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Services set tomorrow for school leader Juanita Haugen
Speakers to include educators from community, state, national organizations

by Jeb Bing

For those planning to attend the 1 p.m. memorial funeral at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church Saturday for former school board president Juanita Haugen, her family urges patience and extra time to reach the church.

As many as 1,000 are expected to attend the service, to be held in a church that seats 800 and with a parking lot that can accommodate less than 300 cars. Special arrangements have been made so that funeral participants can park at Hart Middle School, where a reception will be held after the service. Shuttle service will be provided between Hart and St. Elizabeth Seton starting at 11:30 a.m. and immediately following the service.

Mrs. Haugen, who died March 5 at age 69, will be honored by the community she has called home since 1970 as well as by educators and representatives of state, regional and national school and education groups from around the country. These will include remarks by E. Jane Gallucci, president of the National School Boards Association in Washington, D.C., Kerry Clegg, past president of the California School Boards Association, and John Casey, Pleasanton school superintendent.

Her four daughters, Heather Rizzoli, Heidi Peart, Hilary Haugen and Holly Morello, will do a series of one-liners, called "What Mom Taught Us."

The Pleasanton Police Department will provide a motorcycle escort for the family from Mrs. Haugen's home in Vintage Hills to the church, where the Rev. Ron Culmer, rector of St. Clare's Episcopal Church, where Mrs. Haugen was a member, will officiate.

The church service will begin and end with a special procession that will include a police and fire color guard. Choirs from St. Clare's and Foothill High School also will sing during the service, and a brass ensemble from St. Clare's is scheduled to play "When the Saints Go Marching In" during the recessional.

Both the Pleasanton school district and the California School Employees Association will provide tables, chairs and kitchen and parking lot monitors to assist in the service and reception. Closed-circuit television sets will be available for those unable to find seats in the main sanctuary.

Mrs. Haugen was first elected to the old Amador Valley Joint Union High School District board in 1979. Following the school district unification in 1988, she continued her service with the new board, and was the longest serving board member at the time of her death.

Besides her four daughters, she is survived by their husbands Christopher Rizzoli, Bruce Peart and Mark Morello, and grandson Giovanni Sebastian Morello, who was born last Jan. 5. Daughter Hilary is engaged to be married in July to Jeffrey Dito of San Francisco. Mrs. Haugen's husband Gil died in 1990.

In lieu of flowers and gifts, the family asks that donations and memorials be made to any of the following organizations which Mrs. Haugen supported: St. Clare's Episcopal Church, 3350 Hopyard Road, Pleasanton, CA 94588; University of Southern California East Bay Alumni Club Scholarship Fund, c/o Chris Anderson, Treas., PO BOX 300, Orinda, CA 94563; Juanita Haugen Community of Character Scholarship, care of Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation (PPIE), 333 Division St., Pleasanton, CA 94566.

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