Achievements of 7 Women Earn Awards From YWCA

The North Orange County YWCA will honor seven women with distinguished achievement awards for leadership in their fields.

They are Catherine Michaels of Laguna Hills, director of the La Habra Children’s Museum; Cheryl Byrne of Laguna Niguel, a vice president at Bergen Brunswig Corp.; educator Alma Elaine Rail of Huntington Beach; Dr. Barbara Best North of Laguna Niguel, owner of Healthworks Inc. and Brea City Councilwoman Clarice A. Blamer. Gloria Schlaepfer of Fullerton will be recognized for her volunteer work. Dr. Aleen Agranowitz of Lakewood, founder of the Speech and Language Development Center in Buena Park, will receive a special award.

All will receive silver medallions at a luncheon Oct. 18 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.

Lyn Maher, chairwoman of the fundamental arts department at MacArthur Intermediate School, and Dee Gomez, who directs the English as a Second Language department at Santa Ana High School, have been named Orange County Teachers of the Year by the Orange County Department of Education.

Anaheim resident Art Forman a loss-prevention supervisor at the Anaheim Marriott Hotel, has been named Marriott’s western regional Loss Prevention Officer of the Year. He was cited for having made a tangible difference in reducing crime and maintaining safety at the hotel.

Garden Grove teachers Frosty Kaiser, Carolyn Krutsinger, Colleen Rice, Joanne Davey, Carole McCormac, Ella Broderick, Jackie Taylor and Margaret Feliciani have received I Make a Difference awards from the Garden Grove Education Assn. The eight were recognized for their roles as teachers and as participants in community activities such as managing a horseback-riding program for handicapped students, coaching students for special track events and acting as foster parents.

Tustin resident Ruth Rowland will be honored at a 100th-birthday celebration Tuesday at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where she works as a volunteer.

Rowland’s birthday is Oct. 5, but because she will be putting in her regular shift as a surgical supply volunteer Tuesday, volunteers and staff members decided to have their party for her on that day.

Rowland was born in Kansas City, Kan., and moved to Tustin in 1918, where she took a job as a teacher. She eventually became the head of the home economics department at Santa Ana High School, from which she retired in 1952. She began doing volunteer work during World War II, when she helped the Red Cross.

Commenting about her life, Rowland said, “I’ve lived through a most interesting age.”

A. Buford Hill Jr. of Tustin, now president of the Orange County Boy Scout Council, has been named director of the western region of the national scouting organization. The region encompasses Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Hawaii and parts of Wyoming and New Mexico and also Guam, Micronesia, American Samoa and the Far East Council in Japan. There are about 900,000 youth scouts in that area. Hill will assume the post Jan. 1.

Retired master craftsman Arnold Hopfer of Mission Viejo will be honored at a sanctification ceremony Friday for his gift of an ark to the Heritage Pointe retirement community in Mission Viejo. According to Rabbi Martin Weitz, who conducts services at the retirement community, the ark is a special cabinet that holds the Torah scroll, the handwritten parchment containing the five Books of Moses.

Alison Hay, a third-grader at Marjorie Veeh Elementary School in Tustin, was named a winner in a calendar slogan contest sponsored by the Municipal Water District of Orange County. Her slogan--”Save Water--It’s Running Out. Turn Off the Faucet, Turn Down the Spout” will be one of 12 to be printed on the district’s 1991-92 pocket calendar.