,” said one USO staffer.

Servicemen make about 200,000 visits a year to the Harbor Drive USO, which in addition to offering a social setting provides such services as finding free housing for families relocated by emergencies.

The military, perhaps because it likes a good parade, seems very fond of dancing, and most guests took the floor repeatedly between the several courses of a dinner that featured chilled shellfish remoulade , tournedos Bordelaise and pastry swans. After the meal, the band briefly retired while KSDO radio announcer Ron Reina conducted a live auction that contributed several thousand dollars to the event’s proceeds; among the items were a “Love Boat” cruise to Mexico and a pair of wooden duck decoys hand-carved by Rear Adm. Jack Adams.

The guest list included retired Rear Adm. Bruce Boland, Eleanor and Art Herzman, Morris Wax, Rachel and Judson Grosvenor, Sharon and Tim Considine, Cathy and Nicholas Monroe, Fern and Robert Murphy, Carol and retired Vice Adm. Harry Schrader, Jan and Mike Madigan, Martha Carpenter, Jane Stoecklein, Betty and Cushman Dow, Shirley and retired Rear Adm. David Rubel, and Loretta Bonvouloir.

The carefully plotted geometry of the annual Women of Dedication luncheon encompasses, within its generous angles, just about every charitable and social service organization in the county, and was symbolized at Thursday’s “Silver Jubilee” luncheon at the San Diego Marriott by the silver boxes that centered every table.

The day saw 15 women added to the roster of Women of Dedication, which in its 25 years has developed into a reliable “Who’s Who” of the county’s volunteers. More than 300 women now claim membership in this group.

The event ranks as the major annual fund-raiser given by the Women’s Auxiliary to the Salvation Army Door of Hope and benefits maternity care, scholarship, and drug- and child-abuse prevention programs. But more than that, it has become a February tradition at which volunteers turn out to congratulate their own. As a result, a sold-out attendance of 940 jammed the ballroom Thursday, a turnout that Chairwoman Betty Hubbard described as “thrilling and exciting.”

“It’s good to see women who have given so much to the community acknowledged,” said Maj. Richard Love, county coordinator for the Salvation Army. “The Women of Dedication deserve their name, because they do a spectacular job.”

The Silver Jubilee proceeded according to the pattern established over the years, with the lunch of dilled salmon and chocolate tulips preceding the formal march of the honorees. A fashion presentation by La Jolla’s Capriccio concluded the event.

The women walked in turn down the long runway while Channel 10 news anchor Carol LeBeau read each one’s civic resume. These walks can be amusing when, as frequently happens, the male escorts--husbands, sons or family friends--attempt to gallop down the ramp. A pre-event pep talk obviated that difficulty Thursday.

Letha H. Brown, president of the board of trustees of the San Diego Center for Children, led the procession. Following were Betty Byrnes, immediate past chairwoman of the National Coucil of Business and Professional Women; Mary-Lynn Deddeh, board chairwoman of the Lamb’s Players Theater; Ruth Gonsalves, past president of the Social Service Auxiliary; Zee Griffith, president of Women Incorporated; Mary-Em Howard, vice president of Alpha Phi Sorority; Betty McElfresh, past president of the San Diego Optometric Auxiliary, and Mary McGregor, vice president of the Friends of the Library Board at the University of San Diego.

Sister Virginia McMonagle, director of Constituent Relations at USD and a board member of an orphanage in Haiti, was followed by Helen Monroe, the executive director of the San Diego Community Foundation; Sandra Pay, past board president of the San Diego Opera; Mitch Pflugh, past president of the Junior League of San Diego.