Palisadian Carmen Viray Wilcox died of natural causes on July 2 in Boulder, Colorado, where she and her husband, Ralph, owned a second home. She was 78. Carmen was born to Domingo and Apolonia San Pedro Viray on February 19, 1926, in Manila, Philippines. She was one of 13 children. Three years after earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Philippines, Carmen moved to the United States to study and complete a master’s degree in chemistry at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh. She continued her graduate studies in chemistry at University of Colorado at Boulder. Through a common group of friends she met Ralph Wilcox, whom she married on May 22, 1959. Carmen, a very caring person, supported Ralph as he earned his Ph.D. in physics and when their son Lee was born in 1960, she became a full-time mom. A second son, Ben, was born in 1963. In 1969, the Wilcox family relocated to Southern California and moved to Pacific Palisades. Carmen later returned to work as a medical laboratory technologist at various local hospitals, a profession she enjoyed for many years. The warm weather of Southern California was perfect for Carmen’s favorite pastime, gardening. It gave her great pride and joy to see her plant clippings mature into fruitbearing plants. Meanwhile, she and Ralph attended lectures together, and enjoyed traveling to visit grandchildren, family and friends. In addition to her husband, Carmen is survived by her sons, Lee (wife Jackie) of Vancouver, Washington, and Ben of Pacific Palisades; three grandchildren, Tuck, Makena and Sean of Vancouver; sisters Emiliana Morf, Dolores Brill, Rosario Viray, Estela Kallinen, Mother Katherine Pilar Viray, Teresa Viray and Virginia Mantano; and brothers Cesar, Antonio and Alejandro. She was preceded in death by two brothers, Victor and Manuel. The funeral was held July 11 at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Boulder. Contributions may be made in Carmen’s name to the American Diabetes Association.
Sunrise Assisted Living celebrated its third anniversary in Pacific Palisades with an open house, musical entertainment, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a free dinner Saturday night. Longtime Palisades resident and Broadway legend John Raitt (‘Carousel,’ ‘The Pajama Game’), sang some of his favorite songs and talked about his long and colorful career. Guests also toured the three-story facility and met with the new executive director, Judy Uy-Villaruz. Uy-Villaruz was introduced into the Sunrise community June 21. She previously served as executive director at Gardena Retirement, a 108-bed assisted living facility in Gardena, for 1-1/2 years. However, her assisted living experience began in 1991, when she was 24, and her parents asked her to start a new family business’a six-bed assisted living facility. ‘I did all the startup for them’recruiting, licensing and training,’ says Uy-Villaruz, who earned her degree in accounting from Cal State Dominguez Hills around the same time. The facility she helped establish, called Menlo House, is now one of three her family has founded. ‘My dad’s side of the family is all CPAs or self-employed, and my mom’s side is nurses and doctors,’ says Uy-Villaruz, who emigrated with her parents from the Phillipines to the United States when she was 4 years old. She currently resides in Carson with her husband and two small children (ages 2 and 6 months), and is planning to pursue a master’s degree in heath administration in spring 2005. Uy-Villaruz told the Post that there are currently three rooms available on the second assisted living floor. Sunrise is located at 15441 Sunset. Contact: 573-9545.
‘E.T.’ will be the feature this Saturday night, July 24, when the Movies in the Park series debuts on the Field of Dreams at the Palisades Recreation Center, 861 Alma Real. The free series, presented by the Palisades Chamber of Commerce, will continue with ‘Grease’ on July 31, ‘Indiana Jones’ on August 7 and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ on August 14. Movies on the 15-by-20 foot screen will start at dusk, with seating on the grass beginning at 7 p.m. Bring your own picnic and blankets, but please no chairs with stick legs. And, no alcohol. Snacks and drinks will be sold by the Boy Scouts. A 4-speaker sound system will allow the sound to be evenly distributed. ‘By conducting several preliminary sound tests we are trying to be very sensitive to the desire of neighbors that they not be disturbed,’ says David Williams, Chamber president. The major sponsor is Wachovia Securities. Other sponsors are Friends of Film, American Legion Post 283 and the Palisades Junior Women’s Club. Helping to make the evening safe will be Palisades Patrol. Keeping the park clean will be Chrysalis. Movies in the Park committee members include David Williams, Sandy Derby, Roberta Donohue, Sandy Eddy, Andy Frew, Brad Lusk, Roy Robbins, Bob Sharka, John Wirth and Bob and Marika Tur. Visit www.palisadeschamber.com or conatc 459-7963 for more information.
