Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 29, 2021

3Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 29, 2021 3Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 29, 2021 
CIVIC CLUB CHERISHES ITS FRIENDS 


Despite a year with fewer Civic Club activities, we had quite a few helpers to facilitate the activitiesthat we did have. In July we had a lot of confetti eggs to sell but no parade, so a couple of people soldmass quantities of eggs including Michelle Keith and Lisa Carlson. In August Ali Zamanzadeh helpeddeliver Covid masks to Civic Club members. In September Ron Coleman arranged to pick up manyitems at an estate sale and delivered them to Ellen O’Leary for online sales to go towards the club’sphilanthropy funds. Also donating items for online sales were Shirley Wolff, Darlene Besocke, andTom Crouse. Jeff Plaut assisted all year with the logistics on online sales.

Helping with the many Halloween window art activities were Doug Senour who helped delivermerchant letters in town, and Charlie Bell who helped with numerous computer issues. In OctoberShinji Nakagawa helped all afternoon to measure and cut the Halloween art “canvases.” The follow-
ing week we had help delivering the art canvases to families in town: Eric Clark, Crystal Czubernatand her wife Candace and their two children Dylan and Deacon, Craig Switzer, the Vandevelde kidsShane, Riley and Owen. Roxanna Ferguson’s daughter Morgan beautifully decorated a box to hold 
the finished art canvases. 

 Those who helped with posting the art on the merchants’ windows were Shane and Riley Vande-
velde, Danica Shair, Craig Switzer, Erma Gutierrez’s grandkids, and Eric Clark. Helping to removewindow art on November 3 were Craig Switzer and Ted Krok. We are grateful to all of the merchantsin town who offered their windows to host the art. We appreciate Susan Henderson, editor of Moun-
tain Views News, who published three articles about the Halloween window art activity. In addi-
tion, Civic Club gives special thanks to Nano Café’s owner, Jackie Sheu, who sponsored a GiveBackprogram for two weeks during the Bobcat Fire.

 Our last shout outs are to Pat and Sue Wickham who saved bottles and cans for Civ-
ic Club all year, and to Craig Switzer for his ongoing support to the communications secre-
tary by picking up mail at the post office and newsletters at the printer and for editorial ad-
vice.To all of these wonderful people, the Sierra Madre Civic Club gives profound thanks for 
helping us to help our community. 

Submitted by Jean Coleman, Chair of Friends of Civic Club 


Summer Reading at the Library is back and better than ever. Our Summer Reading Pro-
gram – Sierra Madre Super Summer – starts on Saturday, June 12, and we have a number 
of interesting virtual activities, along with a growing number of in-person programs sched-
uled throughout the summer. All inperson activities will be limited in size and conducted 
outdoors, until and unless regulations allow for them to move inside.

 Each year, we are grateful for funding by the City of Sierra Madre, public donations, and 
the Friends of the Sierra Madre Library which enables us to provide summer enrichment 
opportunities for all to enjoy. 

 In addition, this year’s programming was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute 
of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technol-
ogy Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. 


WALKING SIERRA MADRE - The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis 


“Every moment one lives is different 
from the other. The good, the 
bad, hardship, the joy, the tragedy, 
love and happiness are all interwoven 
into one single, indescribable 
whole that is called life. You 
cannot separate the good from the 
bad. And perhaps there is no need 
to do so, either.” 
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis 

“Let every nation know, whether 
it wishes us well or ill, that we 
shall pay any price, bear any burden, 
meet any hardship, support 
any friend, oppose any foe to assure 
the survival and the success 
of liberty.” John F. Kennedy, Inaugural 
Address 1961 

As Memorial Day will be so different 
again this year, I thought 
I’d dust off and refurbish my 
Memorial Day column from last 
year. Dear friends and neighbors 
this is my the memory of this day 
two years ago, and the hope that 
we will be able to experience it 
together, without masks, social 
distancing or fear next year. 

