Jewelry Fan Took Rocky Road to Club Leadership
Holly Gallup joined the Culver City Rock and Mineral Club in 1988 not because she was a great fan of jasper and geodes, but because she wanted to use the group’s jewelry-making equipment.
Today, she’s president of the 150-member group, yet it was only last March that she got her hands on the saws and grinders in the club’s small shop on Culver Boulevard.
“It took me two years to get into the shop; I just got so involved in the group’s other activities,” said Gallup, an Inglewood resident who, by day, manages a technical publications department for a software company.
Among the group’s activities are rock-hunting field trips to the desert and mountains, meetings held the second Monday of each month at the Culver City Senior Center, and an annual show, which took place last weekend at Veterans Auditorium and drew 1,500 people for two days of jewelry-making demonstrations, vendors and members’ exhibits.
Although she grew up in Las Vegas, surrounded by prime rock-hound country, Gallup said she developed an interest in the hobby only after meeting her husband, Marc, a paleontologist.
“When you’re married to a paleontologist for 19 years, you sort of get dragged around looking for rocks,” she said.
But she said her husband’s influence hasn’t been strong enough to convert her into a full-fledged, desert-digging pebble-picker.
She’s just waiting for her next turn at the saw.
“I bought a piece of green jasper. It’s a really deep-green-like jade, and I’m really anxious to work with it,” she said.
The Los Angeles Chapter of the American Red Cross has elected Bowen H. McCoy, president of Buzz McCoy and Associates Inc., as its chairman for the next year.
Other officers elected at the chapter’s annual meeting were Togo Tanaka, secretary; Alden Hatch, treasurer; and Rachel Tarses, Robert Corlett, Patricia Dodson, Harvey Lehman, Jay Rodriguez, Sylvester Graff and Irving Margol, vice chairpersons.
Beverly Hills Unified School District Supt. Robert French retired at the end of June with one year remaining on a four-year contract.
French, who was named superintendent in July, 1987, will be replaced temporarily by Assistant Supt. Sol Levine. The district plans a nationwide search this fall for a successor.
The West Hollywood Small Business Council named Bernice Altschul, co-owner of Carlos ‘n’ Charlie’s restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, as its first Businessperson of the Year for her contributions to the business and civic community.
Over the past seven years, Altschul, her husband, George, and Eugene Scher have allowed the council, Alcoholics Anonymous and many AIDS, lesbian and gay service groups to use the restaurant as a meeting place.
The Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles announced the election of David Finegood, a furniture manufacturer and longtime supporter of Jewish causes, as its 33rd president.
Finegood, who lives in Westwood and Malibu, succeeds attorney George T. Caplan as president. The federation is the planning, coordinating and fund-raising body for 16 agencies.
Beverly Hills resident Sanford M. Shapero, president and chief executive officer of City of Hope Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute in Duarte, has been appointed to the National Advisory Council on Aging of the National Institutes of Health.
The appointment of Shapero, an early leader in the field of gerontology, was made by Louis W. Sullivan, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Santa Monica art gallery owner Karl Bornstein was awarded a commendation by Santa Monica Mayor Dennis Zane “for generously supporting the significant role of art in the Westside community’s work for peace and justice.”
Bornstein, a Pacific Palisades resident who is also vice president of the Santa Monica Art Dealers Assn., was honored at a Westside/Sane Freeze benefit held at Bornstein’s gallery.
