Top Scouts earn honors

BARBARA DIAMOND

Boy Scouts can’t fly higher than an Eagle, but Elliot Conn, Chris

Jenkins and John Wagner have made it to the top.

The accomplishments of the three Laguna Beach High School honor

students were celebrated Sunday at an Eagle Court of Honor. Mayor

Toni Iseman and Troop 35 Scoutmasters George Straight (retired) and

Bernie Frimond presented the awards.

The requirements for an Eagle Award are rigorous and include a

service project for the community.

Conn was inspired by his concern for the loneliness and isolation

that residents in retirement homes sometimes feel to find a way to

put them in touch with loved ones across the country. He recruited

friends and fellow Scouts to write a computer instruction book, which

was used as a teaching guide to instruct Heritage Pointe Retirement

Home residents on how to send and receive e-mails.

Jenkins raised funds for the irrigation and landscaping of a

barren patch at the Laguna Beach Methodist Church. His group created

a garden that now serves as a place for prayer, meditation and Bible

classes.

Wagner selected Friendship Shelter for his project. His friends

and fellow Scouts solicited donations for toiletries for the

residents of the shelter. The donations were assembled into kits.

Each of the projects took more than 100 hours to complete. Conn,

Jenkins and Wagner not only conducted their own projects, they

assisted on the others.

Only 2% of Scouts ever reach the Eagle milestone. Roger Ohanesian,

guest speaker at the Court of Honor, was among the 2%, which also

includes former President Gerald Ford and astronaut Neil A.

Armstrong.

Ohanesian, affectionately known as “Dr. O,” talked about the

importance that working toward the award made in his life of

community service. His community happens to be the Armenian people.

In the past dozen years, Ohanesian has raised millions of dollars for

medical supplies and has taken many prominent American eye surgeons

to the war-torn country.

The Armenian Eyecare Project, which Ohanesian founded, has

provided a mobile eye hospital complete with operating rooms and

lasers. The hospital on wheels tours the Armenian countryside, taking

medical care to people who cannot afford to go to the capital.

He is hosting Armenian eye surgeons here to learn new skills to

take back to their country.

The Honor Court was followed by a celebration at the home of Betsy

and Gary Jenkins, parents of Chris Jenkins. The Jenkins and proud

parents Rita and Howard Conn and Lucille and Robert Wagner hosted the

celebration.

Entertainment included a magician and live music by the High

Standards Jazz Trio -- Howard Conn, Jerry Buffa and Armand

Stephanian.

The guest list included Rita Conn’s brother-in-law, Steven Conn,

who flew in from Washington, D.C. where he is secretary to Ralph

Nader. Also enjoying the festivities were retired Scoutmaster Jim

Hammersmith, charter liaison Dick Maxwell, Thurston teacher Virginia

Stephanian and Lisa Conn, who contributed to this article.

DANCING THE NIGHT AWAY

Bill and Marge McGehee invited guests to bring their “dancing

shoes” to a party Nov. 21 at Tivoli Terrace and help the couple

celebrate their retirement.

The couple plan to explore the United States -- not that they

haven’t already traveled extensively.

Bill McGehee was born in Michigan in 1934. He attended school

there, where he met Marge in the fifth grade. They have been going

steady ever since. In high school, she sometimes got after him for

waiting until the last minute to ask for a date.

“Well, I never knew for sure if I had a ride,” he said.

The McGehees attended Michigan State together until the Korean

War.

He was selected for Aviation School in the military and developed

the mechanical skills he used later in life. When he came home, he

returned to college and married his childhood sweetheart. They both

taught school.

The McGehees moved west in 1960, making the trip in a 1956

Mercury. They hit the coast in Washington and then traveled south,

coming to a stop in Long Beach, where he went back to school. Armed

with a master’s from Long Beach State, he got a job at a high school

teaching welding, woodshop, machine shop and photography.

The McGehees raised two children, both now residents of New York

City. Their daughter, Kelly, married to an New York University

professor and mother of the McGehees’ two grandchildren, Eero and

Zora, is an art production director. She works with her brother,

Scott, a movie-maker who wrote, directed and produced “The Deep End.”

Dad still receives residuals from his role as a music teacher in

the film.

The McGehees bought their Three Arch Bay home in 1976. They also

own a condominium across the Pacific Coast Highway from the St. Regis

hotel and recently closed escrow on 57 acres in Rim Rock Canyon.

Their retirement leaves vacancies on the boards of Laguna Beach

Seniors Inc. and the Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn. and on the city’s

Open Space Committee.

Skipper Lynn contributed the information about the McGehees, and

Cossie Mechling photographed the retirement party.

Also on the guest list were Councilman Wayne Baglin and his wife,

Faye; former Mayor Wayne Peterson and Laguna College of Art & Design

Trustee Terry Smith; Magda Herlicsha; Rita Jackson; Don Hurlbut; Fran

Foster; Freida Gordon; Candice Burroughs; Roger Sloan; and Sharon

McNair.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, CA 92652; hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite

22; call (949) 494-4321; or fax (949) 494-8979.