Author: Helen Ofield

Helen Ofield, president Lemon Grove Historical Society 1953: When the Fur Flew by Helen Ofield In the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic we recall a parallel time in our town replayed here from the pages of the Lemon Grove Review. There was nothing simple about Easter weekend in The Big Lemon when local controversies vied with the Cold War for headline space. L’Affaire Bunny: The Easter Bunny hopped for some 3,000 Lemon Grove kiddies after an eleventh hour save by local business women, spearheaded by Mrs. Robert Browne, who snagged $100 in donations in a single morning. The threat to the Easter bash erupted when founding chair, E. A. “Molly” Mouillesseaux, got caught up in personnel problems at his gas station on Broadway. With the hired help bailing due to “slave wages,” Molly was forced to pump his own gas and forego fundraising for the moppets’ sixth annual egg hunt. Worse, the Grove Theatre, scene of many an Easter fête, was closed for spring cleaning. But the Lemon Grove Business Women’s League dander was up. In 24 hours they bought $100 worth  of candy and found 3,200 bags to put it in, ordered party tickets, arranged delivery of 1,500 eggs and got Carmen and Bill MacQueen to cook them, got 25 chocolate bunnies donated for prizes in the Easter Egg Hunt, and scheduled the event for 10:30 a.m. at the Grove...

< Helen Ofield, president Lemon Grove Historical Society The Great Ladies of May by Helen Ofield A look back at two stellar women whose accomplishments enhanced life in Lemon Grove. Woman of the Year In May, 1964 Dr. Amorita Audree Treganza, the pioneering children’s eye doctor, was crowned San Diego’s Woman of the Year in a ceremony held by the President’s Council of Women’s Service Clubs at the Hotel Del Coronado. Honorees were selected for their achievements in business or profession and service to their communities. Dr. Treganza began her practice in 1944 in Lemon Grove and later opened a downtown San Diego office. She treated many who could not afford vision care and ultimately limited her practice to children—she remembered the names of more than 4,000 young patients and they remember her. She flew hundreds of medical missions into Baja California with the Flying Samaritans, headed the Crossroads Foundation for the Rehabilitation of Alcoholic Women, chaired the March of Dimes, donated an annual scholarship to her alma mater, Grossmont High School, served on the boards of the Lemon Grove and San Diego Chambers of Commerce, became the first woman president of the San Diego Girls Club, and promoted cultural exchange between Alta and Baja California, At Christmas and Easter she and her husband, ophthalmologist Dr. Lloyd Adams, took food, toys and medicine to Mexican orphanages and villages. In...