The Riverside County Board of Supervisors appointed retired attorney Peter Szabadi to the County Service Area 36 Advisory Committee at its Tuesday, April 11, board meeting.

Szabadi, who also serves on the boards of the Art Alliance of Idyllwild and the Idyllwild Water District, said his interest in serving on the CSA 36 Advisory Committee is to better understand how the town is evolving and to get a sense of what district residents want from their recreation program. Szabadi, who is married to well-known actress Michèle Marsh, has been a full-time Idyllwild resident since 2013.

A native of Budapest, Hungary, Szabadi was 2 when the Nazis occupied his country. Several family members survived the Holocaust. In 1956, Szabadi and his brother fled Hungary when the USSR invaded and occupied Budapest and other regions of the country following a nationwide uprising against Soviet-imposed policies. Szabadi and his brother were part of an exodus of more than 200,000 Hungarians who fled during the conflict.

Eight years after arriving in the U.S., Szabadi received his bachelor’s degree from City College of New York in 1964, and three years later his juris doctor from New York Law School. Evincing his broad range of intellectual interests, Szabadi received a second bachelor’s degree, this one in archaeology, from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975.

His introduction to the Hill area came in the 1970s when his father, wanting to be a farmer, had a house in Anza. “I came up in the summers for four or five years,” he remembered.

Through much of his legal career, Szabadi focused on labor and civil rights law, mostly on behalf of plaintiffs. While practicing law, Szabadi was a member of the bars of the New York, California, the Supreme Court of the U.S., the Second and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the New York, California and District of Columbia court bars.

Once retired, Szabadi devoted his time to another of his passions, photography. As photographer, Szabadi has shot for the Dinah Shore Weekend, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Jazz in the Pines in Idyllwild and the Idyllwild Town Crier. He has mounted gallery shows of his photographs in Los Angeles and Idyllwild.

The Advisory Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27 at Town Hall. Szabadi will be sworn in at the meeting. He was appointed to fill an existing vacancy and his term runs through June 30, 2018.

Community members are invited to attend. The Advisory Committee is tasked by the Riverside County 3rd District Supervisor Chuck Washington to solicit input from district residents on recreation desires.

At the end of March, the Hemet Unified School District held its annual Employee of the Year Celebration. Every year, each department and school site nominates a certificated and a classified employee to be recognized for their hard work.

Idyllwild School Principal Matt Kraemer nominated fifth-grade teacher Brennen Priefer as Idyllwild Teacher of the Year and Bethany Swanson, office manager, as Classified Employee of the Year.

Both said they were honored with the distinction. “I owe it to my students,” Priefer said. And Swanson thanked the teachers for their support of her.

In his letter to the selection committee, Kraemer praised both staff members.

Of Priefer, he wrote, “Mr. Priefer demonstrates exceptional talent in working with students across all grade levels. He displays excellent collaboration skills and is gifted at building relationships. He is looked up to as a role model by his students and has implemented a cross-age tutoring program where his students go into primary classroom for a pair-shared reading activity.”

Reinforcing Kraemer’s recommendation, Vic Scavarda, the Idylwild representative on the HUSD Board of Trustees, wrote, “Brennan’s dedication to Idyllwild School has been apparent for many years. Middle school sports wouldn’t be the same without his talents.”

As a former Idyllwild teacher, Scavarda added, “It was a pleasure to work with both of these folks and they deserve congratulations.”

Priefer is completing his seventh teaching year at Idyllwild School. He also serves as the head coach of either the boys or girls middle-school basketball teams. He also has raised more than $15,000 to support the middle-school sports program, Kraemer said. And, he finds time to organize an after-school program, too.

Speaking of Swanson, Kraemer wrote, “She is always willing to go the extra mile to benefit our school. She consistently volunteers to take on additional duties when the need arises … She greets everyone with a smile and is an excellent ambassador for our school as she sets a positive tone as the first contact person when visitors arrive on campus.”

Another testimonial of Swanson’s ability to manage the school office was offered by Scavarda: “Beth Swanson and her wonderful Office Staff make Idyllwild a welcoming place. Beth’s cheerful welcome as you enter the school sets the tone for our visitors. We are lucky to have her.”

In June, Swanson will complete her tenth year at Idyllwild School.

By Becky Clark
Editor

Dave Hunt, a regular participant in “So you think you know the Hill” was the first to answer, followed by two more correct answers.

“Marion Mountain was named after Marion Kelly by Edmund Perkins Jr. who surveyed and mapped the San Jacinto Mountains in the 1890s. Marion was a teacher from Michigan who taught at the Morongo Indian Reservation. They met while she was camping and fell in love :),”  wrote Hunt.

Mark Dean wrote, “Found this on Wikipedia.” These peaks were named in 1897 by USGS topographer Edmund Taylor Perkins, Jr. Perkins named Jean Peak for his sweetheart and future bride, Jean Waters of Plumas County, whom he married in 1903. He named Marion Mountain after Marion Kelly, his girlfriend, a teacher for the Indian Bureau at the Morongo Valley Reservation. According to a local legend, Perkins spent the summer of 1897 deciding which woman to marry while he conducted his topographical survey of San Jacinto Peak and its environs.[6]

The reference refers to “The San Jacintos,” a masterful history book of our area by John W. Robinson and Bruce D. Risher.

And finally, our local renowned historian Bob Smith gave us even more information: “According to John Robinson, topographer Edmund Perkins, who directed the first careful survey of the San Jacintos in 1897-98, named Marion Mountain ‘for Marion Kelly of White Cloud, Michigan,a young school teacher employed at the Morongo Indian Reservation.  Perkins met her when she was camped with friends in Strawberry Valley.  The story goes that Miss Kelly fell deeply in love with Perkins, who was described as tall and good-looking, but he kept putting her off by saying he was married to his work. But he did think enough of the young woman to place her name on the mountain.’  He goes on to say that Marion Mountain’s neighboring summit, Jean Peak, Perkins named for Jean Waters, whom he married in 1903.

“P.S. Perhaps somebody could convince the county (?) to correct the spelling of  ‘Marian View Drive’?”