News Scrapbook 1982-1984

san Diego, CA (San Diego co.) Evening Tribune (0. 127,454)

Dintinued From ;,A~ In addition to these projects for the uni- versity, Whitcomb, having received two grants this year, bas other artistic irons in the fire: Luis Rey, an architectural structure de- signed by Irvmg Gill. • Agrant from the county to restore the chapel interior at Rancho Guahome, a Vic- torian structure east of Oceanside. Between these activities, Whitcomb teaches USD courses in exhibition design and museum internship as well as art his- tory. A particular source of pride to her thus far is the new Manchester Center's Board of Trustees room - an example of the ele- gance she hopes to thread throughout the campus. Opening the door to the spacious room, Whitcomb proudly says: "Welcome to my dollhouse" - with almost blushing embar- rassment, as she in no way wishes to dimin• isb the importance of the room and of her strongly felt duties and commitment to his- torical design. "The design for this room goes back to 1937," said Whitcomb, "when I was so in- volved designing miniature rooms. "With the conference room, I wanted to make a definitive period statement of 16th century Spanish Renaissance, and at the same time, assure a functional, comfort- able and pleasing setting for the trustees." A key to cohesiveness here is a 19th cen- tury copy of a 16th century petit point tap- estry of a nativity scene which sets the color scheme for the room - Renaissance blue and flax. Again, Whitcomb's attention to detail prevails: e"Renaissance blue is the color an origi• nal royal blue of 200 years ago would have faded to today," said Whitcomb. "The flax color is what the off white would have faded to today." • Invitations to the dedication of the cen- ter were in flax and Renaissance blue. • The board room's 20-by-30-foot rug - which she designed in Hispanic-Moor1Sh style - carefully complements tapestry colorings.

• Within the rug, each color and each image bas meaning relative to the Catho- lic-oriented university. For example, oak represents strength; blue is piety; grapes, the eucharist. Whitcomb designed the rug from motifs studied at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. • The conference room's wood-burning fireplace is meticulously adorned with de- signs in relief characteristic of Spanish Re- naissance. "It's not more expensive to design these rooms this way," Whitcomb stressed. "It just takes more attention - more time and effort. "Because of the university's h1Storical theme to begin with, these projects have been easier to do. With many of the build- ings, it will be a sprucing up, fluffing them back to the original historical design." Whitcomb's own history with the univer- sity goes back to 1952 when she transferred there from Rosemont College in Pennsyl- vania. In 1953, she became the first gradu- ate of the College for Women. She went on to study painting in New York and later returned to San Diego for a master's degree from SDSU. She has been coordinator of the art program at USD since 1970 and is the originator and direc- tor of Founders' Gallery, the exhibition gal- lery of the university. Whitcomb has raised six children from her first marriage, ranging in age from 18 to 30: Hope Hanifin, 30, 1s a New York costume designer. Paul, 28, is with the Department of Defen e in the Middle East. Hilary, 26, is a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles. Jim, 25, is a Los Angeles interior designer. Heather, 20, 1s a student at Occidental in Los Angeles, and Holly, 18, is a student at UC-Santa Barbara. Whitcomb has been married to Wilham Whitcomb for the last 12 years. They live in San Diego, near the Old Mission, another structure for which Whitcomb coordinated restoration in 1970. "My work is my enjoyment," said Whitcomb. "I'm restless when I'm not working."

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\.. _ _________________ ______ ______________________________J • A grant from the state to oversee his- .----- _,____ torical exterior restoration of Mission San

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She parlayed illness into career ~SSUSD curator Terry Whitcomb found her calling as a bedridden 7 - year-old recovering from polio

Whitcomb, who clearly loves her role as curator, which includes coordinat- ing the interior design of the build- ings. And she's a perfectionist when 1t comes to detail. For example, at first, it may seem she is joking when she says she has a deadline to meet to order wastebas- kets for the under-construction Olin Hall. Or that she has to rush ojf to mea- sure a space for plants that must be exactly the right size. Or that be made a special trip to select color-coordmated candies for the board of trust room. But she's not Joking. "If I don't pick out and order wastebaskets, who knows what kind of chrome or plastic monstrosity we'll end up with," said Whitcomb. "I expect my students to be meticulous to detail. 'Yes, every quote needs a footnote.' I' expect the same of myself." Another example? The list of con- tributors to Manchester Center at the entrance of the building. "We couldn't have a slick bronze plaque from a trophy shop," said Whitcomb. Instead, the tribute is a beautifully band-lettered scroll in keeping, natu• rally, with period history of the building. •

