Minister Has Harmonized Activism and Achievement : Awards: The Rev. John McReynolds of Santa Ana, who overcame epilepsy, will be one of 18 people honored in Garden Grove by the Orange County Human Relations Commission.

There are a few kinds of people for whom the Rev. John McReynolds has no sympathy: those who close their minds to the gift of diversity, those who fail to see the promise in all of us and youngsters who speak of what they can’t do instead of what is possible.

Their pessimism makes no sense to McReynolds, 36, who suffered from severe epilepsy as a child but grew up determined to play football like the other boys; who entered Chapman College with a sixth-grade reading level and is now working on a doctoral degree; who descended from Southern sharecroppers to earn an audition with the Metropolitan Opera and to sing at music festivals in Europe.

“When I see how good God has been to me, I can’t help but do my very best,” McReynolds said last week.

For doing his very best for his community, McReynolds will be one of 18 people honored today in Garden Grove by the Orange County Human Relations Commission.

He appreciates the award but says his activism and community service is rooted in a strong tradition that does not depend on recognition.

“The history of the Afro-American church in this country dictates the need to be sensitive to people in the community and to be aware of how the community affects the different people which it envelops,” he said.

McReynolds is pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana and has lent his voice and presence to many causes. He is an adviser to the Pride Development Council, which provides day-care services, and he sits on the National Council of Christians and Jews and the Human Relations Commission’s Black-Jewish Dialogue committee.

He is particularly interested in education and is a member of the student affirmative action board at UC Irvine and the Santa Ana Unified School District’s attendance review board.

His was a voice of calm in September, 1988, when racial tensions erupted at El Modena High School in Orange after a group of white students put on blackface makeup to entertain a school assembly.

When the county’s religious leaders participated in a rally to defend the Costa Mesa charity Share Our Selves, the audience was hushed in anticipation of McReynolds’ dramatic eloquence, in the mold of many a black preacher moved to witness on a Sunday morning.

“He is a person who sees the importance of bringing people together around simple justice issues,” Human Relations Commission Executive Director Rusty Kennedy said. “He will come to a meeting and just sit there in a state of agitation over something he has learned.

“He once told us of his horror of the level of failure among young black men in high school and how he had to do something about it. I don’t agree with him on every issue, but I see a person who is still learning in life. He is a real channel for understanding.”

McReynolds attributes much of his understanding of life to his involvement in music.

He studied vocal performance at Chapman College on a music scholarship and has studied opera with famous teachers. He has sung with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Vienna State Symphony and has toured the world performing at such festivals as Spoleto in Italy and the Dubrovnik Music Festival in Yugoslavia.

“One of my inspirations is my love for music,” he said. “It gives one a feeling for the humanity of man and how much there is to be appreciated.”

He is old enough to have experienced the impact of Jim Crow laws in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tenn. “It was a segregated environment, and we wondered why we couldn’t go the school uptown,” he said.

And he remembers the exciting and painful events of his youth, the march on Washington and the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy.

He is concerned that most of today’s youngsters will never learn the lessons of the civil rights movement, and he faults the school system for excluding the teaching of minority cultures.

“There are people in Santa Ana who don’t know who Santa Anna is, or who Cortez is,” McReynolds said. “How can we assign students to read Harriet Beecher Stowe and not Frederick Douglass?

“We need to be educated to appreciate each other. Every culture in this country offers something. Every individual has something to offer.”

McReynolds and his wife, Evangeline, have stressed the importance of education to their own children, Melissa, 6, and Paul, 3. Their commitment has carried over to their congregation.

Students of families who attend the predominantly black church are enrolled at UC Berkeley, Harvard, Spellman and Grambling, among other universities.

OTHER HUMAN RELATIONS HONOREES

Along with the Rev. John McReynolds, the Orange County Human Relations Commission will honor 17 other residents for what officials characterize as their outstanding contributions in eliminating prejudice, intolerance, discrimination or by fostering mutual understanding and respect among people.

Chauncy Alexander, 73, of Huntington Beach, a health and social welfare advocate for 50 years and chairman of the United Way health care task force. He has worked to strengthen the county’s network of community clinics and to establish countywide referral and information service.

The Rev. Bob Ewing, 39, of Huntington Beach, pastor of South Coast Christian Church in Costa Mesa who has committed his congregation to helping the poor and needy. His church became a home for two soup kitchens and he is a member of the board of directors of FISH Inc., which provides emergency food and shelter for the elderly and needy.

