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Making A Difference through Service To Mankind

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Archives for January 2022

Jan 14 2022

2022 Sertoman of the Year Award Recipient

2022 Sertoman of the Year Award

The 2022 Sertoman of the Year Award represents one of two awards presented annually by Leona Valley Sertoma. The second is the Service To Mankind Award presented to a worthy individual in our Lakes and Valleys communities. For more about these awards we encourage you to visit Sertoma International website.

Dave joined Leona Valley Sertoma around 2007 and has since been an active in our mission of “Service to Mankind”. He is a loyal Sertoman and is always available to lend a helping hand and we are eternally grateful for his service. His many years of personal, physical and monetary sponsorship, when organizing fundraising events makes Dave more than worthy of the  2022 Sertoman of the Year Award.

As the 2022 Sertoman of the Year Award recipient, Dave Millard joins a stellar group of dedicated Leona Valley Sertomans.  Check out past recipients of the Sertoman of the Year Award at: Leona Valley Sertoman of the Year Recipients.

Dave Millard, 2022 Sertoman of the Year Award Recipient

Dave was born in Northridge, CA and grew up in the San Fernando Valley with two siblings. His mother was a race car driver and his father worked on the space shuttle engines for Rocketdyne. David met his high school sweetheart, Laurie in 1976, graduating Sylmar High School in 1977 and in 1978, they married.

Dave Millard, 2022 Sertoman of the Year Award recipient
Dave Millard, 2022 Sertoman of the Year Award recipient

Dave went to work for Air King and the decision to leave family and friends, and move to Portland, Oregon, in 1979 with the company. In Portland, he also worked as a cook at Denny’s. They welcomed their first child, Brianna Brandy Millard on October 6, 1980, followed on January 14, 1983, by the birth of their second daughter, Jessica.

They moved back to California 1984 to help Laurie’s parents when Laurie’s 17 year old brother died. He and Laurie lived in San Fernando and eventually divorced in 1991 and Dave moved to Nevada where he worked as a cook for the Indian Casinos.

In 1993, Dave moved back to California and started his greatest adventure called AC Dave Heating and Air. Spending a lot of “family time” with their two daughters led to Dave and Laurie reuniting and they remarried on November 27, 1999. Their daughters Brianna and Jessica served as bridesmaids. In 2002, his Jessica gave birth to his first grandson, Dean, who became Papa David’s buddy.

Sertoman of the Year Award recipient, AC Dave shown in 2015, as he contributes $300 for turkey fund.
(l to r): Dave Millard, Juanita Kirkpatrick, treasurer, and Cathy Toso, president.

In 2005, while living in Valencia, Dave’s business tools were  stolen. This led them to sell their home and, in 2006, move to Lake Elizabeth, where Dave opened AC Dave Heating and Air serving the Lakes and Valley communities. On November 24, 2007 his second grandson, Daniel Christopher was born to Brianna. Daniel is affected with autism leading Brianna face many struggles of her own. Sadly, on March 30, 2014, Brianna lost her life on Hwy. 138 near Llano. Members of Sertoma at the time of their loss, Dave and Laurie are very thankful for the support of their Sertoma family.

Around 2016, the Millard’s started a non-profit called “Brianna Brandy Millard Smith’s Happy Children Memorial Fund” to honor their daughter’s memory with the goal of helping families in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Dave and Laurie have been able to help 14 families and remain dedicated to honoring Daniel’s mother.

 

Written by Jan Clark · Categorized: Leona Valley, Leona Valley Sertoma, Sertoma News · Tagged: Leona Valley, Leona Valley Sertoma, Sertoma, Sertoman of the Year

Jan 12 2022

2022 Service to Mankind Award Recipients

2022 Service to Mankind Award

The 2022 Service to Mankind Award has been awarded to a richly deserving pair of Leona Valley residents, the first time we have had co-awardees. Bob Nimesgern and David Clayton are the co-owners of Jack’s Place, our meeting place and local rest in the Leona Valley. Both Bob and David are so deserving of their awards, as they have unconditionally helped us raise funds for our St. Patrick’s Day dinner by preparing the dinner at Jack’s Place and providing
ALL proceeds pertaining to the event dinner only (not dinners off the menu) to Sertoma.

