AAUW Hosts a Smart Fashion Affair at Brethren Hillcrest Homes

Fashion is a passion at any age.

The 15 models walking the runway at the Pomona Valley Branch’s American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) luncheon at Hillcrest Home’s Meeting House in La Verne on Saturday, April 25, came dressed to impress, dressed for success, and dressed to help the AAUW express its mission of advancing equality for women and girls through the United States and around the world.

This was a “smart” affair in every sense of the word. AAUW members are all university graduates, and they combined their beauty and intellectual clout to raise money to promote educational and professional opportunities for women. This spring’s fashion primarily benefited the AAUW Educational Foundation, Tech Trek and the Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund, which all work to help women overcome educational and work place barriers to their success.

Wearing fashions from Draper’s and Damon’s, Tattle Tails, and Amelie and accompanied by Pianist Dr. Ed Potter, the quick, clothes-changing models were: Bonnie Blum, Nicole Blum, Stevie Lorell Blum, Ora Lea Bowers, Charlotte Dumont, Rhonda Goudeau, Emily Hertenstein, Katherine Hertenstein, Betty Jackson, Ashleigh Mellard, Betty Mellard, Barbara Norton, Janet Norton, Ashley Wagoner and Joanne Wagoner.

Brethren Hillcrest Homes graciously volunteered its beautiful Meeting House at the Village Center to host the luncheon, which was fortunate for the AAUW because its members and friends came out in full support and packed the room for the “Dress to the 9’s” luncheon and fashion show.

The fashion show committee included Jo ann MacDonald, Buzz Teter, Judy Woodruff, Bonnie Blum, Meredith Summers and Kathy Davis. Their student helpers were the Phan clan of Grace, Catherine, Christopher and Emily, along with Mandie MacDonald.

Also helping make the fashion show such a success were several local businesses and sponsors, including Bryant & Co. Jewelers, Casa del Rey Mexican Restaurant, Chinese Pavilion, Draper’s and Damon’s, La Paloma Mexican Restaurant, New Image Salon, De De Wilmot, Pizza ‘N Stuff, Premier Design, Inc., Edna Owen, Roseanne Italia’s Merle Norman Studio, Selah Caring Hands, Doris Beery, Jo ann MacDonald, Mary Kay Ogden, Joseph Schechter, Meredith Summers, Tonya Tyler and Judy Woodruff.

Special sponsors of Tech Trek, which raises money to encourage girls to go into the fields of math and science, were Phyllis Anderson, Martha Bellinger, Ora Lea Bowers, Shirley Boyer, Karen Cahill, Ellen Click, Shirley Heckman, Margarita Horner, Nancy Klinkhart,, Jo ann MacDonald, Betty Mellard, Ann Morgan,, Mary Kay Ogden, Ferne Schechter, Myrna Wheeler and Judy Woodruff.

AAUW is an organization of 160,000 college-educated women across the nation. AAUW-California, with more than 30,500 members in 180 branches, is the largest state organization in AAUW.

Locally, the Pomona Valley AAUW sponsors and financially supports the attendance of local middle-school girls at AAUW Summer Science Camps (Tech Trek) at UC-San Diego,, and Whittier College. It also networks with local organizations, including International Place of the Claremont Colleges, University of La Verne, Cal Poly Pomona, League of Women Voters, Pomona Valley United Nations Association, University Club, Claremont Women’s Club, and other AAUW branches.

For more information, write the AAUW Pomona Valley Branch at 2731 Hillcrest Drive, La Verne, CA 91750.

Greeting visitors to the fashion show were, from left, Ferne Schechter and Jo ann MacDonald.