EL SEGUNDO HERALD May 16, 2019 Page 13
Bebe Buchen from front page
Force Base rising up the ranks from secretarial/
clerical duties to personnel management and
eventually complex contract writing. She
spent 15 years there. Sadly, Michael passed
away at the too-young age of 50 in 1990.
Bebe continued to work and remained
involved in the community, but there was
a definite void in her life. That changed in
1993 when she met Richard “Dick” Van
Vranken at church. A local fixture known
by the entire town, he had served as El
Segundo’s mayor, was an active Rotarian, a
Herald board member, had recently retired
and also lost his wife just a few years earlier.
Bebe and Dick began to date in 1994 and
remained companions until his death in 2017.
“He convinced me that I didn’t need to work,
so the two of us began traveling,” she said,
noting the countless trips they would enjoy
over the years. Bebe also spoke of Dick at
last weekend’s Elderfest. “He was so very
kind to people and so well-loved,” she said.
“We always had Thanksgiving in town with
him and his children. Then at Christmas we
went back east to be with my family.”
Though heartbroken by Dick’s passing, Bebe
was not the sort to sink into depression and she
also knew he would want her to forge ahead
with more gusto than ever. She proceeded to
step up her volunteer efforts with the Woman’s
Club, taking on the president positon last
year. “I think having been a schoolteacher,
it makes it comfortable getting in front of a
bunch of people,” Bebe said of addressing
the 50-plus members. Her responsibilities
also include preparing agendas for board and
general meetings, chairing committees and
overseeing rentals (through which the club
generates most of its revenues).
Relentlessly active, Bebe especially enjoys
playing bridge (two Mondays a month through
the club and at other times through different
groups) as well as bunco. She is also an avid
reader. Meanwhile, she continues to travel –
this time with family members. “After Dick’s
passing, I took one granddaughter, who was
20, to France because she always wanted to
see the Eiffel Tower,” Bebe said. “Last year,
I took another granddaughter to Italy… and
this summer, I’m going to Spain and Portugal
with my grandson.” That’s three of the five
grandkids. The other two, both girls, are 18
and 15. Presumably they will have their turn
with their grandmother in some exotic locale
soon enough.
Looking back at over 40 years in El
Segundo, Bebe recalled her first thoughts
about the community. “It was always a nice,
small town,” she said. “You didn’t have to
go far to get to the grocery store. But the
great schools are what brought us here from
the beginning, along with being close to the
Air Force Base.”
Bebe also praised the members of the El
Segundo Woman’s Club. “They are hardworking
women trying to provide community
service, enjoy life and have good friends,”
she said. “My motto is that we need to treat
each other with kindness and that’s how we
approach life in the club.”
So how did the name “Bebe” come about?
“When I was very little, my mother told us
we had to put away all our toys before our
dad got home because he likes things to be
neat and tidy,” Bebe remembered. “When
he would come home, he’d ask my sister,
who was 19 months older than me, ‘Is that
your toy?’ She would answer, ‘No, it’s the
Bebe’s.’ She didn’t say ‘Baby…’ She said,
‘Bebe’ -- and the name stuck. I went through
grade school and high school as Bebe. The
only person who called me Cecelia was my
aunt because she was the one who chose that
name.” Well, there you have it… •
El Segundo Older American of the Year Bebe Buchen, bottom right, with daughter Gretchen to her left at last Saturday’s Elderfest. Top
row: Bebe’s great-nephew Jake and her nephew Eric. Photo Provided by Carol Cervantes
ESUSD from page 5
exploration with Roundhouse Aquarium, and
Wild Critter encounters. Also noted were family
social events, including the Barnes & Noble
family reading night, participation in the El
Segundo Holiday Parade, and a spring picnic.
Next steps for Eagles’ Nest include adding a
technology component to the classroom learning
areas, and developing a more simplified
school schedule for the 2020/21 school year.
Board President Nancy Cobb wanted it
mentioned that the Eagles’ Nest is an integral
part of ESUSD, lauding that the staff members
there “emphasize learning by doing, creativity,
collaborations and problem-solving” -- which
are district-wide standards.
Post-presentation, Board member Tracey
Miller-Zarneke said that she has been privy
to the “joy and happiness that occurs in those
classrooms.” Superintendent Dr. Melissa Moore
praised the work that Grijalva and staff have
done developing the District’s youngest learners.
El Segundo Education Foundation CEO Carol
Pirsztuk spoke of the success of last week’s
gala event that took place on the grounds of
Chevron. More than 1,000 District supporters
attended. Gooden recognized the ESHS’s Winter
Color Guard, which earned the gold medal
with a stellar performance at the Winter Guard
Association of Southern California Championships.
Gooden gave kudos to the myriad
participants in the Winter Color Guard, many
of whom were in attendance. This was the
second championship garnered by the Winter
Guard, and the first under the stewardship of
stalwarts Joey Leon and Allison Wyant, and
Mr. Robert Soto.