Park neighbor Karen Weber first saw this sign warning of West Nile virus last week while walking her 11-month-old daughter, Tamar, at the Palisades Recreation Center. Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Karen Weber, who lives next to the Palisades Recreation Center, walks her 11-month-old daughter, Tamar, in the park every day. A week ago she was surprised to find the following sign posted by the picnic tables: ‘Disease Warning: West Nile Virus Has Been Confirmed In or Near This Area.’ Monday evening, Palisadians Pepper Edmiston and Megan Williams were walking along the bluffs on Via de las Olas. Shortly after seeing the identical sign posted there, Williams was bitten on her finger by a mosquito. Naturally, she worried she might have become infected with the disease. ‘Probably not,’ Robert Savikas, executive director of Los Angeles County West Vector Control District, told the Palisadian-Post. ‘While the disease has been found within five miles of your area, which is why we posted the signs, we estimate it will be another few weeks before a case is found there. We do know it’s moving westward at a pretty steady rate.’ As of yesterday there were 28 known human cases of West Nile virus in California, seven of those in L.A. County. No deaths have been reported. The disease is transmitted to humans and animals by mosquitoes that have become infected when they feed on infected birds. West Nile has been identified in more than 100 species of birds found dead in the United States. There is no evidence that a person can get the virus from handling live or dead infected birds, or from another person. ‘Even in areas where the disease is circulating, very few mosquitoes are infected with the virus,’ said Savikas, who told the Post that cases have been found in nearby Inglewood and Playa del Rey. ‘The chances of becoming severely ill from any one mosquito bite is extremely small.’ He recommends that if you or your family members develop symptoms such as high fever, confusion, muscle weakness and severe headaches, you should see your doctor immediately. While there is no specific treatment for West Nile, in more severe cases intensive care is needed and can involve hospitalization, intravenous fluids and respiratory support (ventilator) to prevent secondary infections, including pneumonia. Common in Asia and Africa, the first case of West Nile in the United States was found in New York in the fall of 1999, and the disease has since spread to 46 states. Control measures nationwide have been able to slow but not stop the spread of the virus, which is expected to reach all of the continental U.S. by year’s end. The L.A. County West Vector Control District is working to decrease the mosquito population and is monitoring all bird, chicken and horse populations. Approximately 85 percent of the people who are infected with West Nile will not show symptoms of the disease. Up to 15 percent who become infected will display mild symptoms similar to the flu, including fever, headache and body aches. Symptoms typically last a few days. Less than one percent will develop severe illness, marked by bad headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, paralysis, coma and, only rarely, death (mostly among the elderly). In 2003, there were 264 total deaths from the West Nile virus in the United States. By comparison, there are 20,000 to 36,000 deaths annually in the U.S. from the common influenza virus. While no vaccine is yet available against West Nile, there are ways to reduce your risk of becoming infected in areas where there are mosquitoes. It is recommended that you take precautions outdoors ‘at dawn and dusk,’ said Jonathan Fielding, director of public health for the L.A. County Department of Health Services. ‘You should wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants and make sure there are no sources of standing water,’ such as exist in the saucers of potted plants, bird baths and hot tubs. The county’s West Vector Control District also recommends spraying clothing with repellents containing permethrin or DEET, since mosquitoes may bite through thin clothing, and applying insect repellent sparingly to exposed skin. An effective repellent will contain 35 percent DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide). DEET in high concentrations (greater than 35 percent) provides no additional protection. Repellents, which some people consider too risky to use, may irritate the eyes and mouth, so avoid applying repellent to the hands of children. Whenever you use an insecticide or insect repellent, be sure to read and follow the manufacturer’s directions for use, as printed on the product. Install or repair window and door screens so that mosquitoes cannot get indoors. Vitamin B and ‘ultrasonic’ devices are not effective in preventing mosquito bites. (Editor’s note: For continuous updates on West Nile virus go to: www.lawestvector.org. If you have a mosquito problem, call 915-7370. A technician will arrange a visit to investigate the mosquito breeding source. If you find a dead bird, particularly a crow or other corvid (e.g., jay, magpie, raven, etc.), call 877-WNV-BIRD. The bird must be dead no more than 24 hours to enable testing for West Nile virus. Do not touch the bird. Department of Health Services will arrange for pickup and laboratory testing for the disease. While most horses infected with West Nile virus recover, the disease has caused 11 deaths in the Inland Empire. A vaccine for horses was recently approved, but its effectiveness is unknown.)
