Parade honors strong character

BARBARA DIAMOND

America’s Heroes” will be the theme of the 2005 Patriots Day Parade,

March 5.

Police Chief James Spreine, who served his country as a U.S.

Marine, will lead the parade as Grand Marshal. Honored Patriot of the

Year Marine Lance Corporal Ed Hanke III will represent the young men

and women of Laguna Beach who have put their lives in harms way to

protect our freedom.

Don Williamson, who did yeoman’s duty at the Laguna Playhouse and

the Festival of Arts before moving up in rank as director of the

Pageant of the Masters, was named Citizen of the Year.

Junior Citizens of the Year Megan Vick and Tyler Hathaway round

out the honorees. All five will be introduced at the traditional

Parade Brunch, Feb. 6 at Tivoli Terrace. The public is invited.

Reservations are $20 and may be made by calling (494) 494-6016 or

(949) 499-9429.

Spreine began his career in law enforcement in the marines, as an

MP. The former marine -- “there is no such thing as an ex-marine” --

joined the San Clemente Police Department, then moved to Laguna Beach

as a lieutenant under the captaincy of Neil Purcell Jr. in January of

1981.

Spreine followed Purcell up the ranks, as captain, deputy chief

and chief, when Purcell retired in 1997, the same year he was honored

as Patriots Day Parade Grand Marshal.

“I have been in every parade since 1981 except one, either driving

Chief Purcell or as chief,” Spreine said. “I have seen the others who

were selected Grand Marshals and I am flattered to participate in the

parade in that capacity.”

Spreine and his wife, Linda, a lieutenant in the Orange County

Sheriff’s Department, are a two-chief family, at least until she

retires Jan. 19 as Laguna Niguel’s Chief of Police Services.

She was a sergeant in the Laguna Beach department when they began

courting.

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Spreine said.

They deemed it in the best interests of department and to keep her

career unblemished by any hint of nepotism for her to leave the

department after their marriage. She signed on with San Clemente, was

bumped back to patrol and rose to sergeant before the sheriff’s

office took over the city’s policing. Starting as deputy, she again

climbed up the ranks.

“She is one of the finest law enforcement officers I have ever

known,” Spreine said.

The Spreines are building a home in Sequim, across Olympic

Peninsula from Seattle, where they will leave after Spreine joins his

wife in retirement, set for late October.

Patriot of the Year Hanke was awarded a Purple Heart in the Iraqi

War. His parents, Cathy and Ed Hanke II heard about it in a telephone

call from the military.

“Then, about 3 a.m., we got a call from Ed saying he was fine,

that he would be out for about three weeks and then back to duty,”

Hanke II said.

Hanke had two other close calls. He caught some shrapnel in his

cheek in an attack where a close friend was killed. He escaped

serious injury when digging up a cache of munitions, but it was a

near thing, his father said.

“We have had and he has had a lot of support from Laguna,” Hanke

said. “When I first heard that he was [named] Patriot of the Year, I

said that’s awful nice. He said aaah, no.

But after he though it over, he decided it was cool.

“He’s always been our adult in a kid’s body.”

The young war hero joined the Marine Corps three days after he

graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 2002. He had signed a

letter of intent as a junior.

Hanke is considering a career in the military.

He is training in urban warfare at Camp Pendleton and is due to

return to Iraq in September.

“We keep saying maybe it will be over by then,” Ed Hanke II said.

Williamson moved to Laguna Beach in 1949 and almost immediately

became involved with the Laguna Playhouse and the Festival of Arts.

“My wife, Josephine,” who died six years ago, was equally involved

in the Playhouse and was wardrobe director for the pageant for

several years,” Williamson said.

The couple had two children, a son, Douglas, who died two years

ago, and a daughter, Jenny, who lives with her father. A grandson,

Juan, and his wife Jessica and their two children, Diego and Joaquin,

live in Santa Barbara.

Williamson served as festival president in the 1960s and as

Pageant of the Master director from 1964 to 1978, when he formed

Thola Productions with his late son, building remote control cars and

boats for amusement parks.

“I was surprised when they told me I was the Citizen of the Year

because I had been out of it for so long,” Williamson said.

Maybe gone, but not forgotten.

The Laguna Beach High School staff selects the Junior Citizens.

“Each teacher submits a name and they pick from that,” said Laguna

Beach High School senior Hathaway. “They really didn’t tell me much

about why I was chosen. I was surprised.”

Hathaway is enrolled in advanced ceramics and computer graphics.

He competes on the cross country track team and on the Junior Varsity

Soccer Team and performs community service through the Laguna Beach

Presbyterian Church.

He is the son of Lori and Board of Education member El Hathaway.

Vick, daughter of Kathy Vick, is a member of the Assisteens,

Laguna Beach Assistance League’s teen auxiliary and the Laguna Beach

High School Marching Band, the Interact Club and the Girls Water Polo

Team. She is a school Breakthrough Leader and a Peer Councilor.

“What an honor,” she said of her selection as Junior Patriot of

the Year.

* 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, 92652; hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite, 22;

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