‘Tis The Season....Shop Local


VOLUME 6 NO 48

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012


SIERRA MADRE EVENTS MARK BEGINNING OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON

Woman’s Club Holds Annual Thanksgiving Prayer Breakfast

Santa , The Grinch and Snow Help Light Up The Night at the Who Ville Festival


The Honorable Dorothy Nelson (ret.) of the Bahai Faith speaks as 
Reverends Bamberger, Crisp and Caldenbach listen attentively. 

Story and Photo By Bill Coburn

The day before Thanksgiving, the one-
hundred five year old Sierra Madre 
Woman’s Club again hosted its annual 
Prayer Breakfast at the historic Essick 
House, their clubhouse for the last 
forty years, attended by, as Programs 
Chairwoman described it, “the movers 
and shakers” of the community. Mayor 
Josh Moran and Mayor Pro Tem 
Nancy Walsh, and Council members 
Chris Koerber and John Harabedian 
were joined by City Manager Elaine 
Aguilar, City Treasurer (and Citizen 
of the Year)Richard Mays and every 
department head in City government. 
Fire Chief Steve Heydorff and former 
Police Chief Marilyn Diaz, who will 
soon leave on a five week trip to India 
on behalf of Rotary were in attendance. 
Kiwanis president Susan Henderson, 
former Citizens of the Year 
(and former mayors) Rob Stockly and 
George Maurer were in attendance. 
The Senior Community Commission 
was well represented with member 
and past Older American of the 
Year Fran Garbacchio, former Citizen 
of the Year (and Senior Community 
Commissioner) Marilyn McKernan, 
Commissioner Dorothy Jerneycic and 
Commissioner Nina Bartolai, who was 
joined by her former mayor husband 
Clem, in attendance. And former 
Commission Chair Ann Luke, who is 
also former president of Kiwanis and 
the Chamber of Commerce was also 
in attendance. And that’s just a partial 
list of the nearly one hundred in attendance, 
so perhaps Ms. Carney was 
understating the case.

 

Unofficial town historian (and Woman’s 
Club membership Chair) Phyllis 
Chapman introduced all these folks. 
As everyone arrived, piano was played 
by Eunis Banis. As the event opened, 
President Emeritus Phyllis Bugh did 
the invocation and led the crowd in 
singing “Come, Ye Thankful People, 
Come” and “America the Beautiful”. 
Event Chair Shahrzad Arzani supervised 
the working volunteers of the 
Club in serving everyone coffee, juice, 
muffins, fresh fruit and quiche.

 

But the purpose of the meeting was to 
hear the messages of thanks presented 
by Very Reverend Michael Bamberger 
of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 
Reverend Paul S. Beck, Senior 
of the Sierra Madre Congregational 
Church, Rev. George Crisp of the Sierra 
Madre United Methodist Church, 
Reverend Dr. Jolene Cadenbach of Arcadia 
Congregational United Church 
of Christ, Hon. Judge Dorothy Nelson 
of the Baha’i Faith and Deacon Manuel 
Valencia of St. Rita’s Catholic Church. 
The Benediction was given by the 
Most Reverend Alan Phillip, C. P. of 
the Mater Dolorosa Passionist Community 
Retreat Center.

 

Reverend Bamberger led off, speaking 
about resilience, which he had 
witnessed firsthand recently when he 
was helping the Episcopal Church as 
a disaster consultant in the northeast 
areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. He 
observed that people live everyday essentially 
looking thru lenses that have 
a spectrum, and that those spectrums 
reflect opposing functions that we often 
live somewhat in the middle of. 
Fear and faith, gratitude and resentment, 
scarcity and abundance, and 
the biggest of all, hope and despair. 
He noted that faith and gratitude help 
people to be resilient, and that it’s our 
job to offer words of encouragement 
for hope, “to remind people about 
gratitude, to remind people about 
abundance, and of course, to remind 
people about faith.”

