Sanger Herald 2-15-18 E-edition

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Weekly Newspaper Sanger (Fresno County) CA 93657
American Legion dignitaries from all over the state converge on Sanger for an emotional tribute to four chaplains
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Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
Heidi Setty, new administrator at Sanger's Golden Living Center.
Golden Living Center has ownership change
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
The Four Chaplains’ Day interfaith service at St. Mary's Catholic Church on Feb. 10 marked the 75th anniver- sary of when four heroic chaplains diedaftergiving uptheirlifejackets so others might live.
Early on the morning of Feb. 3, 1943, the U.S. Dorchester, once a pas- senger ship that had been converted to a troop transport, was steaming through icy seas off Greenland. Most of those aboard were asleep when a torpedo from the German submarine U-223 smashed into the ship’s flank.
The four Army chaplains aboard – all first lieutenants - Clark V. Poling, George L. Fox (both Protestant min- isters), Alexander D. Goode (a rabbi) and John P. Washington (a Catholic priest) – began passing out life jackets and organizing an evacuation of the 902 soldiers, merchant seamen and civilians on board.
When the life jacket supply ran out, the chaplains removed their own and gave them to others. They then linked arms, sang hymns and prayed until they went down with the ship.
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
The American Legion Department of California's observance of Four Chap- lains' Day on Feb. 10 at St. Mary's Catholic Church brought American Legion officials from all over the state to Sanger, including state commander Robert C. Heinisch, left, receiving a proclamation commemorating the event from U.S. Air Force veteran and Sanger mayor Frank Gonzalez. Above, Karl Funk, Peter Nagel, Lambert Sikkema and Robert Borges read the biographies of the chaplains being honored and then symbolically passed their life jackets to the four "Sons of the American Legion" standing in front of the table, James Culp, Steven Culp, Jeff White and Michael Fox.
By Dick Sheppard
Sanger Herald
"The ownership and the name will change. But that's about all," said Golden Living Center's new administrator, Heidi Setty.
Those changes are awaiting the tedious process of ap- proval of the sale by the State of California. It will soon be Dycora Transitional Health & Living. During the transition it's "Golden Living managed by Dycora ..."
This will be the fourth time the healthcare facility on 9th Street has changed names.
Once upon a time it was the Sanger Convalescent Hospital, then Beverly Living Center, then Golden Living Center. When the state finally approves the sale, the 99 bed facility with a staff of 111 and a long Sanger history will join the growing Dycora health care family.
"Julianne Williams, Dy- cora's cofounder and chief executive officer, is a former Golden Living Center admin-
istrator. So, we don't expect changes in the operation," said Setty.
Williams and the other Dycora cofounder and chief operating officer Sean Foster, last year presided over acqui- sitions that brought Dycora's portfolio to 27 facilities and 2,613 beds across three states.
"They're in the process of adding 14 of the Golden Living Centers in California, includ- ing the one here in Sanger," said Hetty.
Few people could be bet- ter prepared to deal with the change of ownership than Set- ty and Golden Living Center's longtime employee, medical records manager, Rosa Pena.
Pena has worked at the Sanger facility since it was
the Beverly Living Center. "Forty years this May 27th," said Pena. Setty has worked at several nursing care centers since 1990, including a Golden Living Center in southern Cali- fornia with Dycora cofounder Williams.
See DYCORA, page 6A
Heart and Distinguished Service Cross posthumously.
In 1988, a unanimous act of Con- gress established Feb. 3 of each year as “Four Chaplains Day."
"Most American Legion Four Chaplains' services are held on Feb. 3, which marks the actual anniversary of the sinking of the Dorchester. We draw so many statewide officers we decided to hold ours on Feb. 10 so we don't interfere with any of the other services," said Cheryl Ing of the state headquarters of the American Legion Department of California in Sanger.
George Vandersluis, 102, was among those attending the service.
The U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who now lives at the Veterans Home of California in Fresno, survived the Pearl Harbor attack and later survived bloody battles in the Pacific at Iwo
Honored by the school board Tuesday evening for their work with a unique project that's going into space are, L-R, Heidi Kimzey, Sean Viau, Austin Griesner, Elisa Rocha, Jackie Ramirez and Yosselin Fernandez. See the story on page 7A.
See CHAPLAINS, page 6A Space kids honored by school board
102 year old WWII veteran George Vandersluis attended the Sanger event.
Jima, Saipan, Tinian and Corregidor. Vandersluis served six years in the Marines. He enlisted before the draft
– nearly two years before the U.S. entered WWII – and was discharged in March 1946, a year after the war was won.
His son, Jon Vandersluis, a Vietnam War veteran who also served in the Marines, knows better than most what his father had to endure. “It was a bloodbath everywhere he went,” Jon said. “It was amazing that he dealt with
The four were awarded the Purple
"You've done something that no one in Sanger Uni- fied has ever done before or will ever do again. You have something to put on your resume."
Matt Navo
Superintendent of Schools
• Feb. 15 - Ribbon cutting ceremony in Sanger Park at 11 a.m. celebrating the completion of the upgrades to the bath- rooms, pavilion and stage.
•Feb. 15 - City council meeting at 6 p.m. at city hall, 1700 7th S•treet.
Feb. 27 - Councilmember Daniel Martinez will hold a council district No. 3 townhall meeting from 6-7 p.m. in the
eagan Elementary School multipurpose room.
March3- 30thannualBlossomFestivalindowntown Sanger. It starts at 7 a.m. with runs and walks and winds up with a car show in the afternoon. If you'd like to get involved call the chamber at (559) 875-4575.
SANGER HERALD: A MID VALLEY PUBLISHING NEWSPAPER • (559) 875-2511 • www.thesangerherald.com
R• Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 15, 2018
VOL 129 NO. 7
2 sections, 16 pages
CLASSIFIED 5B LEGALS 6-7B BUSINESS DIRECTORY 8B LIFE STYLES 3B OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 3A SPORTS 1B POLICE LOG 2A WEATHER 8A