Irvine Resident Is Honored by Jaycees

Janni Smith of Irvine, who was paralyzed in a gunshot accident 10 years ago, was named Outstanding Young Person of the World in the medical innovation category by the International Jaycees.

Earlier this year, she was named one of the Outstanding Persons of the United States by the U.S. Jaycees, which placed her in contention for the international title. The National League of Nurses also honored her with its Heart of Gold Award.

Smith, president of Petrofosky Centers for Rehabilitation and Research in Irvine, accepted the award in San Juan, Puerto Rico, earlier this week. The honor caps more than a decade of volunteer work with paralyzed children and adults.

After the accident, Smith went on to become a world-class wheelchair athlete and has won the Detroit, Boston and Honolulu marathons, among others.

Interior designer Patricia Mickey, a Costa Mesa resident and businesswoman, has been selected by the Canadian consul general to join a 30-member trade mission to the International Interior Design Exposition in Toronto.

She and the others will meet with Canadian interior designers and artists and tour Canadian furniture, textile and accessory factories and showrooms.

Laura S. Delarue, 23, a 1984 graduate of Fountain Valley High School and a recent Cal State Pomona graduate in American studies, has completed her Peace Corps training in Bangkok, Thailand.

She is the daughter of Fountain Valley residents Susan and Charles Delarue and will serve a two-year assignment as an English teacher in Loei, Thailand.

Lisa Newhart of Westminster; Leslie Bartimore and Linda Satler, both of Huntington Beach; Jamie Maylock of Costa Mesa; and Laura Carter of Laguna Beach were each honored with the Carl W. Bull Award for excellence in the profession of nursing.

The awards, which included financial grants, recognized the five Golden West College students for their contributions to Orange County’s health care industry.

Bull, who died in 1983, was a founder of Saddleback Memorial Medical Center.

Huntington Beach resident Nancy Mentas, 20, a cosmetology student, was named Golden West College’s homecoming queen.

Jeff Lassegard, a seventh-grader at Niguel Hills Junior High School in Laguna Niguel, won first place in the Dana Harbor Assn.’s “Man and Space ‘90” essay contest.

His paper on “What Does America’s Space Program Mean to Me” won him a trip to the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.

A hand-painted tile mural from the people of Guatemala to the children of La Habra was presented to La Habra Mayor Beth Graham, the result of Guatemala’s participation in the La Habra Children’s Museum Art Festival Day last spring.

The 24 red, white and black tiles depict the museum’s logo and were designed and painted by Guatemalan artists at the Guatemalan House of Culture.

The mural is hanging in the lobby of the museum.