Following last week’s announcement of Gloria Martinez as new principal at Palisades High School, the board of governors finalized the school’s leadership team this week, hiring two educators with longstanding connections to the Palisades. Jack Sutton, who has been acting as executive director pro bono, had been hired for the post, taking on the policy and legal roles the independent charter school has assumed since separating from LAUSD a year ago. Merle Price, former PaliHi principal and head of the charter office for LAUSD, will assist the school in its charter renewal next spring and advise Martinez, who came from the Santa Monica/Malibu district, on the workings of LAUSD. Both men are Palisades residents and will work on a part-time basis, according to board chairman Jonathan Fielding, who confirmed the positions. ‘Jack will be expected to be the single point of accountability to the board,’ Fielding said. ‘He will make sure that the policies are implemented, the education reforms are proceeding at an accelerated rate, and he will be the key person in interactions with LAUSD.’ The district still owns the buildings and property and will play a role in the school’s obligation in determining the balance between the traveling students and local kids. Since PaliHi became an independent charter school, the nonprofit governing board has inherited a number of business decisions that used to be handled by the district. ‘Somehow this nonprofit has to handle the major parts of the job,’ said Sutton, who will split his time between PaliHi and his work as interim executive director of Computer-Using Educators, Inc., in Alameda, California. Both Sutton and Price are career educators, an asset in the eyes of the board. ‘The board didn’t want to bring in a business person who didn’t know education,’ Sutton said. Having recently resigned as executive officer for UCLA education outreach’a program instituted after the Regents eliminated affirmative action as a means for admission’Sutton’s career has really centered on instruction in elementary, middle and high schools. Price, who recently retired from LAUSD as deputy superintendent, served as principal at PaliHi from 1992 to 1999. With 32 years working in the schools or at the local district, Price understands how teachers and administrators can become frustrated with central officials and will act as a consultant to both Sutton and Martinez. ‘We will be a presence on campus without getting in the way of Gloria,’ Sutton said. ‘We are trying to maintain separation between the school and the nonprofit that has replaced the district.’ In a marathon meeting that lasted until midnight Monday night, the board also decided to invest in new programs in both math and English. A new position will be added in 7th period to teach math to low performing students.The school will also set up English classes throughout the regular schedule to help those students who are two grade levels below. Responding to requests from these two departments, the board is focusing on fulfilling its mission to reduce the achievement gap. ‘We will continue working with the faculty to empower them’ Fielding said.’A number of these investments are going to help, including reducing class sizes.’ The board also agreed to send a letter to parents that will explain the expectation that parents be involved. ‘We want to clarify expectations and to reach parent groups throughout the area, particularly those of traveling students,’ Fielding said. ‘We also made the decision to move ahead with our information technology. In the fall, attendance and grades will be processed electronically, and there will be e-mail communication between parents and teachers.’ With all these plans going forward and with an expected record number of students matriculating for the fall, Fielding praised the work of the board of governors, the majority of whom are non-financially interested individuals, including parents, community members and a student member. Martinez will have a non-voting seat on the board. ‘I’ve been impressed with the unstinting time our board has given to work on these issues’their level of enthusiasm, thoughtfulness of debate and resolve in terms of making progress,’ Fielding said.