By Jan Jennings Tribune SIJIII Wnter When she was 7 years old, USD's versatile Terry Whitcomb - archi- tectural designer, historian, art pro- fessor, painter, lecturer, curator - suffered a setback: polio. She was bedridden, in pain. She couldn't go to school. What she could do was create with ber hands, and listen to her mother, Grace Truitt, read to her about art and history. By the end of two years of slow recuperation, Whitcomb had de• signed the mtenor of a huge bedside dollhouse - each room in a different period of historical design. Today, as curator of USO, Whitcomb's architectural an~- or design challenges - nourished so early in life - are carried many teps further. Her style not only ma es an impact at USD but goes bey nd the umverslty to public lee• ture haJls and to the redesign and toration of historic church and more. Whltcomb ls now wor«ing on fm- ishing touch for USD's Helen K. and Jam S Copley Library, sc ed- uled for dedication April 8. And on the drawing board are interior de- signs of the university's Olin Hall, nUy under construction, and re- novation of Harmon Hall, both sched· uled for dedications in the fall.

Whitcomb recently completed in· terior design in 16th century Spanish Renaissance style of the newly opened Douglas F. Manchester Exec- utive Conference Center at USD. The center is expected to become a com• munity gathering place, available for conferences, seminars, public lec- tures and continuing education cla - es This is just the beginning of cohe- sive design, redesign and renovation on the campus. The long•term plan of the universi- "My work is my enjoyment. I'm restless when I'm not working." ty, according to its president, Dr. Au- thor E. Hughes, is both to build and renovate in Spanish Reoais ance motifs all university structures ac- cording to orderly guidelines. Spanish Renaissance is the archi- tectural hallmark of the campus. Already a showplace, the clean, off-white buildings -0f the campus complex appear as an historic clta• del, perhaps a labyrinth of castl , nestled atop the bills overlooking Mission Bay and Mw\on Valley. In the midst of all this 1s \

Triblu» photo by n- GI/wt Terry Whitcomb iD th board room of tbe Mancbe ter Confer Dee Center at USD. .

Please see WIHTCO~ C-3

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LOS ANGELES TIMES ,:l. l l 1984

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you don't have 1t in the begmnmg, you may never have 1t." Patnc1a Roach, a high school guidance counselor, said that sounds good but it is difficult to get to know the lawyer on first meeting. There should be a Better Business Bureau for lawyers, Roach said. where consumer complaints are filed hke they are against shoe stores and car lots. "There IS no place I can call to find out how rotten a lawyer is before I get involved They speak so well, are such gentlemen, dre s owell .. .," Roach said. She aid she went to an attorney for what should have been a Simple legal problem and was quoted a price. Three and a half years later the case was settled, and the lawyer charged her five times his originally stated fee, shesa1d She wa so overwhelmed by the experience that he 1s afraid to have a will drawn up. Attorney's fees was a big issue for people at the seminar. According to the survey taken last year, 57 percent of the attorneys polled planned to charge more than $90 an hour in 1983-8 •. That level is out of reach for many women, handicapped and elderly, said Sheila Kletzky McCoy. chairwoman of the Community Service Center for the Disabled. Cheryl Robinson of the downtown Women's ~enter asked who can afford to switch once a person has invested two to three months and several thousand dollars on an attorney. Plus, they asked, how do you know the attorney 1s really spending the time on your case for which he or she bills you? It i"n·t like a doctor, who lists each test, or an auto mechanic who lists each spare part. they said. Grauer suggested that clients secure a fee contract from an attorney statmg Just that-the hourly rate and the cost of other expenses. He said a client can Jet an attorney know how much he or she can afford to spend, and the attorney can let the client know what kmd of service is available for the price. The problem for the attorney, added Sheldon Krantz, dean of the law school, 1s that not all clients want the same :eve! of service. To some, the fee is not so important as exhausting every possible avenue toward victory. TQ others, while they do want good service, money is important. Grauer ~a,d the county Bar Association offers arbitration tn fee disputes. But, he said, if a client feels an attorney 1s stealing money or abusmg a trust. the first thmg to do 1s to stop the abuse. Let the attorney go and then take acuon through the district attorney, he said. Some comp! med that attorney "do not return their te1ephone calls, and Grauer said the Bar Association has a client relations committee that will intervene to get information for the cltent. Grauer said the Bar AssOCJation has a free lawyer referral ferv1ce which gives the public a half-hour consultation wtth an attorney to help people find out if they nee(! an attorney and to locate one. But the participants did not seem to feel that was enough. They wanted pamphlets on clients nghts. s1m1lar to medical pamphlets on patients' rights, to tell them what they could expect from a lawyer. . As for increasing access to lawyers for people with little or no money, suggestions included, tax break- for ,awvers who donate time; young lawyers donatmg time in exchange for fmanc1al aid in college, and store-front legal climes m neighborhoods with volunteer attorneys. The non-lawyers opposed a mandatory program that Y:'ould require lawyers to volunteer a port10n of their time. They said no other professional is required to volunteer time But Grauer disagreed, saying the law 1s different from other professions "Unltke other groups attorneys become officers of the court and of JUSllce, and all people are entitled to equal Ju lice But if they have no money. . the system break down,' he sa1ct At the end of the seminar, both lawyers and public members sad 1t had been a productive exchange of ideas, although 1t was not clear that the image of lawyers had improved dramatically "I feel they have a lot to learn," said Jov1shoff.

