Aker, Szekely among 5 Women’s Hall of Fame inductees

SAN DIEGO (SDJW)– Two members of the Jewish community, Dianne Lee (Dee) Aker and Deborah Szekeley, will be among five local women to be inducted into the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame on March 28th at the McMillin Event Center at 2875 Dewey Road at NTC at Liberty Station.

Aker serves as interim director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego.  She “brings a lifetime of community-building experience in Africa, Central America, South Asia and Europe to San Diego,” according to Ashley Gardner, executive director of the Women’s Museum of California.  “She gives voice to people living through conflict and enriches the lives of San Diegans by bringing women survivors from far-flung countries to tell their stories, their strategies and solutions.   Dr. Aker’s ability to transform her personal experiences in at-risk communities into education and inspirational programs for broad audiences mark her as a trailblazer.”

As founder and proprietor of such well-known spas as Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico; 1958; and the Golden Door, Szekely “is her own best advertisement for vigorous living,” commented Gardner.  “For more than half a century, she has made San diego a better place to live, and the San Diego Rotary named her Mrs. San Diego in 2002, only the fourth woman to be so honored in the organization’s history.  In keeping with her lifelong ideals, the indefatigable Ms. Szekely in 2012 founded Wellness Warrior, a nonprofit organization engaged in advocacy on behalf of a healthier society.”

Three other women who will be honored at the 13th annual induction ceremony and dinner are Escondido’s first woman mayor, Lorraine Boyce; community organizer Rachel Ortiz, and cultural historian Sonia Lopez.

Boyce, who served two terms on the Escondido City Council,  was elected as that city’s mayor in  1976.  Earlier she had helped start Friends of Planned Parenthood in Escondio, where she taught Family Life and Sex Education classes.

Lopez helped to create the Mexican-American Studies Department at San Diego State University, and was a founder of the Adelante Mujer (Move Forward Women) organization, which seeks to empower women.

Ortiz worked with the United Farm Workers and went on to develop programs for bringing together yhouth in the African American and Chicano communities.  Since 1970, she has been executive director of Barrio Station which is both an advocate and haven for Chicano youth.

*
Preceding based on information provided by the Women’s Museum of California