Saratoga Sampler

Citizen of the Year honorees abound

By Mary Ann Cook

CITIZENS OF YEAR: When Peggy Corr throws a party it's a sure bet it's something special. The most recent being a case in point. It was thrown at the Plumed Horse at the end of December to commemorate her 80th birthday, which is actually Dec. 7, but she wanted her family to be part of the action.

The family includes two daughters--Maggie Barr, who lives in Aptos, and Cathy Schmidt, who lives in Wrangell, Alaska. Then there are three grandchildren: Sarah Barr, 22, recent grad of Santa Clara University; Matt Schmidt, 22, working on a doctorate at Santa Barbara; and Sarah Schmidt, 19, a sophomore at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Maggie works for a law office; Cathy is a special ed teacher, and her husband, Butch, is a science teacher. Butch's parents, Bea and Wally Schmidt, owned Village Pharmacy in Saratoga for several decades.

The biggest coup about the Corr party, however, was the number of Citizen of the Year honorees (so-named over the years by the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce) at the birthday dinner. There were nine in all, counting Corr herself. Here's the countdown: Marge Bunyard, Marion Card, Gladys Armstrong, Paul Bowlin, Les Landin, Marlene Duffin, Louise Cooper and Marilyn White. A tenth, Mary Jeanne Fenn, was asked, but couldn't make it. "I felt very fortunate to be surrounded by such neat people," Corr says. "Our lives have crisscrossed in so many ways. They are all so delightful."

GOOD CITIZEN AWARDS: Here are the winners of the Good Citizens Awards, presented annually by the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution during American History Month. The high school winners were Annie Weider of Archbishop Mitty High School and Irene Yen of Saratoga High.

Those winners were chosen based on scholarship, leadership, community activities and their essays on the topic "Our American Heritage and Our Responsibility for Preserving It." The middle school winner was Laura Kolstad, an eighth-grader at St. Andrew's School. She was chosen for her leadership, scholarship and activities.

Awards were also given to winners of the American History Essay contest. Essayists were to write as though they were interviewing two signers of the Declaration of Independence for the July 5, 1776, edition of the Philadelphia Gazette.

Eighth-grade winners were Royce Ausich, first, St. Mary's; David Addison, second, Sacred Heart; and Eric Shuffle, third, Sacred Heart. Seventh grade winners were Joey Pollard-Vithanage, first; Katherine Guerico, second; and Kristina Kirkland, third, all of Sacred Heart.

Sixth-grade winners were Ricky Bose, first; Nick Miller, second; and Katie Atwell, third, all of Sacred Heart. Winners were announced at the DAR meeting at St. Andrew's Church.

FUND FOR PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT: Jim Compton's philanthropy is so widespread that in a recent tribute to him at the Fund for Peace dinner, David Morey likened knowing Jim to the fable of the blind man who touched different parts of an elephant and each time came up with a different answer about what animal he was touching.

Likewise the people extolling Compton's virtues that night all talked of different aspects of his generosity and public spiritedness.

My own identity problems that evening included approaching three people I know whose names I couldn't remember. Turned out they were Rod Diridon, Jay Harris and Professor Gerald Uelmen (part of the O.J. Simpson defense team). The only way I knew them was through their very visible newspaper presence. I managed to slink off into the crowd.

SENIOR MOMENT: Liz LeMat is a zestful 85-year-old who met her current beau, Harry Schwartz, 79, at the Saratoga Senior Center's exercise class. LeMat had been married and widowed three times and was wary about getting involved again.

"I don't date," she told Harry when he asked her to go to the symphony a few years back. But Harry prevailed, saying, "We're only going to the symphony." Then it was, "We're only going to the theater." Finally the "only going" evenings turned into a steady pattern.

They've been keeping company for about five years now. LeMat's daughter, Bonnie LeMat, is the education director for the Youth Science Institute.

BOOK CLUB: Is this the oldest book club in Saratoga? It's been in existence at least 30 years and answers to different names--The Second Wednesday Book Club, Newcomers Alums Book Club, The Gourmet Book Club. It's the most popular one in town because of the quality of the food, the claim goes.

For this reason Louise Webb thinks it should be called Food for Thought. Coordinator is Mary Swentzel and the most recent host was Carole Hardy. Recent food preparers were Diana Anderson, entree; Cathy Gillum, salad and bread; and Louise Webb, dessert. Oh, wait a minute--the book? Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani.

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