LAGUNA NIGUEL : 2 Volunteers Named Citizens of the Year

Two of the city’s consummate volunteers, Chris Alexander and the late Ed Bieschke, have been honored by the City Council as the 1993 Laguna Niguel Citizens of the Year.

At its meeting last week, the council presented resolutions to Alexander and Bieschke’s wife, Charlene.

“I’m still trying to recover from shock,” Alexander said before receiving the award. “There’s a lot of competition out there, and I’m just a little peon.”

Alexander retired from the Santa Ana Unified School District in 1989 after 30 years as a teacher and counselor. But she keeps up an active life.

“There’s no way I could retire,” she said. “I’d go nuts staying home.”

So Alexander, 64, continues working as a real estate agent, a job she has held for 15 years. She also volunteers to help small businesses establish themselves in the community.

In addition, she is president-elect of the Lions Club; is a member of the South Coast Medical Center Winners Circle, the Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce and the YMCA Fund-Raising Campaign; and has been recognized as one of the top networkers by Le Tip International.

She regularly makes deliveries for Meals-on-Wheels and is a supporter of the American Youth Soccer Organization, the Laguna Niguel Little League, the Capistrano Valley Drill Team and Casa Teresa.

“Chris is known for unselfishly donating her time to help others without recognition of any kind and is truly a behind-the-scenes volunteer and a vital part of her community,” reads the city’s resolution.

Ed Bieschke, who died last January at the age of 68, was much the same person, said his wife. “He was always volunteering,” she said.

During his 22 years of living and serving in the community, Bieschke became known as Mr. Laguna Niguel--except at the Laguna Niguel Christmas tree lighting ceremony, where he was Santa Claus, or during the drive for incorporation in 1989, when he was a member of Citizens for Cityhood.

“He rode around in back of a pickup truck dressed as Uncle Sam, trying to get the vote out when we were becoming a city,” Charlene Bieschke recalled.

Among his many community activities, Bieschke served on the Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce board of directors, as president of the Lion’s Club and as president of the Senior Citizens’ Club.

The chamber honored him and Charlene as Members of the Year in 1991 and, earlier this year, established the Ed Bieschke Memorial Scholarship Fund.