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Lew Allen will retire as vice president of Caltech and director of the Jet Propulsion Lab on Sept. 30. He assumed his duties at Caltech, which manages JPL for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in 1982.

Allen, 64, previously was Air Force chief of staff and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and earned a doctorate in physics from the University of Illinois.

West Covina Councilwoman Nancy Manners has been named Woman of the Year for the 60th Assembly District. Elected representatives from each state Assembly and Senate district honor one woman from their district each year for service to neighbors and the community and contributions to improving the status of women.

Manners, who is serving her second term on the City Council, is past president of the Independent Cities Assn., the League of Women Voters and the Mid-Valley Mental Health Council.

Francis Ching, director of the county Department of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens for the past 20 years, will retire Saturday. Ching will assume the title of director emeritus and will serve as a consultant for the next 18 months. Leon Arnold, assistant director, will serve as acting director until a successor to Ching is appointed by the county Board of Supervisors. The department includes four gardens, the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum in Arcadia, Descanso Gardens in La Canada-Flintridge, South Coast Botanic Gardens on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the Virginia Robinson Gardens in Beverly Hills.