Community leaders present awards at Friends of Balboa Park luncheon
By Anthony King | SDUN Editor
The Friends of Balboa Park held their annual “Salute to Volunteers and Visionaries” luncheon on Oct. 30, handing out seven awards to individuals and organizations in recognition of their long-term contributions to Balboa Park.
Now in its 12th year, the reception and program was held at the Balboa Park Club ballroom.
Approximately 350 people attended, including Rep. Susan Davis and State Sen. Christine Kehoe. Councilmember Todd Gloria presented the Inspiration Awards and Assemblymember Toni Atkins, who serves on the Friends of Balboa Park advisory council, presented the Millennium Awards.
“If volunteers hadn’t been involved since day one, what would our park be like now?” said Jim Hughes, Friends of Balboa Park chair. The luncheon is the organization’s signature event, he said.
“My role here today is to talk to you about volunteers, and the important role that they play in Balboa Park and our city as a hole,” Gloria said. “In the spirit of the many, many volunteers who have labored in Balboa Park over the past century, we are here to honor current volunteers who have set such examples that they are being awarded … Inspiration Awards.”
Inspiration Award-winners included Jane Cowgill, Betsy Gardner, Kay Harry, William Swank and Mary Toomey, who were all present to accept the honors.
Cowgill, a volunteer at the San Diego History Center as well as the Old Globe Theatre, was honored for her work creating a database archive of San Diego County marriage license records, a project she started in 2007. She also has served as chair of the Old Globe’s annual fashion show fundraiser, “Celebrating Culture,” and this year’s silent auction.
“Having family in San Diego County for over 200 years, the History Center was just a natural calling to me,” Cowgill said. “As for my second family, at the Old Globe, I’ve been with them since 1975. … I can’t tell you how much it’s meant to me.”
Originally a volunteer parent of the San Diego Junior Theatre, Gardner has been volunteering for the organization for 21 years. “My daughter fell in love with the theater, and for that I’m so grateful because then the theater became my love also,” she said. “I want others to have the same opportunities that we have experienced from this special place.”
Serving as the San Diego Floral Association’s fundraising co-chair, Harry also volunteers her time with Balboa Park’s Festival of Trees and Historic Garden Tour. She oversees two other projects in the park, the spring butterfly celebration in Zoro Garden and the Kate Sessions birthday celebration, held Nov. 10.
“Relative to her vast expertise of plants and history, Kay has become an important member of the team that produces California Garden, the oldest continuously published horticulture magazine,” Gloria said.
Harry said she was accepting the award on behalf of the Floral Association’s volunteers. “Our hope is to continue the wonderful work we’ve been doing. We invite any and all of you to join us in that effort,” she said.
Toomey’s volunteer service for the San Diego Natural History Museum spans 36 years. Both Gloria and Toomey told of her first interaction with the museum, when she offered a scorpion as a specimen. She is now part of the team that prepares similar specimens for the San Diego County Plant Atlas Project.
“I love the museum,” Toomey said. “You learn something new with every department.”
An Inspiration Award was also given to Swank, a “jovial and friendly” volunteer who has portrayed Santa Claus in the park’s annual holiday festivities for over a decade.
With red Santa hat in hand, Swank said his “hat was off” to the crowd and the Friends of Balboa Park.
“I’d like to thank the academy,” he said, then listed Balboa Park visionaries including George Marston, Kate Sessions and John D. Spreckels, among others, before ending: “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”
Following the Inspiration Awards, Atkins presented two Millennium Awards, one to the House of Pacific Relations, International Cottages, Inc. and the other to Patrons of the Prado.
Clark Anthony, master of ceremonies for the lunch, said the Millennium Awards – equal to lifetime achievement awards – were the highest honors given from the Friends of Balboa Park, and welcomed Atkins to the stage.
When San Diego hosted the second world exposition in 1935, architect Richard Requa designed the site for the organization to showcase their foreign exhibits. The exposition lasted two years, and brought over seven million visitors to the 15 “California-Spanish” cottages.
Hannu Mikkonen, president of the House of Pacific Relations accepted the award.
“It has been my pleasure, duty and honor to lead this organization of 32 different nations,” he said. “It has been an experience that few get to enjoy, as leader of the largest multi-cultural organization in the United States.”
Cindy Goodman of the Patrons of the Prado, an all-volunteer women’s organization that supports Balboa Park’s arts organizations through fundraising, accepted the second Millennium Award, saying she looked forward to working with everyone toward the 2015 Balboa Park centennial celebration.
Patrons of the Prado have donated over 25,000 hours of service and more than $2.5 million to park arts organizations, starting in 1996 when the group was incorporated. There are currently 11 institutions that benefit from the funds, which Atkins said were unrestricted.
The awards program was followed by a detailed historical presentation titled “The 1935 Exposition – The Legacy Lives On” by Dr. Iris Engstrand, history professor at the University of San Diego.
Ending the event, Friends of Balboa Park founding member Betty Peabody said, “all of you have really inspired all of us. … You are the present and future of our park.”
The Friends of Balboa Park mission is to preserve the park’s legacy for future generations. For more information, visit friendsofbalboapark.org.