SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : School-Name Ideas Include Mrs. Bush

First Lady Barbara Bush, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and Assemblyman Gil Ferguson are among those nominated to be the namesakes for five elementary schools to be built by the Capistrano Unified School District.

The board of trustees could consider the names at its 7:30 p.m. meeting today at district headquarters, 32972 Calle Perfecto. The board’s other option is to appoint a committee to pare the nominations.

Also nominated are retiring district Supt. Jerome R. Thornsley, Assistant Supt. William F. Dawson, community volunteers Jeanna Bassett, Leo Fessenden and Shigeru Kinoshita, teachers Joe and Virginia Wimer and Robert Beasley, the district’s first board president. Several geographical names have also been suggested.

The nominations were made by district residents.

Bush was nominated by Molly Retzlaff, president of Crown Valley Elementary School PTA.

“Barbara Bush has made significant contributions in the area of literacy, both with children and adults, in the schools and community,” Retzlaff wrote the board in making the nomination.

Schwarzkopf, who led the Allied forces in the Persian Gulf War, was nominated by Kevin A. Canning, director of government relations of the Arvida Corp., a local development company.

When asked on the nomination form the rationale for choosing Schwarzkopf, Canning wrote: “No rationale needed.”

Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) was nominated by several residents, including some members of his staff. The district already has an elementary school named after State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach).

Thornsley is retiring in June after 17 years as superintendent, and was nominated by Canning.

Dawson is the assistant superintendent for facilities and services, and was also nominated by Canning.

Bassett is a volunteer art instructor at Concordia Elementary School.

Fessenden is a volunteer in the district’s music program and has given scholarships and no-interest loans to music students.

Kinoshita is a local farmer who has been active with area youth programs such as Boy Scouts and Little League, and his business donates money to Del Obispo Elementary School.

The Wimers are a married couple who together taught 49 years in the South County area.

Beasley became president when the district was founded in 1965 and served eight years on the board.