2023-2024

Ally Mills

Category: 2023-2024

“I don’t know what to say. I’m very grateful for the honor,” says Ally Mills of her Living Treasure recognition.

Mills is so smart, capable and caring that when she sees a problem, she knows how to solve it or knows the person who can.

She is quick to offer food, shelter, hugs — and tough love in equal measure when called for.

Mills is director of the Ojai Valley Family Shelter, which she started volunteering for in 2014 as an overnight host. She worked as an assistant to the previous director before assuming the position at the beginning of 2020. “I took over, and then the pandemic started. It’s been a wild ride,” Mills said.

OVFS has operated a cold-weather overnight shelter from Dec. 1 to March 31, for 31 years and counting. The shelter provides a safe place to sleep, warm meals, and showers via a mobile shower bus named “Wilbur.” When the local churches that previously hosted the shelter had to close due to COVID restrictions, the Ojai Grange Hall opened its doors.

The pandemic is far from the only obstacle Mills has faced in her role as shelter director. After storms earlier this year damaged the Grange roof, she and her board raised money and had the roof repaired by the end of November, just in time for the current rainy season.

In addition to coordinating the various organizations that donate supplies and food, corralling the supplies necessary for caring for the most vulnerable at the shelter, Mills goes above and beyond on a personal basis for those she encounters in need.

Betty Herrian said: “Ally does so much for the homeless, always doing for them. Not only the homeless, but is always there to help everyone. She has helped me many times!”

Celeste Matesevac

Category: 2023-2024

Local bookstore owner Celeste Matesevac is a bit like a certain bat-themed superhero: business owner by day, epic community volunteer in her spare time. And community members have noticed.

“I met Celeste through her brother, Ivan, and her sister, Katarina. I was invited to their mother’s 90th birthday celebration, and over time became aware of her massive involvement in the community,” said friend Mary Baker.

Matesevac and her partner, Marcia Doty, co-own BookEnds Bookstore & Curiosities in an old Meiners Oaks church that doubles as the couples’ home, fulfilling a long-held goal. Built in 1943 by George Biggers, the old church is now closed to the public in the wake of the pandemic.

“My partner, Marcia, has always been a bibliophile, and amassed an incredible nonfiction library over our years in Ojai. She always said we will have a bookstore in a church someday — and then the former Church of Christ building became for sale. We were so grateful to be the next owners. COVID shut our doors to having the public come into the store, as we also live here,” said Matesevac. “Marcia immediately began listing the books online through AbeBooks.com where our bookstore now lives.”

But it is Matesevac’s extensive involvement in numerous nonprofit organizations around town that has her acknowledged as a 2023 Living Treasure by the Rotary Clubs of Ojai. Those in the know are aware of Matesevac’s wide and long career of investing in our community.

“We’ve had the pleasure of knowing Celeste Matesevac for many, many years,” said Amber Lundeen of The Arc of Ventura County’s Ojai Enrichment Center. “Celeste is a celebrity when she comes here, always bringing supplies and crafts for our participants to enjoy. Recently, she has helped us organize a wonderful activity that involves making holiday cards and treats for the continuing care unit here in Ojai. The happiness that the participants gain from delivering those items is worth it all. Celeste is a wonderful person, and has been such a supporter of the work that Ojai Enrichment Center does, and we are very grateful to have her involved as much as she is.”

Glenda King

Category: 2023-2024

Glenda Cushing King sits at the receptionist desk at the HELP of Ojai building on Montgomery Street. The phone rings and King smiles, saying, "This might happen a lot," as she answers the call as the Front Desk volunteer.

"HELP of Ojai, this is Glenda." King connects the person on the line to the right service and sets the phone back on the receiver.

King worked for nine years as transportation coordinator and director at HELP of Ojai before retiring and then returned as a volunteer.

"It's just important in what it does and how it reaches so many people and how it impacts their lives," she said of HELP of Ojai.

"I just think it's a really, really healthy thing to do. It's just grat-ifying. It's a win-win. One, because it makes me feel good. Two, because I'm doing something that's going to help someone else. Hopefully, I'm doing something that will help someone else."

Last year, HELP of Ojai gave 4,901 rides to seniors, served 26,718 meals, and delivered 487 food boxes. "It is very important in terms of what it has done for the low-income population, the homeless population, the senior population" said King.

During the height of the pandemic, King delivered meals to seniors multiple times per week.

"I gravitate toward (helping) seniors, said King. "I think about the fact that I'm in my senior years and they're piling on. So, I look around at how other people are aging, how they are accepting it or not accepting it and how they're dealing with it. And just try to take that all in and have that be a part of my education of how I'm going to be when I grow up."

King is also a member and former chapter president of the local chapter of Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.), which promotes educational opportunities for women and girls.

She serves as the Clerk of Session and assists with child care at Ojai Presbyterian Church, volunteers at Ojai Valley Community Hospital Continuing Care Center, and helps with numerous community events, including Rotary Wine Festival and Ojai Valley Hospital Foundation October Classic.

