SANTA CLARITA : Name Selected for Seniors Apartments

A 72-year-old cake decorator and candy maker has been awarded a trip to Las Vegas for naming a new Santa Clarita senior citizens apartment complex that will provide housing for low-income residents.

Clarice Secrest of Newhall named the 65-unit complex “Whispering Oaks” because the property at Newhall and Market streets has oak trees, she said. The complex, scheduled to open May 1, is next to a senior citizens center operated by the Santa Clarita Valley Committee on Aging Corp., a nonprofit agency.

Thirty-three units will be reserved for low-income tenants, said Seymour Braverman, secretary-treasurer of SHB Financial Corp. of North Hollywood, which is building the project.

Secrest’s suggestion was chosen from among 173 entries by a committee that included Santa Clarita Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy. Among the entries not picked were “Good Life Apts.,” “Nirvana,” “Happy New Nursing Home” and “Utopia.”