Eagle of Excellence Awards

   The Rotary Club of Big Bear Lake will have its showcase night on Sunday, June 1st at the Northwoods Hotel.  The prestigious Eagle of Excellence Awards will be presented to five individuals who have shown a high caliber of professionalism, work ethic, not only in their vocational field, but also role model status in giving of their time, talent, energy and influence on the community. 

   There will be five awards presented in the categories of Community Service, Dental, Medical, and Education.  For further information on the evening event, contact Eric Lewis at 878-4214.

Bob Davies - Dentistry

   Born in West Virginia, Bob grew up in Southern California and joined the Air Force after high school as a bomber mechanic and jet engine specialist.  After the service he went on to marry and have a son, Chris.  Unfortunately his wife Emma died in an auto accident in 1955.  He went on to graduate from the USC School of Dentistry in 1960.  Bob had a successful career “down the hill” (including meeting and marrying his wife Jan) when he saw an ad in 1970 advertising a “Mountain Resort Practice for sale by owner”, and the rest is history.  He and Jan moved to Big Bear and opened his practice during the Big Bear fire of 1970.

   Community involvement was part of his life from the beginning as he was one of the early activists to create incorporation for the City of Big Bear Lake.  In 1990 he was elected to the City Council and was Mayor from 1993-1994.  He was there during the 1992 earthquake and is proud that they still managed to balance the City budget every year.

   Bob Davies is arguably the Dean of the dozen dentists who practice in the Bear Valley.  He initiated the Rotary Club’s Dental Check-Up Program which is now in its 8th year and has provided dental exams to approximately 600 3rd and 5th graders in all three elementary school.  For a distressingly large number of the children involved, it is the first time they have ever had such an exam.  Many of the worst cases benefit from subsequent “pro bono” services by the participating dentists.  Bob has had a total of 45 years of perfect attendance at Rotary.  In addition to the Dental program, he organizes the “liquid refreshment wagon” for the July 4th fireworks, and for many years has been active in the Rotary Santa program.

Mary Ann Lewis - Education

   Raised in the San Fernando Valley as a graduate of Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Mary Ann is definitely a California girl. She learned to fly single engine airplanes when she was 16 and became her father’s unofficial copilot in the family’s plane. Summers found her living on board the family boat with younger sister Trish.

   Mary Ann later attended Cal Poly Pomona where she became a lifetime member of the Golden Key National Honor Society and graduated summa cum laude.

   She and husband Eric met and married in San Francisco in 1978.  After ten years of get-away weekends at their Big Bear cabin, they made Big Bear their full time home in 1988 where Mary Ann made her life-long dream come true, and became a teacher with Bear Valley Unified School District.

Mary Ann has been part of the District’s leadership teams for the past 17 years. She was asked to be a Mentor Teacher and enjoyed working with new teachers as well as working on her special project area of school restructuring. She was a team presenter at the California School Restructuring Symposium and a team writer for the successful $100,000 restructuring grant. Mary Ann was twice selected as a Steven G. Mihaylo Grant Recipient. She was nominated for the Disney American Teacher Award and was selected to be included in Who’s Who Among American’s Teachers.

   One of the greatest honors in her career was being selected three times by Steven G. Mihaylo Scholarship recipients as being an important part in their educational experience.  Being acknowledged by students for being a positive influence in their lives is the highest compliment a teacher can receive.  Another milestone in her career was receiving the San Bernardino County Medal of Honor for “Excellence in Education.” For Mary Ann, teaching is her hobby, her passion, and her life-long dream. 

Bob Ludecke – Community Service

   Bob Ludecke was born in Los Angeles and raised in Burbank, California.  After high school he married his high school sweetheart, Kathy, and then joined the Air Force for four years where he was a crew chief on the C-130 aircraft.

   After his discharge in 1974, Ludecke started work as an apprentice electrician while going to night school to earn his A.S. Degree in electrical construction engineering.  Once he received his contractor’s license, he moved to Big Bear in 1978 to start Ludecke’s Electrical Service.  He is a Subject Matter Expert for the Contractor’s State License Board writing electrical and law exams, is a member of the State Industry Expert Program, the International Association of Electrical Inspectors and a instructor in electrical code & wiring practices.

