Stanislaus County’s outstanding women to be honored in March

Eleven women and three young women will be honored by the Stanislaus County Commission on Women during the organization’s 37th annual dinner March 12 the Assyrian Cultural Center of Bet-Nahrain in Ceres.

The honorees as outstanding women are: Debbie Soro Adair, an Enochs High School English teacher; Joyce Gandelman, an attorney who runs the nonprofit Senior Advocacy Network-Senior Law Project; Janette Garcia, who works with woman dealing with addiction problems; Linda Lagace, who mentors and advocates for a 13-year-old developmentally disabled child in foster care; Erin Nelson, founder of Jessica’s House in Turlock, which offers grief counseling for children; Denise Nordell, a longtime volunteer for LearningQuest and 2015 Tutor of the Year for Literacy award winner; Hattie Pope, who has been involved with the United Way for more than 25 years; Ruhi Sheikh, who has been involved in Fremont Open Plan’s parent group and also in local arts; Carla Strong, executive director of the Howard Training Center; Terry Wheatley, a breast cancer survivor from Hughson who created the Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research; and Sue Zwahlen, a Modesto Board of Education trustee.

The honorees as outstanding young women are: Taylor Beckwith, a Pitman High student involved in leadership including tobacco-prevention education; Mahima Krishnamoorthi, a Modesto High International Baccalaureate student; and Sienna Samra, a 2013 Pitman High graduate and advocate for Autism Speaks.

Tickets are $45; March 7 is the deadline for reservations. Call 209-404-4414 for more information, or visit www.stanislauswomen.org for a reservation form.

Stan State to bestow honorary doctorates to Lodi couple

Valley developer Greenlaw “Fritz” Grupe and his wife, Phyllis Anne Grupe, will receive honorary doctorates from California State University, Stanislaus, during the school’s commencement ceremony May 27.

The Grupes will become the 13th and 14th individuals so honored by the university, which began bestowing honorary doctorates in 1993.

They will receive Doctor of Humane Letters degrees. The Grupes are longtime Lodi-area residents who have been instrumental in the development of the university’s Stockton campus, including the city’s University Park. Fritz Grupe is president and chairman of The Grupe Co., which is one of the nation’s largest privately held real estate companies. Among their developments is River Pointe in Waterford.

Modesto fire chief named honorary ski event chairman

Modesto Fire Department Chief Sean Slamon is the honorary chairman of the Society for Disabilities’ SnowFest 2016, set for March 19 at Dodge Ridge Ski Resort. Slamon will be recruiting teams to participate in this ski-a-thon. Funds raised will benefit the organization’s water ski program.

Author! Author!

The novel “Last Man Home,” by Turlock’s CD Wilkinson, is set in the Vietnam War era and is available through bookstores nationwide, from www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore, or by visiting barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com.

Author Nick Cole’s new book, titled “Crtl-Alt Revolt!,” is out on Amazon.com. The Valley connection? Cole’s wife, Nicole Fernandes, grew up in Modesto and attended Hart-Ransom Elementary School, Modesto High and Modesto Junior College. They now live in Southern California, where she sings in the Los Angeles Opera’s chorus.

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Stanislaus County’s outstanding women to be honored in March."