Jayn Walter, now co-executive director of HELP of Ojai, met King in 2017 when she was an intern at the HELP of Ojai Community Assistance Program. She and King have worked together for the past six years. Walter nominated King for the Living Treasure, writing that it is Glenda's "commitment to the aging population of Ojai that makes her stand out as a leader. She is a compassionate and caring community member who has continued to serve those in need, years after her retirement."

Kathy Doubleday

Category: 2023-2024

Kathy Doubleday's gift to the community is the timeless value of exercise as a tool for a better life, no matter how old you are.  Doubleday, a physical therapist, owns Balance Health Center, 236 W. Ojai Ave., Suite 201; she founded the center with her husband, Greg Jones, nine years ago when their twin sons were 7 years old.

"I had a vision of a PT (physical therapy) clinic that was also a place for adults over 50 to feel comfortable exercising in a gym that felt like it was designed for them," said Doubleday. "Many people over 50 need more support to continue to exercise as they are having surgery, recovering from injuries or just needing more motivation with their peers around. I knew the community and wanted to live and work here, and my husband as my business partner was just the support I needed to branch off on my own." Doubleday is a born-and-raised California girl who has always been attuned to kinesiology.

She said: "I was a gymnast growing up, and with that there is a very strong component of analyzing movement and thinking about how to make the motion better. That young influence with athletics and coaching that I did made me very interested in how the human body works and moves. I really loved anatomy and chemistry, but really any science class. At UCLA, I studied physiological science with an emphasis in neuroscience, with physical therapy in my sights.

"I ended up at USC, one of the top PT schools in the country, and I finally found my people. It was an amazing collection of professors and students where I really found my love and passion for the profession. I am proud to be a PT and am always encouraging of young people to go into the medical field and PT because you get to really help people through their tough times and it is very rewarding on a daily basis."

Gail Smith praised Doubleday for the "warm and welcoming" environment at Balance Health Center, and for making herself available to clients through Zoom exercise and therapy classes during the COVID-19 lockdown. "The community owes Kathy a huge debt of gratitude, not only because she's an outstanding therapist, but equally for her caring commitment to helping us live better, pain-free lives," Smith shared.

Leslie Marcus added, "Kathy selflessly continues to care and give and encourage seniors (and rehabilitating persons) to live, love and keep moving for a joyous, enriched life."

Patti Bagley

Category: 2023-2024

“I just love it. I’m really happy to volunteer. I have a good life and I’m really blessed,” says Patti Bagley, explaining her motivation. “I’ve been blessed in life to have so many good things happen, and so I like helping other people.”

The native Kansan worked as a paralegal in Culver City for 50 years before moving to Ojai in 1999.

After becoming widowed and losing a child, Bagley said she wondered what she would do with her time. “I just thought I got to move forward,” she said.

Carolyn Vondriska and Kathy Broesamle of Ojai, in nominating Bagley as a Living Treasure, wrote: “On countless occasions, she has helped quietly and consistently, without fanfare and without seeking the limelight. She is the first to offer to help a neighbor or friend. More broadly, Patti is a tireless volunteer in our community.”

Sandy Buechley

Category: 2023-2024

“It’s unusual to go to a Rotary, Land Conservancy, or city event, and not see Sandy participating,” said Stephen Adams, Buechley’s Living Treasures mentor. “Sandy understands the value of volunteer time and spends hers where she can (do) the most good. Sandy’s volunteer calendar must not have many blank spaces.”

Born in Minnesota, Buechley moved to Santa Barbara with her family at the age of 6 and grew up there. “My favorite subject in school was math, specifically algebra. I later studied accounting and computer science in college,” she said. She relocated with her two young sons to Ojai in 1964, beginning a six-decade-long journey of community contributions.

In her first major role in Ojai, Buechley spent six years working as the business manager of Monica Ros School. In 1975, she signed on as one of the first employees of the then-Ojai Valley Racquet Club (now Ojai Valley Athletic Club). She assembled the team that set up the club’s first 10 tennis courts, its first pool, and its original clubhouse. In the early ’80s, she switched gears and became Patagonia’s business intelligence manager, handling complex budgets and international analytics for 37 years before retiring in 2020.

But retirement is a loose term for Buechley. She’s an active member of Rotary Club of Ojai and the Monica Ros School board of trustees; she spent six years on the Ojai Music Festival board of directors; and she remains vice president of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy — she was previously president, as well — and is president of The C.R.E.W. (Concerned Resource and Environmental Workers).

“On occasion, I had the pleasure to work with Sandy back in her time with Patagonia, and I’m happy to say she is the same enthusiastic, caring individual today that she was back then,” said Todd Homer, The C.R.E.W.’s administrative manager. “Her leadership has been an inspiration to us at The C.R.E.W. She is a tireless ‘giver to the community,’ and her qualities of kindness, helping others, and environmental awareness have helped to mold The C.R.E.W. into the organization we are today.”