Valley People

VCUM founder honored
The Santa Cruz County Old Timers Women’s Auxiliary honored Annette Marcum, the founder of Valley Churches United Missions, as “Lady of the Year.”
Marcum was presented with the Lady’s pin March 20 in Santa Cruz by last year’s honoree, Linda Seigle, a longtime Dominican Hospital volunteer.
Marcum founded the Ben Lomond-based nonprofit after the storms of 1982. She recently received a congressional award for having achieved 50,000 volunteer hours with the organization.
Doug Thorne was honored in the men’s division. He was an original member of the Santa Cruz Surfing Club and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was also an administrative dean at Santa Cruz High School in the 1960s.
SV woman finishes guide dog training
Beverly Heninger of Scotts Valley graduated from an intensive two-week program with Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael on March 26.
Heninger completed the course with a yellow Labrador retriever guide dog named McGee by her side.
Guide Dogs for the Blind has produced more than 11,000 trained guides for graduates across the United States and Canada since 1942.
Disney World wish satisfied for SV girl
Scotts Valley’s Emilie Erickson traveled to Disney World this week with her family, sponsored by the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Emilie, 11, was diagnosed with leukemia in June. She is a patient at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, and she had to travel regularly to St. Jude in Tennessee for a series of chemotherapy treatments.
After a month at St. Jude’s, she was able to return home before Christmas, and she was declared to be in remission. However, the side effects of treatment left her without the use of her legs. Her family is hopeful this is a temporary setback.
They received passes for all four Orlando Disney parks, Sea World and Universal Studios Florida.
Submit items about accomplishments and celebrations involving local people to pb******@*********er.com.