“Freedom is never more than one 
generation away from extinction. 
We didn't pass it to our children 
in the bloodstream. It must be 
fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset 
years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States 
where men were free.” Ronald Reagan 


“It is imperative that the sacrifices made by the fallen not fade into the ether. We believe that a 
veteran, a person – anyone – has two deaths, once when their breath leaves their body, and the 
second time is when no one is able to talk about them or say their name. That is why its important 
for communities to come out and honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. It’s really getting 
the community around remembering those people and making sure that they are never forgotten.” 
Rachel Charles, Acting Director of the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona 

“There have been so many pictures everywhere you look this past weekend (2018), leading up to 
Monday, Memorial Day, of small flags adorning graves, stretching as far into the horizon as the 
eye can see, as friends and family of those who gave all gather together to remember. There was 
one on Facebook that especially touched me of my grandchildren, Nicole, Blake and Luke Simon, 
at the Los Angeles National Cemetery, to visit the grave of their grandmother, Margaret Ineson, 
who was a Navy nurse. They were pretty small at the time the photo was taken, which made it so 
sweet to see. 

There were families and children galore at Sierra Madre’s own Memorial Day Observance at Pioneer 
Cemetery. Rev. Thomas Baker of St. Rita’s Church, during his invocation said, “Their names 
may fade with the passing of generations, but never let what they have done be forgotten.” 

Congresswoman, Judy Chu, spoke with such pride about her father who served during WWII as 
an Army Radio Communications Sergeant at the Pacific front in Okinawa. She also spoke of her 
success in finally getting a Veteran’s Health Clinic here in the San Gabriel Valley. Judy labored for 
seven years to achieve this goal and was thrilled to announce that the Department of Veteran Affairs 
(VA) officially opened a Veteran’s healthcare clinic in Arcadia, called the San Gabriel Valley 
Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). 

Even though this was just the first week of operation, the clinic already had a full schedule of 
patient visits, offering everything from primary care to telehealth (In case you’re wondering what 
telehealth is, here’s the definition: the delivery and facilitation of health and health-related services 
including medical care, provider and patient education, health information services, and 
self-care via telecommunications and digital communication technologies.), to basic laboratory 
services. This is the culmination, the fruition, of years of trying to achieve this goal; VA healthcare 
right here in the area which is home to more than 45,000 U.S. Veterans. Judy wanted to specially 
thank our Sierra Madre VFW Post 3208 for their donations and time spent in many meetings 
working as advocates, raising awareness for this health clinic. These folks were there with her 
every step of the way in making the VA clinic a reality. 

Ms. Chu also presented Certificates of Congressional Recognition to Kenneth Anhalt WWII Veteran, 
Bud Switzer, Korean Conflict Veteran, Stanley Pinta, Vietnam Veteran, Dave Loera, Vietnam 
Veteran, and Cindy O’Hara, Post 3208 Commander. Ms. O’Hara quoted General George S. 
Patton, “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that 
such men lived.” 

It was a beautiful day to be in our Pioneer Cemetery, where my beloved John rests, to thank these 
Veterans who are still with us and to remember those who have gone before us. As I saw somewhere 
else this past week, “before you slap burgers on the grill, remember Inchon and Heartbreak 
Ridge and Chosin Reservoir, where heroic Marines fought to their last breath against overwhelming 
odds. Remember Khe Sanh and Hamburger Hill. Remember Ramadi and Fallujah and Kandahar. 
It’s easy to forget the fallen, especially on a day when the sun is shining and we are so blessed 
with the tremendous good fortune to live in peace.” (Laurie Roberts, USA Today Network). 

With Covid finally becoming less of a threat, we can hope and pray that next year we can meet 
again at Pioneer Cemetery to remember those who gave all. 

“Home of the free, because of the brave.” 

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis 
Where you’ll find “Sunrises and Sunflowers Speak Hope”
And “A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of Laughter”
Take a look at both of these books, stuffed with hope and theoccasional good recipe. 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 
Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com