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (0. 127,454)

Legal Profession Gets an Earful at Meeting on Results ofSurveys

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Nan.by Scott Anderson ,~ TRIBUNE '.>OCIETY EDITOR S LIM, SMALL AND BLOND, Sally Thornton's well- chiseled beauty is relieved from perfection by the sense of irony that plays around her mouth. Though she's socially adept, stunningly dressed and impeccably groomed, the most obvious characterisitic of ~Uy is her llvely intelligence. She's also a hard nut of a bUSl.llesswom• an who scouts prospective recipients of money from the Tbomton Foundation with dogg~ determination informed by intuition. "As you move through life," she says, "you develop savvy for people's ability to operate effectively. You learn where to place your trust." It is imperative, she says, that she "feels good" about projects. "lf it feels good to me, I'll look into it, and start a relatively exhaustive amount of investigative work." What recently felt good to Sally Thornton was the San Diego O~ra's plan for producing '·Carmen." Sally and 1rer' husband 1olin underwrote the production through their charitable foundation. John McBride Thornton, a Harvard business school graduate, is chairman and CEO of Wavetek, a 20-year-old high-tech San Diego business which was reported to have earned $4.7 million net income last year from $84 million sales. He's also involved in the privately held Software Prod- ucts Ioternational company which creates and sells soft• ware for personal computers. The Thornton Foundation, John Thornton says, bas nothing to do with bis business: ..Sally is the admirustrator. She makes all the decisions. I really have nothing to do with it." Sally's decision to fund "Carmen" was made because the opera "IS a favorite of so many people. It sounded like a lot of fun." It also became a lot of work. One thing led to another and grew into a full-scale Thornton production which included chairing and underwriting a portion of the · Opera Assoclaton's pre-performance dinner and throwing a follow-up black-tie supper dance two days later. It was a grand series o~ties.

