Monthly lunches keep ties close

BARBARA DIAMOND

A group of women who lunch monthly in Laguna is more of a who’s who

of doers than white-gloved ladies of leisure.

“I call us the Over the Hill Gang because I am almost the youngest

and I am no spring chicken,” city clerk Verna Rollinger said.

The original group included Rollinger, Phyllis Sweeney, Sally

Bellerue, Joyce Dusenberry, Helen Adams, Frances Engelhardt, Letitia

Wainwright, Virginia Harmony, Virginia Winston, Thelma Roy, Ann Coad

and Gwen Mathew.

Death claimed Mathew, Adams, Engelhardt, Wainwright, Harmony, Roy

and Coad of the first “Dirty Dozen,” and Bellerue moved to Durango,

Colo.

Replacements stepped up to the plate: Kit Drollinger, Virginia

McCollom- -- who later moved to Palm Springs, Rollinger’s mother,

Betty Swenson, Pat Sturges, Lida Lenney, Virginia Kennedy and Barbara

Stuart, the latter two now deceased.

The group was briefly joined by Lilian Macon, until she retired to

Medford, Ore., and Gwen’s daughter, Tanya Macarevich. They lunch

every February to remember Gwen.

The women don’t just dine. They exchange cards, flowers, quips and

information on what’s new and what’s true, and they express concerns

about local, national and global issues.

Their common bond? They choose to make a difference.

Rollinger has been a power in city politics since the 1970s.

Bellerue, Sweeney and Lenney all served on the City Council,

Engelhardt as city treasurer. Adams made us all more sympathetic to

the 4,000th speech by her husband, City Council critic Alan Adams.

Environmental warrior and dance patron Stuart, for whom the

largest lake in Laguna is named, left a substantial bequest to the

Laguna Canyon Foundation. Sturges and Johnson are active in the

League of Women Voters.

Drollinger is a member of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy. Mathew

was a member of the Democratic Club, as is Dusenberry, who also is

active in Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and was a spotter --

volunteers who watched the coastline and skies for enemy incursions

-- during World War II.

Dusenberry was the founder of the lunches, which began in the

mid-1970s. Her 96th birthday was celebrated last week at her favorite

restaurant, Las Brisas.

There to celebrate: Mary Betty Fisher, who chaired a General Plan

committee, and Swanson, who was treasurer for years of Village

Laguna, both 85; Norma Young, an artist, 83; Jean Raun, longtime

member of the League of Women Voters, 80; Sweeney, Sturges and

Johnson, all 78; Drollinger, 77; Lenney and Barbara Metzger, a former

member of the Planning Commission and the Design Review Board, both

70; Rollinger, 58; and Wendy Sturges, a nurse and the baby of the

group at 52.

PASS IT ON

Terry Smith and former Councilman Wayne Peterson bumped into 2003

Patriots Day Parade Citizen of the Year Marilyn Thomas at Moulton

Meadows Park.

“She told us to look at the little plastic bags that were lying

around,” Smith said. “Someone evidently goes around and picks up

behind dog owners who don’t pick up after their dogs.”

The bags also contained little plastic signs -- like the ones that

come in large bouquets, Smith said -- with a handwritten note saying,

“Please take care of your dog in the future.”

The notes were signed “The Poop Fairy.”

Take note. Take a Baggie.

GET THE SCOOP

Retired Emmy Award-winning TV producer Bob Henry will be the guest

speaker at the Feb. 11 Town Hall presented by South Coast Medical

Center in the auditorium at 31872 S. Coast Highway.

Henry, who is president of the Festival of Arts Board of Directors

and a former president of the Laguna Beach Garden Club, will share

personal memories of his 50 years as a producer and director in

television.

Henry was awarded the Emmy as producer of “The Flip Wilson Show.”

Admission to the lecture is free. Refreshments will be served.

Call, (949) 499-7202 for reservations.

HEART AND SOUL

The Laguna Beach girls’ basketball team doesn’t just have talent

-- they’ve got moms.

At the Jan. 27 game, in which the Breaker girls routed Corona del

Mar 46-20, the moms’ rooting section -- the dads sit elsewhere --

sprouted antennae with hearts bobbing at the tip.

Michelle Clark, a Chamber of Commerce board member who represents

Waste Management of Orange County, had spotted the headbands at

Sav-On Drugs when she had stopped off to do some quick shopping

before the game. Who could resist? Certainly not Clark, mother of

frosh player Brittany Clark.

When the game ended, the moms dashed onto the floor and did a

little antennae-bobbing victory boogie.

“We told the girls they only won because of us,” said Clark, whose

daughter had scored six points and three assists and had played Big D

with three steals and seven rebounds.

“I tell her she has learned everything from me,” said Clark, who

measures 5 feet tall in her dreams, with stilettos.

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

Pilot. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, 92652,

hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22; call (949) 494-4321 or fax

(949) 494-8979.