BSA Greater L.A. Scouting Women of Eagle Scout Brunch set on May 4th

AUTHOR JANET WEBB TO ADDRESS WOMEN OF EAGLE SCOUTS AT ANNUAL LUNCHEON

Guests at the twenty-fourth annual Greater LA Scouting Women of Eagle Scout Brunch, Wind Under Their Wings, will be treated to an elegant and motivating event on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at Almansor Court, 700 S. Almansor Street, Alhambra. A reception will be held at 10:30 a.m. followed by a brunch and the program at 11:15 a.m. The celebration will end at 1:30 p.m.

Local Boy Scouts will greet guests during the hosted reception and will usher them into the dining room for a delicious brunch. Scouts from Troops from the San Gabriel Valley will lead the pledge of allegiance. Mimi Bernstein, a sophomore at San Marino High School will sing two songs God Bless America and American Pie. She is a chorister at the Grammy award winning Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. She has performed in numerous musical theatre productions and dreams of being either a vocal performer or a music therapist, as she wants to spread comfort and support through her love of music. Mimi will be accompanied on the piano by Dr. Jo Ann Haycraft. She received her formal education at the University of Wyoming, California State University at Los Angeles, and completed her doctorate at Claremont Graduate University. She is a member of three music performing groups: Sigma Alpha Iota, Tuesday Musicale of Pasadena, and the St. Cecilia Music Club. She also teaches piano and is a past president of the Pasadena Branch of the Music Teachers’ Association of California.

Mark Wicke earned the rank of Eagle in Troop 359 participating in trips to Philmont and Sea Base. At San Marino High School he played varsity football, basketball, and baseball and graduated from the US Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut where he majored in Mechanical Engineering with High Honors and served as captain of his football team. Upon graduating in 2020 he was commissioned as an officer in the US Coast Guard serving on the USCGC Hamilton based in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. He is the current commander of the USCSG Halibut based in Marino del Rey and operating in the area of responsibility of performing counter-drug, human smuggling, search and rescue, and living marine resource missions. Scouting prepared him especially well for his career as an officer in the US Coast Guard.

The Invocation will be presented by Eagle Scout Father Kevin Rettig of Holy Angels Parish in Arcadia. He holds a master’s degree in theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome and was ordained in the Cathedral of Orange in 1984. He has served at various parishes ministering to the German, Hungarian, Spanish, and English-speaking communities in downtown Los Angeles.

Chairman and President of the Board of the Greater LA Scouting, Steve Rothans, will welcome the guests and share information on the current scouting program. He has served on the Executive Board for over twenty-five years and is a law partner at Carpenter, Rothans, and Dumont, LLP.

Capping the brunch will be a motivating talk presented by local author Janet Webb, who was born and raised in San Marino, attending San Marino schools. She graduated from the University of Southern California where she met her husband, John. Upon graduation, she worked for the YMCA in Los Angeles and Orange County as a mentor and role model to underprivileged youth. She moved to Delaware where she worked for the city of Newark in the Recreation Department creating a Safety Town program. She took various leadership roles prior to returning to Southern California to raise her five children. She was active in National Charity San Marino Area Chapter, various PTA’s, Little League Booster Clubs, San Marino Woman’s Club and other community organizations. Her ten grandchildren are enjoying “Camp Gaga”, the camp she designed. You will have a hard time finding where she is located as she and her husband are Global Experiencialists combing the world, as travel is their passion.

“Hawaiian Walking” is Webb’s first published book. It portrays a Hawaiian boy devastated by the death of his beloved grandfather who sets off walking alone. He experiences a flood of memories walking by areas where he shared time with his grandfather. He eventually discovers a sacred place which causes a spiritual healing. Hawaiian language is sprinkled throughout this beautifully illustrated book by artist Guy Buffet. Universal themes of love, family, loss and transformation surface with tension, humor, a driving question and a turning point when nothing is ever the same.

This year’s committee under the leadership of Co-Chairman, Vicki Elliott of San Marino and Judith Din of Pasadena includes Avery Barth, Janice Conzonire, Mary Falkenbury, Wendy Greenleaf, Lynn Hatashita-Jung, Connie Knott, Ann Kunitake, Mona Mapel, Patricia Tom Mar, Karen Quon, Helen Kim Spitzer, Valerie Gumbiner Weiss, Karen Wicke, and Julie Wong Tam of San Marino; Julie Foong, Jane Laudeman, Rhea Gonzaga, and Robin Puri of Pasadena; Ellen Chiechi, Janet Orswell, of Arcadia; Vivian Chan of San Gabriel; Kathy Vine of Temple City, Cindy Sercel of Lakeview Terrace, and Suko Gotoh of Glendale. The committee is advised by Staff Advisor, Charissa Gonzales. The committee welcomes the community to attend and honor the Women Behind the Eagle Scouts. The cost is $85 per person and includes pre-luncheon refreshments, brunch, mementos, an Opportunity Drawing, and supports the Boy Scouts of America. Invitations and/or additional information may be obtained by contacting Charissa Gonzales at Greater LA Scouting at (213) 718-7167 or development@greaterlascouting.org. Registration is also available on the website at https://greaterlascouting.org/wings/.