Winter 2005

      With all the mudslides and rain pouring down here during the past few weeks, it is indeed nice to see the sunshine outside once again! We are feeling all dandy all over again and here's some news for you…

      At our general meeting last October, we welcomed Carlos Valencia, a newcomer, and returning Board member Elaine Aikins to be on the Board. Carlos is also our current Athletic Director, taking over David Dobrovech's place. He has been working with our new men's basketball team and their coach, Bert Reins.

      Not only Bert, one of FAAD's past presidents, used to play basketball and softball, but he also coached Pierce Valley team for 13 years before retiring a couple of years ago. We are elated to have him back as a coach for LACD!

      The men's basketball team played in a league in Yorba Linda and has more wins and few losses so far. They won 3rd place while a team from Arizona won first place during the basketball games last February. On February 26th, LACD hosted Dual Basketball Games at Riverside School for the Deaf where our men was seeded number 4 with 1st seeded Arizona for the FAAD Basketball Tournament in Granada Hills on March 11th and 12th. Let's root for our beloved LACD basketball players!

      While we are still in the sports world, some LACD members, such as Anne Wallis, Rachel Friedman, Carol Trachenberg, to name a few, flew to Australia for the 2005 Deaflympic Summer Games last January.

      Tamijo Foronda, one of our softball ladies and all-around athlete, and her beach volleyball partner won the Bronze for our country! WIDEX, a hearing aid manufacturer in Finland, announced that they chose Tamijo, out of all deaf athletes under 25, as their Athlete of the 2005 Deaflympics for fair play and sportsmanship at the Closing Ceremonies. Awards seem to be pouring on Tamijo, who plays volleyball for Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. since she was also named as the Capital Athlete Conference Volleyball Player of the Year. Congratulations, Tamijo!!

      Suzanne Stecker also went to Melbourne, Australia after being asked to work as the media coordinator and web designer for the 2005 US Team. If you have both computer and internet access, be sure to check out US Team's website at http://2005.usdeafsports.org - the Games news are still up there.

      Indeed, Australia was the "hot spot" in the year of 2005. Perren Castaline, son of Bernard and Marilyn, arranged a one-month Australian cruise for deaf people, and among them were Marilyn and Bernard, Elaine Aikins, Richard Cato, Esther Aheroni, and Hedy Udkovich. They left Los Angeles first en route to Hawaii, Fiji Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia then flew back home from Australia. These people did not get the chance to stay for the Deaflympic Games except for Jay Shopshire, son of Jane. Overall, everyone enjoyed themselves in Australia!

      On a very sad note, we experienced several deathsthis year. Roy and Donna Lopaty's beloved 18-year-old daughter, Candice was in a horrific auto accident where she died instantly on Christmas evening. Many of Candice friends and some of her high school teachers were at the funeral, following a reception at Roy and Donna's longtime neighbor's house in Chatsworth. It was a nice service. Despite all of this and with the money Roy and Donna Lopaty received from their friends and children for their 25th wedding anniversary, they went on a Hawaiian cruise where they had a grand time.

      Bill Davidson died of heart attack in his backyard on January 31st and the memorial service took place at a church in Los Angeles. The reception was followed. There were many pictures of Bill from his young days including his FAAD basketball days. Pictures of some of our LACD members were there, such as the late Marvin Greenstone, Saul Lukacs and Bobbi Maucere. Bill was survived by his wife, Ellen, Laura, his daughter and one granddaughter.

      Charlotte Kadin's mother passed away on January 9th, two weeks before Sam and Charlotte celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary. Another mother of a LACD member, Rita Winzelberg, departed us on February 26th at the age of 94. Coincidentally, on that same evening, Lenny Meyer bid us farewell from his home. He is survived by his wife, Paula, three children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. The memorial service will be held at Community Center in Yorba Linda on Sunday, March 20th from noon to 4 p.m. The address is 4501 Casa Loma Avenue. There will be pot luck after the service.

