Vivien Owen, a beloved member of the OCWS, sadly passed away on November 4, 2017. Her diminutive stature belied the enormous size of her generous heart and passion for giving. Vivien joined the Wine Society with her husband, Charley, the very first year of its founding, in 1978. Beginning with selling wine at the Fair each year, her passion for the organization led her to creating the displays at the Fair for many, many years and leaving a documented history of the OCWS by acting as historian until just a few years ago. She participated in just about every aspect of the organization at one time or another over the years and, most recently, enjoyed sharing her knowledge of wine and the OCWS with Fair attendees by being an OCWS Courtyard Ambassador during the OC Fair.

Vivien’s life took her on many adventures with Charley, the most loved of which was raising a beautiful family together. Vivien was blessed with her daughter, Janet, who married Paul Peal, and her son, Jack, who married Sheila Lambert. She leaves her two children, their spouses, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren with an amazing legacy.

Born in Los Angeles, Vivien held a degree in Psychology from UCLA and a Life General Elementary teaching credential. During her professional career with the Tustin School District, she taught every grade level from Kindergarten to 12th grade, as well as special education classes.

As a volunteer throughout the years, Vivien was second to none as a Girl Scout leader, holding any number of positions on PTO Boards and as President of the Tustin Area Woman’s Club, to name just a few of the many organizations and endeavors that were fortunate to have her leadership.

Vivien found a different direction to her volunteerism after having served on the OC Grand Jury for a year. She joined the Past Grand Jurors Association and subsequently was appointed to the Water Facilities Corporation of the Municipal Water District of Orange County where she served a six year term.

In 1989, Vivien was appointed to the Orange County Public Cemetery Board of Trustees to which she had many reappointments by various County Supervisors, served as Chairman of the Board six times and was still serving upon her death.

Vivien and Charley’s love for travel found them traversing California in a camper truck mostly visiting wineries and attending UCLA football games. Their camper travels within the USA found them visiting their son in Iowa and Florida, while bunking down in Elderhostels. Their cruise adventures found them going from Tahiti to Russia and back on U.S. soil in Alaska. Other adventures found Vivien joining Charley throughout his professional career in cities as exciting and diverse as London and Istanbul.

So many more details about the life of this loving, passionate, highly intelligent woman are left unsaid here. Simply saying that Vivien touched countless lives during her own with her infectious smile and loving nature says it all. Her life was a blessing to all who knew her, her memory will be a treasure and she will be missed beyond measure.

Cheers to Viv!

At the Annual Business Meeting last month, Jim Beard awarded the 2017 President’s Award to Ken and Irene Scott. As many of you know, the President’s Award honors and recognizes those members for their exceptional contribution and dedication to the OCWS.

Both members for a number of years, Ken and Irene are passionate in supporting the various initiatives of the OCWS. They consistently contribute their expertise, knowledge and talent to many events and committees doubling the benefit to the OCWS.

As members of the Marketing Committee, Ken and Irene helped develop a marketing strategy promoting the mission and message of the OCWS. Their best practice approach made a significant impact in implementing a fresh approach toward brand recognition by updating materials and information provided to California wineries in connection with the Commercial Wine Competition. The brochures and other marketing materials they created carried that same brand identity into the Homewine Competition and the Winecompetition.com website.

This year, as members of the Commercial Wine Competition, they co-chaired the Volunteer subcommittee coordinating hundreds of workforce volunteers in various roles and schedules during the wine competition – no easy feat as both spent hundreds of hours making sure that everything ran smoothly, and they worked tirelessly at the Competition and behind the scenes.

Congratulations to Ken and Irene on receiving the 2017 President’s Award. This year’s award is in the hands of the most deserving and worthy candidates!

The Wine Society would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Graber Olive House for their friendship, generosity and continued support over the years.

Graber Olive House has provided their specialty olives to the Commercial Wine Competition for many years. As you know, palate assault can be extreme even though wine judges may expectorate every sip. The acidity in white wines and tannins in red wines can be a painful experience after a full day of tasting. A small cup of Graber olives placed along side each judge neutralizes the elements in both reds and whites, works wonders for the palate and tastes fantastic, too.

C.C. Graber purchased land in Ontario and discovered olives, cured by the early ranchers, to be one of the finest food delicacies of California. It was the tradition of early Californians to set their tables with plenty of fruits and wine, and olives. Mr. Graber began to cure several barrels himself after a successful growing season.

Graber olives are different from typical olives sold in grocery stores. Graber olives are hand picked when they’ve ripened to a cherry-red color, then “cured in covered vats without being oxidized,” according to Graber Olive House. After the curing and canning processes, the olives are of varying shades of nut-like color.

Graber Olive House is located in quiet, serene surroundings. Visitors will be delighted to discover a bit of early California when they visit. Along with olives, Graber Olive House offers many other products, such as crisp California almonds and pistachios, California dessert fruits, olive oils and elegant gift baskets. When in or driving through Ontario, visit Graber Olive House and pick up a few cans of olives and other items. You can also visit their website at GraberOlives.com to have products shipped directly to you.

Graber Olive House is located at 215 E. Fourth Street,

This month we lost one of our long-time friends, Less Silver.  Less has been with the Winemakers Group for a long time, and was one of the winemakers I’ve looked up to for his award-winning “Silver Cellars” wines.  Less was an experienced chemist, and always helped us learn the testing of wines including aeration oxidation […]

On November 7th, a very good friend of mine, Jack McManus, passed.   Jack had a storied life; he joined the Merchant Marines during WWII at the age of 16 in Massachusetts.   Postwar, Jack moved on to a career with Phillips-Van Heusen clothing, and after 24 years was Vice President of VH Corporate Markets. I remember […]

Orange County Fair & Event Center Board of Directors honored the Orange County Wine Society and celebrated its 40th Anniversary at its September 2016 meeting.  Kathy Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, of the OCFEC, presented the Recognition Award plaque to Bill Redding, Liz Corbett, Fran Gitsham, and Rich Skoczylas, OCWS Board of Directors present at the […]

During our Annual Business Meeting held on September 9th, Charles English, OCWS Bookkeeper, and I presented the OCWS Year-in-Review (October 2015 – September 2016). During this meeting, Stacey Taylor, Terry McLean, and George Cravens were elected by a majority vote of the members present at the meeting as provided in the current bylaws. Stacey, Terry, […]