OUR LAGUNA:Laguna women of achievement honored

Four distinguished local women were honored Monday night for their contributions that reach far beyond the city limits.

The Laguna Beach branch of the American Assn. of University Women recognized Eleanor Finney, Barbara Hamkalo, Janice Johnson and the Rev. Virginia (“Ginny”) Wheeler at the eighth annual Women of Achievement Dinner, held at Tivoli Too.

“Their leadership has served us at home and stretched to the far corners of our world,” said Carol Reynolds, event chair.

AAUW branch past President Karen Dennis introduced Finney, who was honored for her dedication to social justice.

“Eleanor is active in Orange County NOW, Reclaim Democracy, the Laguna Beach Woman’s Club, First Amendment Coalition, Orange County ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] and two Democratic Clubs,” Dennis said.

Finney also supports the League of Women Voters, Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International and Greenpeace.

“Eleanor cares about people, equality, environment and peace,” Dennis said.

Finney defined social justice as all humanity being equal under the law and free to pursue one’s potential. The obstacles are poverty, lack of education, discrimination and the influence of big money on government, she said.

“Who can make changes?” Finney asked. “My friends, it is you and me.

“Activism is the backbone of democracy, and democracy is always a work in progress. It is never completed.”

Bana Hilal, AAUW branch program development vice president, introduced Hamkalo, who was honored for her contributions to science education.

“When I volunteered to research Barbara, I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” Hilal said. “I thought I would simply go to Google, type in her name and find some information. Oh yes!

“My search yielded 12 pages on Barbara … about 90% of it was beyond my intellectual capacity.”

Hamkalo, who has a doctorate in biology, taught and conducted research in UC Irvine’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.

She is the associate vice chancellor for research in the university’s office of research and graduate studies and has served as acting dean of the School of Biological Sciences and associate dean for graduate studies and research.

Hamkalo is active in Achievement Rewards of College Scientists, which provides scholarships to outstanding Americans who are completing degrees in science, medicine and engineering.

The local AAUW claims her as one of its own, branch representative of legal advocacy.

“This is one of the very few awards I will cherish more than anything in my career,” Hamkalo said.

She supports the AAUW goal of equal educational opportunities for girls and women.

“We need to get girls out of classrooms and into laboratories,” said Hamkalo, who touts experimentation as a learning tool.

“I want to hop on a chromosome and see where it goes,” she said.

Reynolds pleaded ignorance of Hamkalo’s world — “developing chromosomes that I can’t even pronounce” — but found herself at home with Johnson, a music major like Reynolds.

“What a powerhouse she is,” Reynolds said. “Her passionate energy in the arts has been recognized by the YWCA, the Volunteer Center of America, the Orange County Center for Performing Arts, the Pacific Symphony and their Class Act — and four years ago, by her alma mater, the State University of New York at Potsdam.”

Johnson moved to Laguna with her husband, Roger, in 1980 where they became active in the arts. She first joined the now defunct Chopin Chapter of the guilds of the Performing Arts Center and later chaired all the guilds. He was on the board of the center.

She served on the boards of Pacific Chorale, Chorus of America, South Coast Repertory Theatre and Laguna College of Art & Design, where she created the “Collector’s Choice,” still the school’s major fundraiser.

Johnson served two terms as president of the Pacific Symphony Assn., divided by a stint in Washington, D.C., when her husband was appointed to a high government position by President Bill Clinton.

In D.C., she served on the boards of the National Symphony and the Robert E. Lee Memorial Assn. She was a panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts and, at the request of the First Lady, joined the committee to preserve the White House and the White House Endowment Fund.

“When I was talking to Janice one day, it dawned on me that I was arranging table seating with a person who had worked with Hillary Clinton entertaining at the White House,” Reynolds said.

In fact, on one occasion, Johnson hosted a luncheon for Clinton in Laguna.

With a rare nod to males at these dinners, Reynolds asked Ken Jillson and Al Roberts to stand — Johnson’s friends and founder of the AIDS Services Foundation, which Johnson supports and for which she chaired the first AIDS Walk.

