May 2011 Archives
Kim Wargo, director of music at St. Irenaeus Catholic Church, invited women of the parish to be part of a special All Women's Choir on Mother's Day this year. With only one practice, 10 women parishioners joined 12 regular choir members to sing all the songs during the 9:45 a.m. Mass that day. They especially enjoyed singing the hymn "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman" with two-part harmony.
Submitted by Edna Ethington
Our mom is a smart, kind, and caring woman. She always puts people first before herself. Our mother means the world to us. She is the foundation of our family and without her we would not be able to function. She has raised two children who have learn the meaning of hard work and the importance of education. We are proud to have a mother who has been both parents to us. We love you mom!Your daughter and son,
Ingrid and Oscar R.
Ingrid and Oscar R.
This beautiful lady is Jeanelle Booth. As a special guest she attended the Long Beach Poly Retired staff's luncheon on May 2nd. Jeanelle graduated from Poly in 1935. She spoke at the luncheon about her memories of Poly during the 1933 earthquake and other memories of her school days. Everyone was so impressed by her that people kept asking the committee where we found her. We found her right here in Bixby Knolls where she has lived most of her life. Jeanelle played the violin in the Poly Orchestra under director Anthony Gill. After graduating she played with the Women's Symphony which was invited to play at the World's Fair in San Diego. She later became a member of the Long Beach Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Robert Resta. She is active in Bethany Baptist Church of Long Beach. No one would guess that she will be celebrating her 94th birthday in August. She is quite a lady and has made Poly proud.
Long Beach Poly Retirees Group
This is my 9-year-old Australia Cattle Dog "Maggie." Cattle dogs love to work and this has been her job since she was around six months old. Rain or shine everyday she goes out to get my paper, the Press-Telegram.Submitted by Andy Zaccardo and Maggie
These Lakewood residents, including Mayor Larry Van Nostran, came to my house on April 16 to help me with yard work that I'm having a hard time with these days. My late husband, Juan, and I became involved in Lakewood activities in the 1970s. We coached for many years in Lakewood Youth Sports at Bloomfield Park. Since Juan passed away, the work in the yard and on the outside of the house has gotten to be too much for me at times. I was so grateful that my Lakewood neighbors pitched in to help me on Volunteer Day. They cleared out overgrown weeds, trimmed plants and even did some touch-up painting. My house looks so nice now. I understand many other Lakewood residents were also helped on Volunteer Day. Thank you so much to my friends and neighbors in Lakewood. Words can't fully express my gratitude.
Submitted by Barbara Lucero
Laura and Will Clancy from Ft. Myers, Florida and Denise and Mark Brown of Long Beach, celebrated their 30th wedding anniversaries together in beautiful Costa Rica. We took a break from the 25 zip lines to cool off in this pool of water and snapped this photo with the Press-Telegram.Submitted by Denise Brown
Our family has been Dodger fans for life. We all spent a wonderful weekend traveling to Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Az. to watch a Dodger Spring training game. Our Blue Crew included Gerry and Jan Layton of Los Alamitos, Jim, Carrie, Gavin, Hayden and Landon de Leon of Long Beach, Greg, Sherri and Christopher Gonser of Long Beach, Gregory, Wendy, Nicholas and Kaelynn Gonser of Long Beach, and John and Annette Berringer of Long Beach. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and fun times at the game!
Greater Lakewood Chamber of Commerce 4th Annual China trip was March 15-23, 2011. It was a great adventure with many exciting places to see in Beijing, Suzhou and Shanghai. The highlight was the Great Wall of China. Lakewood residents Tyler Stibal and his dad Matt made it to the top and back in 44 minutes! Pictured are Lakewood residents, Bill Davis, Karen Crummer, Julie Milburn, Don Gablehouse, Matt Stibal, Erin Stibal, Tyler Stibal (holding the Press-Telegram), Ida House, Steve Millette and Ione Street.Submitted by Erin Stibal
Lakewood
Lakewood
On April 30, Nenita Aragon celebrated her 70th birthday with her beloved husband Amado; children Arlene and Ben; three grandchildren, Ian, Roman,and Aldrich and a number of family and friends. The celebration was at El Dorado Park.Nenita Aragon recently retired after 22 years of service from The Long Beach Police Department's Booking Division.
Happy birthday Mother and Grandma!
We love you!
