Sound of Music Carries Her Past Century Mark

There are some things Helen Sperling doesn’t do: She doesn’t use a computer. She doesn’t drive. She doesn’t work. She doesn’t have a telephone answering machine. And she doesn’t have a membership in a fancy health club.

Here are some things Helen Sperling always does: She always has a smile on her face, even when her hip is hurting pretty badly, which is often these days. She always finds time to play the organ for friends and guests. And she always does her own cooking and rides an exercise bicycle for 10 minutes each day.

Sperling, who turned 100 years old on Thursday, is being given a birthday party complete with all the trimmings today by family, friends and Palisades Lutheran Church members.

She rarely misses a Sunday service at the church, where she was one of the founding congregation members and played the organ for about 20 years. Her musical abilities go beyond the organ to include the harmonica, accordion and violin.

“My music is the only thing that has kept me going since my husband died,” she said. “I play and forget everything.”

The longtime Westwood resident moved from Minnesota to Los Angeles with her husband, Otto, in 1931. Five years later, the couple built a four-unit apartment building, which she continues to manage.

Bel-Air resident Ray Irani has been elected to the USC Board of Trustees.

Irani, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Occidental Petroleum Corp. in Los Angeles, holds a bachelor’s degree from the American University of Beirut, and a doctorate in physical chemistry from USC. He is also a director of the National Committee on United States-China Relations and of the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation at UCLA. This year, he received the CEO of the Year Bronze Award from Financial World magazine.

The Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology honored Patricia Lucas, director of teacher education, during a scholarship brunch June 6 in Culver City.

Lucas, a longtime Westchester resident, retired from Pepperdine recently after more than 30 years of supervising student teachers.

The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. recently recognized three Westside residents for their hours of volunteer service.

More than 300 docents gathered at the annual Los Angeles Zoo Docent Awards luncheon to honor Santa Monica resident Mary Deckert for 5,000 hours of service, Bel-Air resident Mickey Jones for 6,000 hours of service and Brentwood resident Millie Rudnick for 8,000 hours of service.

The trio received special pins in recognition of their contributions to the zoo and docent program.

Herman Turk, a sociologist and scholar in residence at USC, has been named a visiting research professor at the University of Haifa in Israel.

During the fall semester, he will test his hypothesis that cities become more diversified and less specialized with time. A former director of the Laboratory for Organizational Research at USC, he also plans to study Israeli cities and whether aspects of his theory can be expanded.

He lives in Pacific Palisades.