Gooden emailed, “Our color guard program
has really flourished this year. We are so
proud of these young men and women who
participate in the program. Joey Leon has
done a fantastic of building this program and
coaching our students.”
Consent action items later approved by the
Board members included an agreement with
P.S. Arts to continue providing the District
with top-notch arts education. This is the
third school year that the ESUSD will partner
with P.S. Arts to work with the elementary
school students to provide professional arts
program to provide “consistency and support
for art instruction in the classrooms.” The Ed
Foundation and the PTA provide the funding
for this program.
Action items passed on Tuesday evening
included approval of a High School Advanced
Placement (AP) Calculus BC course; a choir
trip to perform in and visit the Great White
North in Montreal and Quebec City; a revised
job description for the District’s Director of
Operations; as well as updated job descriptions
for the positions of school psychologist, special
programs; personalized learning specialist; and
technology implementation specialist.
The Board also awarded a bid to RT Contractor
Corp. to begin work this summer on
the HVAC issues that have plagued Science
Building R at ESHS.
The AP Calculus course is a new entry to
the on-campus offerings at ESHS and had been
offered in the past through Loyola Marymount
University. The choir trip to Eastern Canada
is slated to occur in June 2020 and will not
only entail the expected 50-60 ESHS students
to hone their performance skills, but also allow
attendees to visit Canadian landmarks
and become immersed in the culture of our
neighbors to the north.
Information pending action items included
consideration of “Amplify Science” adoption for
K-5; as well as the ESMS and ESHS School
reading lists that will be available to District
students this summer. The Amplify Science
program is a curriculum vetted by District
lead-science teachers that has received very
high marks.
Moore then highlighted upcoming events on
the District’s calendar, including PTA installations,
as the ESUSD steams toward mid-June
promotion and graduation festivities.
The next regularly scheduled El Segundo
School Board meeting is on the calendar for
Tuesday, May 28. •
Uber Drivers from page 3
While Uber wouldn’t say exactly when
drivers might be replaced by software-controlled
cars, its customers always will have a choice
between going auto or with a guy named Otto.
“The technology is still early days and scaling
in a reliable, safe manner will take time. I
can say that as the technology develops, Uber
envisions a future where both self-driven cars
as well as those driven by our drivers will be
necessary to deploy this technology in a safe
manner,” Abboud said.
A deadly traffic collision in Tempe, Ariz.
involving an Uber self-driving car temporarily
halted the program until it restarted last July.
Uber Advanced Technologies is the unit assigned
to equip cars with the technology and
safety devices that will win the trust of state
regulators first… then the public that sees
rideshare as a better, safer option than owning
or driving one’s own vehicle.
The company is moving ahead, with financial
backing from Toyota and other investors. Eric
Meyhofer, who oversees the engineering and
software teams at Uber Advanced Technologies
Group, says that self-driving technology
has great potential for making rideshare more
accessible and even safer, but “it’s not going
to happen overnight.”
Job security for Uber drivers is safe for now.
“Building best-in-class self-driving technology
will take time, and safety is our priority every
step of the way,” Meyhofer said in a post on
the Uber website.
Last week’s driver strike was staged to get the
company’s attention, with a hope of Uber executives
listening to driver demands for a fixed
hourly rate and having a union-like presence
in corporate discussions about operations, fare
pricing and compensation. Uber says its driverless
car technology is dependent on public
feedback and acceptance to propel the project
forward. Uber’s spokeswoman called public
perception a “critical component.”
The company talks regularly with community
and school groups in Pittsburgh, San Francisco
and Toronto so that the technology it hopes to
deploy someday is better understood and seen
as less of a threat. The company won’t say
when testing might start in California, where
the Department of Motor Vehicles must grant
permission for companies to operate self-driving
cars and SUVs on public streets. Google autopiloted
cars are regular sights in the Bay Area.
A ride in one of these is closer than you think.
The Las Vegas Strip is serviced by a small
fleet of software-controlled BMWs that make
pickups and drop-offs. The ride-share app for
Aptiv will send an autonomous car, occupied
by a driver and an engineer. Even though the
cars can navigate through traffic on their own,
they don’t yet. Aptiv has the technology, but
is pumping the brakes for now. “You can’t
predict every situation. So we always err on the
side of safety,” said Aptiv’s managing director
Abe Ghabra. There is a great deal riding on
this research.
Uber and its independent drivers aren’t the
only ones with a stake in this. Toyota Motor
Corp. has a $700 million stake in the Uber
project. Toyota and Uber have agreed to deploy
auto-piloted Sienna vans in the rideshare
company’s fleet in less than three years. •
“You cannot make people learn.
You can only provide the right
conditions for learning to happen.”
– Vince Gowmon
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