The flag race was one of the most fiercely contested at last Friday’s Junior Lifeguards competition at Will Rogers State Beach. Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
By SUE PASCOE Palisadian-Post Contributor A field of nearly 600 youngsters from Zuma, Venice, Santa Monica, and Will Rogers State Beaches participated in a Junior Lifeguards Sectional competition last Friday morning at Tower 15 on Will Roger’s State Beach. Friday’s competition included individual events like running and swimming and relays. Group C, consisting of 9- to 11-year-olds, started the morning with a half-mile sprint on the sand. They were followed by Group B, the 12- to 13-year-olds, who did a three-quarters-of-a-mile sprint, and then Group A (14- to 17-year-olds) who ran a mile. Runs were followed by each group doing a buoy swim of about 400 yards. As Group A started the flag run, Group C did the paddleboard relay. Kyle Daniels, head of the L.A. County Junior Lifeguard program explained that the paddleboard relay, because of the nature of the boards and the surf, is a cross between a water rodeo and a foot race. At the start, the first paddle boarder drags the board to the water, navigates through the breaking waves out onto the ocean, paddles around the buoy, paddles back, riding the waves, drags the board across the sand, and hands it off to the next person on the relay. The flag race involved people laying face down in the sand, looking the opposite direction from where rubber sticks, much like pieces of chopped hoses were placed about 50 feet away. There were always fewer flags than contestants. A ‘heads up’ command was given, then ‘heads down’ and then a whistle was blown. The contestants jumped to their feet, spun around and sprinted to the flags, dove and grabbed them. As well as teaching CPR and rescue techniques, the program builds confidence in campers’ ability to swim in the ocean. This is the 44th year of the program, continuous with the exception of a short hiatus during World War II. The program has not changed in all these years with the exception of changing from red uniforms to blue. ‘The crowning moment of the program is when these Junior Lifeguards graduate into lifeguards,’ Daniels said. ‘Many of our college kids who lifeguard during the summer started out as Junior Lifeguards.’ The goal of the program is to train children and teenagers ages 9 to 17 in beach and ocean safety. The regimen the campers go through in the five weeks is patterned after the same program that regular L.A. County Lifeguards undertake. No one is allowed to sign-up unless they qualify with a timed swim. Group C candidates must swim 100 yards in 1:50 or less. The program also has a limited number of spaces at each beach. Northern beaches used Friday as a warm-up for next week’s regional competition at Dockweiller Beach, which is expected to draw 2,400 Junior Lifeguards from all over Southern California. The state competition will be in Long Beach on July 23.
Palisadian kickboxer Baxter Humby continued his rise to the top of his sport by winning the International Muay Thai Council middleweight championship June 19 at the Upland Sports Arena. Humby dominated the five-round fight from start to finish, scoring three knockdowns of No. 1 contender Rubin Ynez of Canada en route to a unanimous decision victory It was Humby’s fourth consecutive win. Known as the ‘One-Armed Bandit’ because he was born without most of his right arm, Humby has overcome his handicap to enjoy success both in and out of the ring. He landed the starring role in a movie called ‘The Champion’ (based loosely on his life story), scheduled for release in Asia in August and he currently holds six world title belts. Humby has a professional record of 15-2 with six knockouts. His sole focus now is his next fight on September 11 at the Union Plaza in Las Vegas, where he will challenge champion Peter Cook of England for the International Sanctioned Kickboxing Association welterweight title. Cook dealt Humby his only knockout loss in their first fight a year and a half ago. His only other pro defeat was by decision three and a half years ago. ‘I had to come down in weight for that fight and he caught me with a lucky shot on the chin,’ Humby said. ‘Cook is not known for his high kicks, so I wasn’t watching for it and he landed it. I was winning until then and I know if I’m more careful I can beat him this time.’ Humby, 31, trains six days a week and also teaches kickboxing classes at Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts Center and the Palisades-Malibu YMCA. He was second in his age group last year in the Palisades-Will Rogers 5K, finishing in 17:33.
