Categories
Don B. Medley Scholarship

Update on the Don B. Medley Scholarship

From Rene Rodgriquez, President, VCCCDRA

On August 7, 2019, at our VCCCDRA Exec Board meeting, I was very pleased to report to the Board that we have received $11,795 in contributions from retirees to date.

The fact of the matter is that in just over 4 weeks after announcing to retirees that they could begin sending actual contributions, we received a total of $10,700, surpassing the goal of $10,500 that we needed to establish the annual $500 Don B. Medley Scholarship.

The following week, Pat Gage, Treasurer, and I went to the bank where Pat established the VCCCDRA account, and we deposited 201 checks totaling $10,900, $200 for lifetime dues and $10,700 for the scholarship.

TODAY, a day later, the total amount contributed stands at $12,320. The contributions keep coming in every day, and when the contributions come in for the outstanding pledges that remain, we will be very short of being able to offer a $700 dollar scholarship every year, instead of $500.

Let me encourage those who have yet to make an actual contribution that it is not too late to become a founding contributor to the Don B. Medley Scholarship.

For those interested in attending, we shall all be able to witness the first VCCCDRA sponsored Don B. Medley Scholarship awarded in June, 2020.

View, download, or print the Don B. Medley Scholarship Contribution Form.

Visit the VCCCDRA website.

Categories
Obituaries

Passing of Four Retirees

Janice Endo in Human Resources was kind enough to share, with Joy Kobayashi and Harry Cullotta, the names of additional former (retired) VCCCD employees who have passed away within the last three years.  Their passing was unknown to the VCCCDRA until so informed by Janice.  We are grateful to her for helping us keep tabs on so many of our membership living in so many locales.

Because we have not been able to locate informed obituaries, we are asking the membership’s help in providing information on our recently passed colleagues.  We would like to know which location they worked, position(s) they held, and any other memories you may have.

The names Janice provided are (please click on each name to read the limited obituary for each):

McCallian N. Blain (photo included)

Helen J. Larmon (photo included)

Arthur R. Rahm

Edith P. Bennett

Categories
Obituaries

Mike Taggart’s Passing

Mike Taggart

Mike Taggart, former ESL instructor for the Bilingual Vocational Arts program at Ventura College, passed on July 27, 2019 (he was born on September 15, 1930).  Mike would have been 89 next month.

Daughter Rebecca Taggart informed us that there will be a celebration of life for Mike in Ojai on September 8th.   More information will follow.

Hiroko Yoshimoto spent the last five days of his life by his bedside together with his family and friends in his house at Higgins Lake in Michigan.  When contacting us about Mike’s passing, Hiroko shared that Mike was a very close friend for nearly 40 years, and that in those days, he held court at the campus cafeteria with Frank Salazar, Mike Seely, Don Clark, Gary Johnson and many others, most of whom are no longer with us.

Mike’s obituary was published in the Ventura County Star on Sunday, August 25, 2019.