Oceanside High School to honor eight alumni in ceremony Saturday

By: STACY BRANDT - Staff Writer | Friday, October 12, 2007 8:54 PM PDT ∞

with EIGHT mugs

BULLETS BELOW

OCEANSIDE -- A group of Oceanside High School graduates is working to let people know about the success of some of their colleagues with the school's second hall of fame ceremony next weekend.

Eight alumni will be honored starting at 10 a.m. Oct 20, including a female World War II-era pilot, a former professional football player and a former TV journalist. They will join the 13 people inducted at a similar ceremony last year.

"Oceanside High School has a very long history of graduating future leaders," said Pat Kimbrel, one of the organizers of the event, and a former student and teacher at the school. "It's our way of trying to drive that point home to our community -- that our school has graduated remarkable people who have made tremendous contributions."

The induction ceremony will be part of an open house for former students, which will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The open house also will include student performances and self-guided tours of the campus, at 1 Pirates Cove.

The hall of fame is a way to get former students more involved with their alma mater and inspire current students with some strong role models, said Dean Baldridge, president of the alumni association.

"We've had some people go a long way," he said.

A nominating committee made up of parents, students, school officials and alumni picks the winners each year based on recommendations from the public, Baldridge said. Their pictures will be on display in the trophy case in the school's senior hall for a year, then put on the wall there with the previous year's winners.

This year's inductees, profiled with information provided by the school district:

- Alec Cory is one of two businessmen joining the hall of fame. The 1931 graduate is being recognized for his work in law, as a founding partner of the San Diego-based law firm now known as Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves and Savitch.

He earned a law degree from UC Berkeley in 1939 and helped start the firm in 1946 after a stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

He retired in 1993 after nearly 50 years of practicing business, real estate and banking law.

- Irene Englund will be recognized posthumously for her public service. The 1934 graduate was part of a group of women who flew military aircraft on domestic missions during World War II to free up male pilots for combat.

She studied aviation at Pasadena College and earned her pilot's license in 1938. In 1943, she became one of only 1,047 women in the Women Airforce Service Pilots and was stationed in Texas, Kansas and Colorado.

During the war, she flew more than 1,200 hours, transporting air inspectors and patients. She was one of only a handful of women at the time who were qualified to fly some of the large military airplanes. She died in 2002.

- Robert Frazee will be included in the hall of fame because of his years of public service. The 1946 graduate served for 16 years as a state assemblyman after establishing himself in local business as a contractor and president of a flower company. Before starting his term in the California State Assembly in 1978, he served as a city councilman and mayor in Carlsbad in the mid-1970s.

He was also the first chairman of the North County Transit District board, chairman of the Regional Coastal Commission and a member of the San Diego Association of Governors' board of directors.

Frazee Road in the San Luis Rey Valley and Frazee State Beach in Carlsbad were named in his honor.

- Barbara George is being honored for her work in academics. The 1959 graduate has been an educator for four decades, most recently as an administrator at a community college district in San Luis Obispo. She retired from that position in 2004 and has worked as a consultant since. George played a prominent role as executive director of institutional advancement with the San Luis Obispo Community College District during her nearly 30 years there.

She has also worked as a counselor, academic adviser, teacher and director of parks and recreation services.

- Rusty Grosse is also being recognized for success in business. The 1953 graduate earned a law degree from Stanford Law School in 1960 and practiced law in Oceanside for about a decade after that.

In 1971, he founded Foursquare Properties, a company that has developed housing, retail, industrial and office project throughout the Western states, including Camino Town and Country, El Camino North and Fire Mountain centers in Oceanside.

He has been active in many clubs and nonprofit groups in the area, including the Women's Resource Center and local branches of the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club.

- Barbara Penrod is being inducted posthumously for her community service work. The 1951 graduate spent her life helping others, especially those with mental disabilities.

She spent a large chunk of her life working with the Fort Bend Association for Retarded Citizens in Missouri City, Texas. The association now gives out the Barbara Penrod award to people who share her passion for helping people.

She died in 1986, after years of volunteering her time to a variety of organizations, including the American Cancer Society and Special Olympics.

- C.R. Roberts will join the hall of fame for his athletic accomplishments. He was the first Oceanside High School athlete to make it big in professional football when he became a running back for the San Francisco 49ers.

After graduating from what was then Oceanside-Carlsbad High in 1954, Roberts moved on to the University of Southern California, where he earned a degree in business administration and continued his success in football. He still holds numerous high school and college football records.

Roberts spent years as a high school and community college teacher. Now retired, he keeps active, working with senior citizens at the Community Guidance Center in Norwalk.

- Jack White is being inducted for his contributions to the arts, which included volunteering for fundraisers for the Oceanside Museum of Art and Star Theater as well as four decades as a journalist.

As a news anchor at KGTV in San Diego, the 1957 graduate was well know to residents throughout the county. He retired in 2002 after 34 years with the station. He started his broadcasting career in the early 1960s at a radio station in Escondido.

After a stint covering the U.S. Army, White started his career in TV at a station in North Carolina. By the mid-1960s, he was back in California as a writer and editor at NBC in Burbank. In 1967, he moved to San Diego, where he became well know for his Restaurant Row reviews.

Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.