NEIGHBORS

The friends and family of Balboa Island resident Grace

Mathews gathered at her home last Wednesday to celebrate her 103rd

birthday. Mathews has been a full-time resident of the island for 30

years....Newport Beach resident Andree Verhulst will be traveling

to Russia during the winter break for courses at Lafayette College, which

Verhulst attends. The trip to Russia, accompanied by six other Lafayette

students, is part of a course the college offers called “The New Russia

and the Old.”...Navy Seaman Benjamin Dugas, son of Costa Mesa

resident Cissy Dugas, will be spending the holidays aboard the

aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in Yokosuka, Japan....Sylvia Impert, an

Orange Coast College professor of photography, has been selected to

participate in the National Institute for Leadership Development “Leaders

2000” program, which is designed to enhance the management skills of

participants.... OCC’s speech team won the fall championships tournament

held the weekend of Dec. 4 at Cal State Long Beach....Newport Beach

residents Blossom Siegel, Donna Weinstein and Diane

Karp, all members of the Jewish Federation of Orange County Lions of

Judah, attended a lunch at the Big Canyon County Club last month to hear

Rebecca Newman, president of the National Women’s Constituency of United

Jewish Communities, discuss the Jewish communities of Cuba and Argentina.