St. Jude Patients Honored for Their Positive Attitudes

Richard Branderfine, William Leahy, Robert and Valerie Brady and Deborah Hancock have been awarded St. Jude Center for Rehabilitation Spirit Awards.

The awards are given to patients at St. Jude Hospital and Rehabilitation Center who demonstrate the most progress and positive attitude in overcoming great obstacles in their recovery.

Branderfine of Santa Ana was the spinal cord injury patient of the year; Leahy of Yorba Linda was stroke patient of the year; the Bradys, of Hawthorne, were brain-injured patients of the year; and Hancock, of Fullerton, was pain-management patient of the year.

“Those who receive these awards serve as examples of what can be accomplished to other rehabilitation patients at St. Jude Medical Center,” said center spokesman Barry Ross. “They are those who have returned to productive lives and independent living.”

San Juan Capistrano resident Raymond C. Miller, general manager of South Coast Water District, has been elected vice chairman of the California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Assn. (AWWA).

A professional engineer, Miller has been a district employee since 1967 and had served as superintendent of operations until his appointment as general manager.

The South Cost Water District serves northern Dana Point and southern Laguna Beach coastal areas.

John (Jack) Butler of Santa Ana; Jill and Scott Richmond of Orange, and Nancy and John (Jack) Skinner of Newport Beach, were named Stanford University Centennial Medallion Award winners for their volunteer service to the university during its Centennial campaign.

Ron Coleman, Fullerton fire chief since 1985, has been elected a vice president of the International Technical Committee for the Prevention and Extinction of Fire, a group of fire officials from 38 nations.

Coleman, a Fullerton resident, said the committee is an advisory body to the United Nations’ Disaster Relief Organization.

New reading tutors who graduated from the Literacy Volunteers of America program at the Huntington Beach Library are Peggy Adams, Kathleen Bisaccia, Candice Bishop, Lori Brady, Irene Graff, Jeff Kennedy, Ken Sargent, James Selig, Teresa Stubsten, Betty Summers and Hanni Volgelweid, all of Huntington Beach.

Others include Mary K. Dowell, Kathy Reynolds, Kathy Seibert and Roger Stanley, Westminster; Karen DePalmer, Garden Grove, and Lucy Romero, Midway City.

Also graduating were Ari Driver and Barbara Meade of Costa Mesa, and Virginia Ehmann of Long Beach.

Joan and Don Swanson, parents of six children and grandparents of eight, have been named Fountain Valley Family of the Year for 1991.

The family was honored by the Fountain Valley City Council, and Nov. 24-30 was proclaimed “Family Week” in recognition of the importance of the family unit.

Twelve individuals and organizations were honored at Orange County’s Sixth Annual Philanthropy Day celebration.

The honorees include John and Donna Crean of Santa Ana Heights, outstanding philanthropists; Merritt L. Johnson of Newport Beach, spirit of philanthropy and outstanding fund-raising professional; David A. Eisenman of Mardan School in Irvine, outstanding nonprofit executive; and Patricia Cox of Santa Ana Heights, outstanding volunteer leader.

Others are Sherron Paul of Newport Beach, outstanding volunteer; Fieldstone Co. of Newport Beach and McDonnell Douglas of Santa Ana, co-winners as outstanding business concerns; the George Hoag Family Foundation in Newport Beach, outstanding support of philanthropy.

Also honored were Angelitos de Oro of Tustin, outstanding support group; Sarah Rettinger of Foothill High School, outstanding youth; and Fountain Valley Keywanettes & Key Club of Santa Ana, outstanding youth group.

Sandy Garcia, a special education and adaptive physical education teacher at the Speech and Language Development Center in Buena Park, was named Orange County Coach of the Year at the recent Special Olympics at Glover Stadium in Anaheim.

Orange resident J. Richard Hoye has been presented the Insurance Institute of America’s annual award for Academic Excellence, which is given to insurance officials who achieve the highest grades nationally in essay examinations.

The award was presented to Miller, director of pricing for Colonial Insurance Co. of California in Anaheim and a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, at a ceremony in New Orleans.