West Covina Names Greene Fire Chief

Richard E. Greene has been named fire chief in West Covina effective Monday, replacing Bob McClelland, who has retired.

Greene, who has worked for fire departments for 26 years, most recently was fire chief in Kansas City, Mo. He previously was fire chief in Grand Junction, Colo., and served in the Phoenix, Ariz., Fire Department for 22 years.

Greene is a member of the International Assn. of Fire Chiefs, the Missouri Emergency Preparedness Assn. and the National Fire Protection Assn.

The Mt. Wilson Vista Council of the Girl Scouts will present the Girl Scout Gold Award to 13 San Gabriel Valley Scouts June 7.

The award, the most prestigious in the organization, requires completion of a project combining all a girl has learned through scouting.

Recipients are Karyn Conway of Monrovia; Michelle Gin, Sophia Kan, Jennifer Kimura, Sharon Lee, Joanie Morioka, Jennifer Sais, KimRenee Varos, Masina Reyes, Pilar Rojas-Wong, Stephanie Wong and Karen Young of Monterey Park, and Melissa Graham of Alhambra.

Also to be honored is Eleanor Moninger of Temple City, who will receive an award given to women who are outstanding role models for girls. Moninger has been involved in scouting since 1928 on the local, national and international level. She was a founder of the World Assn. of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1986.

The awards ceremony will be from 2 to 4 p.m. June 7 at the Doubletree Hotel in Pasadena.

The Pasadena Arts Council has honored recipients of its annual Gold Crown Awards.

Awards went to David Houk, developer of the Pasadena Playhouse and president of Theater Corp. of America; Versie Mae Richardson, opera singer and member of the Pasadena Arts Commission; Tom Coston, director of the Light Bringer Project; Steve Pilkington, music director of Pasadena Presbyterian Church, and Rebecca Thompson, children’s choir director of Pasadena Presbyterian Church and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus.

Also, Kathy Register, art editor of the Pasadena Star-News; Jim Wilson, co-producer of “Dances With Wolves”; the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, and Lars Hansen, executive director of the Pasadena Playhouse. The late Anya Fisher, Pasadena artist, was honored in memoriam.

The San Gabriel Valley YWCA will have its Women of Achievement luncheon at 11 a.m. Friday at Industry Hills Sheraton Resort, 1 Industry Hills Parkway, City of Industry.

San Gabriel Valley women will be honored in eight categories.

They are Ilona Miller, entrepreneur; Betty Jarrell, exceptional service; Eleanor M. Villano, public service; Elva Swoffer, lifetime achievement; Jane Ferris, volunteer service; Cathleen D. Rodman, business and industry; Marcia M. Neugebauer, science, and Elisheva Goldstein, education.

Miller is president of Mailsort Inc. in the City of Industry. She emigrated from Germany in 1965 and established the postal presorting company that has 80 employees. She also owns a real estate office in Glendora.

Jarrell, a foster parent in La Puente, has taken in 300 abused, addicted, sick and neglected children in 37 years.

Villano has been an investigative assistant for the FBI for 40 years and since 1974 has been assigned to its West Covina Resident Agency. She has been nominated to receive the FBI’s Director’s Award for Distinguished Service.

Swoffer, 70, a resident of Arcadia, operated water ski schools from 1945 to 1986, specializing in teaching the handicapped and learning disabled to ski using special equipment she designed and built. At 66, she learned to fly and has flown more than 400 hours on search-and-rescue missions for the Coast Guard.

Ferris, executive director of the Greater La Puente Chamber of Commerce, volunteers through Soroptimist International of Puente Hills. Her efforts have resulted in a Meals on Wheels program, which has evolved under her guidance into the Greater La Puente Valley Meals on Wheels that serves 55 meals a day.

Rodman is vice president for Foundation/Public Relations at Queen of the Valley Hospital, where she has reorganized the foundation and tripled its revenues.

Neugebauer, a senior research scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, is a space plasma physicist specializing in the study of the solar wind. She is president-elect of the American Geophysical Union and chairwoman of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Solar and Space Physics.

Goldstein is a chemistry professor at Cal Poly Pomona. She has published 15 papers and developed a course in computational chemistry for seniors and graduate students.

The event will also include the Bright Futures program, designed to recognize local high school girls who have demonstrated a commitment to a better life for themselves and others. The girls have exhibited outstanding traits of character and leadership and have demonstrated perseverance or determination in the face of adversity. They will each receive $100.

The girls and their schools are Maxine A. Enciso, Baldwin Park; Sylvia Mendoza, Bassett; Donna Varner, Bishop Amat; Kristie M. Tuck, Charter Oak; Marivel Iguidez, Covina; Sylvia Medina, Del Paso Continuation in Walnut; Alisa Linde, Diamond Bar; Vicki Hutak, Duarte; Michelle Cusson, Fairvalley Continuation in Covina; Maria E. Lopez, Gladstone; Kari Hyer, Glendora; Laura Rives, Hillgrove Center in Walnut; Erica Gallardo, La Puente, and Jennifer E. Cole, Los Altos.

Others are Nga Tran, Monrovia; Lupe Torres, Mt. Olive Continuation in Duarte; Tohao Nguyen, Mountain View; Judy Esparaza, Nogales; Sulema Grijalva, North Park Continuation in Baldwin Park; Jennifer Woodward, Northview; Mary Mullis, Rosemead; Regina Su, Rowland; Danette McFarland, San Dimas; Tammy Allen, South Hills; Monique Andreen Welsh, Walnut; Antonia M. Beauchamp, West Covina, and Shana Padilla, Workman.

Information on the luncheon can be obtained from the YWCA at (818) 960-2995.

Reva Spies of Duarte has been named county Public Library Volunteer of the Year for her work at the Duarte Community Library Literacy Center.

The activities of the center include forming partnerships and teamwork with students, tutors and the library’s staff. Spies has recruited 31 tutors in creating a successful literacy program for the library.

Agnes Lesher, 76, has been named Arcadia’s Senior Citizen of the Year by the Arcadia Senior Citizens Commission.

Lesher plays the harmonica for the ailing elderly in hospitals and convalescent homes five days a week. She started playing for the elderly after helping her husband through seven years of cancer and caring for her mother-in-law, who lived to age 101.

Lesher worked for 22 years sorting mail in the El Monte Post Office until she retired.

John Perkins has received the “Others” Award from the Pasadena Tabernacle Corps of the Salvation Army.

The award recognizes individuals who give of themselves to the betterment of mankind.

Perkins founded an organization named Harambee in Altadena in 1984 to offer a holistic approach to healing the children of a community scarred by drugs and gang violence. The center offers a variety of community services and activities through a family-type atmosphere.

Perkins is founder of Voice of Calvary Ministries, an organization that has pioneered efforts in community development and racial reconciliation. He is listed as a Distinguished Black American in “Who’s Who of International Intellectuals” and is on the boards of World Vision, Prison Fellowship and Door of Hope.

Robert Kladifko of Arcadia, principal of Reseda High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District, has been selected California School Administrator of the Year in the high school principal category by the Assn. of California School Administrators.

Kladifko is a former member of the board of education of the Arcadia Unified School District.