Joan Irvine Smith to lead parade as grand marshal

The quality of the honorees at the Laguna Beach Patriots Day Parade is a matter of pride for the parade committee.

“We have the privilege of living in a town where we have a choice of some great honorees,” parade president Charles Quilter II said. “And we really have a bumper crop this year.”

Joan Irvine Smith will serve as grand marshal. Larry Smith will be honored as Patriot of the Year. Bree Burgess Rosen was coaxed from behind a microphone to accept the Citizen of the Year Award. Laguna Beach High School seniors Mary Elizabeth Trout and Marshall Thomas were selected as the Junior Citizens of the Year.

GRAND MARSHAL

“Many of the good things we see around us are because of Joan Irvine Smith,” Quilter said.

Smith has deep roots in Laguna Beach, where she has lived in the gated community of Irvine Cove that bears the family name.

Smith is a fighter for the causes in which she believes — the environment, the arts, education — and she rarely concedes defeat.

Athalie Anita Irvine was born in 1933, the great granddaughter of rancher James Irvine I. Her father died when she was two, but her childhood was enriched by her mother, Athalie, with whom she later created a charitable foundation, and her grandfather, James “Jase” H. Irvine Jr., who taught her to revere the land.

Joan, as the young Athalie preferred to be called, spent time on the family ranch, which originally sprawled for 115,000 acres, now owned by Donald Bren. It was at annual roundups on the ranch that Smith developed her lifelong passion for horses and a sense of stewardship.

Smith’s grandfather died in 1947, leaving her a minority share in the Irvine Co., controlled by the James Irvine Foundation. Her image in the 1950s as a glamorous sportswoman perhaps led the foundation directors to underestimate her deep commitment to environmental preservation and social programs in which she believes the foundation should participate.

Her battles with the foundation spanned 34 years, but resulted in the establishment of UC Irvine, contributed to the preservation of Crystal Cove as a state park rather than the development envisioned by the foundation directors and, not least, the Tax Reform Act of 1969, which required a charitable foundation to distribute 5% of its assets every year.

A separate foundation established by Smith and her mother in the 1990s heavily endowed the university’s medical school and has pledged money to create a long-desired law school. They also founded a museum to preserve the plein air art for which Laguna is famous.

PATRIOT OF THE YEAR

Former Army Air Corps Captain Larry Smith (no relation to Joan Irvine Smith) is well-qualified to be the Patriot of the Year, an honor awarded to a citizen of Laguna Beach who has served the nation gallantly or meritoriously in time of war or national emergency.

Smith was drafted into the U.S. Army just before Pearl Harbor jumpstarted the country into World War II in 1941. He was trained as a navigator on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and sent to Great Britain, where he joined 366th Bomb Squadron of the 305th Bombardment Group (Heavy) of the 8th Air Force as a replacement aircrew at Chelveston in east England.

The 8th Air Force was the sole U.S. offensive power against Nazi Germany in 1943, at a great cost in human life. Few airmen expected to survive unscathed from the 25 unescorted bombing raids over Germany that constituted a tour of duty.

Smith flew his first two missions with a crew whose navigator had been killed. On his second flight, Smith saved the life of his bombardier who had gotten disconnected from his oxygen supply at 24,000 feet.

On his 10th mission, the group was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for a mission against heavily defended German aircraft factories.

Smith was selected to be lead navigator of the 40th Combat Wing, responsible for guiding 48 aircraft over enemy territory. Somehow he survived 28 combat missions during the next five months of his service, which included some of the most deadly air battles over Germany. His final mission lasted 11 ½ hours, during which the 8th Air Force lost 52 B-17s.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and four Air Medals.

Smith returned to the United States in mid-1944 and trained to be a pilot. World War II ended shortly after he completed training and he was discharged, but remained in the Air Force Reserve as navigator until 1971.

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR

It took the combined persuasive powers of the Quilter family to convince Bree Burgess Rosen to accept the role of 2007 Citizen of the Year.

“Anyone who can make us laugh at ourselves deserves this award,” Charles Quilter II said.

Burgess Rosen has been making Lagunans laugh at themselves since 1992, when she created “Lagunatics,” the musical, not the people.

Chris Quilter, who in recent years has co-authored the satirical review, also put the screws on the multitalented singer-writer-producer to accept the Citizen of the Year Award.

“I was ‘quilted,” said Burgess Rosen, who ducks awards as assiduously as City Manager Ken Frank avoids unbalanced budgets.

Burgess Rosen made her first big splash on stage singing “The Star Spangled Banner” for a Bob Hope USO show when she was living in Japan where her father was stationed. Burgess Rosen has since sung an a capella rendition of the national anthem for so many groups in Laguna, it is practically her theme song.

Her career in the theater has included appearances on stages in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Diego, and of course, Laguna Beach, where she settled with her husband, Leon, and gave birth to her son, Noah, and to No Square Theatre, the Holy Grail for local amateur performers.

“She stepped up to the plate when the Playhouse went professional and created a void in amateur theater in Laguna,” Charles Quilter said.

Since the founding of No Square Theatre, Burgess Rosen has produced dozens of shows for the company, including “Lagunatics” younger cousin, “LagunaTots.”

Many of her contributions to the community are unsung. Seventeen of her plays, such as a zany adaptation of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” for the Laguna Playhouse Youth Theater, have been produced here

But Burgess Rosen will be honored Saturday for regularly lending her voice and financial support to fundraisers for local groups.

JUNIOR CITIZENS

Mary Elizabeth Trout and Marshall Thomas were selected as the Junior Citizens of the Year by the faculty and staff of Laguna Beach High School, based on their achievements in leadership, scholarship, athletics and community service.

Trout is active in student government, as well as playing volleyball, basketball, softball and running cross country. She has been recognized for academic achievement and community service as a volunteer with Junior Rotary Casa Hogar Orphanage in Ensenada.

Trout is vice president of the high school Surfrider Club.

Thomas has served for four years as president of the club, which received an Environmental Protection award in 2006 for its water quality awareness program.

He is the recipient of a Scholar-Athlete Award with a grade point average of almost 4.2 and a starring role on the high school football team, playing on both sides of the ball.

Thomas was named to the first string All League Team in 2006 when the Breakers won the Orange Coast League title.

He is active in his church and the community. Thomas was the keynote speaker at the South Laguna Civic Assn.’s City Council Candidate Forum for the 2006 election. Other activities include managing the office for the festival transit system.