Salvation Army Salutes a Man Who Just Keeps Giving

KNBC-Channel 4 reporter Vikki Vargas told this story the other night at the Salvation Army’s annual awards dinner in Anaheim, about KTLA-Channel 5 sports anchor Ed Arnold: Arnold also announces for the Sunday TV show “Hour of Power,” and once instead of saying, “Now, back to the Crystal Cathedral,” he inadvertently said, “Now, let’s go back to the circus.”

It brought a rousing laugh from the 250 in the room, including the Rev. Robert H. Schuller and his wife, Arvella. But I couldn’t help wondering, just how does Ed Arnold keep track of where he is on his schedule?

Ever since my family has lived in Orange County, Arnold has seemed ubiquitous: Boys and Girls Clubs, the March of Dimes, Disney boosters, church television, the Salvation Army, the Strawberry Festival, Jaycees and Rotary causes, cystic fibrosis, cancer, heart disease and multiple sclerosis causes, the Special Olympics. It seems as if three words always come up when anybody’s looking for a credible spokesman in this county: “Let’s ask Ed.”

Vargas reflected my own thoughts when she told Arnold from the podium: “I’m going to ask your bosses when it is you work.”

TV personalities have a myriad of opportunities to make nice bucks on the side. Arnold, who lives in Fountain Valley with his wife, Dixie Lee, has never made a dime off any of the endeavors--including the Crystal Cathedral--that he can’t seem to say no to. Which is why it was nice this week to see Arnold on the receiving end for once.

The Orange County administration of the Salvation Army bestowed upon Arnold its most prestigious honor, and one not given annually: its “Others” award. It’s for distinguished service, and Arnold has long been at the forefront in promoting Salvation Army causes.

These aren’t easy times for any group dedicated to helping needy families. The balance sheet for the Salvation Army office here shows it slightly in the red for the past year. Not only did the county’s bankruptcy hurt contributions, but it’s led to about a 20% increase in requests for the Salvation Army’s services. But the spirit at this year’s dinner was upbeat, and Arnold, in his acceptance remarks, summed it up well:

“The Salvation Army is not just there at Christmastime. This is a year-round operation.”

Spanning Change: In researching a recent column about the four historic buildings at the county’s Heritage Hill Park in Lake Forest, it was easy to become fascinated with Frances Bennett. One of those four buildings is the Bennett ranch house, built in 1908 and relocated from the heart of what used to be El Toro.

Frances McDonnell and other schoolgirls from Santa Ana spent a summer at the ranch to make money pitting apricots. The rancher’s son, Harvey Bennett, became enchanted with her. When his father, a state legislator, became ill, Harvey took over both the ranch and the house with Frances, his new bride. She raised six children, taught Sunday school in the church now also at Heritage Hill, and helped found the first women’s club in the area.

What I didn’t know until after that column’s deadline was that Frances Bennett lived to the age of 90. And the library at Heritage Hill, where the Fiesta Days celebration takes place today, includes several hours of tapes she made, reminiscing about those pioneer days.

I listened to all those tapes this week and loved every minute of them. If you’re interested in the history of El Toro and south Orange County, make arrangements with park officials to hear them sometime. They’re a treasure.

The men worked the orchards from sunrise to sundown, Frances minded the children and ran the house. Monday was wash day, Tuesday ironing, Wednesday baking, Thursday and Friday cleaning, and Saturday was the big day for breads and cakes for Sunday company.

“We’d always have someone coming down from Santa Ana,” she stated. “They loved to come see us in the country.”

She was asked how much she knew to make, if she couldn’t be sure how many would be coming for dinner. “I just baked everything in sight,” was her answer.

Girl Eagles: Everybody knows that Eagle Scouts are the boys who’ve reached the highest level of Scouting. But less well known are the Gold Awards, the top honor for Girl Scouts.

Recently 37 Senior Girl Scouts from Orange County were honored with Gold Awards at a banquet at the Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa. Diane Smith of the Girl Scout Council of Orange County says about 6% of the Senior girls in the organization nationwide earn a Gold Award, but here the average remains about 10% each year.

Gourmet Hospital: Hospital food ranks with airplane food among the cuisine we like to poke a little fun at. But the Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center is trying to spruce up its menu. If you’re a patient there, you can now ask for pho ga. That’s a Vietnamese chicken noodle soup, and hospital officials say it’s an effort to help address its increasingly diverse patient base.

A Vietnamese diet consultant was hired to help prepare an entire menu of Vietnamese dishes. Any patients are free to order--unless on restricted diet.

Wrap-Up: Two of Frances Bennett’s children, Bonnie Hendrie of Newport Beach and Harvey Bennett Jr. of Santa Barbara, will attend today’s Heritage Hill celebration. Both were raised in the house that visitors will be touring.

Harvey Bennett says his earliest memory is his mother cooking in the kitchen. Hendrie told me that when she drives through all the urban development in South County, she thinks back to the wonderful times she had riding across all those hills on horseback, with hardly a house in sight.

Many of us can only imagine those early days. But we get a little help doing so, when people like Frances Bennett think to create oral histories on tape for us.

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Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or sending a fax to (714) 966-7711.