This is my cat Dolce. He loves to sit on top of my computer usually, but today he thought it was okay for him to surf the Internet.Submitted by Mercedes Ramirez
Lakewood
Lakewood
Here we are on our two week round-trip cruise from Los Angeles aboard the Princess Sapphire. Pictured are: Eva, Gina and Savannah Garcia at a park in Nawiliwili, Kauai. The cruise was a graduation gift for Savannah who is a senior at St. Joseph's High School.Submitted by Gina Garcia
Pictured from l to r: Javi Ruiz, Phil Gomez, Rosario Gomez, Ayfer Kanlilar, Jose Ruiz, Marissa Medrano, Danny Garcia, Maryam Jahdi, Clarisse Casilang and Dil Singh. This group of family and friends visited Barbados to celebrate the 30th birthday of Danny Garcia. We stayed at Accra Beach Resort which is steps away from Rockley Beach pictured here and minutes from St. Lawrence. Javi, Jose and Marissa live in Cerritos. Ayfer, Rosario and Phil live in Lakewood. Danny, Maryam, Clarisse and Dil live in Grenada while attending Medical School.
Cathy Taylor and Rachel Oblon, Pastors from Parkcrest Christian Church in Long Beach, spent two weeks on a mission trip in Uganda and Kenya, with an overnight layover in Dubai. It was an incredible experience and the Press-Telegram was with us the entire time. As we were taking the picture in Uganda some local boys came by and wanted to join us in the picture.
On March 25, 2011 we lost a great lady, my mom. She lived to be more than 90 years old and she was happy celebrating with her family at her birthday party.
She had eight sisters and two brothers. She has five siblings who survive her. She was born in Tyrone, New Mexico, where she lived until she was 8 years old when her parents moved the family to Mexico.
On April 1, 1937, my father and my mother decided to be together. They were married a month later. My mom was 16 and my dad 19 years old. They were married for more than 67 years.
My father came to the United States to work in the bracero program. My mom's pride and joy was the house that he was able to buy with the money that he earned.
I have many memories of my mother; like how she had me make a kitchen towel to learn how to embroider. I remember well that she told me I had to do a good job, if not, I had to undo what I had done and re-do it.
She and my grandmother Pilar, taught me how to crochet.
Besides embroidery and crocheting, my mother liked to sew. She never went to school to learn what she did. I can only imagine if she had had an opportunity, she would have become a famous designer.
My mom was a good wife and mother. She did so much for my father and us. She liked to see us in clean and well-pressed clothes, and our home was always clean and orderly. There was always something good in the kitchen, even if it was only "frijoles de la olla" and chile with tortillas, which of course, she hand-made. I'd have her "maquina de hacer tortillas."
Although my mom was a quiet person, she would pick the right time to let us know what she was thinking. She also had a sense of humor and would enjoy when we laughed with her. She especially like to kid around with my dad.
I am going to miss her so much and I'm thankful to God that she was my mother. I believe that when she reached the gates of heaven she didn't have to wait, they had the heavenly gates already opened for her.
Thank you for your love, your patience, for being a good role model, and more than anything, for being my mom. God bless you.
Graciela Gurrola Huatuco
According to the Children's Bureau, at the end of the 2009 fiscal year, there were 423,773 children in foster care in the United States, nearly half of them in non-relative foster homes. My name is Robbin Hatten, and my husband Dave and I are the parents in one of those homes. As we approach National Foster Care Month in May, I wanted to open a window into our home for anyone who's curious about what it means to be a foster parent.
Even when I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to adopt. I thought that opening my family to kids in need was one of the highest callings there is. I still do. Luckily, my husband agreed with me. In our time, we've fostered six kids en route to adoption and learned invaluable lessons from each of them.
From our first, Michael, we learned to appreciate the different perspective kids have. Even before we set eyes on him, Michael was a son to Dave and me, and a brother to our two daughters, Nichole and Rachel: We all already loved him. But to Michael, we were just another bunch of strangers who he thought would eventually reject him. It took a lot of time and love to get him to trust us, but now we are truly inseparable.
Our second, Brad, taught us that some things weren't meant to be. He was the beautiful baby we brought home from the hospital after his mother abandoned him while his father was in jail. We thought he'd be with us a long time, but six short weeks later, his father told us that Brad's grandparents wanted to adopt him. We still miss him.
Our third, Robert, taught us that some things were meant to be. He was born on my husband's father's birthday, and was named in his honor when he came into our family at 20 days old. I like to say he's "sprinkled with joydust" because he's one of the sweetest children there ever was.
Isaiah, our fourth, taught us that it's best to be open to the unexpected. Originally, my husband and I only fostered Caucasian or Hispanic children, so that no one would think of them as outsiders in our family. But then 7-month-old, African-American Isaiah came into our lives, and we learned that love can weather even the harshest of strangers' opinions. He's a joy to have, and a real blessing to us.