TIie pre-opera diDller ID tbe Weitgate's Vernlllei. lloom, Sally says, was planned to "set the stage " fo.r "Carmen." It succeeded admirably. Thornton money provided black fan- trimmed red bouquets, Spanish sherry aperitifs, Spanish cb.ampagne, a Spanish entree chosen by gourmet food ex- pert Anoe Otterson, and entertainment which included flamenco dancers and performances by the Orion Duo, cl~ical gwtarists. Sally received the overflow crowd of &11ests in chw-to-ankle red spangles. Two days later, she was back at the Westgate welcom- ing several hundred friends to an elaborate and lavish continental evening of music and food . Oversize bouquets - red again, but spring flowers this time - topped tables laden wit.II a boggling assortment of bot and cold hors d'oeuvres, pat.es, a suckling pig en croule and pastnes. T~ere was more champagne. Sally wore gold-edged black lace and stood her post receiving the line of guests which curled halfway down the flight of stairs. Sbe tossed the week off with all the disciplined aplomb of an indefatigable socialite - which she is and isn't. A fourth-generation San Diegan - her maiden name is Bul- lard - Sally bas been active for years in the opera, the San Diego Symphony, the San Diego Museum of Art, COMBO and the Junior League. The mother of two near-grown boys, she recently has almost dropped out of the social circuit to pursue what is obviously her real passion - academics. Sally bas com- pleled aJI the coune work for her master's degree in history from~nd will soon begin wotkoiilier thei.ia. Her only problem is her reluctance to concentrate on a subspecialty and curtail the vital sense of discovery which compels her. . "I honestly bave no favorite period," she says. "It's like music or opera or decor or color for me - I enjoy almost anything. Give roe an assignment to research this or that, and I'll Jove it, regardless of what it is. lt's almost a malady. I've found that my world has opened so much more than it was when I was growing up." Soon she'll cut the hawsers which tie her to social life and begin the process of research and writing which she finds both lonely and exhilarating. She will, however, re- main vigilant on her post as Thornton Foundation admin• istrator. uEven when rm working, I keep an ear attuned to • what's going on." She loves San Diego, she says, and wants to serve the city: "[ts well-being is vitally important to - ~

"The first thiny wedo, let's k1U all the lawyers.

H nry I\. Part I\ hlok pear•

By MARJORIE MILLER Time., Staff Writer

F u trallon , Suuestlon, Armed with th re ults, th y held a five-hour seminar for Invited gu ts turday to talk to and, moreover, listen to people who have u d lawyers What they h ard was m'uch fru trat1on and a number of u ge tions. A~d they offered some Id as r their own for getting better service from a lawy r wy r, earned mixed ratl--igs m the survey, whKh found that the publics attitude toward lawyers I not as bad m general as lawy r think Whil 75% of the lawyer po led bellev d the publ.c thinks badly of . on!y 42 of non-I wyers sad thev believed the public d1 hkc lawyers But wh n t c me to c1f1c 1 u . the public was more negative Forty sev n perc nt d the legal system favors the rich and that lawyers charge more for their services than they are worth. F1fty P re nt said lawyers are out for money and personal gain nd 59% said lawy rs I nguage that Is hard to understand. At the same time, how ver 66% said lawyer are competent and 65% 1d lawyers ar helpful and protect the 10terests of those they rv SiXty IX percent of those polled said they had used a lawyer once ornotatall;80% a1dtheyhadu dalawyertwiceorles, l.ack of CoJ]lmunkatlon Am jorlty of lawyer nd non-lawyers al ke agreed that people who do nots ck a lawyer when they need one do not know how to fmd one, or believe they cannot fford legal re . ;Many also said 1t 1 s bee people are afr id a lawyer will get them mto a lawsuit, or do n t know how a I wyer can help them Fifty on P c nt of the public believes people don't go to lawy rs I au they have heard of bad expe·1ences, while only

DAILY CALIFORNIAN

4

READER

MAR 1 6 1984

MAR l S 1984 Organ Concert, Handel's Con- certo No. 4 1n F Maior for Organ and Orchestra will be the featured work performed br the U D Or- chestra w,th orgam,c Jamee Feher Sunday, March 18, 3:30 p. m.: Ble,..ed Sacrament Church 4530 El Cerrito Dnve at El Caion Boulevard, Ease San Diego. Free. 582-5722.

USD Orchnlra - Henry Kolar will conduct the 22-piece University of San Diego Orchestra in a program of works by Bech, Handel and Geminian i al 3;30 p.m. Sunday at the Blessed Sacrament Church. 4530 El Cerrito Drive, El Cajon. For details, cell 291-6480, Ext. 4427

LOS ANGELES TIMES

lr!AA 1 6 1984

it's nt

!g,ll~DdlgnEBS OALLE~Y (Uni:v~rsity of San Diego. Alcala Park): e n ant ArllSt, an exh1b1tton of 45 prints by artista such as Wilham Hogarth. Thomas Nast, Kathe Kollwitz Reginald Marsh ~ohn Sloan and Gabor Peterdl, will show through 'March 27. Gallery ,;=:Ja;~n to 5 p.m. Monday through Fnday and until 7 p.m.