She is on the Dean’s Council for UC Irvine, where the Johnsons endowed the Chair for Civic Governance of Public Management.

“You’ve made me look too good,” Johnson said. “The arts have played a major role in my life. They have nourished me, comforted me and healed me.”

She takes pride in the dramatic changes in the quality of music now performed by the Pacific Symphony.

“I have been on the board for 16 years,” Johnson said. “When Carl St. Clair came to the symphony, it was a regional orchestra, now it is nationally and internationally known since the European tour this year. But I would be remiss if I did not mention Valerie Imhof, who created Class Act.”

Imhof was honored in 2005 by the AAUW for Class Act, which brings music to the public schools.

“And I must say that I would not be here if not for my beloved husband, Roger,” Johnson said.

Roger Johnson died last year. Theirs was a 48-year partnership of love, mutual goals and understanding.

The award for Community/World Outreach was presented to Wheeler by Ann Quilter, a parishioner at the Methodist Church of which Wheeler is pastor.

“Thirty-seven years ago, a young girl sat in the choir listening to her minister deliver his sermon,” Quilter said. “A small voice ignited inside her and said, ‘You could do this better.’ ”

“The thought was remarkable. At that time in the Midwest, the church was male-dominated. Thus began a lifetime of breaking boundaries.”

Wheeler majored in religion at Southern Methodist University. Not one teacher, not one counselor and not one minister ever suggested she enter the ministry.

It was a seminary student who said, “You know, Ginny, you could do this, too.”

Wheeler was ordained in 1985 and appointed to the Laguna church in 1991. She became the first woman in the United Methodist Church to be elevated from associate to full pastor in the same church.

“Go Laguna,” Quilter said.

Wheeler is married to Jim Jones, former Little League coach and for years the voice of Laguna football. The couple have two sons.

“Ginny has literally reached out to the world,” Reynolds said. “With teams of 10 to 30 students and adults, she has built schools and hospital — I would put her in charge of building the senior center and get the job done.”

The teams have traveled with their tool boxes to Pacific islands, the Caribbean and Africa.

Wheeler admits to having a criminal record. She was arrested twice: for protesting apartheid and demonstrating at a nuclear installation.

“Ginny’s passion for life, for this planet and for all the people on it is infectious,” Quilter said. “She reminds me of why we are here on earth. She brings love to life.”

She also brings laughter.

“I want to thank [the seating arranger] for putting the Methodists next to the bar,” Wheeler said.

“And I want to compliment the other honorees tonight. I am walking in some tall grass here.”

Wheeler said her life experiences have taught her the value of community, learned from her church and the parishioners, Laguna’s public schools in which her children thrived, and a city government which considered yelling epithets at gays a hate crime and fostered a cold weather shelter for the homeless.

“That’s community,” she said.

Among the community who attended the dinner: City Council candidates Toni Iseman, a past award recipient, and Verna Rollinger; school board candidates Betsy Jenkins and Ketta Brown; Gayle Waite; and past recipient Sande St. John. Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider, also a past recipient, dropped in for the social hour before going out with her husband, Ernie, to celebrate their anniversary.

Tivoli Too owner June Neptune, a past recipient, comped the wine and the hors d’oeuvres. Ed Merrilees, husband of past recipient Jeanette Merrilees, provided the musical entertainment.

Reynolds chaired the dinner committee, which included Barbara Antonacci, Jean Brotherton, Dennis, Janet Eichel, Anita Halton, Katie Haven, Hilal, Miriam Kranser, Bev McComb, Janette Mestre, Madeleine Peterson, Quilter, Peggie Thomas, Nancy Lawrence and Vera Martinez — the latter three award recipients in previous years, as was Reynolds.

A WORD OF ADVICE

Don’t ever arrive late to an event where Carol Reynolds has the microphone. It’s bad enough walking in late to a room full of such distinguished women without having to face Reynolds with harpoons at the ready — starting with “SOOO glad you could join us,” as St. John marched me all the way to a front table.

“Is she always this funny?” asked Betsy Foster, a musician with Reynolds in the Laguna Community Band.

Yes — even though it was at my expense.