 

Pastor Beck then got up and opened 
with the joke about the monk who entered 
a monastery where he was limited 
to two words per year, and after 
the first year, he said “Bed hard.” After 
the second year, he commented “Food 
bad.” And the third year, his two 
words were “I quit.” The head of the 
monastery replied “I’m not surprised, 
you’ve done nothing but complain 
since you got here.” He observed that 
the Bible addresses complaining in the 
book of Phillipians, chapter 2, verse 14 
“Do everything without grumbling or 
arguing,” and he wondered “How do 
we do that?” He suggested that it was 
by doing what we will be doing tomorrow 
as we gather around the table, by 
counting our blessings. (cont. page 8)

Above - Santa, Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Walsh and The Grinch share a light 
hearted moment during the Tree Lighting Ceremony in Kersting Court at the 
Who Ville Festival. Photo by Dave Felt. Below, local boy scouts assisted with 
the snow slide. The Festival also included train rides, horse & carriage rides and 
booths with handcrafted goods from local non profits. Photo by Bill Coburn

 The Sierra Madre Chamber 
of Commerce held its’ first 
annual Who Ville Festival to 
jump start the holiday shopping 
season last Saturday. The 
event was held in conjunction 
with Small Business Saturday, a 
nationwide effort to encourage 
shoppers to help sustain local 
business.

 In previous years, the Chamber 
has hosted Dickens Village, 
however a “change in the theme 
to the popular Who Ville from 
Dr. Suess’ books will hopefully 
attract more families”, said 
Chamber Board Chairman Ed 
Chen.

 Despite the unseasonably 
warm weather, 86 degrees when 
the festival opened at 1 pm, the 
event managed to keep a steady 
stream of shoppers and diners 
in the local shops and restaurants. 
MVNews


ALTERNATIVE GIFT 
FAIR & BOUTIQUE

Sierra Madre United Methodist Church 
is holding an Alternative Christmas Gift 
Fair & Boutique on Sunday, December 
2, 2012 from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 
Celebrate the spirit of the holiday season 
with a gift that truly “gives back.” Your 
donations help support the relief efforts 
of local organizations such as San Gabriel 
Valley Habitat for Humanity, Friends 
in Deed, Foothill Unity Center, Family 
Promise, and global efforts such as Heifer 
International and missionary programs 
in Mexico. New this year is a boutique 
featuring homemade gifts. Fair Trade 
items from Equal Exchange and the Ten 
Thousand Villages Store will also be 
available. The Church is located at 695 
W. Sierra Madre Blvd. in Sierra Madre. 
Call 626-355-0629 for more information. 

RED CROSS TO 
HOLD HOLIDAY 
BLOOD DRIVE

Save the date! On Thursday, December 
20th the Sierra Madre Community 
Services Department and American Red 
Cross will host a Community Blood Drive 
from 12 noon to 6:00 pm. The event will 
be held at the SM Community Recreation 
Center, 611 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., and is 
open to the public. Individuals who are 
17 years of age or older, 110 pounds or 
more and are in generally good health are 
eligible to donate blood. As a thank you 
to all donors, the American Red Cross 
is providing Subway sandwiches plus a 
coupon from Cold Stone Creamery!

 With the recent Tropical Storm Sandy 
blood donations are needed more 
than ever and what better time than 
the holidays to donate. To schedule 
an appointment, please visit www.
redcrossblood.org or contact the 
Community Services Department at 
(626) 355-7394. 


CALIFORNIA TO PARTICIPATE IN POWERBALL.......PAGE 16

This Week’s Highlights: 

Calendar Page 2

Sierra Madre News Page 3

Pasadena/Altadena Page 4

Around San Gabriel Valley Page 5

Arcadia Page 6

Monrovia/Duarte Page 7

Holiday Happenings Page 8

Education and Youth Page 9

Good Food & Drink Page 10

Best Friends Page 11

Sports Page 11

Arts/Health Page 12

Homes & Property Page 13 

The Good Life Page 14

Business Today Page 15

Left Turn/Right Turn Page 16

Opinion Page 17

Legal Notices Pages 18-21

SIERRA MADRE NEWS

AROUND SG Valley

3

5

REMEMBRANCE:

Rudy Wunderlin

ARCADIA NEWS

6

PASADENA/ALTADENA

4

MONROVIA/DUARTE

6

Hikers rescued from Eaton 
Canyon