Centenarians
- Alma Coombs Hansen of the Cardston 5th Ward, Cardston Alberta West Stake, recently celebrated her 100th birthday.
She was born in an adobe house in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1896, and moved to Cardston, Alberta, Canada, with her family when she was 6 years old. She married the late Wilfred Hansen in the Cardston Temple on June 19, 1929. They had three children.
As a young girl she attended the groundbreaking of the Cardston Temple. She is one of the few people to have attended all three dedicatory services, including the original service when President Heber J. Grant dedicated the temple in 1923, then again after renovations in 1962 when President Hugh B. Brown rededicated the temple, then a third time in 1991 when President Gordon B. Hinckley rededicated the edifice.
- Lucy Pearl Stephens Child of the Riverdale 3rd Ward, Riverdale Utah Stake, recently celebrated her 104th birthday. She was born in 1892, in Ogden, Utah, and married Jessie Edward Child in the Salt Lake Temple. They celebrated their 65th anniversary before he died in 1982. She and her husband served three missions and worked in the Ogden Temple. She was music director for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers for 50 years. In honor of her service, her camp was renamed Camp Pearl Child.
Achievement
- Heidi Sonntag, Laurel president in the North Canyon 4th Ward, Bountiful Utah North Canyon Stake, and Adam Vandermyde, ward organist and an assistant to the bishop in the priests quorum in the Jordan View Ward, Granger North Stake, were named the Utah State Female Finalist and Utah State Male Finalist, respectively, in the national 1996 Wendy's High School Heisman Award program. Their recognition is based on academic excellence, community service and athletic achievements. Heidi is a three-sport athlete who was also elected the first female student body president in her school's 25-year-history. She has a 4.0 grade point average and has earned varsity letters in tennis, basketball and track since her sophomore year. Adam served on the seminary council, as student body vice president and DECA vice president. He was also captain and three-year starter on the football team. He was also captain and three-year starter on the baseball team, earning All-region and Most Valuable Player honors, and started three years on the basketball team. He holds a 3.8 grade point average and is pianist for the Concert Choir.
- Robert Marsh, a priest in the Lexington Ward, Columbia South Carolina Stake, scored a perfect 1600 on the Stanford Achievement Test.
Other academic accomplishments include receiving the Bausch and Lomb Science award and being named to the South Carolina State Math team.
He has also been active in community service projects and helped with relief efforts in Florida following Hurricane Andrew and in Georgia after severe flooding.
Professional
- Jon M. Huntsman, chairman and chief executive officer of Salt Lake-based Huntsman Corp., is one of 11 Americans who will receive the 1997 Horatio Alger award from the Horatio Alger Association. The award recognizes individuals who have achieved extraordinary success despite challenging life circumstances. He will receive the award during a PBS telecast in April 1997 in Washington D.C. Widely acknowledged for his philanthropy, Brother Huntsman, who battled cancer recently, donated $100 million to the Huntsman Cancer Institute last year. He currently serves as an Area Authority in the Utah North Area.
- Steve Albrecht, director of BYU's School of Accountancy and Information Systems (SOAIS), was recently elected president of the American Accounting Association (AAA). Brother Albrecht has been director of the university's SOAIS for six years. Both the bachelor's and master's programs in accounting at BYU were recently ranked third in the nation for a second consecutive year.
- Blaine C. Palmer of the Columbia 2nd Ward, Columbia Missouri Stake, was elected president of the American Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds. He will serve a two-year term as president and then assume the position of chairman of the executive committee.
Brother Palmer was instrumental in the establishment of the Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance Company and the Louisiana Workers Compensation Corporation and is the former president and chief executive officer of the Workers Compensation Fund of Utah.
- Milton L. Lee, the H. Tracy Hall professor of chemistry at BYU, was honored in Riva del Garda, Italy, with the Martin Medal for his contributions to microcolumn chromatography. The award is an annual international honor given by the Chromatographic Society of Great Britain.
Brother Lee has also received two Tswett medals for his work in chromatography. He is a member of the Manila 7th Ward, Pleasant Grove Utah Manila Stake.
- Van R. Johnson, bishop of the Loomis 2nd Ward, Rocklin California Stake, and chief executive officer of Sutter and California Health System, was awarded the 1996 Award of Distinction for his exemplary performance in service to the health care profession. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California. The award recognizes service, innovative leadership and resourcefulness.
- Russell Booth of the Canyon Rim 4th Ward, Salt Lake Canyon Rim Stake, was named president of the National Association of Realtors in December. He will represent 730,000 members.
His wife, Nina, and their family of six children attended the inaugural banquet in San Fransico during the association's 89th annual convention where the family sang to about 1,000 people.
He is a former bishop and stake president and currently serves as Cubmaster.
Academics
- Lisa Hopkins, 18, a freshman at Yale University, won first place in the Utah State History Day competition for historical essays, and was chosen Best Entry from the State of Utah in the National History Day competition in Washington, D.C. Her paper was selected for publication in the Winter 1996 issue of The Concord Review.
- Andrea Jackson of the 46th Ward in the Mesa Arizona East Stake was recently awarded the Marshall Scholarship. As a biology major, she will receive $50,000 to study at a university of her choice in the United Kingdom. She was one of Arizona State University's two White House Presidential Scholars.
California teacher of year
Toni Robinette, first counselor in the Primary of the Apple Valley 5th Ward, Victorville California Stake, was named 1997 California Teacher of the Year. She was one of five to receive the award.
Sister Robinette is a 7th grade language arts teacher at Vista Campana Middle School. To qualify as a contestant for the state teacher of the year award, she was first named as the middle school teacher of the year, then as the Apple Valley Unified School District winner. She was then selected as one of three winners of the San Bernardino County Teacher of the Year Award.
She then advanced to the state competition where the selection committee requested a visit to her class. Even though her students were out of school on fall break at the time, she invited them back for a day in a mock classroom setting to demonstrate her approach to teaching.
Sister Robinette was honored during a special presentation on Jan. 10 at the state Capitol in Sacramento.
"Teaching is all about touching the lives of children," she said. "I truly care about my students and try to help them achieve their potential. I teach the whole student, not just language arts."
The relationship she develops with her students continues beyond the classroom. Each year she follows the progress of her former students by attending high school graduations where she cheers them on.