Led by several Palisadians, Sunshine Volleyball Club’s 12-and-under Crimson team took first place at the Volleyball Festival in Reno, Nevada’the world’s largest women’s annual sporting event. ‘It’s a really big deal,’ said Cari Klein, who lives in the Palisades and coaches both Crimson and the Marymount High girls’ volleyball team. ‘All of the best teams from North America and even some from South America are there. It’s a great credit to our girls that they were able to come out on top.’ In a pool of 59 teams, Crimson defeated an all-star squad from Puerto Rico in the finals of the winners bracket, then beat the same team again to win the division championship July 1. Playing a key role in Crimson’s victory were Palisadians Meg Norton, Jenna Scilacci and Mia MacPherson. The Sunshine 12s Red team, including Calvary Christian School students Tate Johnson and Christina McCue, finished fourth. Sunshine’s Green team was 42nd and its Blue team was 56th. Also in the 12s age group, Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club’s Mustangs won the Capital Division. In the 14s age division, Sunshine’s 14 Platinum team finished 30th out of 177 teams and its Diamond team came in 73rd place. The 16-1s team was No. 42 out of 241 teams and Sunshine’s 13s Gold squad, featuring Katie Hance, Hilary Dahl, Nicole Terhagen and Glenna Roberts, finished fourth out of 35 teams. Gene’s Team, coached by volleyball legend Gene Selznick, won the Capital Division of the 14s division. Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club’s 13s White team was 31st and its 14s Black team finished 151.
Led by two Palisadians, the Los Angeles Water Polo Club won the Youth Division (17-and-under) of the USA Water Polo National Age Group championships July 1, defeating host Long Beach 7-5 in the final game at the new Charter All-Digital Aquatic Center. Mike Lennon, a senior at Loyola High, scored twice in the gold medal match while fellow Palisades resident Jay Connolly, a senior at Harvard-Westlake High, was the squad’s starting goalkeeper. Though they are Mission League rivals during the prep season, Lennon and Connolly have played together on three national championship teams. Their club won the United States Junior Olympic 14-and-under title in 2001 and the 16-and-under gold medal in 2003. Both Lennon and Connolly were voted to the 2003 All-CIF Division I team, selected by the CIF-SS Water Polo Coaches Association. Connolly made the second-team along with Wolverines teammate Eric Vreeland and Lennon was the Cubs’ third-team choice. Both are coached at L.A. Water Polo Club by three-time Olympic coach Rich Corso. Connolly, a Palisades native who attended St. Matthew’s Elementary, follows in the footsteps of older brother Brendan, who achieved All-American status at Harvard-Westlake, graduating in 1998. Lennon and Jay Connolly were selected to the California Coastal Zone’s youth (17 & under) water polo team last year in Santa Barbara. Fifteen players earned spots on the team, which then traveled to Annapolis for the National Selection camp. Lennon is a three-time All-CIF selection while Connolly played two summers in Europe as a member of U.S. age group national teams.
