Legislators to Honor Women of the Year

A lifelong Ventura educator, an administrator for the Camarillo Health Care District and a Camarillo businesswoman and lifetime volunteer will be recognized next week as three of California’s Women of the Year.

Dorothy Jue Lee, Jane McAndrew Rozanski and Florence LaManno were chosen by local legislators and will be honored Monday during a ceremony in the state Senate chambers.

Members of the Legislature may each designate a woman of the year based on the recipients’ strong commitment and dedication to their communities.

Lee was chosen by Assemblyman Brooks Firestone (R-Los Olivos), Rozanski by state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and LaManno by Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard).

“I just can’t believe this is happening to me,” Lee said Friday. “There are so many people in Ventura and Santa Barbara that are so deserving of this award.”

But Firestone said Lee’s long list of contributions to public education make her a good choice.

Born and raised in Ventura, Lee has never strayed far from schools. After earning a bachelor’s degree in personnel and industrial relationships at UC Berkeley in 1956, she went back to the classroom as a teacher in the Hueneme School District. She taught elementary school in the Ventura Unified district from 1959 until she retired in 1992.

Lee was appointed in 1990 to the California State Board of Education by then-Gov. George Deukmejian and served a four-year term after reappointment by Gov. Pete Wilson. She now serves on the state’s Academic and Content Standards Commission, charged with setting graduation requirements for high school seniors.

Rozanski is being honored for her contributions as director of the Camarillo Health Care District. The nonprofit agency provides low-cost health services to residents of Camarillo, Somis and the Santa Rosa and Las Posas valleys.

“Jane’s long-standing commitment and dedication to serving the residents of the Camarillo area is unparalleled,” Wright said. “People like Jane are a rare commodity and are well deserving of recognition.”

Rozanski, a 29-year Camarillo resident, also serves on the boards of a number of local organizations, such as the United Way of Ventura County, the Camarillo Rotary Club, the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce and the Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation.

LaManno, also a Camarillo resident, is chief financial officer of DFD Enterprises, a Camarillo-based insurer. In addition, she has served as a volunteer for more than 20 years.

Currently she serves as president of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce.

Offices she has held in the past include president of Soroptimist International of Oxnard, chairwoman of the Oxnard chamber’s Political Action Committee and vice president of membership for the Oxnard College Foundation.

LaManno has also been recognized as Businesswoman of the Decade by the Mexican American Political Forum and has earned a Woman of Achievement Award from the Tres Condados Girl Scout Council.