The best thing about Soroptimists is the company they keep - a multi-generational bunch of bright, accomplished women, some retired, some still in the work force, all extremely busy wherever their various passions and talents have taken them. This worldwide organization works through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women locally as well as to the farthest reaches of the globe. The name, Soroptimist, means "best for women," and that's what the organization strives to achieve. Education is a particular focus.

At its annual spring luncheon, this year to be held at the Marriott on May 20th, Soroptimist International Coronado honors women whose very lives embody the organization's ideals. This year's honorees are three Coronado legends. These women of wit, wisdom and energy have led long, productive lives and contributed so much to so many for so long it makes your head spin: Cele Kipperman, Mary Kay Forsyth and Jeanne Shoemaker. They range in age from 82 to 93, and are smart, funny, gracious, talkative and intensely interested in the world going on outside their houses. That's houses - not a retirement home in the bunch.

The women and their chosen paths are quite different from one another, but significant common threads connect them. All three women established early-on the habit of volunteer community service, juggling busy schedules and responsibilities to make that happen. They enjoyed long, 60-plus-year marriages (two are now widows). Close, warm relationships with their grandchildren and adult children, plus a wide multigenerational circle of friends, continue to shape their lives. Looking back over these rich, extraordinary lives, one is struck by the enviable balance they managed to achieve. A "glass-half-full" attitude becomes apparent, too.

Cele Kipperman: Fashionably with the Times
"I'm tickled! Absolutely tickled!" exclaimed Cele Kipperman, when notified that she'd been selected as an honoree. A follow-up call two days later was met with a mirthful "Did you change your mind?"

Old-timers remember Cele from the Kippy's of yesteryear, the women's apparel shop she and husband Lew started in 1948 and ran hands-on until they passed the baton to their sons in 1972. After that, the former mathematics teacher and honors graduate of Rider College in New Jersey went to work at Coronado High School, where she was a substitute teacher and occupational program coordinator well into her 80s. "Lew really enjoyed his retirement, but I just had to keep working," Cele remembers. "I began working at age 13 and I always loved it."

Today you might see her speaking before City Council on issues close to her heart, or busy on her home computer. Her college sweetheart and lifelong partner Lew died fairly suddenly in 2003 after 70 years of marriage. "I think about him all the time; we had such a good life together."

The Kippermans left New Jersey for Coronado in 1948 because of Cele's severe asthma, settling into an apartment above Chez Loma restaurant with their young sons and purchasing their Orange Avenue shop from a classified ad. They made a whopping $5.12 their first day in business. They both dove right in to community service; Cele donated her talents as fashion coordinator and commentator for countless charitable fashion shows, particularly involving high school girls. "I loved building up their self esteem," she said. A Soroptimist board member in the 1950s, Cele spearheaded a fashion show for the organization to raise money for the new Coronado Hospital. She volunteered for the American Cancer Society and was president of the Business and Professional Women's Club, which named her a "Woman of Achievement" in 1966.

At this writing, Cele, 93, is recently out of the hospital after suffering a mild heart attack; she's on her own at home, just as she likes it. "Independence is her main thing," says her son Doug. "We know that about Mom, and we respect it."

Jeanne Shoemaker: Healthy Spirit of Volunteerism
Jeanne and Frank ("Shooey") Shoemaker - what a love story! They were Coronado's Fred and Ginger, dancing every dance, whether at a Concert in the Park, the Cays Yacht Club, or their own living room - gliding together like pros, flirting like teenagers. They had been married 60 years when Shooey finally lost his seven-year battle with Alzheimer's. Jeanne cared for him till the end, at home. One afternoon, dancing with Jeanne in their living room, Shooey gazed at her with love in his eyes and said, "I don't know who you are, but I want you."

The couple were high school sweethearts in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Jeanne left nursing school at Philadelphia General Hospital to marry the NROTC Duke senior. She got a job in the pathology cancer lab in Durham; their "house" was a tobacco barn on campus. "We felt so lucky," she says. "We had indoor plumbing!" After graduation, the new Ensign and Mrs. Shoemaker embarked on the great adventure of Navy life together, beginning with flight training in Pensacola. Three children and 25 moves later, they settled for good in Coronado after Frank's retirement.

Soroptimist International Coronado honored Jeanne with its "Making a Difference for Women Award" in 2002. Since her days as a young Navy wife, Jeanne has always volunteered: 15 years at the American Red Cross clinic; shifts at the OB-GYN clinic at North Island; and working with Project Concern, which establishes medical clinics in third-world countries. In her 50s, she returned to school and received associate degrees in human services and social welfare. These led to her work in holistic health with Terry Cole-Whittaker, which she did for 15 years. "Those years were the high point for me, working with mind-body experts and healers. It started me on the path I'm on today - yoga and meditation and positive attitude." Currently she's involved with the YWCA "Women in Transition" program.

Jeanne is 82 but looks years younger, perhaps due to her regimen of daily morning swims. According to her water aerobics friend Joann Riley, "Jeanne is the spirit of the group." About 40 women participate, and Jeanne organizes the group's monthly luncheons, allowing the group to visit out of the water. "She takes care of everybody," says Riley, "When one of us is sick, she organizes food. When someone can't drive, she picks her up. She's an angel." Small wonder that her colorful, lovingly-tended garden blooms profusely at her tender touch.

Mary Kay Forsyth: Promoting Coronado Businesses for Over Half a Century
Anyone who wasn't born yesterday remembers the old Mexican Village restaurant, or at least has heard tales of its fame. In its heyday it was the hangout of choice for the young Navy set who sang golden oldies at the piano bar and danced their fool heads off to live music on weekends. Finding an empty bar stool was next to impossible, giving it the air of a lively, stand-up cocktail party. And for most, it was the first taste they'd ever had of this thing called a "taco."

Mary Kay Forsythe, the 88-year-old, size-2 dynamo, started the restaurant in 1949 with husband Bert and his brother Jim. Bert and Jim were professional Canadian ice hockey players who discovered that owning a restaurant was the perfect second job. This replaced Bert's previous second job of traveling salesman which had led him to the Missoula, Montana hometown of Mary Kay Fickes. She says he was attracted to her because she was the only woman he'd ever seen who "drank Scotch neat."

Daughters Kathryn Ashworth and Liz Forsyth- Lovell say the Forsyth threesome was the perfect team to make Mexican Village a success: Bert was the innovative idea man; Jim was the face man, playing the piano and belting out the songs; and Mary Kay was the brains behind it all. From 1949 to 1974 Mary Kay was bookkeeper, manager, controller and public relations director - while raising five children, managing the San Diego Sky Hawks hockey team, and being involved in nearly every civic organization in town. As executive director of the Chamber of Commerce for 20 years, she created the first Coronado Visitor Center and Coronado Christmas parade to promote local businesses. In her spare time she meticulously restored the family home, a historic Requa mansion at 1045 Loma Ave. A past president of Soroptimist, Mary Kay still attends the Thursday morning breakfast meetings. Her slogan is "The Mexican Village might be dead, but I'm not!"