‘Are we just taking really great care of him and getting him in tip-top physical shape so he can get full-blown dementia, where he doesn’t recognize me or the dog?’ Jo Giese poses this question to the doctor of her ailing husband, a patient with no hope for recovery from a disease causing severe mental decline. This is among many agonizing issues raised in ‘A Caregiver’s Diary,’ a 30-minute documentary Giese created to air on National Public Radio the weekend of July 16. Following her instincts as a journalist, Giese began recording conversations with her husband, with doctors and with friends during the last year of his life. The result is an exceedingly intimate and honest portrait of the despair and uncertainties faced by a wife caring for her dying husband. Dr. Douglas Forde was a physician who practiced in the Palisades for over 25 years, retiring in 1991. He suffered from multi-infarct dementia, a condition related to Alzheimer’s disease that causes a steady loss of memory due to small strokes. Forde required round-the-clock caregivers for the last 13 months of his life, time which he spent mostly in and out of a hospital bed in the living room of the couple’s Malibu home. He died at home last February. ‘It’s work I never wanted to do,’ Giese said during a recent interview with the Palisadian-Post in the light-filled beach home she once shared with her beloved spouse. ‘But taking care of my husband while he was dying is the most important work I’ve ever done.’ Giese first began her ‘audio diary’ with no clear purpose in mind other than to help her endure the trauma of her ongoing plight. It was only later that she realized it had the potential to help many others who are in the same situation. ‘It’s by far the most personal story I’ve ever done,’ says Giese, who is accustomed to looking inward as a writer and public radio correspondent. Her award-winning series ‘Breaking the Mold’ ran for three years on pubic radio’s ‘Marketplace,’ where ‘Life on Fire,’ her ongoing series about a family who lost everything in last year’s devastating fires, is currently airing. According to a recent ‘Newsweek’ article, Americans in 20 million households are looking after loved ones who are ill. Giese’s documentary touches upon many of the issues these men and women face. ‘The emotional and financial toll is staggering,’ says Giese, who had six caregivers rotating in and out of her home at a cost of $1,000 a week. The psychological price’giving up any semblance of privacy’was especially high, with Giese posting a ‘No Entrance, Please Knock’ sign on her bedroom door after one too many intrusions. ‘I was really running a mini-hospital,’ Giese says. ‘I couldn’t do it without them, and I couldn’t do it with them.’ Early on in the documentary, Giese makes it clear to a prospective caregiver just what their respective roles are: ‘Whoever I hire here is responsible for his care, but I’m responsible for his life.’ Throughout her husband’s illness, Giese never felt comfortable traveling a distance more than 20 minutes from home. Caregivers loomed large in Giese’s constricted household and consequently they emerge as major players in the documentary, with listeners getting to know people like Siony, a 53-year-old woman from the Philippines who had once been the beautician to a Saudi Arabian princess, and Viki, 27, a Bulgarian with a master’s degree in economics hoping to get her green card. Douglas Forde had stipulated in a medical directive form his desire never to be placed in a nursing home. ‘As a physician, he had been in those places hundreds of times,’ recalls Giese. ‘He didn’t want to do it.’ Had her husband lived and the disease progressed, Giese likely would have had no alternative. ‘The literal cost, combined with the emotional and psychological toll, is simply too great,’ she says. Giese heaps praise upon her collaborators, producer Wendy Dorr and Ira Glass, host and producer of NPR’s ‘This American Life,’ the show that will air Giese’s documentary. ‘Originally the focus was on caregiving,’ Giese remarks. ‘Ira has a genius for making things intimate and he brought the focus back to the relationship between me and my husband.’ That relationship is captured in the gentle, patient tone Giese has with her husband despite his often gruff demeanor, something brought on by the illness and medication. Giese used small white boards to remind her husband of the names of his caregivers, a sad irony given his former ability to not only remember all his patients’ names but also their telephone numbers. At its core, the piece is a heartbreaking love story on tape, one that allows the listener to bear witness’from a wife’s perspective’to the slow deterioration of a once brilliant and funny man. ‘He was the best listener ever,’ Giese fondly recalls of the man with whom she spent 17 years. ‘It was a rare privilege to live with him.’ Giese feels the process of editing the documentary has helped her grieve. ‘I’m drowning in it all over again and it’s all out in the open. ‘I have a Buddhist perspective in that I believe you can take suffering and turn it into something positive. That’s the blessing in my life. I’m able to do it again and again.’ With a laugh, she adds ‘But a little less suffering wouldn’t be so bad.’ ‘A Caregiver’s Diary’ will air on NPR’s ‘This American Life’ Friday, July 16 through Sunday, July 18. Check local radio listings or visit www.thisamericanlife.org for times.
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