Scholar to Dissect ‘Firebird Suite’

El Toro resident Joni Lynn Steshko was named a Fulbright scholar and awarded a grant to conduct research for her doctoral dissertation on Igor Stravinsky’s 1919 “Firebird Suite” in Basel, Switzerland. The study will continue for nine months

She will examine Stravinsky’s original “Firebird” manuscripts to create an accurate, scholarly, performing edition of the orchestral score.

Steshko holds a master of music degree in orchestral conducting from Cal State Fullerton, and a bachelor of arts degree from UCLA in classical guitar performance. She also studied German at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.

Gaddi H. Vasquez, an Orange resident and chairman of the Board of Supervisors, has been named chairman of the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation’s Nov. 16 Eighth Annual Bid for Kids dinner and auction at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in Costa Mesa. It is the foundation’s principal fund-raising event of the year.

The Good Scout Award, recognizing generous contributions to Boy Scouting, was presented to Anthony A. Allen of Corona del Mar by the Construction Industry at its 10th annual awards luncheon. Allen has been president of four Orange County home building companies.

The California Governor’s Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons has selected the Laguna Niguel District of the Internal Revenue Service as 1991 Employer of the Year.

The award was presented to Jesse Cota, who directs the IRS office that employs more than 2,200 people in Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial and Los Angeles counties.

An estimated 200 of the employees have some type of disability. The office was also commended for its aggressive campaign to recruit employees with disabilities.

Laguna Beach resident Susan Brown, Orange Coast College’s dean of admissions and records, will be inducted Oct. 25 into the California Community College Sports Hall of Fame.

Brown, a Newport Harbor High School graduate, will be the first woman to be inducted into the hall of fame.

The ceremony in San Francisco will recognize her years of service as a swimming, softball, field hockey, basketball and volleyball coach in high school and at the college.

Anaheim Hills resident Aree Lauren and Anaheim resident Robert J. Ortiz, both students at the Southern California College of Optometry in Fullerton, were awarded $1,500 Herbert McCracken Dixon scholarships. Dixon was a 1923 graduate of the school.

Edward Yoshida, 15, a Woodbridge High School sophomore, will receive his Boy Scout Eagle rank at a court of honor next Saturday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Irvine.

Edward organized and promoted a blood drive during the Gulf War for the American Red Cross as his community-service project. The drive collected 70 pints of blood.

Fullerton residents John Ellsworth and Janet Loo-Kessler were honored as the first graduates of Northrop Corp.’s Fellowship Program, a combined work/study opportunity for employees seeking an advanced degree in engineering and scientific disciplines.

Ellsworth and Loo-Kessler received their master’s degrees from UCLA.

Attorney Jim Aynes, an El Toro resident, donated a Hobie Cat sailboat to the Friends of Orange Coast College Norman E. Watson Library. The boat, valued at $1,000, will be sold, with the proceeds going to the library.

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