Jeweler helps children tell Mom she’s a gem

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- When Star Torgerson heard the news, she was so excited

she started jumping up and down.

Her 12-year-old son, Joshua Sepeda, had won a garnet for her.

He did it by writing a poem in her honor.

The poem -- which compares Torgerson to flowers, silk and a gem -- was

one of 15,250 essays nationwide that were submitted to the “Why Mom

Deserves a Diamond” contest this year.

“I was so overwhelmed,” said Torgerson, who lives in Costa Mesa. “I

mean, what can you say? I thought it was fabulous. There’s only the two

of us, so we have that close bond. His taking the time to think of those

things about me really meant a lot to me. I mean, he’s my world.”

Most of the contest entries -- and the 3,383 jewels awarded -- were

for Orange County mothers, said Michael Watson, owner of Costa Mesa-based

Gallery of Diamonds, which runs the contest.

The poems were published in an anthology this month, and the proceeds

-- about $4,000 -- were donated to the Orange County Public Library

system this week.

The funds will be spent on books and educational resources, said Julie

Fredericksen, spokeswoman for the library system.

Watson is glad to help the county’s libraries, but he started the

annual contest in 1993 for a more personal reason.

He was adopted as a child and searched for his biological mother for

years. His quest gave him the idea for the contest, which is intended to

give children a chance to show appreciation to their mothers.

He personally reads and judges all the essays, he said. In the first

year of the contest, he received 250 entries.

In 1994, a year after Watson began the contest, he discovered his

biological origins. He learned that his birth mother had passed away

years earlier. But he met his siblings, an aunt, an uncle and a

grandmother -- relatives he hadn’t even thought to look for -- and his

disappointment was overcome by the joy of finding them, he said.

“It made the contest even more symbolic for me,” he said. “It gives

kids a chance to show their moms they love them while they’re still

alive. Sometimes kids tell me they never really thought about what made

their mom so special before, and that shows we live in such a fast-paced

world we sometimes forget about those who are special to us.”