Nhu-Hao T. Duong, 48, of Irvine, a program officer for the California Community Foundation based in Los Angeles. She has helped integrate Southeast Asian refugees into the community and has sought to increase understanding of Vietnamese culture through police training videos and the South Coast Repertory Theater. She also volunteered for the International Rescue Committee, the Vietnamese Scholarship Foundation and the Vietnamese Relief Agency.

Gayle Byrne, 41, of Santa Ana, an English teacher at Oceanview High School in Huntington Beach, where she established the Ethnic Advisory Forum to promote communication among students of different backgrounds. She is also mentor of cultural diversity for the Huntington Beach Unified High School District and has worked with the Anti-Defamation League.

Guillermina (Mina) Duarte, 54, of Buena Park, a bilingual teacher’s aide at Carl E. Gilbert School who has helped young Latino families in her community find jobs. She has devoted many hours to baby-sitting for students in adult education classes and has instructed survivalist classes. She has been liaison between the community and school officials.

Elizabeth Parker, 30, of Costa Mesa, a member of the Orange County Board of Education who has been a voice for pluralism and diversity in education. She coordinates the annual AIDS Walk and has been an advocate for immigrants’ rights and racial tolerance.

Lee Steelman, 64, of San Clemente, a member of the League of Women Voters and a founder of the South Orange County Community Service Council, an umbrella network of 154 service and charitable agencies. She is a member of San Clemente’s Human Resources Committee, the U.N. Assn. and the South Orange County YWCA.

Wendy Yoo, 49, of Mission Viejo, director of Korean-American relations for the Medical Center of Garden Grove who assists communications between patients and doctors. Yoo, a member of the Garden Grove Women’s Chamber of Commerce, helped establish a feeding program for the Korean Family Counseling Center and a children’s choir for the Korean-American Assn.

Bernice Ranford, 64, of Garden Grove, who with her husband, Al, has become a weekly presence at Pioneer Park, providing food for the homeless and needy. Ranford is a nurse and has volunteered hundreds of hours to assist AIDS patients. She has been a supporter of the farm workers’ rights.

Jose Vargas, 54, of Santa Ana, a police officer who has sought to build a bridge between his deparment and the Latino community. When a young Latino boy was wrongly deported to Mexico by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Vargas contacted friends in the Tijuana Police Department who were able to locate the boy. Vargas went to pick up the youngster and returned him to his family in Santa Ana.

Jay Palomino, 44, and Vera Palomino, 44, of Westminster. They are long time civic leaders who have sought to improve life in their Sigler Park neighborhood through the organization Manos Unidas. They have established scholarships and a tutoring program at a local elementary school, have organized field trips for children, reopened a neighborhood recreation center and established a Kid Watch program with the Police Department.

Mary Hornbuckle, 47, of Costa Mesa, a member of the Costa Mesa City Council who is being honored for “her courageous stand against bigotry.” She helped establish living room dialogues to promote cultural diversity and ease ethnic tensions, and has supported the rights of day laborers to look for work in the community. She is a board member of the Costa Mesa charity Share Our Selves.

Gloria McDonough, 37, of Westminster, a community liaison who has tried to defuse ethnic tensions. She has tried to empower low-income Spanish speaking residents of her community. She is a founding member of the Hispanic Development Council of United Way.

Frank Garcia, 45, of Orange, proprietor of CASA Garcia, an Anaheim restaurant. Last Thanksgiving, Garcia fed more than 4,500 homeless and needy people from the community. He also donated a dinner for the 100 volunteers who worked on a police training video for the Latino community. He is a member of the Hispanic Development Council of United Way.

Jack Messamer, 45, of Placentia, a volunteer at the Dayle MacIntosh Center for the disabled in Anaheim. He was paralyzed from the waist down by a gunshot wound and has sought to inspire and encourage others with disabilities. He has lectured and appeared on radio and television.

Lisa Kaye, 35, of Irvine, a mental health worker for the county and an advocate of homosexual rights. She was a spokeswoman for the Irvine Citizens United Campaign, which tried to defeat a referendum to remove homosexuals from the city’s anti-discrimination protections. She is co-chair of the Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club and a member of the Election Committee of the County of Orange (ECCO), a nonpartisan political action committee focused on gay, lesbian and feminist issues.

Cathy Jensen, 38, of Irvine a civil rights lawyer who has donated legal services to immigrants and the needy. She has worked in the county Public Defender’s office and as a volunteer with the American Civil Liberties Union. She is a vocal advocate for children’s rights.