They also allowed us to host the November 20, 2021 Mini Gala at Jack’s Place while absorbing the cost of entertainment, the ABC license and no charge for the use of their business facility.  This 2 1/2 hour event was a HUGE success with proceeds going to support veterans and our local scholarships.

~

The Leona Valley Sertoma presents two awards annually, the Service To Mankind Award is presented each year to an individual within our Lakes and Valleys communities, while the Sertoman of the Year Award is presented to a member. For more about these awards we encourage you to visit Sertoma International website.

Bob Nimesgern, 2022 Service to Mankind Award Recipient (as told by his sister, Jen)

Bob Nimesgern holding his 2022 Service To Mankind Award.Bob grew up in the suburbs of San Diego as the second of four children. In elementary school, he won 1st place in a cake decorating contest. From elementary to high school he worked a bicycle paper route. His first vehicles were a Vespa, followed by an orange VW Rabbit. He worked at Buffums restaurant during high school. He saved his money for trips to Boston to visit an aunt starting in the 7th grade, which sparked Bob’s love of traveling.

While studying at Grossmont College he traveled to France and Mexico. In 1995, Bob visited a friend in London and decided to move there for new adventures. He got a job at a French Patisserie and shared a flat with several people from Australia and South Africa. While in London, he traveled Europe with his roommates and all are still friends to this day.

After returning home from London, he graduated from Scottsdale Culinary School. He landed a job at Delmonico Steak House at the Venetian in Las Vegas as the executive pastry chef. After a few years, he got an itch to travel again and took 10 months off to live in Bali. Bob has traveled extensively visiting over 40 countries, including Israel, Jordon, Ukraine, Turkey, South Africa, Namibia, Morocco, Tunisia, Djibouti, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, Cook Island, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. His travels have undoubtedly influenced his culinary culture and creations.

He returned to the US and continued working in Las Vegas for a couple years. After 13 years of living and working in Las Vegas, he wanted a change of pace and moved to North Carolina. He worked at the University of North Carolina and spent a few summers working at a restaurant in Martha’s Vineyard.

In January 2019, Bob left the East Coast and moved to Leona Valley to be closer to his nieces and nephew, which is how he met Dave. Six months later, they purchased Jack’s Place together and the rest is history.

David Clayton’s 2022 Service to Mankind Award Recipient (as told by his Mom, Guyla, and sister, Sarah)

David Clayton holding his 2022 Service To Mankind Award.David was 2 years old when he moved to Leona Valley. He received his first tractor at 3 years old where he had his first rattlesnake encounter. Growing up he was involved with AWANA, choir, piano and 4H. In 4H he held all the offices and worked the 4-H food booth at the Fairgrounds for several years. He was always busy doing brush clearance for families in the community, rescuing people and their cars in ditches all over town and any and all projects he saw that needed to be done.

He worked for Ramsland feeding the cattle on Ritter Ranch for a few years before moving to Russia for a bit to help build orphanages. When he came home he started work at Burger King, then on to Medical record copying.

David finally decided to follow his dreams and moved to Arizona and went to Scottsdale Culinary Arts School. While there he worked in the Hospitality Hotel industry, a bagel shop and eventually customer service for IBM and AMEX.

Moving back to the AV in 2002 he purchased a commercial bakery called Anna’s. He became quite active around the Antelope Valley sponsoring fundraisers. He became active in LVIA and served on the Board for several years.

After a few odds and ends jobs around town he and Bob finally became the very proud owners of Jack’s Place, which they continue to use to “serve” our community and the surrounding communities.

As you can see David has always had the Gift of Hospitality!!

Written by Jan Clark · Categorized: Leona Valley Sertoma, Sertoma News · Tagged: Leona Valley Sertoma, Sertoma, Service To Mankind

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