Karen Travers, president of the New Neighbors...

Karen Travers, president of the New Neighbors Club of Palos Verdes Peninsula, has announced that the club recently presented donations totaling $5,800 to representatives of the following South Bay charitable organizations: Harbor Interfaith Council, Rainbow Shelter for Battered Women, FISH Food Pantry of San Pedro, The Wellness Community, Point Vicente Interpretive Center, Community Helpline, Literacy Council and the Palos Verdes Library.

Dr. Judith Elaine Tyler was honored as Zontian of the Decade by the Zonta Club of South Bay Area. Tyler has been active as a Zontian since 1983, serving as president, vice president, treasurer and membership chairman. Officers of the Zonta Club for the 1990-91 year are Dennis McCarbery of San Pedro, president, and Margaret Krueger-Ragan of San Pedro, vice president. Other board members are Jean McTaggart of Rancho Palos Verdes and Jeannine Kiger of Carson.

Inglewood resident Gladys Wolf Waddingham has been honored by Occidental College with the Alumni Seal Award for outstanding service to the community. She received the award earlier this year at Founders’ Day ceremonies celebrating the liberal arts institution’s 103rd birthday. A member of the class of 1920, Waddingham was the Phi Beta Kappa valedictorian of her class before her 20th birthday. She taught Spanish at Inglewood public schools for 45 years. After her retirement in 1967, Waddingham launched a second career as volunteer publicist for local organizations, including the First Presbyterian Church, Historical Society of Centinela Valley and the Conference of California Historical Societies. She has written two books about the history of the Inglewood Presbyterian Church, 13 pamphlets about citizens for whom Inglewood schools have been named, and is currently writing a history of Inglewood for a University of Maryland study.

Barry Kellman, owner of Pita Feast Jr., and restaurant manager Carlos Moreno have received the American Cancer Society’s Certificate of Merit. Pita Feast Jr., located in the Manhattan Village Shopping Center, raised more than $400 for the society’s Food Fight Against Cancer.

Joan Richter is the new president of Temple Menorah Sisterhood. Serving with her as sisterhood vice presidents are Bonnie Leopold, Irene Jacobson, Shirley Kaufman, Muriel Freed, Sue Mandell and Roberta Cohen. Temple Menorah is located at 1101 Camino Real, Redondo Beach.

Rolling Hills resident Julie Heinsheimer has been elected chairman of the board of governors of the Los Angeles County’s Department of Arboreta and Botanical Gardens. Heinsheimer, head of landscape design for the Torrance-based architectural firm of Edward Carson Beall & Associates, is serving her second three-year term as a member of the board of governors. The board develops policies to guide the development and management of the county’s four public gardens: South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes, Descanso Gardens in La Canada, the Arboretum in Arcadia and the Virginia Robinson Gardens in Beverly Hills.

Loyola Marymount University officials have announced the appointment of Matthew X. Fissinger as admissions director at the university. He comes to Loyola Marymount from Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., where he served as associate director of admissions. He succeeds Michel E. L’Heureux, who retired after 23 years at Loyola Marymount.

Diane Vines has been selected the first dean of the new School of Health at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The university’s sixth academic school offers degree programs in health sciences, clinical sciences and nursing. The school includes the Statewide Nursing Program, the largest nursing outreach program in the country. Vines previously was director of special programs for the Cal State system.

Lennox Middle School teacher Larry Lamadrid is to be saluted on KNBC-TV’s “Spirit of Education,” a community awareness campaign lauding outstanding contributions to education. Lamadrid started the school’s Aquarius Club, which focuses on issues involving the oceans and related environmental matters. The club has more than 70 members. One-minute vignettes highlighting Lamadrid’s efforts are to air at various times throughout the day from Sept. 6-15 on KNBC-TV/Channel 4.

Loyola Marymount University alumni John Mazzarella, class of ‘89, and Aron Little, class of ‘90, have been awarded Rotary International scholarships that will allow them to travel abroad to study for a year beginning in the fall of 1991. Mazzarella plans to work toward a master’s degree in international relations. Little plans to work toward a master’s degree in theology.