      A surprise 70th birthday party for Anna Petrillo was thrown by her son, Farley Warshaw. Anna was truly clueless about the whole event and was thrilled to see her nephew and her family from Fremont! The celebration went very well.

      Joanne Gleicher is pleased to announce that her daughter, Becca, and Stan Booth bought a brand new house in Moreno Valley. Joan loves to babysit their daughter (her own granddaughter).

      Speaking of grandchildren, Helen Mepham's 9-year-old granddaughter, Allison, has been on American Idol host Ryan Seacrest's morning radio show every morning for almost one year now. Her job is to make prank phone calls for that show. She lives in Long Beach and is in 4th grade. Allison went to a number of concerts and met celebrities including Steve Wonder, Paris Hilton, and Ashlee Simpson. Helen, a proud grandmother, also mentioned that her 17-year-old grandson plans to go to Sacramento with his government class to meet Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Her older grandson was selected to go there last year where he met then Governor Gray Davis.

      As I already mentioned in my previous Topics, Sebby and Barbara Garro's deaf granddaughter, Nicole, was kicking high in karate. She won 1st place in a tournament last September and won again in other two tournaments. Nicole and her little sister, Ryan, entered Southern California Karate Classics in Los Angeles, taking first place and Ryan in third place! They recently entered the "Compete Karate World Tournament" in Pomona. Nicole took first place holding the World Title in her division and Ryan taking second place in hers. The girls' mother (daughter of Sebby and Barbara) said that they were amazing to watch and that Nicole is becoming a real inspiration to the other students with her hearing loss. She also said that these girls are going to be unstoppable and she is proud of them.

      Marleen Dubin beams with pride as she is expecting another grand child for the 14th time. We will probably hear about her 15th one in the next issue! Maria Sanchez glows with joy upon her engagement with Dan Smith from Washington. The wedding date is set sometime in June and will take place on GLAD's front yard.

      Mary Louise Romero, another softball player, married a former professional basketball player, Gordon Betancourt, at a Catholic church on November 20th. They met and dated during their college days in Santa Fe, New Mexico before going onto their separate ways. They got back in touch last year and began dating again recently. Gordon, a 6'6" tall guy, is employed by the city of Santa Fe as a director of teen programs and coaches a high school basketball team. Mary Louise is also a high school coach (girls' volleyball) but at New Mexico School for the Deaf.

      Abe and Rita Winzelberg wrote that they went to Reno, Nevada, visiting their daughter for Thanksgiving. It was cold up there and snowed two days before they flew back home. Nevertheless, they still had loads of fun, especially winning some money from two different casinos!

      Ken Watson is thrilled to have his daughter and her family move back to SoCal from Virginia after two years. She got a new job offer from Guess Company as Vice President. She used to live a few houses away from Ken in Aliso Viejo, Orange County, and plans to live somewhere in Los Angeles with her family and closer to her new job.

      GLAD's CEO Patty Hughes and the Board hosted Herb Roast's Roast on February 5th where over 100 people attended! Herb Larson's face was beet red when he was being "roasted" (teased) by his old friends and former co-workers. The night was filled with laughter and happiness. Coasters with Herb's face on them were given to each person who went, and same face was on the invitation cards designed by Brad Kanawyer. The centerpieces had grass with flags and golf balls in honor of Herb's love for golf.

      Another exciting event is coming up on Sunday, May 1st: our favorite card tournament with Lois Johnson as the chairperson! Continental breakfast will be served at 9:30 in the morning and lunch at 12:30 p.m.

      Remember we will have our general meeting on Saturday, March 19th at 2 p.m. Men basketball players will sell tacos after the meeting, saving us a trip to restaurants afterwards! We will be able to stay inside the building at GLAD all night long! The money for the bank night shot up to $140 because no one was able to claim the prize money three months in a row. You have to be present when your name is called from the drawing otherwise your prize will go to next month's jackpot.

      So, mark your calendars and see you there!

Etta