Famed Santa Ana High Alums, Local Notables Officially Immortalized

By TINA BORGATTA

Oct. 26, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Santa Ana High School students soon may tool down Diane Keaton Lane and Chantay Boulevard courtesy of local trustees, who have named 10 future schools, a couple of roads and several school facilities after famous graduates and other prominent figures.

The Santa Ana Unified Board of Education voted late Tuesday to name the assembly hall at the high school near 1st and Flower streets Bill Medley Auditorium for the alumnus, half of the singing Righteous Brothers.

Actress Diane Keaton’s name will be affixed to a stretch of Parton Street between 1st and Walnut Streets on campus, provided the city agrees. And several blocks of Walnut Street, from Flower to Ross streets, will be named for the 1960s rock ‘n’ roll band the Chantays, whose members attended the high school.

But most of the new schools are being named for historic figures in Santa Ana and Orange County, as well as for influential community leaders of the present.

Orange County pioneer Juan Pablo Grijalva and Santa Ana High track coach Earl Engman will have elementary schools named for them. So will Edith Gilbert, a beloved principal at Fremont Elementary during the 1920s, and former mayor Lorin Griset, who founded the Santa Ana Christian Men’s Assn.

“It makes my day,” said Connie Lujan, who as a former Fremont student watched Gilbert feed hungry children, offer guidance to families and make sure every student had a gift to unwrap at Christmas.

“This is long overdue,” she said Wednesday. “There should have been a school named after her years ago.”

The district sought the community’s input in the naming process and received about 100 recommendations over about three months. Gilbert’s name was one, as was that of Grijalva, who settled in Santa Ana in 1797.

“What a thrill--a great honor bestowed on my ancestor,” said Eddie Grijalva, a sixth-generation cousin to the pioneer, who said he’s been lobbying for the past five years to have a school named after the early rancher. “There were times when I was ready to throw in the towel, but I thought, ‘This is real history here, so I’m going to keep on going.’ I’m happy I did.”

Jan Atencio--whose two grown children still refer to Engman, who died in 1993, as “Uncle Earl”--said she is “thrilled” board members took the community’s recommendation to heart.

“I have tears in my eyes,” she said. “I don’t think there could be a finer tribute.”

Two future high schools will be named for former Orange County postmaster Hector Godinez, who served on the Rancho Santiago Community College District board and was the first Latino to serve as president of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, and the Segerstrom farming family, who developed bean fields into a mega-mall and a cultural center in Costa Mesa and south Santa Ana.

Other future elementary schools will be named for: Frank Quevedo, a vice president with Southern California Edison who has helped raise $1.5 million for the Hispanic Education Endowment Fund; the Otsuka family, who farm strawberries at Fairview Street and Civic Center Drive, land the district hopes to acquire for one of the new schools; and Manuel Esqueda, a local banker and founder of the Los Serafines Scholarship Fund, which has helped more than 1,000 high school students go on to college.

The board also agreed to work with local fire, police and Orange County sheriff’s authorities to come up with a name for an elementary school campus that would memorialize public safety personnel who have fallen in the line of duty.

Trustees also decided to name Santa Ana High School’s swimming complex after two-time Olympic gold medal diver Bob Webster, and the athletic complex for Valley High School and Carr Intermediate after baseball player Gary Templeton, who has donated money to local youth baseball programs.

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Celebrity High School

Santa Ana High School will soon be ready for its closeup after officials decided to name several streets and buildings on campus after famous celebrities.

Santa Ana High School

Segment of Walnut St. becomes Chantays Blvd., named for the “Pipeline” surf band

Segment of Parton St. becomes Diane Keaton Lane, named for the movie actress

Becomes Bill Medley Auditorium, named for the Righteous Brother

Becomes Bob Webster Swimming Complex, named for the Olympic gold medalist

School district trustees also names for 10 future schools.

Elementary Schools

Earl Engman (track coach)

Manuel Esqueda (businessman)

Edith Gilbert (principal)

Juan Pablo Grijalva (pioneer)

Lorin Griset (mayor)