   In addition to his electrical business in Big Bear, he has made great contributions to the community.  He’s a member and Past Exalted Ruler of the Big Bear Lake Elks Lodge, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and Chair of the North Shore Christian Nursery School Board for the past 26 years.  Ludecke has been elected to four terms on the Big Bear Municipal Water District and has served as president four times.  He generously donates time and resources to the Discovery Center’s Annual Gala, as well as donating all electrical needs for the DOVES shelter, and labor and materials to the annual Habitat for Humanity Project.

   Bob and Kathy have a daughter, Patti, and two grandkids, Keri & Daniel, and son Steve and daughter-in-law Kathy, with two more grandkids, Dylan and Collin.

Marilyn Vecchio - Medical

   Marilyn was born and raised in Pasadena, California, and decided at the age of 5 that she wanted to be a nurse, have 12 kids, half of them adopted and run her own orphanage.  She attended night school while in high school, working towards her RN and announcing that she wanted 12 kids to the guys that she dated.  She married the love her life, Tony, at the age of 18 in 1976 (yes, he knew about the 12 kids desire) and have been married for almost 32 years.

   They moved to Big Bear in 1983 and ended up with six children, four of whom are adopted.  Some of them are special needs children whom they chose to adopt, and others from time to time they’ve taken in for foster care.  Marilyn discovered a new passion for special needs children and how exciting it is to facilitate their growth, development and health.  Marilyn and husband Tony received the Children's Network Foster Parents of the Year award in 2003.  They are expecting their first grandchild in October.

 Marilyn started working at Bear Valley Hospital in 1984 in Labor and Delivery which evolved into doing childbirth education classes, and was instrumental in starting the MOM (Mothers on the Mountain) Project in 2002 where she became Program Director in 2005.

   The MOM Project/ DAD Project is a parent education and resource center program.  They offer 18 different parent education classes.  In 2006/2007 they provided services to 490 people. In January they launched the DAD Project with the first class of the Nurturing Fathers and it was highly successful.  She has been a guest speaker for the Department of Children's Services, San Bernardino Superintendent of Schools conference, CCS,   Parents without Partners, Children's Network Conference and many others.  Many of these presentations have been on parenting special needs children.  Marilyn is also currently writing a book on the same subject.

Helen Walsh – Community Service

   After 13 years as a weekender, Helen Walsh retired from the corporate world where she was a Flight Engineer for Western Airlines, and moved here to Big Bear with husband Patrick.

   Helen’s first volunteer activity in Big Bear was the Hike for a Diabetes Cure.  She co-chaired the Hike with Kris Foulkes for two years and they were able to raise enough money to help fund a young researcher for a Diabetes Cure at Scripps Institute.

Helen also joined the Soroptimist Club and the DOVES Board of Directors.  She served on the DOVES Board in various capacities including President Elect and earned a spot in their Chairman’s Circle for her fundraising.

   For Soroptimists, Helen chaired the annual Home Tour, the Christmas Dinner/Auction, various Man About Town committees as well as being Co-Chair of the Man About Town Event the year they raised over $100,000.  Helen chaired their Mammogram Program for 3 years where they provided low cost or free mammograms to over 150 women in our valley. Helen is currently President-Elect for Soroptimists.  She is also co-chairing the Golden West Region Spring Conference in Phoenix, Arizona where over 500 Soroptimists will attend this 4-day event.  In July of this year, the Soroptimist Club is sending her to Taipei, Taiwan as a delegate to the 40th Biennial International Convention. 

   Helen is finishing her second year as Chair of the Hospital Foundation.  During those two years the Foundation has held many successful events for the hospital including two Reunion Concerts, two Golden Balls (most recently featuring the Platters & Coasters), “On Golden Pond”, “Love Letters”, “The Divas”, and will be sponsoring the “Evening with John Grandi & Friends” at the PAC in August.  Proceeds from these benefits go to help the hospital buy new equipment and services which benefit the visitors to and residents of the Big Bear Valley. 

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