From our fifth, Maiya, we learned that doing the right thing can be hard. She was a 7-month-old African-American girl being fostered by a friend of ours. Even from a distance, I could recognize in her the same mistrust that Michael had experienced. Eventually, it got too hard for my friend and that's when Dave and I stepped in. We knew that it wouldn't be easy, but we couldn't sit back and let Maiya get lost in the system. Though it was a struggle, we're glad that we didn't let her go. She brings an indomitable energy to our house.
From our sixth, Skila, we learned that patience is a virtue. It took two long years to complete the paperwork that would make her part of our family, but it was worth every moment. I finally feel that we've found every child who was meant to be with us at this point in our lives.
Throughout our fostering experience, Olive Crest has supported us with their unfailing accessibility and in-depth training. This journey would have been indescribably harder without their guiding hand. With their help, our family has grown from four to nine, and our home has been enriched in infinite ways. They've helped us discover the necessity and the joy of being part of the foster care system; a system we want to be involved in for years to come.
Submitted by Robbin Hatten
Bellflower
Bellflower
My Mom is the most amazing woman! She was orphaned at birth and raised by her grandparents. She met my dad in 1945 and two weeks later they married. She raised four children and worked when it was not fashionable to do so. She retired at 65 from Rockwell after 30 years. Unfortunately, my Dad died that same year, so Mom went back to work (didn't want to be bored) and still works full time today at age 85 in the records department of an Arizona hospital. It's not uncommon for there to be a knock at my door and it be Mom, having just drove seven hours to see me, just because she misses me. We recently celebrated her 85th birthday. In this picture are her four children. First row, Linda Hodnett (me), Mom, Barbara Holdren, her youngest daughter Cheryle Miner. Back row: daughter Susan Rogers and son Chuck Holdren. My mom inspires me every single day of my life. She is the most wonderful, giving and funny mom I could ever imagine. She has 12 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild and never misses a birthday or any holidays. I love you, Mom!
When El Dorado Park was still a bean field, my mom and dad were original owners of our house on Monogram Avenue. The developer had promised metal street lamps, but when the workers came to install the lines, they brought ugly wooden poles. My mom and the other neighborhood ladies organized a protest. My mom, pregnant with me, sat herself on one of the wooden poles and defied the workers to make her move. The neighborhood ladies prevailed...the wooden poles were removed and the promised metal lamps appeared.This is my favorite picture of me and my mom, Elizabeth Eastman, taken on a camping trip to Yosemite when I was 2 years old. She has been gone since 1993, and I will forever miss seeing that look of love in her eyes.
Submitted by Nancy (Eastman) Schwartz
My favorite picture with my mom, Felicitas Gurrola, was taken on my third birthday. This will be the first time that Mother's Day has a different meaning for me. My mom passed away on March 25, and her presence will be felt in my heart. There are not enough words to express what she means to me. Throughout her life she was a hard-working person, a good wife and mother. She showed her love by making us her priority. I am so proud that God chose me to be her daughter. If she were here, again, I would tell her, "la quiero mucho", I love you so much. I feel blessed and thankful to have had such a loving mother. Mom, Happy Mother's Day in heaven!Submitted by Graciela Gurrola Huatuco
We celebrated my Grandma's 102nd birthday on April 4. Happy 102th Birthday Connie Cipriani. She is pictured with her children and their spouses.Peggy and Dan (son) Cipriani, Barbara and Joe (son) Cipriani, and Vera (daughter) and Bob Bowman
Submitted by Caroline Luppino
I'm writing about an awesome mom! Even though my mother, Sara Jacobson, is practically "prehistoric" in age (sorry mom!), she is always up to try something new. Her we are sharing a maple BACON sundae at Denny's. The other day we shared a piece of apple pie with cheddar cheese on top. We spend most of our time together visiting both antique and thrift stores. She has passed a love of reading on to all her children and grandchildren and usually has an interesting new book to pass along as well. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit her artistic ability. She paints, sews and sculpts from clay, but many of her other children and grandchildren did.Hanging out with mom may not be good for my waistline, but it is definitely good for my soul! I love you Mom!
Submitted by Darin Romero
Our mommy takes us to a lot of fun places. We go to swim lessons, gym classes, camping, the nature center, and the dog beach. She works hard as a Long Beach teacher, and then comes home to play with us. We love the dinosaur cut-out sandwiches she makes and the silly stories she tells before bedtime. Happy Mother's Day Mom! We love you!
Love,
Matthew and Lily
Matthew and Lily
